Chapter 14 - Dirk Creswell

Lizzie sat down with a copy of Hogwarts, A History and skimmed through it intensively most nights for clues about founders' objects from what she imagined would be Tom's perspective. While the others slept, she lit up the table with a candle and rummaged through what she had tucked away in the pouch Hagrid had given her for her birthday.

She pulled out the snitch with the words engraved 'I open at the close,' a single long shard of the two-way mirror she once spoke to Sirius often with, Regulus's note that had once been concealed within the first placeholder locket, the broken portion of the ring and mangled carcass of the diary she had swiped from Dumbledore's office, a ring Cedric had given her, her journal with everything she'd discovered about Riddle over the past year and half, an old 'support Cedric Diggory' badge from the Triwizard Tournament that still changed face to spell out 'Potter Sucks' the likes of which no longer bothered her, the scroll she had taken from Borgin & Berkes on a whim, two quidditch captains badges, hers and her father's, and her father's last snitch as captain Charlie had given her for her seventeenth birthday. Lizzie caught a quick glimpse of the blue eye again in the shard of the mirror, but it was gone as quickly as she glimpsed it.

Lizzie sprawled out the Marauder's Map and watched Snape pace in the headmaster office. She bored a fingernail into his name with disdain, but her eyes flicked to Gryffindor Tower to see Neville was the only person up in the Common Room at this hour. Seamus was in the dormitory. She looked for Ginny but didn't see her in the tower. Lizzie scanned the map feverishly looking for some sign of her, until she spotted the name in a dungeon with Amicus and Alecto Carrow. Lizzie's eyes narrowed and her heart raced. We're they questioning her? Interrogating her? Lizzie wanted to jump into the map like she'd jumped into the Chamber to pull her out. Alecto left the room as though Lizzie's anger had somehow willed it so, but Amicus didn't. He drew so close to Ginny, and Lizzie's heart hammered violently. Ginny stammered backward until her name was flush to the wall, Amicus approached but Lizzie saw McGonagall's name soar down the hall at far too fast a speed to be anything less than a sprint, and the door to the room opened. Ginny left with her in a hurry and back up to Gryffindor Tower, where McGonagall lingered for a while, but left and patrolled the hall outside of it. Ginny sat with Neville for a long time, side-by-side in front of the fire, close enough to be in some sort of embrace. Lizzie wondered what they were talking about if there were words at all. Her heart ached for them. She buried her head in her arms and tried to focus on any good she had done in her life. Lizzie wondered if Remus went back to Tonks, how she was doing with the pregnancy, and if anyone she cared about was dead.

Lizzie closed her eyes and a man's scream surged through her ears. "Tell me where it is, Grigorovich," she heard Voldemort hiss. The man on the ground in front of him look old and feeble, but perhaps once plump and pleasant.

"I don't have it, it was stolen so many years ago, I know not who. Please," he begged and sputtered. His screams resounded again.

She dived into his mind alongside Voldemort and saw a young man running down a hall and leaping out of a window. There was a defiant smirk on his face, victory. But what did he take?

Voldemort caught sight of Lizzie in the man's memory and pulled himself back into his present company. He looked around feverishly and spotted her in the reflection of the mirror on the wall.

Lizzie gave her every effort to pull herself from his mind. He could see her; he could actually see her. But when he spun to look at her, she was gone. Lizzie was on the floor by the table, she'd fallen from her seat and panted heavily. She thought she recognized the boy in the vision, lied back on the wooden floor, and breathed steady, escaping into the fold of her mind he couldn't get to until she felt safe to return.

The recap of this vision wasn't received well by the others the following morning. Ron and Hermione were in staunch agreement that they couldn't afford another visit from him like that on Privet Drive. That if he caught them with the locket, they were done. He would win.

Lizzie agreed, but she was defensive nonetheless because she wasn't trying to read him. She was still miserable at occlumency on the whole, despite some improvement. She didn't even refer to it as occlumency, she wasn't shutting down, she was hiding and she couldn't stay like that on the whole to keep him out, she was certain she'd die.

Lizzie wanted to know what he was looking for. Ron offered that maybe it was a replacement horcrux for the diary, but Hermione reckoned he'd split his soul to the limits as it was. Lizzie thought more likely another weapon, like the prophecy, but didn't know what or how to find out without putting herself at his mercy.

He hadn't been able to kill her with his wand on two occasions now, not even with another's wand to bypass the twin cores. Then again, he could just let her get eaten alive, but something told her sharing blood and her ability to talk to snakes would prevent the parasitic magic from ever fully killing her on its own unless she willed it so herself.

