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Remus Lupin felt completely helpless. He had been visiting Messalina in the Hospital Wing for the past week that she had been ill but she was only getting worse. The other Marauders tried to cheer him up from his eternally hopeless mood but there wasn't anything they could say that would make him feel any better. Lily and Marlene were in the same mood as he was, none of them up for any joking and there seemed to be no chance of them ever cheering up. It was depressing to merely be around any of them and the abysmal mood soon spread to the other Marauders and the Quidditch team.
"No more Quidditch for Messalina. She won't be back until next season even if she does come back." James sighed as he sank down in an armchair in front of the fire. "And Benjy's refusing to be captain again."
Remus looked up at James, who ran a hand through his messy hair. Sirius laid down on a couch, stretching out while yawning. "I hadn't seen Lina that pissed off in a long time. I think she's going to kill Benjy."
"I haven't seen anyone cough like that in my entire life." Peter added, lifting his head from his game of chess with Remus. "Why can't Madam Pomfrey stop it or at least silence it?"
"The cough'll never go away if it's suppressed and Lina could die without anyone knowing it if she's silenced. It's too dangerous for no one to be able to hear her." Remus muttered, rubbing his eyes with his palms.
"Moony go to bed, you need the sleep." James told him. Remus went to argue but realized how exhausted he was and nodded.
"Night guys." Remus made it up to his dorm before he noticed that he hadn't opened the letter from his father yet. He cast it to the side, changing into his pajamas and climbing into bed. He was asleep not five minutes after his head hit the pillow.
Across the castle Messalina Lucien was fast asleep, snoring loudly. Madam Pomfrey checked on her, frowning at the dozens of used tissues in the wastebasket beside Messalina's bed. Sighing, the healer went on to check on her other three patients who were sick with some stomach flu.
When Messalina awoke the following morning, it was to pouring rain. Her head ached from thinking about Quidditch and catching up on her classes. Her professors were coming to her, apart from Professor Slughorn, and teaching her the lessons. She was eternally grateful for the combined help of her teachers and her friends. If she had behaved this year as she had done in previous years Messalina wasn't sure that her professors would have been so willing to help and she probably wouldn't have any of the great friends that she had befriended since the twins graduated.
"Oh good Miss Lucien, you're up. I didn't want to wake you but you have a visitor who has been waiting here for an hour." Madam Pomfrey handed Messalina a potion which she quickly downed. Her tastebuds had stopped working two days before and Messalina was grateful that they had gone. Taking the potions was terrible when she could still taste them, now it was far easier to down them and any disgusting tasting food that she was given. She succumbed to a coughing attack that made her ribs ache.
"Who is it?" Messalina asked with her newly hoarse but Madam Pomfrey had already turned around and left. A moment later there was the unfamiliar sound of a cane on the floor approaching and Messalina frowned. She had at first thought it was Dumbledore who had come to see her but now she had no idea who it could be. She glanced down at her shirt for the muggle band AC/DC and hoped suddenly that it was her parents who had come to see her. Their reaction to her wearing the shirt of a muggle band would have brought her a great deal of enjoyment. However, it wasn't her stern parents who emerged from behind the curtain but rather an elderly man wearing perfectly fitted dress robes.
"Hello Miss Lucien. May I sit?" The man's voice was oddly high pitched and Messalina nodded before coughing slightly.
"Sure." Messalina was extremely confused. She'd never seen this man before in her life.
"Excellent," The man removed a few boxes of chocolates from Hogsmeade that some people had brought her and placed them on the floor. Once he was settled in the chair beside her bed the man crossed his legs. The curtain rustled again and Messalina turned to see a house elf wearing dress robes that matched the man's. Messalina had never seen a house elf wearing clothes let alone fur lined ones with the Lucien family crest intricately sewn onto it. Upon noticing the crest on the elf, Messalina looked up at the man and was surprised to see that a much larger version of the crest was on his robes as well. "Miss Lucien, may I call you Messalina?"
"Um yeah sure." She responded, completely surprised at what was happening in front of her. The old elf sat down on her trunk, crossing his legs and peering up at her with huge bright eyes that didn't match his small body.
