A/N: I know it has been ages (embarrassingly so) but like I have said this story will never be abandoned no matter how long it takes me to update (and let us hope it'll never take this long again)! Truth be told, the cliffhanger I left last chapter was the worst thing I could have written to myself as a writer since I don't know how to write reaction to something like that! So as a result I have been stuck with this chapter forever, but now it's finally written and ready for you to read. Thousands of apologies my dear readers and thank you for sticking with me even after such a long time!
The second part of this chapter will take place a couple of days after the first one.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Remus slammed a book shut in frustration making Sirius, who had been drooping over his pile of unread books, jump awake.
"Wha?" He asked disoriented, looking around for the source of the noise.
Remus shot him an irritated glare, but it went unnoticed as Sirius yawned and stretched his long limbs, knocking the pile of books over.
"What time is it?" He asked rubbing his eyes.
"3 am." Remus said curtly, already skimming through the next book.
"3 am?!" Sirius exclaimed. "Come on Rem, let's go to bed. We have been searching for hours; Sky doesn't need the information tonight." He said holding out his hand but Remus ignored it.
"I told you Sirius, the tattoo on Sky's wrist is not your usual magic, it's very possible that it is blood magic and it could be very dangerous. The quicker we find out what it is the better." Remus said. "I know I have seen something like that in here." He muttered and Sirius looked hopelessly at the large library of the Lux Manerium. They had only covered a dozen books and there were hundreds of them left.
Knowing his husband as well as he did Sirius knew that there was no going to bed until they found what they were looking for or collapsed in exhaustion in the progress, whichever came first, so he sat back down in his previous spot and picked up another book.
It was going to be a long night.
The hours flew by and the two men went through book after book without finding anything relevant regarding random runes carved into a person's skin. Sirius had once again nodded off on top of his pile of books when suddenly a bright flash of light filled the library awakening him. He jumped up his wand in his hand ready to attack, only for his brain to catch up with him and realise what the flash of light actually was: Shadow.
Shadow flashed into the room carrying both Sky, whose clothes were all very dirty and covered in slime, as well as a girl with a bright red hair, who seemed to be unconscious. Sirius stepped forward and took the girl from Sky's arms with Remus by his side checking over Sky for any injuries.
"Sky! What happened?" He asked, but the boy looked zoned out.
"Sky?" Remus asked worriedly. "He looks like he's in some form of shock. I think he may have a concussion too." He told Sirius who had put the girl down on the library's sofa.
"There's not much that could shock Sky." Sirius said grimly, his eyes darting to the girl. "The girl's unconscious and looks quite pale, but otherwise she looks to be physically okay." He informed his husband who nodded. "I think it's best if I go and get Marcus, he will want to be here for this." He added and headed for the fireplace.
"Come on Sky, snap out of it." Remus said, snapping his fingers in front of the boy, who suddenly directed his gaze to him.
"Remus!" He exclaimed taking hold of him. "Help Emily! YouneedtohelpEmily! WegotourmemoriesbackandshesaidmynamebutthenshefellunconsciousandIcouldn'twakeherupand…"
"Wow! Slow down Sky!" Remus exclaimed having understood none of what his godson was saying apart from that he had to help the girl, who apparently was called Emily. "Emily is fine, she's only unconscious." He said and pointed at the girl on the sofa. Sky hurried to her side and took hold of her hand, which seemed to instantly calm him.
"See, she's fine. Now sit down and drink that."
Remus sat Sky down next to the girl and offered him a glass of water as well as potion for his concussion. Sky drank them and took a deep breath seeming to be more like himself by the second.
"Better?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, thanks." Sky said with a nod.
"Good, now start at the beginning, what happened and who's that girl?" Remus said but before Sky could begin Sirius returned with Marcus through the fireplace.
"Sky! What happened?" Marcus asked concerned his eyes trailing through his son. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine dad." Sky managed. "Just have a bit of a concussion and my mind's pretty messed up right now."
"I gave him a potion for that." Remus added. "He was just about to tell me what happened."
"Well go on son." Marcus said and they all sat down.