The next day, as Lizzie mulled over maps they'd obtained and tracked a train course through Albania they ought to take, Ron burst into the cabin fuming and pacing aggressively. Hermione ran in after him in a huff as well. Lizzie couldn't pick up on what precisely they were arguing about because their yells seemed to overlap and fold over one another's. She didn't even feel and urge to stop them, let them spill the anger, probably good for them, she thought with a bit of bitter reproach.

Through the window she saw the shadow of a figure near the lake. "For the love of God, shut up!" Lizzie hissed and made her way for the window to get a better look.

"Stay out of this!" Ron barked.

"No! I hear something! Bloody miracle over the two of you, just shut the hell up," Lizzie hissed back under her breath and at the end of her patience.

Ron moved forward to peer out of the window out over her shoulder, and then pushed Lizzie out of view. "All protections are still up, right?" He asked quietly. Hermione nodded.

It sounded like a group of five, perhaps six people from footsteps alone. They stopped at the bank by the river and were but several yards from a cabin they couldn't see.

"I was sure there was a cabin out this way," a man's voice echoed in the distance. Lizzie pointed to her ear and then the beaded bag, and Hermione pulled out three extendable ears for them to fish out of the window.

"Well, not a bad place to camp, there's probably fish we can get from the lake," a soft masculine voice said. Lizzie tried to glimpse out of the window because he sounded familiar but could only see outlines of shadows from around the trees.

There was a small commotion from the water and some clanking of dishes, they could hear what sounded like at least two goblins talking to one another in their language. "Perfect... this will have to do..." another man's voice said and she recognized it too. In her attempt to crane her neck, Ron shoved her back out of view of the window.

Lizzie pushed the end of the extendable ear further into hers. "Getting cold... I have to say Dirk, I'm really surprised to see you... I had heard you were in Azkaban," the softer voice said. Lizzie's eyes widened when Dirk Creswell's voice came into full recognition.

"I was, released. Very odd how they did it though. Reckon something was wrong with Yaxley, him and Runcorn nabbed me in the first place... then I was released by Dawlish, but it was discrete," he explained. Lizzie's heart leapt a little that her plan had worked. She imagined Yaxley limping around the ministry and smirked. "He was injured, struggles with his wand hand and his leg...he seems confunded or imperiused but I don't know who would risk that for me," he continued.

"If only his dick got splinched off," Lizzie muttered and Hermione shot her warning glare.

"What about you, Ted?" Dirk asked.

"Well, I didn't register as a muggle born, and them death eaters came around, so I ran for it. My wife is alright, she's pureblooded. My daughter should be alright too, except..." he started to say.

Lizzie's mouth fell open now recognizing Ted Tonk's voice and stuffed the end of the extendable ear so far into her ear cavity she hit the drum and flinched with sharp pain.

"Tonks? She alright?" Dirk asked.

"She's... pregnant, and they came around ready to, what I could gather, take care of the problem... but we hid her, and I just am really worried..." he admitted.

"Why would they do that?" Another voice asked and Lizzie now couldn't refrain from pressing her face to the window because it was without any doubt Dean Thomas from school.

"She married Remus Lupin... werewolf... they said they needed to eradicate the problem, but I think it's also because she's in the order, and my wife has been threatened with pruning from her family tree... extermination...her siblings all joined You-Know-Who," he continued.

"I know Lupin. He's a great guy, she's lucky..." Dean said.

"I like Remus... I do... but I worry. He left for a while but came back and helped hide her... it's more the times than my own prejudices," Ted said sadly. Lizzie inhaled a deep breath of relief at that news and wiped a stray tear from her face.

"I know Remus as well, went to school with him, we became closer after James Potter died and Black went to prison, but I wouldn't call him a best mate. I helped him get a vault at the bank through the restrictions. I think Jamie helped him most with that, but with him gone... Your daughter will be alright, Ted. Try not to worry too much. You'll be a granddad, that's exciting," Dirk said.

"What about you, Dean? Muggleborn?" Ted asked.

"I don't know, my dad left my mum when I was a kid, but I have no proof he was a wizard..." Dean explained.

"They've got a lot of nerve, kid like you should be finishing school," Dirk said bitterly.

"What about you Gornuck?" Dirk asked. "I thought Goblins were siding with You-Know-Who..."

"We take no sides, this is a wizards' war, and they think me the equivalent of a house elf, I won't stand for it," Gornuck said in a low raspy voice.

"Griphook?" Dirk asked.

"Oh, something like that in my case as well. But I had my small revenge before I left," Griphook laughed. Gornuck joined.

"What sort of revenge?" Ted chuckled nervously. "Didn't get a death eater locked in a high security vault, did you?"

"If I had, the sword would not have helped one bit," Griphook cackled.

"I'm missing something," Ted said.

"So is Severus Snape. But he doesn't know it," Gornuck added.

Dirk laughed at something they said in gobligook. "Sword of Gryffindor, did you hear some students tried to steal it from the headmaster's office?" Dirk asked Dean and Ted. Their silence answered the question.

