Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.
A/N: Thanks to Rosiline, Blizzen, littledhampir13, and givetherabbitthefreakintrix for the reviews!
I'd just like to warn you all that school starts on Friday for me, so updates might be a little slower. I'll try to update once a week, but no promises.
Chapter 21
The next thing I remembered was a blinding light. And pain. But it wasn't normal pain; it was just soreness. I didn't remember anything that had happened for several minutes; I couldn't have told you my own name if you had asked.
But then, finally, my eyes opened suddenly and I took in my settings.
I was in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts. It was light outside, and looked to be the middle of the day. Regulus was in a chair beside the bed I was in, his head lolling backwards against the back of the chair, his eyes closed. I briefly thought he was asleep, but then I saw him idly twirling his wand in his hands and I knew he was really awake.
"Regulus?" I asked quietly, my voice hoarse. His eyes flew open immediately and he leaned toward me, taking my hand in his.
"Hey babe," he whispered, leaning forward and kissing my forehead. "How're you feeling?"
"What happened to me?" I asked, ignoring his question. "The last thing I remember was…was Draco letting us in…and…and…feeling really sick and sore and…What happened?" I finished lamely.
"Ah, Miss Potter, I thought I heard voices." Madam Pomfrey had come rushing out of office at the sound of our voices. She had a glass of a golden potion that she handed to me. I sat up and swallowed it; to be honest, it tasted pretty good. Better than anything she had ever forced me to drink before.
"What happened?" I asked again, still having not received an answer.
"Well…you sort of passed out," Regulus began slowly.
"Well, duh," I said sarcastically. "Or else I would remember arriving here. What I wanna know is why I passed out?"
"Miss Potter, something like this only happens when one has been exposed to certain so called 'Dark Magics' for extensive periods of time," Madam Pomfrey said suddenly, taking it from Regulus, who seemed not to know what to say. "And not like the Cruciatus, I mean…different curses."
"Like what?" I asked, confused. I hadn't been exposed to any Dark Magic for any extensive period of time except the Cruciatus, had I?
"Like the Tracking Curse that was on the fake ring," she said.
"But…what?" I asked, bewildered. That was a Charm he had used on it, a Tracking Charm, not Curse. Right…?
"There's a Charm that does a very similar thing, but it was the Curse that was used on the ring," she explained. "Long periods of exposure to it will randomly make you feel nauseous. It'll only take a few minutes before you start to trip, and then you pass out. Once you're out, your life slowly drains from you until there's nothing left."
"So it…feeds off of your life?" I asked, confused and shocked. Why had Riddle used that on me? I thought he had said he cared about me. I know he may not know how to treat somebody he cares about, but he's not stupid, he wouldn't kill them.
"Basically," Madam Pomfrey said. "Professor Snape had a heck of a time getting that ring off of you. It sticks itself on, see. He says he believes You-Know-Who didn't realize that it would do that because he obviously has no intention of killing you, or he would've already." She shoved another potion into my hands. "Drink it. I'll be back in a few to see if all of the Dark Magic has left your system yet."
"You know," I said to Regulus quietly as I watched her hurry away to check one her other patients, a young boy with a broken ankle. "You don't realize how much that lady knows about what's going on with the fight against Voldemort." I turned back to face him. "So what was Severus doing here?"
"Even Madam Pomfrey couldn't figure it out," he said. "She knew it was Dark Magic, but didn't know what it was. So she had to call Severus, who figured it out quiet quickly. Then the ring was almost sown into your skin, and he had to honestly break your finger to get it off." I looked down at my finger, which, now that I looked, was wrapped. "It's fixed now, but it was broken."
"How long has it been?" I asked.
"Just about twelve hours," Regulus said, shrugging. I noticed the bags under his eyes. He hadn't slept at all.
"You look tired."
"No, I'm alright," he replied, but he had to stifle a yawn at that exact moment. I rose my eyebrows, skeptical. "Alright, maybe a little," he admitted.
"Did you sleep at all?" He gave me an "are-you-stupid?" look.
"Would you sleep if I was in your position and you were in mine?" he asked. I understood his point immediately – no, I wouldn't dare even close my eyes for fear of falling asleep.
