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To Visit

Lara

No! Lara. Where are you? I called frantically.

Not here. I replied sorrowfully.

Waking from the dream I found myself back in the cold for, what I think was, the second night. The world did not slowly appear in my consciousness as it sometimes did with waking; I was not blessed with an opportunity to prepare myself. No, the real world away, from dreams, pounced on me with body wracking brutality. It was a bite, an endless feeling of aching muscles and iron pain in my limbs and head, it was coldness and darkness and dampness and hunger.

I was alone.

It was so lightless, hopeless, I thought. I could feel the blackness pressing against my eyes and shivers desperate raked through my bones. The floor under me was clammy with who knows what, and the walls were slimy with moss. I wanted to pace, but I couldn't see, never mind move. I sat with my back against the wall, my ankles encased and my arms draw above my body from chains. I couldn't feel my hands, my arms, and my body was cramped and stiff. I wanted to punch something but that was impossible. I wanted to... Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit!

How could I have been so... so... thick!

The darkness had completely removed my foolish hysteria, perhaps that's why the bastard had put me here. The bastard I called my father. And Regulus Black! Damn him! I should have realised the moment I felt his uneasy shielded mind that something was up. I should have understood. And now I was here. Way to go Lara.

The dream came back to me, my brother's voice and image appeared before my eyes, sharp and real. Alex. Merlin I missed him, missed feeling his thoughts, feeling myself, knowing that somebody out there knew me inside out.

I missed them all.

Sirius, with his cocky grin, his lazy laugh and the way he still called me 'Greyette', the way he loved my brother and watched his every move. Lily: with her vibrant joy and stubborn glare, Lily who was smart and witty and sometimes just plain scary. James: with his puppy dog eyes, mooning after Lily each hour of the day, him with his Quidditch and pranks and charm. Alice: a bubble of positivity and slyness, constantly tripping over something or other. Eliza: the dreamy insightful Ravenclaw with her sharp blue eyes and long blond hair, always getting the root of the problem. Tabby and Amy: complete opposites but always with each other, Tabby always just a few steps behind the shorter girl. Tabby the quiet and watchful, Amy the hyperactive and spontaneous, they were a strange pair but they played off each other with the perfect ease of best friends... or something more. Even Severus… Severus who had been in my dream, with my mother. Hope flared, briefly, and I wondered if he had chosen his path…

And Remus, my dearest, stupidest, most brilliant Remus. I loved him, loved him so much it hurt. I loved the way he rolled him eyes and held my hand. I loved his quiet humour and insecurity. I loved his intelligence and the way he liked his sugar with splash of coffee. I wanted to have that little cottage with the wooden floors and comfy sofas. I wanted that little girl with his eyes and my hair.

But I was here, in the dark and cold waiting for them out there to put everything together. They had plan for me, my father might be killed by my mother but his plans were still in motion.

It was the dream now to think of. It was at Grey Manor... Mother, Severus and Irvine. Irvine...? I didn't understand. My mother went into father's room... she was going to kill him and then... ten hours? What happened after ten hours? Make sure who found her? And Irvine was helping, Irvine and Severus. Darien was going to somebody, going to visit someone... while Severus dealt with 'the rest'...

All of them were meant to be on the Dark Lord's side but...

It seemed that they weren't.

I didn't know how long it had been, down here away from the touch of the sun. Two nights at least had passed, I knew that. They had dragged me here after that first awakening, after that first taste of pain. I had woken again to the cold darkness before being dragged out again to my waiting father. I still didn't know where I was, it wasn't the Grey Manor… it was, well, here.

Father had plans for me… I remember - pain had sharpened the words, the memories…

"You have no choice, make the vow or you will be forever cursed. You have no choice" He said, his voice cold, unyielding as if his words were law.

I laughed hysterically, pain still shivering up my spine.

"Stuff the contract, you're too late, the vow has already been made and guess what" I raised my unmarked fists, "It wasn't taken by me, figured that out, Daddy"

He growled and I was slammed into a wall painfully but my smirk didn't leave my face.

"You lie! There is nobody who could have taken that vow!" he snarled.

I looked up, belatedly realising my nose was bleeding, and gave my pathetic father a superior look.

"Really? Are you sure about that?" I spat out a mouthful of coppery liquid, "Are you certain there are no other Black's? No other Grey's?"

Silence met that statement and I watched as Alexander's face froze and grew into a plum red colour.

"See," I said defiantly, "No more pathetic vow to fulfil, what you think of that Papa-?" I broke off with a scream as pain came again and again and again before falling away.

