"Professor LESTRANGE!"

Eva's shriek boomed as the sound of running footsteps quickly approached the door to the potions classroom.

Tom and Eleonora whirled around and Evander jumped out of his chair. He tossed his quill down; he had just signed Tom and Eleonora's papers for their prefect recommendation.

He opened the door as Eva flew through it with Isidore, then William scurried in behind them. Panting, she held out a niffler.

"Again?!" Evander cried with a roll of his eyes, and Eva nodded as she coughed from her dry throat. Isidore collapsed into a chair, laying on the table face-down, his shoulders heaving as he gulped down air.

"Professor Lestrange, I thought it was my friend Hagrid's, but there's no name on his tag. I recognize the family crest though—" William said through pants. Evander took the niffler in his arms, then went quiet with a serious expression.

"The Lestrange family crest. Of course."

William nodded, and everyone leaned in to peer at the small engraving of the niffler's tag.

"What's it doing here? Do you have a niffler?" Eleonora asked, and Evander shook his head no.

"Probably my brother's."

"Something feels really creepy about it too. The second I touched the niffler, I wanted to run away," Eva said. Evander vaguely sensed a dark presence as well, and the room's atmosphere felt unnerving.

"Maybe he's carrying something bad," Tom inquired. Evander promptly shook the niffler, and a load of gold coins fell to the ground with a few pieces of jewelry. It was out of Eleonora's control- but she jumped back on instinct after she laid eyes on a particular silver locket.

"Eleonora, what is it?" William asked, seeing her eyes now glowing a lime green color, slitted pupils, and her fangs bared.

"That locket— something's wrong with it. Oh, wait, did I change a bit?"

She looked in the reflection of a beaker full of dark liquid next to her, seeing that her body had shifted defensively.

"This is ridiculous…" she whispered, shuddering at her own appearance.

"Can you sense what's wrong with the locket? If you touch it?" Evander asked, and she shuddered through a nod of her head.

"Is it safe to open?" Isidore asked, and Evander answered, "I wouldn't recommend it until she identifies what it is. It could be a pandora's box for all we know."

"I'll do it."

Eleonora approached it slowly, hesitantly reaching out her hand to pick it up by the chain.

"It's— it's a horcrux," Eleonora stuttered, and an eerie silence fell over the room. William stole a glance at Tom, who was intently staring at her like he was eager.

What's with him? This isn't good news! She thought, then found her focus pulled away from him.

She got a flash of memories at an overwhelming speed, beginning with a young girl around Eleonora's with brown hair and brown eyes holding a baby in her arms as she cried, wearing the necklace over her old white nightgown. Next was a teenage version of herself, trudging along with the necklace pendant resting over her bust, just above a pregnant stomach. She was then hugging a small boy to her, a sad smile on her face, and was suddenly seen as a beautiful young woman wearing a nurse's uniform that seemed to look exactly like Evander. She tucked the locket under the high collar, fastening the veil on her head, running outside to the sound of men screaming in pain— a war nurse. After that, Eleonora saw a teenage Theodora and Evander greeting her in their respective Quidditch robes after a game, wearing big smiles. The woman unfastened the necklace, resting it around Theodora's neck as she said, "I want you to have it."

"Thank you, Ms. Donovan—"

"Please, Theodora— call me Breean, or Mrs. O'Connor. I did just get married," the beautiful woman smiled, pulling a man (her husband) by the elbow to stand beside her.

She then saw the corpse of the woman, her face turned away, laying on the ground. Her arms and legs lay in odd positions, evident that she dropped to the ground suddenly.

Then, the images stopped, and Eleonora was looking at the floor of the potions classroom.

"Who— no—" Eleonora panted, clutching her head with her free hand in a frenzy.

"What is it?" Evander knelt next to her, placing a hand around her shoulders and gently pulled her hand off her head by the wrist.

"I saw a lot of memories with the locket, then a dead body. I think it's—" she let out a sob, surprising everyone then she said, "Breean Donovan. Or O'Connor. Either way, the memories were cut off with her, even though she gave the necklace to Theodora. So, does that mean—?"

Evander collapsed to his knees, sitting in shock with the blood draining from his face.

"I have to find her. I—" he whispered, then stood up with rage taking over his vacant expression.