"Oh," I replied. "Right." I paused. "Where's the ring now?"
"Dumbledore has it in his office," Regulus replied. We sat there, unsure what to say to one another, before Madam Pomfrey came bustling back over.
"Alright, I'm going to check to see if all of the Dark Magic has left your system, alright?" she said. I nodded, not really paying attention. "It's just a Charm, so you don't have to worry about anything." She waved her wand and waited several minutes. It seemed to do nothing, but a few moments later she said, "Alright, you should be good to go. Come back tomorrow morning so I can check on you one final time, alright?" I nodded as I climbed out of the bed.
"Thanks Madam Pomfrey," I called to her, but she was too busy fussing over a new student that had entered the Hospital Wing. I rolled my eyes and followed Regulus out of the room. "Are we still moving everybody tonight?" I asked him as we started for the Entrance Hall.
"As far as I know," he said, intertwining his fingers with mine. "I haven't seen Dumbledore. I'm sure he'd probably still want to get there as soon as possible, which would be tonight."
"Oh, how nice of him," I muttered as we entered the nearly empty Entrance Hall. There must be classes at the moment. I stopped at the entrance to the dungeons. "Hey, I'm going to see if I can find Severus. Tell him thanks for, y'know, pretty much saving my life."
"Want me to come?" he asked. I shook my head.
"I'll be alright. You should go ask Dumbledore if we're still moving tonight and, if so, go tell those in the Room of Requirement." He nodded, kissed me lightly, and headed up the stairs. I started down the dungeons.
I headed straight for the Potions room. Chances were that he had a class at the moment. I decided to be polite and knocked on the door instead of just walking right in, like I normally would. To my surprise, I stood there for several minutes with no answer. Finally, I pushed the door open.
The room was empty. Hmm…he must not have a class, I thought, closing the door behind me. I suppose he's probably in his office…I headed over to his office and knocked on the door. Yet again, there was no answer. I pushed the door open to find the room empty as well, and knocked on the door that led to his personal living quarters. There was no answer, and, since I understood that he probably wanted some privacy, I left without walking in.
I figured that Regulus would still be in Dumbledore's office, not yet in the Room of Requirement, so instead of heading straight to the Room of Requirement I headed to his office. Even if Regulus wasn't there, I could stop to talk to Dumbledore. Maybe he knew where Severus was…
I walked swiftly up to Dumbledore's office and gave the stone gargoyle the list. At the top of the so instead of heading straight to the Room of Requirement I headed to his office. Even if Regulus wasn't there, I could stop to talk to Dumbledore, get the ring back. Maybe he knew where Severus was…
I walked swiftly up to Dumbledore's office and gave the stone gargoyle the list. At the top of the spiral staircase, I could hear two voices on the other side of the wooden door. Unlike what I had done in the dungeons, I just pushed the door wide open, saying, as I did so,
"Hey, have you seen Sev –" I stopped in my tracks when I saw who Dumbledore was really talking to. "– erus?" I finished lamely and quietly.
It wasn't Regulus sitting across from Dumbledore.
It was Riddle.
Both Dumbledore and Riddle were watching me and smiling. Riddle's smile was very malicious, and Dumbledore had that obnoxious twinkle in his eyes. I was so shocked and, to be honest, frightened that all I could do for several minutes was stare from one to the other.
"Nicole, this is our new transfer student, Marcus Gaunt," Dumbledore said after several moments of silence, pretending to be oblivious as to why I looked so upset.
"Hello," Riddle said in a fake and sickly sweet voice, standing up and holding his hand out to me. "It's nice to meet you. Are you a student here?" I shook myself clear mentally and took his hand firmly in mine, shaking it.
"No, I was," I said. "I've graduated. Where are you transferring from?"
"I was homeschooled, but my teacher, my Grandmother, passed. So my parents sent me here. I'm going to be entering my sixth year." I smiled slightly as he sat back down. I could tell he knew my ring had been in the office, and I hadn't been. I turned back to Dumbledore as he asked,
"Are you feeling better, Nicole?"
"Loads," I replied. "You know Madam Pomfrey. She works wonders. Anyways, have you seen Severus?"
"Can't say I have," Dumbledore replied. I sighed, annoyed.
"Alright. Has Regulus been here?"
