Chapter XVII

The gang made it to the wing to see Keller sitting in bed, staring outside the window, looking dazed and confused before she heard her name being called by them as they came into the room. "KELLER!"

Keller turned around, spotting them by the door and gave a small wave of greeting, "Hey guys what's up?" Hermione went to her side and asking her how she was feeling? Keller shrugged her shoulders.

"Could've been better, could've been worse? Why? And please tell me why I am here in the hospital again? I woke up and found myself here and wondering why in the world I'm here…" The others looked perplexed and shocked hearing what she just said.

"Don't you remember what happened?" Lily asked, concern and Keller looked at her and shook her head looking at them all confused as if not understanding what they were asking. "Remember what?"

Hermione grabbed both her hands and looked straight into her eyes, "You don't remember anything about the astronomy tower?"

"No, why? Is there something I should?" Hermione took a deep breath and then started explaining what had happened as best she could, getting up to where she had fainted and been taken to the hospital wing. Keller's face had turned pale than her eye glowing in silent anger at the end of the story. Hermione back away tremulously, anticipating the storm to come from her cousin.

"WHAT?! WHY WOULD I SOMEONE THINK I DO SOMETHING AS STUPID AND FUCKING CRAZY LIKE THAT?!" She roared like an angered lioness, causing everyone to back away from her as she screamed.

"YOU KNOW I WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A STUPID BLOODY THING! OH WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON WHOEVER…" And right on cue, Madame Promfrey came, hearing the ruckus once again like before when they had first came in, recognizing Keller's shriek, "Haven't I told you once before already not to yell, honestly this is a hospital and I don't think you want your voice ruin with all your screaming to wake even the dead."

She then turn to the group standing there and sighed, "I had thought that having you for company would calm her down a bit when she's like this. I leave her in your hands for five minutes than you must leave to let her rest." She walked away as Keller gave a glare to her back.

She groan and stare at them sitting around her but being cautious in case she had another outburst, "You see what I have to put up with when I got up? I don't remember anything and end up back here again being treated like a child, I don't believe this..." She plopped back on her pillow, leaning herself on her elbows to sit upright, "Am I even allow to get out of here then?"

"We shall see about that Ms. Corvin as I want to ask you some questions, concerning the incident today?" Dumbledore came in follow by McGonagall and Valerious as everyone moved out of the way but Hermione as she step forward to him.

"Professor, I think that there's something wrong, Keller doesn't remember what happened and…" He listened to what she said before looking to Keller to see if she could confirm this and after he checked her himself and looking more concern now to her.

He stared at her for almost a minute and then took McGonagall and Valerious out of the room and talk in low hush whispers and then McGonagall's voice, "WHAT!" could be heard and then all three of them stepping back into the room.

"It seems sadly to say, Ms. Corvin's memory today have been Obliviate of the incident, giving proof that someone must have had something to do with this and we won't know until we can find the reverse charm. Until then, you Ms. Corvin will have to stay in the hospital overnight."

"WHAT?! YOU MEAN I HAVE TO BE STUCK HERE TONIGHT! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FU—MMPH!" Hermione as well as everyone else standing beside her, getting the idea covered her mouth before she could said what she was going to say in front of the professors.

The five hands plaster to her face, threatening to cut off her oxygen before letting go as Keller took a deep breath and looked to each of them and then at the professors, "But I have homework to finish up and Orion has to be feed tonight and well I have something important to do later…" Making indication that she and Hermione needed to feed that night but having no way as she was to be stuck here under the watchful eyes of the med-witch Promfrey. Dumbledore smiled kindly at her.

"I'll have Ms. Lucian grab your necessary things from your room and Hagrid can take care of Orion as he has been telling me how much better Orion has been, getting along with the herd nicely thanks to his kind mother." Keller flush again as one more person complimented her on her raising it, "And as for the other thing, I'll inform Slughorn who has an excellent knowledge of a certain useful potion for you to use."

Hermione knew exactly what he was talking about. Of course the Blood-Replenishing potion! That will certainly help you Kell.

Keller turn to her with her arms crossed, Then why didn't he just have us make that potion instead of going to the forest, not that I'm complaining or anything…

Hermione didn't know but Dumbledore cleared his throat, catching both girls' attention again, "Now I want you, Ms. Corvin to get some rest and since tomorrow is Sunday, you have a day to relax."

He and McGonagall left the room before Valerious joined then and gave the group a warm smile, "Don't worry so much. We'll find a way to get that memory charm reverse and then we'll see what had happened and get to the bottom of this, in the meantime just relax."

