Chapter 4
A whole day had passed but Derek had not moved from his position from the window of the loft. One or two times when Hedwig had hooted, he had got up to fetch her food and water. But other than that, he was rooted to his spot, still clutching the letter, staring at nothing. He had lost count of how many times he had read every word of the parchment, looking for any clue, hoping for it to be a big joke. But there was none, only cold, bitter truth. His beloved little sister, whom he sometimes thought of as his daughter, had gone to join the war alone.
Actually, she was not alone. As she clearly said, Ron and Hermione would also be joining her on this mission. Huh! Yes, of course. It was always those three. It was never him or Laura. He could almost swear that Amara considered them to be her family more than the Hales. All the adventures they had, all the things they did, she never shared anything with them. It's not like she never said anything. She used to give a gist of what happened. But when it came to the details, the trio was always tight-lipped. Even about this mission, or Dumbledore's special classes throughout the year that she had told about, or Snape's occlumency lessons last year, she never shared what exactly happened in them. And a month ago, in one of her letters, she had mentioned finding a way that could finally take Voldemort down. But again, the details were obscured.
Laura never minded about these things. She always said that sometimes, you can be more open to someone of your age for confiding in your troubles and sufferings. And Derek would have been okay with that if the matter hadn't always been linked with her life being in danger, and if she was never privy to any of the adults. But he was wrong, as there was one person, whom she had started to include in their conversations, their upcoming pranks or actions, or sometimes, even her deepest secrets. Sirius, her godfather, who just suddenly appeared out of nowhere in her life after twelve years, and automatically became her father-figure, best friend, and maybe even her older brother. In her 5th year, when it was established that she had a mental connection to Voldemort, she confessed her feelings and fears to him first out of all the people. And then, when Sirius died in the battle of the Department of Mysteries – he had heard this when he had accidentally eavesdropped on one of the conversations of Ron and Hermione – Amara almost jumped into the Veil right along with her godfather, and if it wasn't Remus to grab her…he didn't want to think what would have happened.
The most disturbing fact of it was how easily she threw her brother and sister's concerns over to unite with this godfather who hadn't even been present for half of her lifetime, while the Hales were her family, even though they were not related by birth. Okay, maybe he provided a connection for her to know her real parents. But that's it! He wasn't there for any of her birthdays, he wasn't there when she first went to school, he wasn't there to comfort her when she was five and had started having nightmares, he wasn't there to tell her that she was a witch, he wasn't there even when she started going to Hogwarts. It was them, for God's sake! And yet, this Azkaban-escaped convict suddenly became more important to her than them.
Now, this was the limit. She just decided to embark on this dangerous journey and informed him over a letter. A LETTER! As if this would explain everything! Derek felt like ripping his hair off, as he thought on and on about the various reasons why she decided not to confide in him on whatever they were planning to do. The things that she wrote in the letter, about him being the rightful alpha and taking care of his pack, or it is troublesome for him to travel there to accompany them; were they the only reasons for her not to include him in this journey? Or there was more to that? Did she not trust him enough, as she trusted her friends? Or did she think of him as not being capable enough to assist her, to protect her? Did she think of him as a failure? After all, he had failed his family. If it wasn't for him trusting that Kate Argent, the Hales would still be alive. If he had been careful enough, he would have been able to stop Laura from coming to Beacon Hills and then be killed by their uncle, Peter. These thoughts, they always haunted him, since the day their family perished in the Hale fire. And no matter how many times Laura had tried to talk him out of it, he used to get them time and again. The way he felt about himself, did Amara feel the same way about him too? Is that the reason, she chose to go on this suicide mission, leaving him behind?
The door of the loft opened as someone crept in, and suddenly the letter from Derek's hand was snatched off. At once he jumped and whirled around, flashing his alpha eyes and snarling, baring his fangs towards the intruder. But as soon as he did, he forced it back. Standing before him was his uncle – who had killed Laura to become the rogue alpha and carry out his vengeance spree; by ripping whose throat out Derek became the alpha; and who resurrected himself by using an old family ritual with the help of a girl named Lydia – Peter Hale.