"Yeah, he left just before Marcus arrived." I could see Riddle's eyes flash anger at the mention of Regulus, but he didn't say or do anything for fear of blowing his cover. However, when Dumbledore's back was turned, still smiling maliciously, he mouthed to me; Tonight. Same time. Same place.
"Well, Nicole, if that was all you needed –" Dumbledore started.
"Yeah, I…I'll just be leaving then," I said, turning and leaving the room as quickly as possible.
Well, I thought once I was headed back to the Room of Requirement. At least this time he wasn't shoving his tongue down my throat….But don't worry, my more rational side said. He will tonight.
I walked past the blank wall three times, per usual, and the door appeared instantly. I pushed it open and walked into the Common Room area.
"We can't leave Hogwarts!" somebody exclaimed as the door opened. "What about all of the children that are in school? With Riddle here it's not safe! We can't just leave them!" As the door shut behind me, I realized it was Alice saying this to Regulus, who looked helpless.
"You can't think Riddle will do something right under Dumbledore's nose," Regulus pointed out, obviously just trying to get the angry mother to calm down. Alice wasn't the only one riled up. Tonks was glaring daggers at her cousin, and Molly was glaring at him as well, and Lily and James merely looked upset. There were others in the room, but none of them seemed as irritated.
"He's already here right under his nose," Tonks pointed out, her voice louder than it should have been indoors. "It seems there are no limits to him!"
"Oh, shut up, all of you!" I snapped suddenly, alerting those in the room to my presence for the first time since I had entered. "It's not like Regulus chose to have you all move tonight. It was all Dumbledore's idea. Well…it was his idea to move today."
"I don't care when we move!" Tonks snarled. "I don't want to move period!" I shrugged.
"That's too bad. Because you kinda have to." She gave me a confused glance and I continued before she could respond. "Riddle knows about this place. And he knows I know about it. I bet he already has the idea that we're using it as Headquarters." I paused. "Did I tell you that he has plans to kill everybody in the Order?"
I saw almost everybody's eyes widen.
"Yeah, so either we leave, or he will come here and kill us all. I know you're worried about Remus, and all of your children, but with Remus, Severus, Harry, Draco, and Dumbledore, they should all be safe. And you know I make regular checks back here. They'll all be fine." They all sighed reluctantly.
"So where is this place, anyway?" Severus asked. I hadn't noticed him sitting near the Prewett twins in the far corner, away from the chaos. "Regulus said you were Secret-Keeper, so he can't tell us."
"It's…" I glanced to Sirius worriedly, not sure how he would react. "It's Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place."
There was silence following my words. Most of them didn't know where that was, but a few (Sirius, Scarlet, James, and Lily included) knew. The three looked at Sirius apprehensively. I could see his eyes wide with shock, and then anger crossed them.
"No, I'm not going back to that hellhole," he spat viciously.
"What is it?" Fabian asked, confused. "I've never heard of it before."
"It's where Sirius and I grew up," Regulus answered. Everybody in the room understood instantly; they all knew that Sirius hadn't had a particularly good home life growing up.
"Damn, that stinks," George said finally. I nodded and addressed Sirius.
"I know, it sucks, and I'm sorry, Sirius, but it won't be the same as before," I promised. "It's not the house that makes the home, it's those in it. And we can all clean it up, and, if you're actually nice to him, Kreacher can actually be helpful, and we can find a way to take down everything that we don't want there that's stuck on using Permanent Sticking Charms, and make it all nice and homey, alright?"
"I know, it's just…" Sirius started. I smiled slightly.
"I know," I said. "I have some particularly…harsh memories from, and relating to, that place, and I'm not keen on going back there either. Ask Regulus if you don't believe me," I added, and could see Regulus nodding in agreement out of the corner of my eyes. "But it's the safest option we have. And we could use the Borrow or something, but it's not large enough to hold everybody." Sirius sighed, admitting defeat.
"Alright, but only because you leave me no other option. I want everybody to be safe."
"I know," I replied. "Now everybody should get to packing, we have a few hours before we have to leave but we want to find time to talk to everybody staying here." Everybody split up to their separate rooms as I approached Severus.
