A/N: This is the last bit of "Part Four." There are going to be seven parts because seven is a magically powerful number. I hint SO MUCH at the ending in this. It's funny, because if you know the ending, then you know why it's blatant and I just wave it in your face. Haha.
Selena Nisha Riviera-Black has returned, dears. And she's back with a vengeance.
I think this is one of my favorite chapters. Because we are on the cusp of something, here. Like everything's a ribbon and it could all unravel or get snipped by some scissors.
The Scribe's Resurrection
Part Four: Chapter Thirty-OneLate June 1995
The Last Day of Exams
Day after Alrescha and George's Disagreement
Anxious was how Selena felt the day of the Third Task. She hadn't seen her godson all day, and she wanted to before he had to go into that dreadful maze. Her breathing was shallow, and she found she'd been holding her breath for seconds on end during class, her eyes darting to the clock at odd times. Selena didn't know what had gotten into her, to be quite honest. But when final exams ended and dinner began, she wasn't at the teachers' table or in her office eating.
"Harry!" She cried when she saw him. His eyes lit up, and a big hug was given to her. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, well. Been practicing. But it's nice the Weasleys came."
"They sent me an owl earlier this morning." Selena nodded and looked around hesitantly. "Sirius wishes he could be here. I'm sure you know that. And Remus, Remus too. But we're all so very proud, Harry."
"Thanks."
"Don't be nervous." He wondered how she knew how he felt; he was trying not to betray his emotions and worry anyone. "Er, I'm able to see it in your eyes, dear."
Dinner was a calm affair, with an underlying buzz. Everyone was hyped for the Third Task, and Alrescha took the time she was avoiding George and Fred to take the chance to be a godsister to Harry. To be honest, she, Ron, and Hermione had been working with Harry all month, just because Selena often had work to do, and Alrescha was already good at defensive skills.
"Just try and stay calm, keep a level head, try and think clearly. Do what feels right." Alrescha repeated things her adoptive father had told her, but she didn't know that's where she'd gotten the words from. Harry nodded, he was about to leave. Alrescha hugged him.
"We love you, Harry," said Selena, giving him a last embrace. She felt odd; she wanted Harry to know all of the uncertainty and love she felt. Maybe she was channeling the feelings of the watchful Lily and James. Or maybe there was evil afoot.
Selena was wearing her silver shoes and had her wand in her hair, just like the old days.
--
Of course, they all knew something was wrong when Harry and Cedric disappeared; she'd seen Dumbledore shift in her seat- this was not part of the Task. But Selena couldn't find the problem until they came back. What was wrong with something being wrong. They came back.
Cedric wasn't moving, that was the first indication to Selena to what that something wrong was. The second indication was that Harry had tears in his eyes. And the third was that funny way Moody was twitching his mouth. The Auror in Selena, the one that she never officially was, awoke, and she ran from her place between Mrs. Weasley and Alrescha to the field.
"Move out the way, take your seats, please!" Selena instructed the audience. Not here, not right here. Her eyes quickly scanned the crowd and the field where Harry was clutching Cedric; she searched for anomalies. It was her job, she'd been trained for this.
"HE'S DEAD! DIGGORY'S DEAD!" People gasped, Selena heard a wail. She wished she could tell everyone to stop whispering and shut up- there was something wrong with this. And she stopped for a moment to look at Cedric Diggory, at his mother, yes, but his father. It wasn't the tears, it was the ungodly sound ripping from his throat that shattered Selena's existence. Could she bear that pain? Maybe, maybe not. But she understood and had felt comparably several times in her life- she broke off from her train of thought- no time to dwell on death just yet. She looked for Harry- something happened while he was gone with Cedric. But he was not there where he should've been. Somehow he was not resting just behind Dumbledore- he wasn't there. Selena's breath caught in her throat, and then she knew.
"MOODY. WHERE IS HE?" She bellowed. It had only been three, maybe four minutes since Harry had appeared to them. Moody, her Alastor Moody, the man who trained Raphael Stephane Riviera, would not have removed Harry Potter from the scene. He wouldn't've even touched him. Selena searched for someone who could help her.
"SEVERUS!" Snape whipped his head around from Cedric Diggory and looked at his contemporary in a concerned manner. They had an understanding. Selena knew why Dumbledore kept Snape on. She always had known. Snape moved to where she was. "Alastor Moody is not here. And Harry is missing." His eyes widened, and they both moved into action.
Quicksilver returned and ran, feet bound for Moody's office; Snape was more patient with more decorum, he could wait for Fudge and Dumbledore to calm everyone before they started up the path to the school building. But it was Selena's job- it was her duty to make sure she knew where Harry Potter was.