"Relax…no need to kill me." Drawled the former alpha, eyes still glued to the letter.
"I can always try," Derek retorted, trying to grab it back, but failed. After a few minutes, with a "Hmph", he folded the letter and gave it back to him.
"Well, it wasn't as if she did something unexpected."
"What do you mean?" Derek stared at him in confusion.
"Oh, come on." Peter rolled his eyes, "as if you have no idea what's going on out there."
"And I suppose you have?"
"Of course! As soon as I was woken up from my coma, along with formulating my plans…", Derek raised an eyebrow at that, "I also tried to find out everything that has been going on in that world."
"Why were you so interested in it?" Derek narrowed his eyes as he asked the question. Peter wouldn't do anything without an ulterior motive. He had got to learn that within these past six months.
The said omega scoffed, "To know about my favourite niece of course!... Although, I was never her favourite uncle." Derek snorted at that, "And when a part of our family is linked to them, don't you think it's kind of imperative to be a little aware and updated?"
"Although I have to agree with you on this, I still don't believe you to be concerned about Amara. You wanted to make her a werewolf when you were the alpha, after all. Remember?"
He was right. When Peter revealed himself as the murderous alpha to Derek, he had made up a false story – in which he was a mere victim, who under the influence of the full moon, after six years of staying in a coma, lost his control and killed Laura – convincing him to join his side. He had planned to convince Scott first to join their side as well, which only seemed fair to Derek as technically Scott was his beta. However, one day he had proposed including Amara into this as soon as she comes home for the holidays and had also said that he was thinking about giving her the bite. That was the first warning bell in Derek's head, which made him start to suspect about his uncle's treachery and his actual motives, although the rest was revealed by Scott before they teamed up against the alpha to kill him.
"For her own safety, idiot!" Peter exclaimed, "Because the moment I found out that You-know-Who is back, I knew this was going to happen someday. Honestly, Derek! Did you really expect her to come back cryyyiiing to you and hide in her brother's safe arms? If you did then you are the biggest idiot in the world!"
"I never did!" Derek shouted, "I know how she is. But…"
"But what? Come on! Even after the blood of Hale running through her veins after that blood adoption, she is and always will be James and Lily Potter's daughter, after all!", Peter paused, then started speaking in a low voice, "We had seen them, me and Talia, during the First War. Freshly graduated from Hogwarts, just seventeen or eighteen years old. Could have done so much with their life. But instead joined the Order of the Phoenix, to fight for the cause. Impulsive, and stupid…incredibly stupid, I must say…but very brave, and noble. Talia always used to admire the lot of them." He became a little solemn reminiscing his sister.
"I know. Even I have seen her for these last six years." Derek spoke quietly. Peter crossed his arms.
"You're thinking you could've gone with her, right?" Peter raised his brows questioningly, to which Derek nodded.
"She has already been close to death so many times. And…this – this is not just an ordinary potential attack on her…this is a BLOODY WAR we're talking about! And she is the main target as always! What if…" Derek trailed off as a lump rose in his throat.
"What more can you do?" asked Peter. "Even if you were with her, your help could only do so much. You don't even know what they are upto. And besides, don't forget they're wizards. What's a normal werewolf like you compared to them who can just blast you off with a simple wave of their wands? Or cause you immense torture without even having to detain you? They can also disappear and appear in an instant, without your notice! That's why the last time, we kept our fights majorly limited to only the werewolves of the lot. Or the other creatures that we could at least tackle."
"Then I would've done that only! Something…anything to protect her! Anything is better than just sitting here waiting for the news and doing nothing, while my sister goes to fight this war, in which there's always a possibility that I may never see her again!" he exclaimed, feeling a familiar sense of anger bubbling inside him.