"Hey," I said to him, sitting down across from him. He smiled, but didn't say anything. "Thanks for…well…saving my life." He shrugged casually.
"You'd do the same for me," he pointed out.
"Yes, I would, and you'd still thank me, wouldn't you?" I said. He smiled slightly and nodded.
"Probably, yeah." I smiled.
"Exactly. So, thank you."
"You're welcome. You better go pack," he pointed out. I nodded. "See ya in a bit, then," he said.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"I hate this," Sirius muttered that night once we had all moved to Grimmauld Place. It had taken longer than had been expected. Not that it mattered; nothing could take my mind off of the fact that at midnight, I would once again be under the sole control of Tom Riddle.
"At least it's clean," Regulus pointed out. "You don't even want to know what it looked like last night."
"Kreacher works wonders when you're kind to him," I agreed. "Look, he even got rid of the Elf Heads and your mother's portrait, somehow."
"Yeah, he and I figured out how to earlier when I came by," Regulus said. A few hours previously, he had headed out to the house to see how clean it was and was surprised by just how spotless Kreacher had made it. I actually thought it was a nice house when there weren't ugly portraits and Elf Heads on the walls and dust bunnies covering the floor.
"How'd you do it?" Sirius asked.
"Kreacher's magic can do it," Regulus replied, shrugging. "It was simple enough."
"How many bedrooms does this ruddy house have?" Mad-Eye grunted suddenly. "If we're all going to fit, it's got to have loads."
"It does," Sirius replied. "It has ten."
"Holey shit," James muttered. Lily was so shocked she didn't even have time to reprimand him. "I knew this house was huge, but I didn't know it was that huge."
It took a few minutes to show everybody to their rooms, but it didn't take long before Regulus and I were bidding Sirius, Scarlet, Leah, and Parker goodnight on the fifth floor. The small family entered Sirius' room. I could see a poster of a bikini-clad Muggle girl before the door shut behind Scarlet, who didn't seemed bothered by it at all.
I laughed lightly at the two. I don't know if there were ever two people more made for each other.
Except for maybe Regulus and I, I thought haughtily.
"Okay, promise not to judge me based on my old room, alright?" Regulus said suddenly. I turned to face him and shrugged when I found him leaning against the door to his room.
"I won't," I replied. "I promise."
"I tried to change it up a bit before you came, since I'm a completely different person then I used to be," he said. "I have to say, with Kreacher's help, it turned out really well."
"Let me see," I said, curious as to how different it would look. I had seen it only once in my other time, when I had walked into it out of boredom, but if he thought I would like it, he must've changed it quite a bit.
Regulus moved out of the way so that I had easy access to the door. I moved to open it, but when my hand was on the doorknob, my vision was suddenly blocked.
"Regulus!" I exclaimed, trying to pull his hand off of my eyes. "What are you doing?"
"Oh just open the damn door," Regulus replied. Bewildered, I pushed the door open. "Now take a few steps forward." Still confused, still blindfolded, I moved forward four steps. "Ready?"
"Sure," I replied, puzzled. He moved his hand, and I let out a gasp at the sight before my eyes.
I swear that there's no way it was the same room as it was back in my other time. Sure, it was the same shape, with doors and windows in the same place, but other than that, it was completely different.
Last I knew, it had been covered in green and silver, and in pictures and newspaper clippings about Voldemort. But now, it was completely different.
The previously green walls were now beige; the bed was covered in light blue, ivory, and brown; the Black Family Motto, which was previously embellished above the bed, had been replaced with the words "Always & Forever" in calligraphy over the headboard. All of the newspaper clippings had been thrown away; instead, framed photos of Regulus and I had been stuck on the wall. Brown curtains hung over the floor-to-ceiling windows on the side wall, the old chandelier had been replaced by a newer one, and the wooden furniture had been painted white.
I turned to face him, and found him leaning against the doorframe, smirking.
"Like it?" he asked.
"It's perfect," I replied, wrapping my arms around his neck.
"Could you see yourself living here for the duration of the war?" he asked, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me closer to him. I kissed him briefly before replying.
"After all of the renovations, I could see us living here even after the war."
A/N: Okay, I know I promised Riddle this chapter, and he's there for a moment, but not long. He'll be back next chapter!
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