"I heard it from Bill Weasley, love that kid by the way, though hardly a kid anymore. His little sister broke into the headmaster's office. I reckon she was trying to steal it for Lizzie. Why? I don't know..." Dirk said.

"Severus Snape moved the sword to a vault at Gringotts, but it wasn't real, a goblin could tell you that. Very convincing replica though. I just didn't see any point in telling him," Griphook added. The others laughed.

"Well, Ginny and Lizzie are close, but how would she get it to her? They reckon it'll beat You-Know-Who?" Dean asked.

"You know Lizzie?" Dirk asked.

"Well yeah, she's in my year, was my quidditch captain, she dated my best friend... I know her well," Dean explained.

"Any idea where she is?" Dirk asked.

"No... but I wouldn't say if I did," Dean said cautiously with some skepticism.

"Don't worry, son, I know her too. I was friends with her dad back in school, got her on the first train to Hogwarts in fact, favor for Dumbledore...her uncle bloody left her in the middle of nowhere trying to take her to a detention school. I'm not one to sabotage whatever she's doing... there's just a lot of us who'd at least like to know she's alive if there's any faith to be had in this war," Dirk clarified.

"Lizzie?" Gornuck asked.

"Azalea Potter," Ted said. There was a grunt of recognition.

"I reckon she is, she's sort of a cockroach about surviving... I think she could eat the head of a nuclear war missile and would be the only thing alive in miles," Dean said. Dirk laughed.

"I reckon your best friend isn't Charlie Weasley..." Dirk said.

"No, her and Seamus broke up, stupid bloke... I told him... but I don't think she was really ready either. I was with Ginny for a while. She said Lizzie probably would never get over what happened to Diggory... she's with Ron's brother?" Dean asked.

"Sure, well it seemed like it at Bill's wedding... he's been shaken up bad by the cruciatus, the death eaters nabbed him after the wedding. But he's alright, staying with his brother, Bill," Dirk said.

"My daughter and son-in-law are close to her as well... but I don't know her very well," Ted said.

"Remus loves her, but he was her father's and Black's best friend... I think he would have adopted her a long time ago if they had let him... but..." Dirk said.

"Is it true what they're writing about her?" Griphook asked.

"I stopped entertaining a word the minute I saw the bit about her killing Diggory. She loved him...everyone bloody knew that. Something in her died with him I reckon," Dean said. There was a minute of sobering silence.

"Remus saw Black go through the execution veil and had to pull her back from going in after him. She did kill Pettigrew, he framed Black and betrayed James and Lily, reason they're dead. I reckon her uncle and husband too... but she showed up at headquarters that summer beaten and raped by those creeps. They deserved it as far as I'm concerned... Dumbledore... I don't think she'd have that in her, but she was furious with him for a number of reasons," Dirk explained.

"Look, I know Lizzie, she's capable of slicing someone's head off, definitely, but not without damn good cause. She'll also jump into fire for anyone who needs help. Righteous to a fault, but not evil... just not one to cross either..." Dean said. "I think she's the only one with a shot at You-Know-Who. I'd like to think she's in hiding figuring out a way to do so... it's not like her to hide for her safety, she's not scared to die, I've always thought that she probably wants to," he added.

"Unless they've already done away with her and haven't written about it," Ted interjected.

"Oh, please don't say that..." Dirk said sadly. "The only comfort in that would be imagining the look on Jamie's face when he gets his little girl back. That all broke my heart. He was the same as you say, righteous to a fault. No business being a dad at his age, immature idiot in most respects when he left Hogwarts. Lily really did a number on him, but being a family man came so naturally, you'd forget he could be sort of an arrogant arsehole. Loved her like nothing else," Dirk laughed.

"So, what happened to Ginny?" Dean asked after a long pause. "The sword..." he clarified.

"Oh, she and her friends were punished cruelly. I think Snape had the two death eater professors administer..." Griphook stated.

"They're alright though? The Weasleys don't need another kid injured," Dirk asked.

"I'm unsure if there was any serious damage. The girl was close to Potter you said, I'm sure that didn't fare well to her advantage," Griphook said.

"Bloody Christ," Dean mumbled bitterly and tossed a plate down in some resonating frustration.

"We should move on... seek some better shelter..." Ted said. Lizzie shot wide eyes at eyes at Hermione.

"We can house them here," she said impulsively.

"Are you barking mad!?" Ron hissed.

"That's Creswell, Dean, and Tonk's father! We're just going to let them wander around waiting for capture!" Lizzie hissed back.

"Two goblins with them? Can't trust goblins, Lizzie, Dirk would tell you that!" Ron retorted.