Sky took a deep breath and began. "Last night I had a fight with Dora and she ran away from me. I went after her but got interrupted by Shadow who brought Dexter to me and when I finally did caught up with her she was lying on the floor motionless like a statue." He shuddered. "She was the next victim of another attack.
"Oh Sky, I'm so sorry." Marcus said and put an arm around him.
"It was a basilisk." Sky continued and his audience drew sharp breaths. "Dexter recognized the scent of the King of Serpents as he called it."
"And Dora..?" Sirius whispered.
"Petrified. Dexter said her tears saved her." Sky said tonelessly.
"Of course." Remus nodded. "A basilisk's gaze only kills if it's through a direct contact."
Sky nodded. "It was so obvious and I felt like an idiot for not realising it sooner. I could have prevented so many of them and Dora…"
"Don't beat yourself up over this, pup, none of us realised it either even though you had told us all about it."
Sky said nothing to that and just went on with his story.
"I asked Dexter if he could trace the trail and find out where the Chamber was and he did. He woke me up around four this morning and told me he had found it."
"Why didn't you call for us to help, Sky? Or Agent Mars? You know you didn't have to go by yourself."
"I was going to, but suddenly there was a sharp pain through the tattoo on my wrist and I felt myself crashing into a hard floor right in the middle of the Chamber of Secrets. That's when I hit my head. I sensed someone nearby and saw a young man, a few years older than me standing in the chamber. He asked me questions about who I was and how I got in there. I knew he looked familiar, but my mind was so jumbled up I couldn't place him. It wasn't long though till he revealed himself: Tom Marvolo Riddle."
"Voldemort was there?!" Sirius exclaimed. "How is that possible?"
"He was a memory." Sky said. "Somehow he had recorded his sixteen-year-old self into a diary and used it to possess a first-year student: Ginny Weasley." He said looking at the girl, whose hand he was still holding.
"If that is Ginny Weasley, then who's Emily?" Remus frowned.
"How do you know that name?" Sky demanded.
"You said it after you arrived, when I finally managed to get some sense in you. You said: "Help Emily" I thought you meant her." Remus said.
"I don't remember that." Sky frowned.
"Well you were pretty out of it and started speaking so fast I couldn't keep up with you. Something about memories."
Sky nodded thoughtfully and Marcus peaked up.
"Memories? The ones that were missing?" He asked Sky who nodded.
"Yeah. I got them all back."
"Okay, back up!" Sirius interrupted. "How do old Moldyshorts, the Chamber, Ginny Weasley, this mysterious Emily and your lost memories all come together?"
"Well, like I said Voldemort was possessing Ginny through the diary. Apparently she had been writing into it since summer and the more she wrote the more power she gave to him."
"He was feeding of her life force." Marcus paled.
"Yes. He has been using her body as a puppet to control the basilisk, who had to obey him as he was the heir of Slytherin and Salazar had been her master, for the past six months all the while taking her life force away bit by bit." Sky said. "When I arrived at the chamber she was already unconscious and the memory of Tom was getting more solid by the second."
"So what happened? Ginny's clearly still alive." Sirius commented.
"Tom and I exchanged words. I tried to play scared and naïve, but when he touched her I lost it and totally blew my cover. Tom started bragging about how 'great' he is and I tried to find out a way to kill him. That's when I saw the diary. Somehow I knew it had something to do with all this so I tried to destroy it with every spell I could think of, but nothing worked. Then Tom called up the basilisk and told her to kill me."
"How in Merlin's bloody pants are you still alive?!" Sirius exclaimed his face pale. There was not many people who could survive an encounter with a basilisk, much less one controlled by Voldemort.
"I talked to her."
Silence and then:
"You – You what?!"
"Admittedly it wasn't the best idea, but I had just hit my head on the floor and had a concussion so it was only thing I could think of at the moment." Sky shrugged.
"You're going to be the death of me." Sirius shook his head and the two other men agreed with him.
"What I'm curious about, is how exactly you talked a basilisk out of killing you." Remus commented.