And it all made sense, too, that Moody was the one. She should have seen it coming- the name in the Goblet of Fire, the random drinking of potion out of that flask, the odd relations towards her and Alrescha… He was not himself.
Inside the building, finally. She wondered how they'd moved up to Moody's office so damn fast. Selena Apparated to the hallway of his office, though she wasn't supposed to be able to. She flourished her wand, blasting the door open.
"YOU STOP RIGHT THERE!" She panted, catching her breath.
"Selena!" Harry's face was gravely white, like he'd just heard and seen the Devil himself. He probably had. She rounded the room and stood between Harry and Moody.
"Hello, Selena Riviera-Black."
"You will torture this boy no further, and I swear to God if you hurt him-"
"Oh, my job is finished. I shall not touch the boy. But the Dark Lord is back, and for that, I am most pleased."
"It's true, Selena- that's where I went- Voldemort is back." Selena's heart cracked, but it did not break. A flash of light, and Moody was on the floor.
"Good thinking, Selena," said Dumbledore. Harry was unsure if the light that had incapacitated Moody was from Selena or if it was from Dumbledore.
"Come, Harry, we should get you up to the hospital wing-" McGonagall began to usher Harry out.
"No, Minerva. Harry needs to know who put him through this, and how. I think we all do."
"It was Moody. Moody sent me to Voldemort, who came back tonight. But I don't get how it could've been Moody."
"That wasn't Moody," Dumbledore announced. "You've never known the real Moody."
"The real Alastor would never have removed you from Dumbledore or me. Never," Selena whispered. "The moment he took you, we knew. Which is why I followed you."
-
Selena stared at Bartemius Crouch, Jr., the man she and the real Alastor Moody had put away for destroying the minds of her good friends Frank and Alice Longbottom. She was furious at herself for not knowing, and not seeing the signs. She'd never make the same mistake again. They, Harry, Dumbledore, Snape, Selena, and McGonagall, had listened to Barty Crouch's story along with Winky weeping by her master's son's side.
Now, Selena was in Dumbledore's office, simultaneously staring into and avoiding the eyes of her husband Sirius Black. Staring because she wanted to see him, care for him. And avoiding because she knew that now everything would change. Voldemort was back, and she could not have her former reality back. Cedric Diggory's death had unearthed the bodies from the First War, the bodies and blood of the Potters, the Prewetts, the Longbottoms, and the list continued. Cedric Diggory's death signaled that what had happened to Harry was real, it was proof. And it signaled the dawn of new blood to be spilt and new bodies to be buried into the sinisterly waiting earth.
She caught Sirius' grey eyes, and they knew the storm was brewing again; they couldn't deny it, and then the story that Harry recounted in Dumbledore's office only made it more real, and Selena began to cry silently to herself. And it wasn't because of Voldemort. It was because of the look in Harry's eyes. He'd seen it. He'd seen death, and then she decided Harry was no longer a boy. That's what was wrong the whole time. Harry's temperament had been wrong. Because his innocence was now shattered.
That evening, while Harry slept, Selena and Sirius watched over him with his friends and Mrs. Weasley. Alrescha soon followed in, standing on the side of Harry's bed. Mrs. Weasley smoothed the covers, and Harry was extremely tired. Alrescha sat on the floor by her mother and the dog that was Sirius.
-
Later on, an argument awoke Harry, and then they all discovered the horrid fate of Barty Crouch, that he was now one without soul. But the most incredulous aspect of the whole matter was that Cornelius Fudge wouldn't believe Harry and Dumbledore, especially when Cedric Diggory's parents were crying over his body.
"I see no evidence to the contrary! It seems to me that you are determined to start a panic that will destabilize everything we have worked for these last thirteen years!" Fudge's face was going purplish red. Selena felt like vomiting. Dumbledore explained to him the gravity of Voldemort's return, what it would mean, and still Fudge did not believe.
"LOOK!" Snape snapped. He pulled up his sleeve, and Selena swallowed. "The Dark Mark sits there, plain as day. Every Death Eater has this branded into his skin. It burns when the Dark Lord comes back, and we were to go to him! Why else is Karkaroff not here? HE IS BACK!"