"Wait, Professor Lestrange—" Eleonora cried, reaching for his arm.

"This is my mother! I can't wait any more. I'm killing that wretch—"

Everyone gasped or felt some form of shock reverberate throughout their bodies, not having seen Evander shout of lose his temper and piecing together that Cornelius had likely killed his mother.

"Let me come, you can't do anything rash. If you lost your mother, don't throw away Theodora because of your anger."

"I'll just say I cast the curse on her. She can live freely while I do her and my time in Azkaban," he growled, shaking Eleonora's grip off his arm.

"Where did you see her?!"

"It was hard to tell. It looked like an office in the background."

"An office?"

"Yeah, kind of like my mom's ministry office. Maybe it's in the London office?"

Evander's glare sharpened as he thought, angry with the planned random location. He knew it was an obstacle his brother tried to throw him.

"Dammit! It's the ministry office in London, I forgot my mother was supposed to go there to work with a geneticist."

"What? But she's a muggle," Eleonora cried, scurrying after him as he headed to the door.

"It's a study with any family members they can get of wizards. She sent me a note about it."

He shoved a typed letter from his pocket into Eleonora's hands, then the group followed him out in a hurry.

"Tell the headmaster I'll be out. And thank him for hiring me," he said, then they all grabbed his arm last-minute before he apparated away.

They all screamed as they landed in the Ministry of Magic headquarters, and Evander went, "the more people, the harder the apparition. And we went a long distance!"

"We're keeping you in-check," Eleonora groaned as she stumbled after him.

"This is too dangerous. And I'm not a mother duckling!" he protested.

"Yes you are!" they all yelled back, barely keeping up with his fast pace.

"Hang on!" Eleonora barked. She stopped them, tearing off her shoe and sock, then slammed her foot down to the ground.

"What's she doing?" William whispered to Eva.

"She's sensing where the body is through direct contact with the building. It'll save us time," Eva murmured, seeing Eleonora's eyes were tightly shut as she focused.

"She's on the second floor on the north end of the building, fifth door down on the right!" Eleonora cried, taking off to a hidden staircase. They followed her, and she leapt up the steps, one foot loudly resonating while her barefoot remained silent.

"Down there!" She yelled, then Evander bolted past them as she hopped along, putting her sock and shoe on.

He slammed open the door, then ran to the corner of the room to the body.

"Mom!"

He quickly palpated her neck and wrist, checking for signs of breathing.

"She's dead."

"Surprise!" They heard at the entrance, Eva and Eleonora shrieking as the jumped away from the voice that was right behind them.

"You bastard," Evander growled, then Cornelius revealed his face by stepping into the room.

"You got cocky, you thought I was cornered the other night. The problem is, you have two queens on your chess board. Well, not anymore. One's dead, the other is in Azkaban."

"I'll kill you," Evander breathed, then he aimed his wand at Cornelius.

"Petrificus totalus!" Isidore yelled, shocking Cornelius. The spell hit Evander, sending him to the ground as he laid paralyzed.

"Check the woman's face. I don't know what my grandmother looks like— Eleonora should do it."

Evander seethed, only able to control his eyes as he saw Eleonora cross behind him.

"It's not her," she said, then they all stared at each other in shock.

"But the necklace—" William began.

"The necklace was my grandmother's and mother's, but had nothing to do with this woman. It was a set-up," Isidore concluded, a deep smile mixed with a from on his face.

"You need someone to die to make a horcrux. He just wanted to scare Professor Lestrange," William added, putting everything together.

"I'll undo the spell," Eleonora said, waving her arms over Evander. He jumped up soon after, snarling at his brother.

"Isidore, thank you. I nearly killed him right then and there," Evander said as he brought himself to his feet. Isidore merely nodded shyly, hiding the immense relief he felt that he saved Evander's reputation.

"What's this? A suicide note?" Tom asked, reaching for a paper resting under the woman's outstretched hand.

"Well, it was a suicide."

"Excuse me?" Tom asked, his tone cutting.

"Chrysanthemum," Evander hissed, and Cornelius smirked with a nod.

"Yes, father's special little potion that drives its victims to immediate suicide. She poisoned herself shortly after I slipped this inter her morning coffee."