"Well she was very curious to meet another speaker and was reluctant to do Tom's bidding to begin with so I pointed out to her that while Tom was the heir of Slytherin, he wasn't exactly alive so she didn't have to obey him. I also added that technically the heirship would have transferred to Harry Potter when he 'defeated' him and somehow, amazingly it worked. She turned against Tom, who of course wasn't happy about it and tried to AK her, which in turn made her angry.
"With Tom busy, I managed to get my thoughts somewhat arranged and managed to remember that basilisk's venom destroyed pretty much everything so I threw the diary to her and told her to bit into it, which she did and Tom disappeared and Ginny got her life force back."
"And the basilisk? Is she still there?" Marcus asked.
"Her body is. She asked me to kill her so that she could finally join her master in death, so I conjured a rooster and she died peacefully."
"This still doesn't explain Emily or your memories or how in the hell did you get into the Chamber in the first place." Sirius pointed out and Sky nodded, but before he could speak Remus cut in.
"It's the bond, isn't it?" He said his eyes darting between Sky and Ginny. "Those runes in both your wrists form some kind of a bond between you two and when Ginny was dying, it pulled you two her."
"Yes, or at least that's what I think happened." Sky nodded.
"What is that bond and why do you have it? It has something to do with your memories, doesn't it?" Marcus said.
"I don't really know much about it but Mum said the words 'Infinitus vinculum' when she cast it and told me we'd never be apart and would always be able to find each other."
"Infinitus vinculum." Remus muttered before his face cleared. "Of course!" He exclaimed and dashed to the library shelves without a word. The others watched him go and Sirius turned to Sky.
"Lily?" He asked in surprise and Sky nodded but didn't have time to elaborate when Remus came back with a thick tome.
"I knew I had seen something like that somewhere!" He said excited riffling through the book. "There!" He said and started reading. "Infinitus vinculum – the infinity bond. Uses blood magic to bond the participants together so that they will always be able to find each other no matter where they are. Often used during war times between family members." He summarized.
"So why would Lily bond you to Ginny Weasley?" Sirius frowned. "She couldn't have been more than a few months old when this was done."
"Because she's my sister."
Silence fell into the room as all three older men stared at Sky in a various states of shock and disbelief.
"She's what!?" Sirius exclaimed after a few minutes.
"My sister." Sky repeated. "Emily Rose Potter, born on the 29th of September 1981. That's why I didn't remember anything after I was six-months-old, Mum found out she was pregnant and for some reason the bond blocked all my memories of her."
"But that's not how the bond's supposed to work." Remus frowned. "You should have been aware of her all your life, and she of you."
"I still can't believe Lily and James had another child and we didn't know about it." Sirius said. "How could they have hid it so well? We visited them even when they were hiding."
"What if the Killing curse interfered with the bond?" Marcus mused. "Normally, had Sky died like he was supposed to, the bond would have been broken, but he didn't so instead, the bond didn't break but was blocked somehow."
"Sounds plausible." Remus said. "But I don't think we can ever know for sure."
Their brainstorming was interrupted by a groan from the sofa.
"Emily?" Sky asked by her side as she opened her eyes.
"Harry?" She said weakly and Sky sighed in relief that she remembered him still.
"Yeah."
"Now that I think about it, she does look a lot like Lily." Sirius commented to Remus.
"But with her father's eyes." Remus added.
"Emily this is Sirius Black-Lupin and his husband Remus Black-Lupin, my godfathers and good friends of our parents, and this is Marcus Lee my adoptive father."
"It's nice to meet you all." Emily said.
"How are you feeling Emily?" Marcus asked. "Or do you prefer Ginny?"
"I – either is fine." Emily said hesitantly. "And… I don't know. Everything is so confusing."
"You have gone through a lot in a very short time." Remus said understandingly. "I recommend some food, a shower and a good night's sleep before anything else."
"Yes, I think that would be the best course of action at this moment." Marcus agreed. "I think you and Sky-Harry should take a few days off of school to get in terms with everything and sort through your memories. Don't worry about informing the school or your family, I will take care of everything."
Ginny nodded and Sirius and Remus left to show her the guestroom. As they disappeared from sight Marcus turned to Sky.