"We can obliviate them then, let them use this place and we'll move on... they need something safe," Lizzie said impatiently and made her way for the door to head them off, both nervous, and excited to see familiar faces, but Ron gripped her arm hard.

"No!" He said and shoved her as he let go. Lizzie was rather frightened of the look on his face and conceded, but he sat down to cool off.

Hermione put the ears away and reached down into the bag to pull out the portrait of Nigellus which was empty. Lizzie looked at her curiously while she asked him to move into this painting from his double at Hogwarts.

He grumbled indignantly until he saw Lizzie. "Oh, the elusive Miss Potter, pleasure," he said with a snide undertone.

"Always a pleasure, Fineus," Lizzie shot back bitterly. "Hermione, what are you -"

"Professor Black, we were wondering if we could ask you something," Hermione said politely. He grimaced at her and raised his eyebrows.

"Why have you taken me from my home?" He asked sharply.

"My home. I own that home - and by extension -" Lizzie barked impatiently.

"No - my nephew did not have the right to pass it along to a God child!" He shouted.

"Well, he did - so -" Lizzie interjected indignantly. He glared at her.

"Where have you taken me?" He asked with venom in his voice.

"So that you can tell Snape where I am, nice try," Lizzie laughed.

"We wanted to ask you about what happened to the sword of Gryffindor in the headmaster's office," Hermione blurted out before more arguing could ensue.

"Ah... that foolish little girl acted stupidly, but Professor Snape dealt with the situation swiftly," Fineus said dismissively.

"What did he do to her?" Lizzie growled.

"She served detention with Amicus Carrow while the Longbottom idiot and Lovegood oddity did tasks in the forbidden forest with the oaf Hagrid," Fineus said.

Lizzie swallowed and grimaced in pain. "What did Amicus do to her?" Lizzie hissed.

"I imagine nothing good because she's so closely associated with the likes of you, stupid girl," he shot back.

"Fuck," Lizzie muttered. "I'm going to rip them limb from fucking limb..." Her hands were shaking, and her heart was ready to seize at the thought of him laying a hand on her. Ron had hands buried his hair as he looked straight down at the table with a glare that could have sent it on fire.

"Was the sword removed any time prior to that?" Hermione asked in croaked voice.

"The last I recall seeing it removed was when Professor Dumbledore used it to break open a ring," Fineus said. Lizzie whipped her head around as she paced and exchanged a look of sudden, complete understanding with Hermione.

"Nigellus, what do you know about Estrella Black?" Lizzie asked when it was obvious that he was getting ready to retreat.

He had an astonished and flushed look on his face. "Whatever you know about that is false," he spat reproachfully.

"I know nothing about it, tell us the truth and set it straight why don't you?" Lizzie asked.

"My grandson did what he had to do to prune our tree, her fate was not intended to be that - we were not - she - there was much regret - but means to an end," he stammered.

"What are you talking about, what happened to her?" Lizzie asked.

"She was killed. Her father was sent... he had been sent her... head... but that wasn't the intention, we did know she was in any danger," he said defensively.

Lizzie's mouth fell open and she looked around at Hermione. Was there another they had to find? Was she a seventh? Lizzie thought he would stop splitting his soul when it reached seven fragments, not seven horcruxes. Fineus said something bitter to Hermione and left the frame. Lizzie paced feverishly.

"Goblin made, can goblin made things destroy horcruxes?" Lizzie asked, hopefully, thinking they could get anything goblin made much more easily than the sword. Charlie had a goblin knife, and he was at Bills.

"No, I don't think that alone will do it, depending on what type of object it is. Perhaps something you pliable that you could stab could... but... OF COURSE!" Hermione shouted.

"Goblin made objects only take in that which makes it stronger. You stabbed the basilisk with it, so it's impregnated with the venom... that's why it's able to..." Hermione reasoned. Lizzie nodded in understanding and continued pacing.

"And Estrella? You reckon that's a seventh? What could that have been?" Lizzie asked. Hermione shrugged and shook her head in thought.

"Ron?" Lizzie asked. He was still glaring at the table. His eyes were welling with tears, but his expression was horrifying.

"For fucks sake, Lizzie, if there are two more things we've got to find..." he hissed. Lizzie froze at his ice-cold demeanor.

"That's not really something I have any control over, I didn't make the damn horcruxes," she said.

"Yeah, well maybe if you hadn't been so bloody hostile to Dumbledore, maybe if you could bring yourself to trust him, he would have told you SOMETHING, he would have given you more information..." Ron responded.

"I've told you everything he told me. I had the connection to Riddle, not him... he..." Lizzie said defensively.

"He didn't trust you! You scared him!" Ron bellowed.

"I didn't trust him either, if you don't remember he let me get beaten and raped until I was a rampaging parasite!" Lizzie yelled back.