And left with the other professor while Keller groan inside her hands, "I hate my life, I really, really hate it."

"Well I guess we better be on our way then," Hermione look to her, "Do you want me to get your stuff and is there anything you need before we leave?"

"Yeah, if you can go and grab my bag from the dorm and bring it to me, my schoolwork should all be in there if not, then I left them by the nightstand." She cross her arms and said, "And don't worry, I won't be leaving this room anytime, not with the nurse watching my every waking move like a hawk." Pointing to the office where Madame Promfrey was and came out carrying a bottle of potion and Keller looking grim at that.

Hermione patted her hand, "Sure thing, I'll be back in a jiff with your stuff." And everyone left, leaving Keller to flop on her pillow to stare at the ceiling and closing her eyes, pretending to be asleep but not able to fool the med-witch and was force to take the potion which tasted disgusting to her.

She had return right before dinner with Keller's bag, having found most of her books lying on the stand and gave them to her and asked if there was any luck to getting back her memory as she took a seat next to her.

She shook her head, "No not yet Mione, Dumbledore came back to try again but he think it could somehow damage my other memories and I didn't think I wanted that to happened, especially if it did something worse." She shudder, thinking of what would happened if she lost all her precious memories of her family, herself and the thing inside taking complete control over her and then what? She looked towards Hermione again.

"It's strange, it's like my memory of that day was wiped clean like a slate. Like someone didn't want me to remember what happened?" She rubbed her head, wishing she remembered at least one thing about that incident to at least give a clue to the professor about the culprit who did this to her, "Well I'm sure that once we find the missing piece, everything will be fine then."

Hermione nod as she hand over her bag and Keller pull out the large comic book and then her iPod. She had to roll her eyes at this as Keller was opening her book, "Why do you have to read that Keller, it's only a comic book about some guy in a mask."

"Don't say that!" She said stroking the cover as if it were a holy bible instead of a comic book. "I'll have you know that V is one person who I find most in truth, someone who is willing to help the people of this futuristic England that had lost their fate thanks to this evil bastard, Sulter!"

She flip through the pages and read to where Evey was being interrogate and torture. Hermione look over her shoulder and shook her head, disappointed, "If he's suppose to be a hero, then why is he torturing her like that?" Pointing to the image of Evey lying on the floor of her cell, dressed in an orange gown and her head shaved, looking terrified and pathetic.

"Because he wants her to know what it had felt for him, what other had to go through the torture and pain he felt back at the lab that had killed millions of citizen, making her to be without fear of the thing she wish not.

"Sometimes we forget that we let fear take over our entire lives, allowing those to think high and mighty to pushing people to the ground as if they are lower than dirt when they're the scums who walk this earth. And you know what, they enjoy it, they enjoy watching people in pain, to show fear. They're nothing but sadistic bastards!" She huff, nodding her head then going back to reading her book, her knees propped up while Hermione took into compromise to what she just said.

There were such people like those in the comic book that Keller was reading. Voldemort and his Death Eater were like Sulter and his fingermen and they loved watching those who weren't up to their so called high blood status, always torturing and laughing at their pain before they kill them after they grew bore of them but never tired of their begging and pleading to die, showing them who had the higher power over them like the weak muggles they were.

To die, as there was nothing left because of what they had been forced to deal with suffering and couldn't look to a future with having that in remembrance.

Hermione blinked, the idea of how similar from a comic book was like their living time, a future with an evil ruler rising by any second to take control over everything.

"Well I better be going then, see you tomorrow." She saw Keller put on her headphones, hiding the iPod underneath the sheets and listen to the music and waved goodbye to her then left the room.

Keller just finished listening to the song, 'My Immortal' while she read to the end where V died, prevailing for England still, dying as a hero for a cause to free his people from the corrupt ruler that had torture and ruin their lives for far too long. She closed the book and looked about inside her bag for her other journal, noticing it was missing while she had her other sketchbook.

That's odd; I had both of them in here didn't I? Maybe Mione forgot to pick it up with the other books but she knew that it had been in her bag the last time she checked and had used them.

All well, she sighed picking up her sketchbook and opening it to a fresh clean page, she might as well draw a bit to keep herself from being bored. She search her bag and grabbed a quill and special ink, which she had concocted herself for the last few months to allow her drawings to move with life and delicate grace in the way their body language captivated the person watching them.

The secret key ingredient was a pint of her blood and magic.