"How are you holding up son?"
"Okay I guess… I mean it was a bit of a shock to find out I have a sister."
"I think that's an understatement of the year." Marcus smiled.
"Yeah." Sky smiled too. "It's just weird that suddenly I remember over nine months of my childhood with my parents and the little time I had with Emily after she was born and somehow I feel like I have known her all her life."
Marcus nodded.
"It must be the bond making her seem so familiar to you."
"Yeah." Sky agreed. "I wonder how she ended up with the Weasleys, though. And why wasn't she in Godric's Hollow with us on Halloween."
"Yes, that is curious." Marcus mused.
"What are you thinking Dad?" Sky asked noticing Marcus' thoughtful look.
"I believe it's a time to visit an old friend."
A grey-hooded figure walked through the familiar hallways of the Department of Mysteries. It had been over a decade since he had last stepped into those halls, but still he remembered every training session, every mission and debrief like it was yesterday. Those were one of the best times of his life. He had been recruited straight from Hogwarts like many others and he had been a natural. He and two other agents left their mark there and still were one of the most legendary teams the department had.
The hood hid the smile forming on the man's face as he reminisced his years as an active agent. Slightly before the war ended, when the world was in chaos, he had been forced to make the decision to leave the department to be with his family. His wife and his children needed him more than the DoM did. He and his team all split up and hadn't heard from each other since, which was why he was very curious to know why now after so long he had been summoned back.
It had been a normal morning for him; he had woken up, eaten breakfast, kissed his wife and went to work. Only when he arrived at the ministry he noticed the encrypted code that had been left for him in his cubicle. He had wasted no time in retrieving his robes from a save place and heading to the DoM, where he now was on his way to. After all, once an Unspeakable, always an Unspeakable. When summons came you were expected to obey.
As he neared the wing where he knew the Head office resided in, he wondered who had acquired the position. Charlus Potter had been Head during the time he himself had worked there, but did not know who had succeeded him after his death. Now however he was about to find out as he knocked on the office door and received permission to enter.
He stepped into the familiar office, letting his hood fall down as he faced the new Head. Much to his surprise he saw his old friend and a team mate sitting behind the desk.
"Ghost." The man behind the desk smiled widely and came to greet him.
"Phantom!" He said surprised and hugged the man back. "Or I guess I should call you Director now." He said amused.
"Just Marcus is fine." Marcus laughed. "I prefer to be more informal with my agents unless the occasion calls for formality."
Ghost nodded understandingly.
"I must say I'm surprised to see you here at all. As I recall you were very reluctant to even consider yourself succeeding Charlus, no matter how adamant he was."
"Aye, not my preferred position back then, but when Charlus died, I was the only one who was deemed experienced enough to succeed him right away as it still was the war time. As soon the war ended I took a leave of absence and left Septimus in charge… I don't know if you heard about Marie and Mia…" Marcus said his smile dimming.
"Yes, it was on the news. I'm sorry for your loss." Ghost said and Marcus nodded his thanks.
"It was a long time ago."
"Yes, which brings me to wonder why I have been summoned here today after all this time?"
Marcus nodded acknowledging the change of subject.
"I'm going to have to ask you to give a vow that nothing discussed here today will leave this room unless given permission." He said.
Ghost gave him a questionable look but proceeded to give his vow and magic flashed around them sealing it.
"Now what is this about, Marcus?" Ghost said. "I'm sure you did not bring me here to reminisce the past."
"Actually… that is exactly why I asked you to come, old friend." Marcus said his face grave.
Ghost raised his eyebrows in question.
"I need you to tell me everything you know about the disappearance of Emily Potter, Arthur."
A/N: Thank you for reading! Please review and tell me what you thought! I'm curious to know, how many of you guessed the identities of Ghost and Phantom? Also who do you think is the third member of their team (code name Spirit)?
If there's any Drarry fans among you I have just started posting a fic with them as protagonists so go check it out while waiting for the next chapter of Sky! You can find it in my profile under the name: When the history repeats itself. :)
Thanks,
- Dalnim