"Yeah, and speaking of that, if that creep laid his hands on my sister looking for information on you, I will personally strangle the life out of you myself," Ron said with venom in his voice.

"Ron!" Hermione shrieked.

"No! You can't tell me you don't feel it, that you don't see it! You don't see her for what she fucking is!" He said hotly, pointing a finger at Lizzie with boiling hatred.

Hermione gaped. "A curse!" He roared.

"When you wear this at night, do you see it? Because I do. She sits at this table and stares. She stalks around like some sort of animal almost. Like a presence, or a ghost, I know you've seen it, I can see the recognition of exactly what I'm talking about written all over your face!" He barked at Hermione who flinched.

"You're scaring her," Lizzie said. Ron approached her close and looked ready to kill. There was something mean in his eyes, they were nearly red with rage.

"I'm scaring her, Lizzie!? Me!?" He yelled.

"Ron!" Hermione shouted. Her face was petrified in shock.

"We went back to your nightmare childhood just to confirm you killed six fucking children and three men! Only for two girls to die, one orphaning her children, not even twenty-four hours after just SEEING you! You're a CURSE, we got NOTHING out of that but more death," he jabbed with no regard for the tears pooling in her eyes.

"My family has been nothing but on the chopping block because of you. Ginny was used as bait to get to you, and she still bloody is! My dad almost died! I almost died! I've put my life on the line over and over, just so my brothers could get mauled, maimed, and tortured! It must be nice knowing yours are out of the way!" He continued relentlessly.

"Mine are dead! I have watched everyone I love get murdered IN FRONT OF ME, less the two of you! You don't think this doesn't hurt!? I love you and Ginny! I love your parents! I love your brother!" Lizzie was choking on her words through sobs but a sharp crack broke her breath in half with a deafening shock.

"RON!" Hermione shrieked but it was muffled in Lizzie's ears, she was on her knees reeling in pain. The locket crashed at her feet and the door slammed. Lizzie fell against the wall and slumped onto her butt on the floor. Hermione ran after him and the only thing Lizzie could hear was her heart beat and ringing ears. She lifted a hand to her cheekbone just askew from her lower eye and could feel the crushed point of a bone. She couldn't open that eye, it watered and she cried. When she looked up she saw the figure at the table staring and shook with apprehension.

When she thought both of them had left, she curled up with her knees to her chest and rocked in pain of a shattered heart. As much as she didn't want either of them in danger, she didn't want to be alone. The door opened and Hermione came into partial focus. She rummaged through her bag for something to put on her face and her hands shook in the process.

"Is he gone?" Lizzie whispered. Hermione started crying.

"I couldn't stop him," she cried. Lizzie's lower lip trembled and tears ran down her face. She leaned forward to hug her but Hermione backed away and sat at the table with her head buried. It felt unreal, she felt displaced from everything.

"You see her, don't you?" Lizzie asked quietly. Hermione neither confirmed nor denied.

"I think my dreams... have been your memories," Hermione admitted with blood stained eyes.

"What?" Lizzie breathed and got up on wobbly legs to sit down across from her.

"There's one of you curled up next to Claire laughing, but another of you striking her with something in the face repeatedly. Snakes... everywhere... she was screaming for you to stop and you catch and struggle with your hand until you bash your head against a mirror. That happened, didn't it?" Hermione asked. Lizzie nodded.

"He had me on medication, for schizophrenia and it broke something in my mind when I took it..." Lizzie admitted quietly. "She got me to a hospital and tried to take me home to live with her, but couldn't. It was the last time I'd seen her until..."

"He tried to drown you, didn't he? After that? In a bathtub? Your aunt stopped him," Hermione whispered. Lizzie stared down her trembling hands.

"But he hit her, he pushed her from the bathroom, and then he held your head under while he..." Hermione continued but Lizzie started shaking her head furiously.

"You've seen..."

"I can almost feel it... Lizzie... I wake up scared feeling nearly murdered myself. And then the eye... that girl Bethany. If that alone wasn't horrifying enough, watching you get him a belt so he could beat you absolutely bloody... I've woken up vomiting thinking it can't be a figment of my own imagination, that it must be memories..." Hermione was crying.

"I can wear this by myself, Lizzie. It makes me want to die... every time I get desperate for that... the train... I just hear that train," Hermione sobbed. Lizzie clasped her hands in hers from across the table.

"No... we won't wear it. We won't wear it unless we're traveling. When we're here, we'll put it in the pouch," Lizzie said. "We should have done that all along. Ron... he... I'm so sorry," Lizzie croaked in a defeated voice.

Hermione shook her head. "I think I would have thrown Dumbledore off the astronomy tower if I were you and I'd know that he let that happen..." she said after a long pause. "You were terrified of your uncle, just his steps, the way he looked at you, his presence in a room... my muscles cramp up at the thought of that constant presence. I've always thought you fearless, but you're terrified, of all of this, aren't you?"