She removed the cap and dip the quill in the bottle, the ink dripping black with a tint of red on the tip and then went to work, sketching something from her mind first drawing some scene then adding the people and then herself somewhere among the crowd of faceless strangers. Then after she finished her drawing and feeling a little bored, did a little work on her right bicep, having to get adjusted to using her left instead of her right and was finally able to outline large dog then inking it in, bolding it with dark fur with red highlights to add color to its pelt. When she finished she stare, admiring her work of the grim, looking fierce yet beautiful at the same time and concentrated hard to change the color of its eyes, changing from silvery-blue to a golden-red, Gryffindor colors.

She laid her stuff back in her bag and yawn tired, worn of what the day had brought to her and took a look outside the window to where the sky was growing darker by the minute.

Oh how she wanted to be out there right now and not be held in this room, contain like some animal in an inhuman cage pacing around with lost of its freedom. She wanted to soar in the sky, feeling the wind blow in her face and smelling the forest and hunting with Mione and enjoying the simple pleasure of being part of the night once more.

She sigh, knowing she couldn't and Madame Promfrey had already given her the potion that Professor Slughorn made and thought it tasted almost like the clones blood but kind of prefer the live taste of actual blood now. Once you got the taste of a living-breathing mammal, you can't resist it… Her mother used to tell her that as maybe once or twice her dad would bring in some normal blood from the hospital and all three enjoy it before going back to clones blood. But having spend five years on just Ziodex blood, it had only take one simple drink of the animal blood to get her to taste the wonderful elixer of life again. Her cousin might be out there right now, hunting and feasting and then going back and see Remus sometime later.

She doubted they were going to just sit around and chat. They were probably going to even go further than that probably in his room or the Shack she bet.

She search around in her iPod for a tune she could listen to and found one by one of her favorite and pressed play and listen to it before falling asleep. Maybe a good night's rest will do her some good. Just needed to sleep and relax…

Someone was shaking her awake and she was trying to get rid of them by pushing their hand away, not opening her eyes to see who it was trying to get her up, "Leave me alone, can't you see I'm sleeping…" The hand continue to shake her and she had to swat it again like an annoying fly, "…five minutes that's all I need, just five more minutes."

"Five or not, you got to get up and start getting ready Kell." That voice, she recognized that voice anywhere as her eyes open and saw her mother standing next to her, looking alive and well and smiling at her.

"MOM!" She rush at her, startling the poor woman and almost toppling over as Keller buried her face in her chest, hoping that she was really here and not her imagination. "God how I miss you," Her voice was muffle and her tears streaking down her cheeks as she rubbed it against her shirt.

Selene seem a bit confuse at this, "Ah honey are you feeling all right?" She pulled her daughter away to look at her then touch her forehead. "Hmm you do feel a little warm and your eyes don't look dilated. You look fine to me but your dad would probably have a better idea but I think it's just the jitters."

The jitters what was she talking about? She wasn't feeling sick or anything! What in the world was going on? Where were they exactly? She had looked around her and saw this wasn't her room neither was it the hospital wing back at Hogwarts. It looked like one of those dressing rooms of some kind. The walls were cream color and the furniture was pale pink and white, three colors she didn't exactly enjoy at that moment. She felt something being tugged from behind.

"Ah, what are you doing?" She turn around to see Professor Valerious standing behind her, tugging on the white train she had on. "Well this was a little bit wrinkled, probably when you fell asleep on the divan, you know you shouldn't be really doing that sweetheart." SWEETHEART?! WHAT THE HELL?!

Okay something was definitely wrong here, why did her professor call her that? She looked to her mother again as she helped Valerious as she examine the front, smoothing out any unwanted wrinkles. "Mom why is professor Valerious doing here?"

"Oh Kell don't be silly, remember she's not your professor and her name is not Valerious. She's your aunt Cecilia."

WHAT?! Ok what was going on here? Her mom was acting all exciting over something, she called her professor her aunt, which probably would have been a remarkable coincidence and now that she thought about it, her face had did seem familiar but that was impossible, her mom's family was entirely dead.

"But mom, you told me that before that your whole family was killed by Viktor."

Before her mother could say anything, probably to scold her on saying such nonsense, a knock was heard on the door and a man appeared, stepping into the room, wearing a tux. "Hey just checking how you girls were doing?"

"DADDY!" She rushed to him, ignoring the protest of her mother and her professor as she ran straight to him and gave him a hug. He was a voice of reason and she knew he would make things right.

"Dad, I don't know what's going on but mom is talking like crazy, saying I have the jitters which I don't but right now I'm a bit freaked and she said that Professor Valerious is my aunt Cecilia which I know for a fact can be because mom's family was murdered and please tell me why I am wearing a wedding dress." She look down at herself at the last note and before had time as Valerious, Cecilia or whoever came and put something around her throat, "Hey what are you doing?" She looked down and touch her throat to feel a necklace and pulled it up to see it was a locket with the intials C. V.