"You're all mad," Fudge said simply, dropping a sack onto Harry's bed. "Here are your earnings. There was to be a ceremony, but under the circumstances… Dumbledore, I will be contacting you tomorrow on how you run this school. To be honest, you and your staff are quite mad, and-"
"Oh, shut up Fudge!" Selena cried, standing up. "You are blind and deluded and stupid and dumb, and you live comfortably in this way. You don't want the truth, you want your comfort. And you're afraid to acknowledge the truth because you DO NOT WANT TO HANDLE THE TRUTH. We try to tell you- I have tried to tell you truths for years and you do not want to hear them because your puny mind is deluded by power and you want to be secure in your position. I will not stand to see your face before me or Dumbledore or anyone else who has witnessed the atrocities of this night- especially not Harry. Get the hell out, Fudge. This school saw the death of an age last night, and you will be considered- at least by me and by everyone else in this room- a weakling until you admit the truth: that Voldemort, and yes I say his name, VOLDEMORT HAS RETURNED."
"Barking mad, just-"
"UGH!" Selena put her hands to her head. "GET OUT." Fudge edged out of the room quietly, shaking his head in a condescending manner. Selena took a deep breath and looked around the room. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright, Selena," Dumbledore said quietly. "People who behave in that manner have always infuriated you, and it is quite understandable. I just hope what you have said did not influence him."
"As do I." A dark shadow crossed her face, and Dumbledore exchanged a clandestine, knowing look with Severus Snape.
Last Day of Term
June 30, 1995
Alrescha would normally love this time of year. No exams, free time to talk to the Chasers (Angie, Katie, and Alicia), the boys (Fred, George, and Lee), and the trio (Harry, Ron, and Hermione) all she wanted. But everything was now so quiet and hushed. As it was the end of term, she was all packed. But she was always all packed. Usually she and Selena would stay for a few days after everyone else had left, and then they would go to the Belladonna Estate and then to the Knox Manor for an afternoon and then to Sirius and Selena's house and then to the Burrow and then back to Hogwarts and revolve again. Alrescha was pleased she had many homes. But now, she sort of disliked this. Now, when they revolved around they would probably be putting enchantments on everything and saying goodbye to their almost, but not quite simple life. Selena would be helping Dumbledore and sticking to her own agenda. Alrescha knew that the Order of the Phoenix would probably resurface.
Alrescha was sitting in a window in a tower. Light from sunset was peeking in, warming her face. She knew her mother would invest more trust, more duty into her. Alrescha embraced the responsibilities her mother gave her. She knew her mother trusted her above everyone else with her personal life. Alrescha knew everything about her mother Selena. Alrescha couldn't be sure if she was ready, though, ready to stop being a teenager at Hogwarts and to become a woman. Alrescha decided that she was, but that she needed these few days, and maybe a visit to the Burrow to say goodbye to everything she was familiar with. And reflect on everything, her whole life. And to find the strength. She felt so grown up, so sophisticatedly morbid. Her breath caught. She felt like her birth mother. She felt like Darcy.
"Alr-"
"AH!" Alrescha jumped back an inch and put her hands to her chest when she realized who it was. "George, you scared me."
"Er, sorry," he grimaced. "Didn't mean to disturb you."
"You're fine." She sighed, swinging her legs around to face away from the window. "D'you need something?"
"Yeah. I just… I just wanted to apologize. The reason I didn't want you around isn't because I don't consider you to be my friend. When Towler and Jennings get talking, they just talk rubbish about anyone, and I didn't want you to hear it. They usually leave the subject of you and Angie alone, but for some reason they've been getting more open about talking about you two like animals- Alicia and Katie too- and it just aggravates me. Blokes talking about girls isn't something I'd like for any girl to hear, to be honest. I just said the quickest thing to irritate you enough to make you leave, and I'm sorry. I was already well angry when you came to the door, Towler just talks and talks, and I just- Well, it doesn't matter, anymore because I punched him in the mouth before Fred could hex him over breakfast two mornings ago and got a detention with McGonagall. I just thought you should know, and I apologize for whatever else I did, because I know it's not only that one incident that made you frustrated with me."
"It's alright," Alrescha simply said. "I kind of forgot most of what I said to you." She twisted her face into a half-hearted smile and swiveled back to look out the window.
"'Kay." Feeling very awkward, George sat down next to her and looked around uncomfortably, wondering what to talk about. "So, you were thinking about-?"
"What Dumbledore said at dinner, things that've happened, you know."
"Yeah. Our childhoods are over, aren't they?"
"Yeah."
"Scary."
"Very."
"Alrescha?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you." George gave her a sideways glance, wondering if that sentence changed the equation. She turned and stared at him for a while, not his face, but him.
"I love you, too." Alrescha put her head on his shoulder. George wrapped his arm around her waist. She chuckled a bit to herself.