Lizzie nodded and entwined her fingers together around the back of her neck while she stared at the table. "Some things are worse than dying, I'm not scared of dying..." she whispered.

"Does it still hurt?" Hermione asked, gesturing to her face. "It's getting black, but the bone should have healed by now. I don't have a solution for bruising though. I have something you can drink but if you can hold off, we should save it," Hermione explained.

"The only thing that actually hurts is that he did it," Lizzie said. Her face did hurt, badly, but it was nothing on the torn chunk out of her heart Ron took with him.

"We should stay for a couple more days in case he comes back, then we should plan to head out," Lizzie said finally. Hermione sunk into a fresh wave of tears and Lizzie kissed her head before she retreated to the bedroom.

Estrella was on her mind, but she didn't know if any of the girls from Sacred Heart could have possibly been related to the Black family. On that note, she considered who was left to solve. Nadine, Bethany, Daisy, and among Riddle's were Leah, Nora, Milly, Nagini, and now Estrella. Bethany couldn't have roots with Riddle's generation, not traceable ones, but Beth could have been related to Lisa. Lisa's father had two sisters who married within the church shortly before Beth would have been born, she'd be willing to bet one of them married Raegan Lawrence.

Lizzie didn't know of any Zabels in the congregation though, nor the original surnames of either Leah or Adrianna. She combed through every newspaper clipping Hermione had on the girls, her own journal entries, letters from anyone and everyone they'd gotten their hands on. She needed air and pulled on her jean jacket to step outside in the crisp winter air. She sat down on the porch and looked out over the dark lake, hugging herself at her knees when she heard a crunch of paper in the inner pocket. She reached for it and frowned around a sharp intrusive memory of digging it out of her uncle's study in the locked drawer. Presumably when she'd woken in the cupboard because she didn't recall anything of the sorts when they mock-toured the house.

Lizzie held her wand lit with her teeth and folded open the papers as she smoothed them out on her thigh.

"Vernon,

You're my only son, duly beloved, I respect both your head of house authority since your father died, and I admire your dedication to our family. I ask you only one favor, in that Margie should not be wed to Ross. He is an awful man, unholy in roots, he will not set her on a righteous path. This is a man who defiled himself by fornication with gypsies. His clarity and devotion to God only came into being when he claims to have witnessed a man in his companion get devoured by a serpent. He called it an enlightenment from the devil himself to steer right by God, but I reckon he is unhinged and not of sound mind, perhaps under the influence still of heresy. I know only you are allowed to offer Margie the choice, I implore you to do so. She is everything a Cyprian girl should be. I have respect for Ross in that he chose a better path, but I question his intentions, and do not think he is suitable for your sister, for my daughter, I do think your father would agree. Please reconsider your blessing.

Yours,
Mom"

"He punished her for getting pregnant," Lizzie whispered to herself. "Ross -" Lizzie frowned at the sky. She barely remembered him. He died when Marge was about thirty but helped found the school. She'd met him once, maybe twice at a very young age. He was rather old, she'd thought, but that wasnt unusual after all.

Lizzie turned the paper over and saw scrawled on the back in barely legible writing. "No time - she's pregnant. Damien doesn't want children."

Lizzie exhaled and wondered if the serpent was Nagini. If the man he claims was eaten alive was one of the men Adrianna was sold to. That would fit Daisy into the equation. She wasn't Ross's child, but did that matter? Damien didn't want children, Ross didn't want to raise another man's baby, not an inbred baby. Surely Marge didn't want to keep her uncle's baby either, Lizzie didn't blame her, and would have pitied her if she didn't condone the abuse in others. She always said the devil himself broke that woman, and apparently he had.

Lizzie wondered why she didn't remember swiping this letter. She pulled out a second, this one from Dumbledore to Petunia.

"Mrs. Petunia Dursley,

I am very sorry to have to inform you that your sister Lily, and her husband James Potter tragically lost their lives this evening. I'm uncertain if your sister has had the opportunity or the intention of informing you about the gravity of war our world has been in for several years now. Her and her husband stood strong against forces that sought to dismantle our divide with your world, and the leave non-magical vulnerable to control and manipulation by some of the most insidious wielders of magic that our kind has ever witnessed.

The man at the forefront of that movement, known as Lord Voldemort, and feared above all by most of our world, visited their home they sought safe refuge in, and murdered both your brother-in-law, James, and your sister, Lily. Their daughter, Azalea, survived. It's unclear precisely how, she having taken the same curse as both her parents. It should comfort you some to know that this threat has ceased, for the time being as he has disappeared. Our world is indebted to your niece in that regard.