"Why Keller you know the rules, you need something new, something old, something borrowed and something blue." Selene said as she pointed to her dress, "You are wearing a new dress, you have your grandfather's signet ring, and Cecilia let you borrow her locket."

"Yeah but what about the blue part, I don't have anything on me that's blue." Selene giggled, which seem to freak her out as Valerious return with a hand mirror and held it out to her and looked at her face. Keller almost dropped the mirror when she saw her eyes were blue now. She was still paralyzed as someone put a veil on her head and pulled it down over her face as she saw her mother grabbed the bouquet of flowers sitting by the table and place it in her hands.

Right now her only hope was that her father would have the answer as to what was going on as the pieces seem to fall in place before her eyes and trying to think of it as some sick twisted joke. Her father took her hand, patting to console her and smiled saying, "Now come on honey, you're not getting cold feet are you after all it's your big day."

BIG DAY! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL! NO WAY IT CAN'T BE, PLEASE SOMEONE SAY THIS IS A JOKE, SAY 'HA HA GOT YOU KELLER' I RATHER THAT BE THE CASE THEN WHAT I THINK IS HAPPENING!

Before she could even question her father further, he pulled back the sleeve of his tux and looked at the time on his wristwatch and said, "It time." It may have sounded cheerful the way he said it but to her it sounded like doom and that her fate was sealed to something worse than death.

Her mother and professor nodded and left the room, leaving her with her father before he grabbed her arm, linking it with his and led out to the hallway as she watched through a side door opening, a gathering of people on either side of the pews.

Oh Elder no don't tell me I'm getting married! She looked at the crowd of people sitting in there, waiting patiently for her and her father to come and saw some that were actually death dealers, dressed in uniform and many she had never seen before but the way her mother told, in full description, and saw Amelia and Marcus, two out of three Elders sitting in the pew but something seem off with them.

Amelia's face looked badly shredded like some beast made short work of it and Marcus was in his hybrid form and had so many stitches all over his body showing like he had been sewn up together crudely like a rag doll. They were sitting on the bride's side.

The groom's she saw very little as her eyes were drawn to the front where standing behind the stand was Viktor, his face half slanted but held together with stitches like Marcus and there standing to his right was her groom who she couldn't see but the back wearing dark clothes.

This is so not happening, she tried to reason with herself as she saw the bridesmaid and their consorts walk arm in arm, this is a bad dream, a nightmare!

Hermione and Remus went first, then Lily and James and some other girl with dark hair she didn't know with Peter, all wearing black. Not something one would see at a wedding before as they all walked down together.

Something was off with Lily and James; they looked way too pale and their eyes glazed over. Just as she saw them walked to the end it was their turn as the wedding march, 'here comes the bride' started playing in a gloomy tone with a touch of dissonance. Her father and she walk down the aisle but something seems horribly wrong in this room.

There was a strong detectable odor that smelled of rotting carcasses and the perfume of toxic gas of decaying flesh around her. She tried to not breathe through her nostril, using her mouth instead but the stench choke her, gagging her as it went and enter her lungs.

She put the bouquet to her face, hoping the flowers would relinquished half of the smell only to yelp with horror and dropped them as she saw the roses were drench in blood and bugs were crawling around them. As they hit the ground, something slithers out from them, a long green snake heading towards the groom up ahead.

Oh dear elder, I'm in a room with dead people and I don't want to even guess what's waiting up ahead for me, she tried to pull herself out of her father's hooked arm but he seem to hold her tighter in a vise grip bringing her closer and closer to the stand. She saw that his suit was turning darker in some part of his coat like the size of nickels and blood splatter down to the ground as they walked.

Oh god, this can't be happening! She was struggling to get out of her father's grip and run the hell out of here but she was already standing by the pew as Viktor started reciting the prayers.

"Dearly beloved," he began, "We are gathered here today to witness the joining of…" But Keller wasn't listening as she was trying to get a glimpse of her groom's face and saw nothing but hidden shadow. "…Who is bringing Keller Corvin to be join in matrimony to…?"

"I am." Her father said and she stares in dismay as he hands her over to the stranger, his grip a lot stronger than her fathers' and was crushing the very bones in her fingers. She winced but didn't let herself scream out. Something was definitely off with this man. She stare dismally behind her at everyone's face, all too white and some scary with their plaster smiles from the groom's side. They were wearing masks she could tell seeing some string attached around their heads and one by one they removed them to reveal their faces behind the masks. Oh dear elder no! I think I'm going to be sick.