Minds could be broken with the amount of pain I had been through, I thought. Why wasn't I crazy by now, broken and lifeless, stumbling in my own dreams with sightless eyes and lank limbs? Why could I still hold my words and thoughts, why was I still here?

"You will marry Black. Either that or you die, don't think I won't do it," He muttered, as I panted at his feet, "We needn't tell the Black's of the broken contract… they will still have to take you… yes. And you will do it. You will, or I shall murder you slowly then find that poof and his whore and kill him too. Then the wolf, then everyone you have ever cared about – don't think I won't. You will marry."

Cynthia

The boys left and I stood again before the bed looking down on the man I had once loved. He looked like he was just sleeping, just sleeping, and I could almost pretend that he was the same man. He looked the same as he did all those years ago, before it all shrank to power lust and arrogance. I could imagine he was the man I married, the man who held me as the snow fell and had softness in his eyes. Keen, enthusiastic, full of life... he had been brilliant.

But his time had faded now.

With that thought I swallowed the phial in one. It stung, just slightly as fire whiskey might, and I coughed slightly. It was my escape, down in one, taking no more effort and standing up. How easy it was to let everything fall away. Life, it was so fickle. A simple spell left the man I once loved a corpse. Two simple words, one single gulp. Now I only had to wait until the Dark Lord came to find out what happened to his most faithful.

Ten hours...

I felt the timer of my heart count down as seconds became minutes and those became...

Hours.

The hours did not wait for me and time could not be taken back. Time did not stop. It moved without patience, without pity.

Yet I found that I didn't care anymore. It was just what would happen, what I had chosen. Madness, perhaps, or maybe just sorrow had removed my fear. It was easy, easy to end – easier than living and fighting.

The man I had loved was dead, not by my hand but the hand of temptation. It was true; I had known it for years, though I had hidden it from myself. Denial. My children were better off without me, him, us. We had failed them, each in our own ways. We were the parents they did not need, they had each other. I would make sure of it.

My daughter would escape and she would go to her brother, my son, and they would struggle through, ever the fighters. They were always the fighters. They chose their own path, they did what we all could not and they had never had a prouder mother... though perhaps they did not know it.

Which shall always be my greatest regret.

Lara

The chains around my wrist were tight, painfully tight, and I felt it digging into my skin and drawing blood. My body ached and shudders of cold and exhaustion wrapped around my spine. I thought of Remus, how worried he must be... again... and Alex who must be going mad.

How had they managed this? Surly everyone would have noticed the moment I didn't come back from the bathroom? How did they get away with it?

Shut up Lara, you're here now, time to get out, time to get out.

Right.

I needed to get out of these cuffs. If I could do that then I could have a chance to get out of this cell by taking the Death Eater by surprise. Perhaps then I could find my wand... where was it? Alexander must have it, he must – either him or Irvine and Black.

His study, in the glass on the mantle.

That's where he always put them before – both times – but how to get there? No. Pointless. This wasn't even Grey Manor… It wouldn't be here. I can get a new wand... Okay. So - surprise the guard and then steal his wand

Out of the cuffs. Out of the cell. Acquire wand.

And then?

Slowly a plan began forming in my busy mind, it was weak, I knew it and still the original problem still remained.

How to get out of the chains?

And how to surprise the guard?

How could I overpower an armed Death Eater when I could hardly even stand? Wandless magic? Hiding behind the door. Pathetic. This was all pathetic. They had to let me out for the ceremony (I shivered; I was not marrying Regulus bloody Black) perhaps I could get out then?

That would be leaving it to chance thought.

I hated chance.

Then I thought of something, something that was full of life, full of possibility. It was... perfect, if only I could get it to work...

Et sic patet...

... All I needed was time...

Darien

Fifteen minutes...

"My Lord!" I cried, running into the room and falling to his feet, "My Lord! It is Lady Grey! She has escaped and I have not heard from Lord Grey either!"

Chaos. The Dark Lord was suddenly in action, his anger releasing bursts of screams around me. I pitied those he turned to and blessed the fates that it was not me. I was not even meant to be here really, but Lord Grey had a soft spot for me, that and I was charged with watching Severus. In a shroud of darkness the Dark Lord left the room.

I did not follow, though the clock in my mind counted away the minutes.

I stood at the foot of the stairs as high pitched female scream met my ears. I let my eyes fall shut as the sound washed over me. When it cut off and was replaced by a laugh, derisive and manic, my eyes stay shut. She had gone mad a long time ago.

"What is happening?" A voice said behind me and I turned to see Regulus standing in the doorway, looking up in the direction of the crazed laugh.