We believe you sister's love for her daughter shielded her from the same fate. Azalea is nonetheless in terrible danger, and as you probably already know, has no other living family or relatives. She is a very sweet child with her mother's purest spirits. Accounts from those close to the family have always esteemed her an absolute joy, a kindred spirit, and wise beyond her years. You will surely see your sister in more than just her eyes and appearance. In a very literal sense, Lily lives in her skin, and that love kept and will continue to keep her alive.

In fullest disclosure, James and Lily did not want her in yours or you husband's charge if something happened, but I feel it is the only option. I have erected what we refer to as a blood ward on your home, shielding Azalea from Voldemort and anyone acting on his behalf. So long as she can call your house her home, all of you are protected. This is the only home I can accomplish this with, as you are the only person who shares their blood bond. I hope you find in yourself to prove her parents' reservations wrong and raise her as your own.

I understand the burden this creates on your life, but I beg you to see her from the eyes of a mother, to consider your sister, and help protect her daughter.

My condolences and best regards,
Albus Dumbledore"

Lizzie fought the urge to spit on his name and crumbled the paper in her palm. She closed her eyes and pressed the back of her head against the wall she sat against.

"Protect me..." Lizzie scoffed and felt a weight in her stomach. She put a hand where the weight was, and Petunia's voice came into focus.

"What are you doing?" She asked with a flushed face. Lizzie looked up and rolled her shirt down over the abdomen she swore was swelling slightly, maybe it was her imagination, but she'd felt extremely sick. The way her uncle had grabbed her chest the night prior made her suspicious. They hurt like they were slightly swollen as well.

"Nothing," Lizzie said and swallowed.

Her aunt left and came back a moment later with a basket full of junk from the other bathroom. She pulled a white stick from the pile and handed it to Lizzie. "Take it, now," she said sharply, and her eyes darted to the toilet. Lizzie hesitated but obliged.

"What happened to your arm?" Petunia asked, noticing the scar from the dark mark Voldemort had crudely cut in the graveyard before the most recent term ended.

"Um, nothing," Lizzie croaked. "Can I have some privacy?" She asked. Petunia left but could be heard just outside the door.

Lizzie set it on the counter and closed her eyes with fists full of hair and counted backwards from one thousand. Petunia banged on the door when she'd hit 867 and opened it with no regard for privacy. Before Lizzie could check the results for herself, Petunia grabbed the stick and trembled a little.

"Is it his, has he?" She breathed. Lizzie rubbed her mouth and was lost in shock, but shook her head, her uncle hadn't gone that far yet. Not this time, in his book she was married. She always knew when she woke up if he had, and she'd been rationed on sedatives as it was. "Damien's," Petunia breathed. "I told him not to leave you here with him," she said quietly and wiped her eye with a fist. "He doesn't want children, he never has," she said.

Lizzie thought it could be his, but something told her it was just as likely someone else's. Someone who would be both overjoyed and absolutely mortified if he hadn't been murdered in that graveyard. Lizzie thought about the nights they spent together preparing for the final task. Arguably too much liquor, they practically spent the nights in a deserted classroom.

"Come on," Petunia said abruptly. "Car now, before he gets home," she said.

They were on the roadway before Lizzie said anything. "They'll excommunicate you for this, all of you," she said it because part of her didn't want to do this. It was irrational and stupid; she couldn't go to school and have a baby by Easter holiday. Voldemort wanted her dead, what would he do to her like this? But she selfishly wanted a piece of what she lost.

Petunia tightened her grip on the wheel and pulled over off to the side of the road. She sighed heavily with resolve. "I'm doing this because we both know he or Damien will take a coat hanger to you and leave you for dead if they find out. They'd blame it on you to protect themselves and I can't-" Petunia rubbed her mouth.

"It's not Damien's," Lizzie said quietly.

"That boy you ran off with?" She hissed and glared at her niece. Petunia slapped her the moment she nodded.

"You know well enough that he'll take a belt to you just for breathing wrong, which is why I rarely ever tell him anything. But this... I could ring your neck for this. Damn it, Lizzie!" She beat her hand against the wheel and pressed her forehead into it in frustration. "That's the last thing I'd think you of all people would want to do with anyone," she added.

"Yes, I'm sorry for not being a proper victim. Really ashamed I haven't let your fucking husband ruin it all for me. So sorry I found someone that treated me with just a hair of dignity, I know your bloody congregation frowns on that. I'll be sure to mention it to Father Simon at confession so he can beat me in the prayer room," Lizzie said sarcastically. Petunia's glare was hateful.

"Could you go live with him?" She asked, perking up at the possibility it was a way out of the house for good. Lizzie just couldn't tell if the thinly veiled excitement at the prospect was for her own sake or Lizzie's.