"He committed murder without doing it directly," Eva whispered, nearly feeling sick to her stomach.

"Precisely! What a sharp Hufflepuff student you have, Evander. She reminds me of Theodora!" Cornelius said, applauding her with a golf clap.

"And even if you did try to kill me, it wouldn't have worked. Thanks to that beautiful locket your mother gave you that Dragon Eyes is holding right now."

Cornelius pointed directly at Eleonora, and Tom's eyes followed, a little too eagerly.

"We can just destroy it," Eleonora said, then Evander visibly winced.

"Hm, I wouldn't recommend that, honey. It has a picture of Breean inside, as well as Evander's little sister. Well, the one from Breean's marriage to that nice soldier she met at a field hospital."

Cornelius inhaled with a happy sigh, saying, "It looks like I win this time, Evander. I haven't seen you this… rattled before."

Evander sneered at him, horrified, and Cornelius simply chuckled.

"I'm sure you have an afternoon class to teach soon, you should be on your way. I wouldn't want you to miss it."

Cornelius then leaned outside the door, shrieking "someone help! We need a nurse, or a doctor— somebody's collapsed!"

"Hurry, or you'll become suspects! I'm helping you out!" Cornelius urged.

Evander grunted, extending his arm for his students. Tom quickly returned the note to rest under the woman's hand, then grabbed Evander's arm as they apparated away.

They all landed in the potions classroom, much more oriented than the last time. Evander leaned against the wall, pinching the bridge of his nose as he thought with a scowl on his face.

"Aren't we not supposed to be able to apparate at Hogwarts?" Eva muttered, and Evander said, "I don't even care about that nonsensical rule. Don't tell anyone I said that, but it's stupid."

"That piece of— ugh," he grunted, having lost his patience completely.

"What a psychopath," Eleonora said, looking at Isidore with genuine surprise from having underestimated him.

"Well, that really frazzled me too, but we have to look at the positives. Your mother is okay," Eva said, having turned to face Evander who was still very frustrated.

"Yeah, but this innocent woman got caught in the middle of all this—"

"Actually, I lied a little bit in there," Eleonora piped up, then everyone redirected their focus to her.

"What do you mean?"

"It was a corpse, but not of a woman. He used a form of post-mortem transfiguration. She was actually a dead rat."

"How?" Tom asked, then Eleonora said, "I turned her head to see her face, and realized once I touched her skin. She was made to look like a young woman. I actually wouldn't have been able to tell unless I touched her. He called for help knowing nobody would hear us, so we could get out of there. And I let it happen so that we didn't get more deeply involved in anything."

"So he didn't really kill anyone?" William asked.

"Well, not today. I broke into his mind while he was busy gloating. He has killed in the past from some of his black market dealings years ago, which means that horcrux was his and wasn't a bluff. He just hadn't done anything today."

"I can't tell if I'm supposed to be relieved or not. This is all so confusing," Eva sighed.

"Well, we should just feel more mad than anything today. It was just a bad trick to scare us. And an opportunity to get Professor Lestrange in trouble. But he doesn't have to know we debunked all of it. Let him think he has the upper hand," William said.

"I agree," Isidore finally said after having stayed quiet for so long.

"What do we do with the locket?" Eleonora asked, pulling it from her pocket.

"I hate to say it, but we have to keep it the way it is. When we go to trial, I have two uses for it," Evander said, taking it from Eleonora's hand.

"First, it may jog Theodora's memory. If we can prove she was under the Imperius curse, she will be completely acquitted from her crimes. I'm going to need a few things to help with that, but this locket meant a lot to her, since it was from my mother. And second, we can destroy it in front of the court which will expose the fact that it's a horcrux, which will only help Cornelius's exposure as the caster of two unforgivable curses."

Evander paused, then held his breath.

"I got it—"

"You got what?" Isidore asked. Evander looked to his son, and said, "I know how to jog her memory."

"Professor Lestrange—" someone interrupted, tossing open his classroom door. It was Serafina, panting as if she had run across the castle (which she actually did).

"Mom?!" Eleonora cried, to which William and Eva repeated, "'Mom?!'"