"Mrs. Grey has just murdered her husband, our Lord is not happy." I beckoned him to follow me and we entered the unused conservatory.

"It worked then? You got her out?" He asked, shocked.

"Oh no," I replied, darkly amused, "she did that all by herself before I even got there, Merlin knows how."

I turned to the other boy and looked him up and down. We had not met since that... moment. He was avoiding my gaze, rightly of course, I would too if I were straight. I could admit he was attractive, darkly handsome with a presence about him. He was completely different to Ally, I thought so at least.

"She did?" He said, ignoring my stare, "Why is she still here though? I thought you were going to get her out?"

"She had other plans," I said vaguely, checking my watch: three minutes. "But tell me, why are you here? I assume it is not for my brilliant company."

"I came to speak to Mr. Grey," he said uncomfortably, "I am to marry Larissa, because of the vow."

I paused.

"The vow..." But the vow was broken... by Ally and the other Black... but they didn't know. Horror struck my heart. The vow was the only thing keeping her alive! They didn't know, they couldn't know! Especially now Alexander is dead, she would be killed in an instant. That meant...

"When is the wedding?" I demanded suddenly.

"Oh, um, in five days." He said.

Five days... we had five days to get her out.

Lara

The sound of hinges creaked and I sat up and glared at the crack of the door. The metal door swung open and a figure bathed in light stepped in.

"I'm not available for social calls, please be a dear and piss the hell off." I called with as much sarcastic venom as I could summon.

The door slammed shut and my eyes adjusted to the light.

"Oh," I said in shock as the dream came back to me, "So I'm the 'she' you said you'd come to see."

Darien Irvine blinked in confusion.

"What the hell are you talking about Lara?"

I smirked.

"How are my mother and Severus?" I asked and I saw his hateful face fall into shock before realisation appeared.

"You dreamt," he said simply.

"We dreamt," I corrected.

"Then you know that I'm going to help."

"Yes, double crossing bastard that you are. I have a plan."

Severus

It was a small cottage, peaceful and idyllic with a large garden and laundry hanging on a washing line. I stood, unsure of what to do, unsure of how to approach. I was the enemy and I had no idea how I would persuade them to listen to me...

Suddenly the door to the cottage sprang open and a woman strode out with eyes of fire and a pointing wand. Bellatrix! My mind screamed before remembering that this was her sister, the one who married a muggle-born. It was uncanny how similar they looked, especially angry... uh ow.

"Death Eater!" Andromeda Tonks screamed, stalking to me, "Don't you dare move – Expelliarmus!"

My wand flew out my hand and she caught it just as the door opened again – this time Sirius Black. I glared at him and he copied the look, rushing over to us. I decided that my discovery couldn't have been made by worse people.

"Snivellus," he growled in greeting, crossing his arms, and turning to his cousin, "Andy, don't waste your spells on this slime ball," he glanced at me in disgust, "Al says we can trust him."

I glanced between them, only slightly shocked at what Black had said. Tonks looked me up and down in scrutiny before turning on her heel and marching away, my wand still in her pocket. Black turned to me with a sneer.

"You're lucky I trust Al's word over everything," he sneered angrily, "Or I wouldn't have stopped her having her way with you, I may even have joined in."

I ignored him.

"I need to see Alex."

"Obviously Snivellus," he drawled, drawing his wand and pointing it at me, he jerked his head towards the house, "After you."

Unwillingly I gave him my back and started to walk to the house, very much aware of his presence.

Entering through the front door I found myself in a cosy living room, full of large sofas and a large fireplace. In one of the seats Lupin sat, watching me with keen, analysing eye, he didn't move, just crossed his arms. Black came forward to stand in the corner opposite me, eyes and wand never leaving my form. I stood, ridiculously nervous, nobody moved or said a word and I dared not break the silence. They seemed to be waiting for something but the silence felt heavy.

Then I heard footsteps and Alex appeared in the doorway next to where Black stood.

I had never really talked to this Grey twin but there was something about him, in the way he walked and looked that reminded me of his sister. He was tall, about half a head taller than his girlfriend, and his silver hair that reached his shoulders was the same iridescent silver as Lara's. His face was proud, with sharp and delicate bones and wide grey eyes, again like Lara's. Now he had large dark circles under his eyes and when he smiled it was forced and broken.

He strode forward gracefully and to my intense surprise held out a hand.

I took it, hesitantly, and his shake was firm.

"Severus," he said and it was the same voice, lower yes, but the same, "I wondered if we'd be seeing you. I take it Alexander is dead then?"