"He's... dead..." Lizzie said quietly and stared out of the window not wanting to make eye contact with the severely disappointed woman next to her. Petunia groaned under her breath, offering no condolences, and then pulled out onto the roadway a little too aggressively. They parked at a medical center close to London so she wouldn't risk being seen.

Her aunt waited in the parking lot, but Lizzie was out far too soon, holding back an intense urge to cry. "Did you?" Petunia asked.

"Get told I was too young and needed to be more careful? Yes, even filled my name in is Ima Hugh Slut. But get rid of it? No..." Lizzie said with contempt and crossed her arms across her chest as she sunk in passenger's seat. Petunia stared at her for more, clearly not leaving until she went back in. "They ran three tests, first two were positive. Then they did an ultrasound for a heartbeat, and it sounded like a hummingbird, but it faded, so they did a different kind of ultrasound that wasn't the least bit comfortable, and the screen was black. By the time something showed up, nothing was there, no heartbeat. They ran another test, negative. Nothing to get rid of, phantom child. I don't know what happened...maybe you scared it off," Lizzie explained.

"How far along?" She asked.

"Well, there was heartbeat, couldn't be the devil surgeons. End of May, likely," Lizzie said bitterly.

"Did he..." Petunia asked nervously.

"Did he what?" Lizzie asked sharply.

"Do what I overheard him tell Vernon he was going to do?" She struggled to say. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel.

"He took his belt to me," Lizzie said and coughed. "I got one dose of tranquilizer but then... well I used the rest on him and then convinced him to get lost the rest of the time you were gone," Lizzie said without a sliver of remorse.

Lizzie swore Petunia fought a smirk. "I never liked him," she said. "They go way back, and... well... I've never liked him," she added apologetically. "I told your uncle to give up, Lizzie. But he doesn't like to lose..."

"Yeah... you're a real knight in shining armor, Petunia," Lizzie mumbled bitterly.

"My hands are tied," she snapped back.

"And you held them out for binding, didn't you?" Lizzie said far too reproachfully for Petunia's liking.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that. I bit a bullet to take you," she hissed.

"Really? Did he beat you for it? I reckon he did. I'm sure he at least let you cry though, didn't he? I bet you screamed like the scared, meek, stupid bitch he turned you into," Lizzie shot back. She felt a hand on the hair at the crown of her head and then a sharp crack when her forehead hit the dash.

"Talk to me like that again and I'll make sure he RUINS you!" Petunia growled. Lizzie laughed a little insanely under her breath, but it turned into an exasperated cry.

"He already did," Lizzie said almost too quietly for her aunt to hear.

Silence ensued and Lizzie pinched back a bleeding nose. They pulled into the driveway, and she turned off the ignition, but sat there for a while. "How did he die?" Petunia asked and Lizzie shot her wide eyes.

"The man who murdered my parents... killed him... we were abducted. I watched him... like my mum..." Lizzie said in a small voice and rubbed her forearm over the mark nervously.

Petunia was pale and her hands trembled a little. "You need to get inside, Lizzie," she said finally. "Stay inside." As Lizzie exited the car, her aunt reached for her head, but retracted a hand, then returned it on the crown and rubbed it gently. "I'm... I'm sorry," she whispered, but Lizzie ignored her and went inside to scribble out furious letters to Sirius and her friends. She stared at the picture of Cedric on the table long enough to feel his arm around her abdomen in close embrace. The screen wasn't black, the heartbeat never faded, she just wanted Cedric back and didn't have time to consider anything rational through the grief. The phantom hand stayed on her stomach until it went cold, and Lizzie shivered under the dead weight she imaged next to her. It wasn't more than a few weeks before her uncle and his horrible friend had taken care of it, they just didn't realize it at the time.

Lizzie exhaled a deep breath and looked back out onto the lake. She felt a thin veil that separated those who despised, and wanted her to suffer immeasurably, and those who genuinely cared. Some, like Petunia, lived in center. Others crossed over like Ron, some dipped their toe on the other side like Remus, and Hermione strayed as clear from the veil as possible, but at her own expense, not to be tempted.

What she couldn't promise was any return or reward for loyalty, she couldn't promise to keep them alive or safe... they were expected to have faith in her when she had none in herself.

The chilling reality that she didn't know if she'd ever see Ron again hit like rock to the center of chest. Remus was hiding Tonks. Dirk was free. Yaxley was planted. They had one horcrux, and they knew what would destroy it. Charlie was with Bill. Ginny was trapped at Hogwarts, but she had McGonagall and Neville in her corner.

She wanted to go to Godrics Hollow before Albania. Now that they knew the sword was hidden somewhere for them to find, she thought the birthplace of Gryffindor himself was the best bet. They needed to destroy the horcrux before they found anymore. The locket had torn them apart both from each other and within themselves, she knew they wouldn't survive with more living pieces of him in their possession.