"I have good news— Evander, Theodora's appeal trial—" she panted, running into the classroom. She jammed a paper in his direction, bending over to catch her breath. He grabbed it, yanking open the letter and skimmed it over in a hurry.

"Her trial is moved to next week?!" Evander yelped, reading over the paper.

"What?!" Isidore exclaimed, taking the paper and reading it for himself.

"I pulled a lot of strings, you'd owe me big time if I didn't love her as much as you do," Serafina gasped, throwing herself onto a bench.

"Mom-" Eleonora began, then Serafina turned her face to see Eleonora's confused friends. She chuckled a little, pushing herself up a little.

"Oh, I should introduce myself—" she said, sitting up with a wave.

"I'm Mrs. Morrigan, Eleonora's mother. I work for the ministry between the US and UK, so I knew some people who helped move our trial to revisit Theodora's case up—"

She sighed, fanning herself, and wheezed, "I'm so winded— I ran here since you can't frickin' apparate—"

Evander cringed a little behind her comedically, and the group managed to stifle laughter.

"One small detail—HEH—"

"Breathe, Serafina," Evander said, rubbing her shoulders.

"There's so many of those wretched stairs in this school— anyway— I'm afraid Isidore will have to testify at the trial. Since he was there the day she casted the curse as a witness. If he can explain to the best of his abilities that she was influenced by the Imperius curse, then that'll only help her case."

Isidore froze, and all eyes turned to him. He clearly looked worried, not even sure how he would react seeing his mother again after all these years, especially as an incarcerated woman. It terrified him.

"Isidore, you can do it."

He turned to the sound of Eva's voice, and she held his shoulder with a confident nod of her head.

"The other one I'll need… is Eleonora," Serafina added.

"Me?!"

"Yes. Well, maybe- depending on how the trial goes. If needed, you can attest to the neglect Cornelius bestowed since you saw Isidore and his sisters as homeless children, further incriminating him."

"He'll be lucky to get out alive at this rate; figuratively—" William muttered.

"Exactly," Serafina beamed, acknowledging the comment with a clap on William's arm before laying back on the table to recover from her marathon through the castle.

"Well, we have our work cut out for us. Or, at least I do," Evander muttered, and Serafina punched his arm lightly.

"You'll figure it out. You always do," she replied with a reassuring smile. He gave her a nervous smile, and she said, "I have to get going, but I needed to come tell you the good news as soon as I found out."

"Thank you, seriously."

Serafina smiled to Evander, and she said, "we're gonna get her out."

She said her goodbyes, then left to attend to the ministry business she had committed to.


March 3, 1941

Eva sat in the library, next to William as they did their homework. Both of them had terrible focus; they couldn't stop thinking about Theodora's trial that was taking place that morning.

Tom sat across from the two of them, gathering his schoolwork for their Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

"Hello? Anyone home?" He asked.

William turned his head slowly, still seeming disconnected. Eva blinked in surprise a few times, shaking her head with a small shudder, then looked at him.

"I'm just really worried about the trial," Eva sighed, rubbing her temples with an impatient sigh. Tom set down his folder, taking a look at the two of them with his usual calm gaze.

"I have no doubt it'll turn out well. But I can tell you two are really worried. I've never seen William with a long look on his face."

William looked over at Tom's smile, shaking his head.

"I can't stop thinking about it either," William said, bouncing his leg under the table from nerves. He couldn't imagine the stress Isidore was feeling in that moment. Isidore has always been aloof and quiet, never spending much time to explain his feelings, which made William unsure about how he was doing.

"If there's a group out there that can take out Cornelius Lestrange, it's them."

"I suppose you're right, Tom," Eva began, but she grimaced as she said, "but I'm worried about how Isidore will be seeing his mother. Surely she looks different having been in Azkaban most of his life."

"Don't worry, Eva. He's got Eleonora with him," Tom told her with a reassuring smile. Eva nodded, with William seeing the quick frown she accidentally flashed before she gave Tom a strained smile.

The three of them heard the 10 chimes of the library's grandfather clock, and William said, "10 o'clock. They're an hour into the trial."

Eva bit her lip, and muttered, "I wonder how it's going."


A/N: I kinda forgot I wrote this section before the trial part, so there'll be another update soon since it's all done.

Let's hope these poor people can catch a break!