"Hm?"
"Nothing." She was thinking of the irony of the juxtaposition of how naturally easy and frightfully hard it was to sit there, united with him.
July 1, 1995
The old crowd had been alerted to the past events, and Selena was in a somber mood. She'd apologized deeply to Alastor Moody, confessing that she had noticed peculiarities but couldn't explain why she hadn't acted. He said that she'd done what she had to do, that she'd stayed true to what she was supposed to do. Alastor forgave her. Selena couldn't shake off a menacing chill, though. She had finished grading exams a long while ago, which did nothing to steer her mind in a positive direction. Everyone was in a buzz, getting last minute things before breakfast and saying goodbyes so they could go home. She'd promised Alrescha that she'd be able to go to the Burrow and visit Angelina during the summer holiday.
Selena sighed, packing away her own things, waving her wand about the place. There was a knock on the door. She already knew who it was.
"Come in, Harry." He stepped inside her quarters.
"Morning," he said gruffly. "Just wanted to say thanks for your help all year."
"You're welcome, Harry."
"And also, I was wondering why you were the first person to come through that door. To get me away from Moody." Selena closed her eyes, very afraid to answer this question.
"Harry, I have made many oaths to many people. Some of those oaths that I undertook were unsaid, and one of those unsaid oaths was with your parents, Remus, and Sirius. We all, the five of us, took that unsaid oath. To protect each other with our lives, no matter what. That oath, in turn, is passed onto you, in your parents' absence. That oath can sometimes become hard to keep, but I would die before I break it. You matter to me, Harry. More than you know. And one day, when this is all over, I'll tell you everything I've ever wanted to say to you. And I'll stop dodging the questions that you ask." She opened her mahogany eyes and stared into Harry's green ones. He nodded.
"I have another question."
"Okay."
"I- I can't- I don't know how-" Harry paused, forming his words in his mind. "Does this get easier? I saw him die, and I just want to know if this gets easier. I have this pain, and I don't know how to deal with it."
"I can't comfort you with false promises, Harry. It's just, it doesn't get any easier after seeing someone die. Especially someone you feel you could've saved. Trust me. I've seen enough people go." Selena grimaced, shaking her head with a very faint, faraway look in her eyes. "It only becomes less difficult to live with. And that's the truth. I can only say to stay close to the people you do have, and don't take advantage of them and their love." Harry sighed.
"I was hoping for something more than that."
"Sometimes there is nothing more than the truth we have already told ourselves a thousand times in our heads."
---
Later, Deboarding the Hogwarts Express
"Alrescha, can you come here for a second?" They were in their muggle clothes, and Harry had just been musing on how strangely morbid his godsister dressed. Not normal jeans and a shirt like Hermione, but very muted and avant-garde. He wondered why.
"Yeah?" Alrescha was beaming about Harry's choice to give the Twins his Triwizard gold. They were both walking, rolling their trunks down the aisle of the sparse train. Ron, Hermione, and the twins were ahead of them.
"Your mum probably told you the reason why I'm not dead right now, right?"
"Yes. Priori incantatem."
"Well, this is the reason." Harry held up a phoenix feather. "Fawkes shed it when I was in Dumbledore's office that night."
"It's a beautiful feather. Fawkes is such a beautiful creature."
"I don't know why," Harry continued, "but I want you to have it. I feel like somehow you know what I went through in the graveyard." Harry hadn't spoken about it, yet he knew Selena had told her. "The feeling I have. I can see it in your eyes. So, I want you to have it. Fawkes' feather saved me from being killed, and I think it can help you too. Save you from whatever makes you able to empathize with me." This was the most Harry had spoken all week at one time about the incident.
"Thanks, Harry."
"You're welcome." Harry moved forward, leaving Alrescha to pause and stick the feather in her hair.
-
Alrescha hugged Harry once she realized it was time for him to return to the Dursleys house. She faltered afterwards, and then addressed Vernon Dursley.
"I'll be visiting once," she announced. "I know where your house is, and I'll be visiting Harry."
"And who are you?" Dursley wondered rather irately; he was half-scared that she was coming, and even more afraid that what she was saying was not even a threat. One always had to worry about people who seemed as though they weren't threatening you.
"I'm his godsister. And as such, I will be visiting him to see if you're treating him right. Expect me in about a week, and don't be surprised."
"Er-"
"Thanks." Harry smiled. "That'll be a laugh when you come. Something to look forward to." With a casual wave, Harry headed off with his uncle, who couldn't find the words to respond to Alrescha's announcement.