Author's Note

Hello lovely readers!

This chapter is out earlier than expected. I guess I was just feeling extra creative today :)

Read, enjoy, review :) Please :) and thank you :)

25. Sorry

There was a quiet knock on my dormitory door. A second later, Remus entered, invisibility cloak in hand. He was followed closely by a very concerned Sirius.

"Hey guys," I said, rising from my spot next to Lily on the floor, where we had been studying Potions, "ready, Rem?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning against the doorframe.

"Remind me again why you have to go?" Sirius asked, a little roughly, standing between me and the doorway, looking at me with a troubled expression.

I sighed. We'd been over this a few times. I glanced quickly at the clock by Lily's bed. Remus and I were supposed to meet Jeanette in the Hogwarts kitchen in 5 minutes. "Because she wants to speak to Remus and I." I told him, stepping up to peck him on the cheek, trying to put his worries to rest. "Only Remus and I." I added firmly as he opened his mouth to object. "Please, Sirius, I'll be okay."

"What if she doesn't show up alone?" he asked softly, as I pulled my jacket on and started towards the door. I exchanged a glance with Remus. "She'll come alone. We have to trust her if we want to help her." I said, trying to convince myself as much as Sirius.

The kitchens were warm, inviting, and empty, save for Jeanette, who was leaning against a counter, pale as a ghost. She looked up, her gaze fearful and her wand raised, as she saw Remus and I. Slowly she lowered her hand and watched us warily.

"Jeanette," Remus said, and it was clear with that one word how much he cared about her. He approached her slowly. When he placed one long-fingered hand on her shoulder, she turned suddenly and hugged him tightly around the neck, burying her face in his chest while he wrapped his arms around her waist and breathed in the smell of her hair. I felt almost as if I was intruding on a personal moment as I stood there, watching silently.

After a minute or so, Jeanette broke away, staying close to Remus, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She looked at me and took a deep, shaky breath.

"I'm so sorry." She began, hesitating slightly. "And…" she looked down at her feet. "How's Lily?"

"She's fine. Perfectly fine." Remus said gently, steering her towards a table and chairs. "Jeanette, why don't we all sit down?"

"No." Jeanette said quickly. She shot Remus an apologetic look, but stayed rooted to the spot. "No. I should stand. I…"

"How are you doing, Jeanette?" I asked, my voice sounding loud and pressing in comparison to her wavering speech. "After last night?"

"I'm fine." she said, and while Remus looked relieved, I looked closer at the blonde Ravenclaw in front of me. She had paled considerably when she answered, and it was just a little too fast for me to fully believe her. "They…" she faltered.

"Did they hurt you?" Remus asked, suddenly alarmed. "Regulus, Snape, the others? Did they hurt you for not following through with the attack on Lily?"

Jeanette seemed to cringe visibly at Remus's words. I bit my lip, waiting for the answer.

White as a sheet, Jeanette pressed her hands to her face, and took a steadying breath. "They didn't hurt me, no…" she whispered. Her shoulders shook a little, and I suddenly had the feeling that she wasn't telling the whole truth.

"Jeanette, what happened?" I asked, pressing for information. They'd given her a direct command and she hadn't followed through. They'd threatened to kill her parents if she didn't complete the task. I had a hard time believing that there would be zero consequences for her failure.

Remus shot me a look that clearly meant be gentle, but I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Jeanette?" I asked, again.

"They told me that I would have to do something else. They didn't say what." Jeanette said, looking up from her hands, tears in her striking eyes.

Remus seemed to visibly relax at her words. "They didn't hurt you." he said, sighing, relieved. "Thank goodness."

Jeanette managed a shaky smile up at him while I watched. Maybe I had spent too much time around the darker side of the wizarding world, but I couldn't believe that the Dark Lord would let Jeanette off so easily. Voldemort didn't give second chances.

But I kept my skepticism to myself. I decided that I would have to talk to Jeanette myself, without Remus. He cared about her far too much to keep a clear head in all of this.

"I need to go." Jeanette was saying to Remus now, hugging him one last time. "I don't want anyone to know I was out of bed."

"Of course." Remus said, kissing her forehead affectionately and unfolding the invisibility cloak, getting ready for our departure. "You'll be okay getting back to the Ravenclaw dormitories on your own?"

"Yes, I'll be fine, it's not far." She said softly, looking at me. She crossed the distance between us and clasped my hands in hers. She looked at me seriously, and I felt my heart sink when I looked back at her and saw pure fear in her eyes. "I'm so sorry. But please. It's from Regulus." she whispered to me, and I felt her slip a small piece of paper in my hand.

I felt sick. Clearly I had been right. Jeanette hadn't been telling the whole truth, and whatever secret she was keeping, it must be terrifying.

And I was about to be in the middle of it.

I glanced over at Remus, who was busy readying the invisibility cloak. He glanced up at me, smiling slightly, and I slipped the little paper into the back pocket of my jeans.

"Let's go." I said, taking a deep breath.

Even though it was just a little piece of paper, Regulus's message to me felt heavy as I took it out of my pocket and sat on my bed, staring at the unopened square of parchment. Sirius sat next to me, the curtains around my bed drawn and a silencing spell already cast around us.

I'd felt almost physically ill as Remus and I had walked back into the Gryffindor common room, greeted by Lily, James, and Sirius, who had waited up for us.

I'd feigned tiredness and dragged Sirius up the stairs with me. He'd picked up on my anxiety quickly, stopping me when we entered my empty dormitory and hugging me close, calming me.

I'd quickly explained what was wrong, and held the note up for him to see. I could see my anxiety reflected in his eyes as we sat on my bed and prepared ourselves for the contents of Regulus's message.

I opened the note and read it. I felt almost numb as I stared at the words, which I had half expected to see, anyway.

Sirius read the note too, his face draining of color as we just looked at each other for a moment. "No," he whispered softly, looking at me, his blue eyes shining with what seemed like tears. "Addy, no, no, no…" he cupped my face, leaning his forhead against mine, shaking his head. "No, no."

But I was nodding. "Yes," I said, tears in my eyes too, but my voice strong. "Sirius, I have to."

He shut his eyes, but I could see that he understood. That he would do the same if it was him, and not me.

"Please," he whispered one final time, those blue eyes looking at me, imploring, desperate, but it was a futile effort, and we both knew it. "Don't."

Adeline, join the Dark Lord's ranks or Jeanette dies. Meet me at the astronomy tower at midnight with your answer. The note read. At the bottom, in tiny, scrawled letters, I could just make out the words next to his signature. I'm sorry. -R.A.B.