"Wonderful. Messalina dear, you were not the first one to be disowned by the Lucien family let me tell you that. When I myself was blown off the family portrait by my father at age eighteen, I had already seen it happen to four of my cousins and my own little sister when she was five years old. She was a squib you see and once my family figured it out they got rid of her. I stood up for Lycoris and we were both disowned. I was the oldest of four Lucien children. Me (Lennox), Magdalena, Lycoris and the baby Marcus."
"Marcus? As in my father Marcus?" Messalina asked and the man nodded solemnly.
"Yes, Marcus was always a rather spoiled brat." Messalina smiled at that but she still remained confused as to why this man, her uncle, was here. "Now at this point, I'm certain you're rather confused. I know that I would be. You see, my dear, I am seventy-nine years old and I realize that I will probably be dying soon. No, don't tell me that I won't or that I can live forever. I heard enough of that from Lycoris and my wife Cassie and they're both six feet under ground. I don't hold any ideas that I'll live until I'm a hundred. No, I'm ready to get my affairs in order."
"I'm sorry I don't understand. What does any of this have to do with me?" Messalina asked and the man looked at her, a twinkle in his eye. Messalina blew her nose loudly and the man smiled at her an understanding look on his face. "Sorry."
"I too was plagued with that dreadful disease Messalina I can completely understand. I was just getting to your involvement in my affairs. Over the years, my wife Cassie and I amassed a rather large sum of money. My sister Magdalena was sympathetic to Lycoris and I but she couldn't stand up to the family like the two of us did. She was to marry the love of her life Zachariah Flemmings and if she stood up for Lycoris they wouldn't have been able to marry. Over the years she sent us all the money she could, enough for me to send Lycoris to a prestigious muggle school."
Messalina stopped him from talking by beginning to cough uncontrollably for a good five minutes. After she got it under control, Lennox continued his story. Messalina was more fascinated then confused and the house elf seemed mesmerized by the story despite the fact that he had probably heard it before and lived through it. "I became a lawyer for wealthy wizards and met Cassie. She was the creator and editor in chief of the magazine Witch Weekly. We both made a fortune but no children. Lycoris never married or had children. I need an heir Messalina."
"And that's me?" Messalina asked blowing her nose.
"Yes. I didn't know who my heir would be until you were disowned. When your father came to me to create a marriage contract for you and Sirius Black-"
"When what?" Messalina asked, her voice filled with fury.
"When you were nearly eleven, Marcus and Orion Black made an agreement. Sirius Black knew about it, he was there when the document was created. I just figured that either he or Marcus told you."
"They didn't." Messalina growled. It caused a coughing attack however and Messalina's eyes watered at the force.
"You were sick at the time, that was why you weren't there." Lennox told her, eyeing her warily as though he knew she was going to explode.
"That can't be true, Sirius would have told me!"
"I recall every single word that was said that day Messalina. It was the first time I'd seen my brother in nearly 40 years and it was to basically sell you to the Blacks." Messalina stared at the blankets.
"So I'm your heir?" She asked after a pause.
"Yes, you will be inheriting four million five thousand galleons and my estate in Salisbury."
"Are you fucking serious?" Messalina asked, staring at her uncle with wide eyes. "Merlin that's a lot of money sir, are you sure?"
"None of that 'sir' business, if we have any more of that I'll start calling you ma'am." The old man teased and Messalina smiled. "Now you can call me Lennox, that is my name."
"That's a lot of money." Messalina backtracked and the old man looked at the elf.
"There are a few things you'll have to tend to. Johnny here likes tailor made suits from Madam Malkins and his wife Topsy has a flair for gardening extravagantly so you'll need to pay for flowers and supplies." Messalina made him stop so that she could both cough and blow her nose. "Their son Romulus has a passion for reading and buys a book a week at least. But aside from you keeping them comfortable, the money and manor are yours."
"Oh sweet motherfucking Merlin," Messalina breathed, completely overwhelmed. She had been engaged to Sirius Black and now she was going to be a millionaire. What a bloody brilliant day. "What a day."
"I've already spoken to your parents, Mr. and Mrs. Prewett that is." He added when he saw the look on her face. "The five of you will be moving in over the Christmas break."
"Why?" Messalina blurted. "We already have a house."
"Because Miss Lucien, the Order of the Phoenix needs a headquarters." Dumbledore stated, brushing the curtain away from him. Lennox stood to hug the equally ancient man before sinking back into his chair. Dumbledore pulled a chair from the bed next to Messalina and sat down.