A bundle of emotions including anguish, anger, sadness, and helplessness flashed in his moss-green eyes. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He could feel himself losing control, for the first time in six years. He closed his eyes and curled his fingers into fists, focusing on his breathing, but this just seemed to make it worse. Unable to handle this any longer, he strode towards the opposite wall and punched it hard. Then he went towards the sitting area and pushed everything on the table onto the floor, then toppled the table over as well. He kept throwing things here and there, letting out every bit of his pain and torment that he had been withholding for all these years. His first love's death, family's death, betrayal of that one Argent woman, seeing Amara's suffering for all these years and the frustration of not being able to help her, Laura's death, and now Amara leaving him…but mostly, his own failure. His failure at being a lover, a son, a brother, and now an alpha. When he finally collapsed within himself and sank to his knees, the loft looked like a mini-tornado had occurred in the room. Hedwig had already flown away higher and perched on a beam by the ceiling, sometime in the middle of this tirade. He pulled his hair and let out a grief-filled scream and started taking ragged breaths as tears trickled down his face buried in his hands.
Peter slowly took steps towards the broken figure and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You can do something in your own way. Like first of all, finding Erica and Boyd as soon as possible. And don't forget that the Alpha Pack is still after you, and we still have no clue about their whereabouts. So, you already have plenty of things on your plate to focus on, rather than just sitting idle."
Derek looked up at him. Peter continued, "Amara is right. If you were still a beta, then I might have suggested you to go find your sister, after this spectacular view of your wallowing", he rolled his eyes at Derek's narrowed ones, "but you're an alpha now, who needs to take care of his pack, no matter how much it is filled with incompetent and whiny teenagers."
Peter took a seat in one of the chairs as Derek slowly stood up. "And besides, don't think that just because we are here, the war won't have its effects on us, at all."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, even though Amara wrote that she was not coming here due to her fear of the Death Eaters following her, that doesn't mean they would never come here. Firstly, due to all the enemies, we made as a result of the First Wizarding War. And secondly being the direct relatives of Amara after James and Lily. Don't you think they can plan an attack on us just to lure her in?"
Derek's eyes widened as realization set in. Why did he never think about this? It was so obvious. And not just them, the whole town as well, because they were not the kind to give mercy to anyone. The more he thought about this, the more steeled his expressions became.
"We'd need to be prepared." And for the first time in a long while, they agreed on the same thing.
August 1, 2011
Amaryllis Potter leaned up against one of the golden pillars on the edge of the crowded dance floor. She was wearing a beautiful silver dress which was given by Fleur especially for their wedding, which greatly complimented her looks – well, her fake looks, to be honest. She had taken a large dose of Polyjuice Potion just before the wedding, adding hairs of a redheaded muggle from a nearby village which Fred had summoned so that nobody recognizes her. She was to go by 'Cousin Mary', to which she had barely bit back a grimace. After all, what's with a name when they were going to leave within a few hours?
She watched as the couples were dancing to Weird Sister's songs. Ron and Hermione were swaying in the middle of the dance floor with smiles on their faces, Ginny was dancing with Lee Jordan, Fred and George had long since disappeared with a pair of Fleur's cousins, Charlie, Hagrid, and a squat wizard in a purple porkpie hat were singing 'Odo the Hero" in a corner. While she watched them, she was lost in her own thoughts, especially about the conversation she had with Elphias Doge and Aunt Muriel moments earlier. About Dumbledore's childhood, about his family, his sister Ariana being a squib. Was she really locked away in her own house while Dumbledore went off to attend Hogwarts, leaving her to her fate? Was their mother really abusive to her? And what about Ariana's death? How did that happen? That was a big puzzle, because none of the two adults was sure, what caused it. But Muriel suspected it was Dumbledore's fault somehow, as his brother had claimed so during their sister's funeral. And that's what boggled her mind even more. Surely that can't be true. Such cruelty was happening inside his home, and Dumbledore would not intervene in it at all? That seemed so unbelievable, and yet undoubtedly there was something odd to the story.
But the biggest shock she got was when she heard that Dumbledore's family lived in Godric's Hollow and so does Bathilda Bagshot. Never once, in six years, had Dumbledore told Amaryllis that they had both lived and lost loved ones in Godric's Hollow. Why? Were Lily and James buried close to Dumbledore's mother and sister? Had Dumbledore visited their graves, perhaps walked past Lily's and James's to do so? And he had never once told her . . . never bothered to say . . . And why it was so important, Amaryllis could not explain even to herself, yet she felt it had been tantamount to a lie not to tell her that they had this place and these experiences in common. She stared ahead of her, barely noticing what was going on around her, when a hand tapped on her shoulder, making her turn to face a familiar blond Hufflepuff. Ernest Macmillan.