"The what?"
"The Order of the Phoenix is a secret society who is working against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Miss Lucien, I would like to recruit you to join once you are done with school. Yes, I am asking you to not go to Egypt and to stay and fight here in Britain for what I know you believe in."
"Sir, I've been over the idea of Egypt for a long time now. I'd like to be an auror like my brothers."
"And I'm certain they would be very grateful for your assistance and risk. You see Miss Lucien, your brothers and parents are a part of the Order. Your parents have been since you were a third year and your brothers since you were attacked last year."
"I'll join." Messalina stated, looking her headmaster in the eye. "I swear I will."
Remus and the Marauders came to visit later that day. It was still pouring rain and Lennox and Dumbledore had both retired to the headmaster's office. The four boys were laughing at something James had said but later none of the four would remember that they had even smiled that day. Messalina had been dressed, which was a minor miracle, and had been standing at the window staring out at the grounds.
"You look good Lina. Are you feeling any better?" James asked, throwing himself into the pile of get-well candies people had brought Messalina. She refused to eat them since she couldn't taste them so the Marauders were taking care of the boxes of sweets.
"Not at all, in fact I feel the worse that I have in a very long time." Her voice was raw and when she turned around the boys could see that Messalina's eyes were bloodshot and fat tears were rolling down her cheeks.
"Merlin Lina are you alright?" Peter asked since he was the first to recover. They had never seen the sixteen year old cry except for a few weeks ago when the attack on the Prewetts had taken place.
"No Peter, I'm really not. Thank you for asking though." She replied in a voice that wasn't hers. "You see, I discovered some rather horrid news today. I was visited by a lawyer uncle of mine who informed me of something rather peculiar. Lennox Lucien, Sirius I know you must remember him."
"Lina what's going on?" Remus asked, looking frantically between the girl and Sirius who had gone rather pale.
"Dearest Sirius why don't you tell them what happened August 1st? The summer before first year if you were confused in the slightest." Sirius' grey eyes were comically wide and his mouth was open slightly.
"Lina please-"
"I'll have to tell them if you can't." When Sirius didn't speak the girl continued haughtily, glaring at Sirius with such intensity that James thought Sirius was going to lit on fire. "Alright Black, you didn't want to explain so I will."
"You don't understand!" Sirius yelled at her and she scoffed at him.
"I understand perfectly Black," She spat and Remus felt his stomach in complete knots. "I'm no lawyer but I'm not a bloody idiot. Essentially, I, Messalina Magdalena Lucien, was engaged to marry one Sirius Orion Black for three and a half months.
"I also learned that you, Sirius signed every document-the prenuptial drafts, the dowry forms, the bloody consummation understanding and lastly the document which ended our engagement. That particular document came into creation when tests came back. These tests, which might I add I thought every eleven year old girl had to go through, stated that I was infertile. That's the real reason I was disowned! Not because of the Prewetts!" Messalina's voice rose for the first time and she threw herself at Sirius. To the horror of the boys, her hands made contact with Sirius' neck and boy did she latch on.
When Remus finally yanked her off dark bruises were already forming on Sirius' neck. Messalina started to cry again in defeat almost and she turned around to bury her head in Remus' neck.
"Sirius..." James trailed off staring at the ground rather than his best friend.
"How was I supposed to bring it up?" Sirius yelled hoarsely. "I knew I wasn't going to marry you so what did it matter?"
Messalina twisted in Remus' arms to stare disbelievingly at the boy. "You're fucking kidding me right?"
"You knew that I fancied her the day I saw her! Merlin Sirius, it's not all about you!" Remus yelled and Sirius stood up from the ground angrily. He gave them all a look before leaving swiftly, leaving Peter and James to stare at one another and Messalina to sit uncomfortably half on the floor, half in Remus' lap. Tears ran down her face as Remus gently rubbed her back.
"I WOULDN'T WANT TO BE YOU SIRIUS BLACK! BY THE TIME I'M DONE WITH YOU, YOU WON'T HAVE ANYTHING LEFT!" She shrieked after him but her only response was the door slamming shut.
Next chapter: Messalina's out of the hospital wing but is still pretty sick. She isn't too sick, however, to begin Operation Revenge (a plan from fourth year she and the Twins had come up with) on one Sirius Black. Remus gets shocking news from his father Lyall.
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