"Hey, 'Lisa!", he breathed beaming at her.
"Ernie!", she squeaked, "– I mean…um…my name is Mary," said Amaryllis flummoxed, silently cursing herself. Ernie chuckled.
"Your friend Luna told me, you're here."
"Oh", she said, a little relieved. She thought that the effects of the potion were wearing off.
"Wow! You look… unrecognizable!" whether it was a compliment or not it surely managed to make her blush and giggle a bit.
"Yeah, that's the idea, actually!", she retorted playfully, "You also seem to have cleaned up nicely." She complimented him, giving a once over at his elegant blue robes. They really brought out his crystal blue eyes, she thought.
"So, why are you standing here alone? Where's the other two of the three musketeers?"
"They're over there." She pointed to her two best friends on the floor. "And how come you know about three musketeers?" she asked.
"Justin used to read that book during our first year."
"Oh", she became a little solemn. Justin is a muggleborn Hufflepuff and Ernie's best friend. Who knows what he's going through right now?
"Did you hear from him recently?"
"Nope. Sent so many owls after coming back home, but no reply." Ernie tried to sound normal, but his voice broke a little. He shook his head and looked at her, giving a charming smile.
He held out his hand, "Wanna dance?"
"Um," she became a bit awkward at the offer.
"Oh, come on! You three would be leaving anyway in a few hours! Let's enjoy this moment, while we still have."
Her eyes widened at that. "How do you know about this?"
"Er – ", he rubbed the back of his neck with his other hand looking sheepishly, "I might have overheard Ron's parents talking about it, while I was looking for you."
Amaryllis closed her eyes in exasperation and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Please…" he was still holding out his hand.
"Huh! Alright." She smiled at him, giving her hand, as he led her to the dance floor, and placed one gentle hand on her waist while his other hand took hers. She snaked one arm around his neck, as they swayed at a slow ballad being played.
Amaryllis could feel his eyes on her, as she tried her best to look anywhere else but them. She knew that as soon as she looked into those crystal blue orbs, she would feel the same guilt crashing down at her like it did the time when she broke up with him, and the remaining months after that whenever their eyes met before the term ended.
To be honest, she didn't want to do this. They were so good together since they started their relationship at the beginning of their sixth year. Those beautiful days of going to Hogsmeade with him, sharing a butterbeer, or just lying next to each other in comfortable silence under a tree on the grounds of Hogwarts, or the passing of notes between classes, or those private snogging sessions in empty classrooms, or having meals together in the Great Hall – either him sitting on the Gryffindor table or her sitting at the Hufflepuff. Both Ron and Hermione had told her that they had never seen her so happy. Even she felt it too, for the first time in her life being like a normal witch, and not some Saviour of the Wizarding World, or the Chosen One destined to fight Lord Voldemort. Huh! She should have known that life of Amaryllis Potter was never normal and it rarely failed to drop her in unexpected situations.
"Look," her train of thoughts was broken by his voice, which made her look up at him, "I know that it has been three months…and this is really not the time to ask…given that you three would be leaving any moment now, but", he paused for a breath, locking his blue eyes with hers, "I just want to know…what went wrong between us. I mean we were just fine…but then you went to Beacon Hills after…", he trailed off, not wanting to raise the matter of her sister's death, though she understood it clearly, "…and when you came back, you seemed all…different."
"Ernie…"
"No please." He urged, "I promise I am not angry at you or anything for what happened. I just want to know."
Amaryllis let out a sigh, "I – I don't know, Ernie! It's just…lately I realized that I don't feel the same way about you anymore like I did before.… I thought that maybe it's just a phase, it would pass…but it didn't. And then, I – I even noticed how it was starting to show no matter how much I tried to keep it in, and how you were struggling to save what we had. That's when I figured how unfair I would be to you…if I led you any further…as by that time…there was only one person in this relationship."
There it was. After all these months, the things she was dealing with, she finally let it out, though not completely. There still was one big secret that she was hiding from him. Not because she didn't trust him, but she didn't want to face it herself right now.
"I'm sorry, Ernie." She spoke quietly after a long while, "I never meant to hurt you." She looked up at him.
"Why does it seem like that's not the whole truth?", she perked up at that question, her eyes widened to which he chuckled, "That's fine if you don't want to share. I can live with this for now." Amaryllis smiled at that, feeling a huge weight lift inside of her.
"And somehow I always had this feeling it wouldn't have last anyway, with your saving the world thing." He teased, to which she laughed swatting his shoulder.
"Don't forget, this complex of mine was the initial spark of creating the DA. Along with Ron and Hermione's nudging of course." She admitted.
"Yeah, ok. You're right." He rolled his eyes, at her retort.
"So…are we cool?" she asked hesitantly.
Ernie seemed to consider this for a moment, then smiled, "We're cool.", to which she beamed at him.
This was good. After months of awkwardness, they were finally able to be normal and speak freely with each other.
"So, are you going back to Hogwarts?"
"Yeah, kind of have to, this time."
"Why?"
"Well, with Justin, and you three, and half of the others not being there, it isn't going to be the same anymore. I thought of dropping school too. But my parents didn't allow it."
She understood. With the current situation, maximum students were facing this dilemma. And even if he was a pureblood, that didn't make matters any easier.
She gave him a friendly hug, wrapping her arms around his neck, leaning her head at the crook of his shoulder. "I just wish life wasn't so complicated for us.", she whispered.
"Yeah, me too." He replied softly, hugging her back.
It was moments like this, when she felt a little bit peaceful in the arms of her ex-boyfriend-turned-friend, even when they were in the middle of a crisis. And she wanted to treasure it as long as it lasted, firmly sealing it into her memory because she knew that it would be short-lived, given her famous Potter as well as Hale luck combined.
And that's exactly what happened, as their peaceful moment was shattered by something large and silver shooting from the sky, falling through the canopy over the dance floor. Graceful and gleaming, the lynx landed lightly in the middle of the astonished dancers. Heads turned, as those nearest it froze absurdly in mid-dance. Then the Patronus's mouth opened wide and it spoke in the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."
"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."
"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."
"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."
Everything seemed fuzzy and slow. Amaryllis at once broke from Ernie's embrace and drew her wand, although one hand was still lightly attached to his. Heads were still turned to the silver cat as it vanished. Silence spread outward in cold ripples from the place where the Patronus had landed. Then somebody screamed.
A sense of heavy panic spread through the crowd, as guests started sprinting in all directions; many were disapparating; the protective enchantments around the Burrow had broken. That is how Hermione came barrelling towards her, and clutching her hand, dragged her away before she could say any last words to Ernie. She turned to give one last look at him, still standing bewildered before he too drew his wand, giving her a nod, like a silent goodbye. She returned it with a sad smile and then turned to the front, as both the witches threw themselves into the crowd.
"We have to find Ron?"
"What? Where is he?"
"He went to bring us butterbeer, but then…" Hermione trailed off as they started looking frantically for their male best friend.
"Ron", Hermione cried. "Ron, where are you?"
As they pushed their way across the dance floor, Amaryllis saw cloaked and masked figures appearing in the crowd; then she saw Lupin and Tonks, their wands raised and heard both of them shout, "Protego!", a cry that was echoed on all sides.
"Ron! Ron!" Hermione called, half sobbing as she and Amaryllis were buffered by terrified guests: Amaryllis seized her hand to make sure they weren't separated as a streak of light whizzed over their heads, whether a protective charm or something more sinister she did not know…
And there was Ron, casting a shield charm as one cloaked figure sent a curse towards a small boy. As his mother took him and disapparated, he caught their sight. He sprinted towards them, grabbing hold of Hermione's other arm, as Amaryllis felt her turn on the spot, and with a loud crack, the trio vanished from the scene.