Skulls with skeleton grin watching her as she stared with wide-eye horror and couldn't take her eyes off them.

A shiver of fear enter her body and soul as she heard Viktor said, "…take this woman whose hand you now hold, to be your true and wedded wife; and do you solemnly promise before all these witnesses to love, cherish and honor her until death shall you part?" And for the first time heard the groom speak in a cold hard voice that sounded like he was hissing.

"I do…" She turn to see two red slits for eyes and saw that something seem wrong with his nose, it look flat and the nostrils resemble that of a snake.

Oh dear ELDER! I'm marrying a snake!

She looked frantically to the crowd, for anyone to help. Hermione and Remus had the same glazed look like Lily and James and doubt they were going to be any help and professor Valerious was no where to be found same with her father and mother as they seem to have disappeared as well.

The people she loved were not going to help her and she was going to be hitch to this monster.

She started yelling, yelling at the top of her lungs, screaming for her life, "SOMEONE ANYONE HELP ME!"

But it seem to fall on deaf ears as she heard Viktor recite the final vows that bind them, "Does anyone have any reason as to why these two shall not be wed?" He heard no one speak while Keller saw no one was coming to save her from this man, this monster she was going to be married.

"Someone please…" Just when she thought all hope was lost, she heard barking and look to see the doors open and a large black grim with silvery-blue eyes was running in and then changing his form into someone she recognized and more than happy to see.

"Keller!!!" Keller look up smiling as she saw Sirius running towards her, looking to her with warmth in his eyes. She felt everything slipping from behind and the grip the snake man had been holding loosen and she broke free and race towards him.

"Sirius!" She cried, picking up her gown, her white train flying behind as she rush towards him, ready to embrace and kiss him, feel his warm lips over hers and never let him go but she saw someone, one of the bridesmaid, the one who walked with Peter, moved over and pointed her wand at him.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" And watched as green light spot out and hit Sirius directly in the heart and watch him falling backwards to the doorway but something had unravel behind the door, a dark curtain causing Sirius to fall right through it and never come out.

"SIRIUS!!!" But it was too late he was gone and before she knew it she had been brought back to the stand again next to the groom and she was struggling wildly before she saw him pulled out his wand and pointed straight at her and unbelievable pain reach inside her and she screaming before falling unconscious while he laugh at her dying cry.

Keller jolted up awake, yelping as daylight blinded her, wondering why the curtains weren't close and why everything to the room was so white. Then she remembered she was in the hospital wing after yesterday's incident. She flopped down on the pillow, pushing her sweaty bangs from her face, panting heavily, her heart beating wildly inside her chest, "Oh thank you elders, it was only a dream, just a bad dream…"

"What was?" Keller jumped and looked to the side of her and saw professor Valerious coming into the room and for a horrifying second thought she was in another bad nightmare and that at any second the room would pile with the corpses of dead people and her snake groom would come in and…

Eww, eww, eww! No way, please let me be awake!! Don't let this be a bad dream. She pinched her skin hard, feeling the pain and her nail accidentally breaking the skin and blood flow freely before it heal in seconds but Keller quickly hid it from the professor as she grab a tissue and pressed it to hold the pressure down. But she was more than glad for that bit of pain as she saw she was really awake. Oh thank you Elder…

Keller relaxed, seeing as everything was as it should be and look at her again only to see Professor Valerious was staring at her face again and then the next thing she knew, she handed her a handkerchief, "You're nose is bleeding." And Keller reached up to touch her face and saw she was right when she pulled back to see blood on the tip of her fingers and took the cloth and held it to her nose while staring at the professor once more. Odd how her mom in the dream had call her professor her long dead aunt Cecilia.

There was no denying that she saw a canny resemblance between her and her mother and remembering her family picture but that couldn't be, her whole family was murdered by Viktor a long time ago. But she wasn't too sure if it had been all part of the dream or had been some bizarre way of it being the truth. She would find out later soon enough when she'd tell Hermione about everything.

"I-I can't exactly remember it professor." She said, lying through her teeth so easily while holding the handkerchief to her nose.

The professor looked at her questioningly, as if knowing that she wasn't telling her the truth, "You sure?" She nodded and then the professor said, "Well all right then if you're positive. I just came to talk with Madame Promfrey to discuss something very vital and to also check how you were feeling after yesterday."

Keller knew what she was talking about and she bet everyone was too and when she came out she was surely going to bombard with questions, some thinking suicide other, well she'll have to see.

So far she knew her day was going to be far from relaxing when she dread what was going to happen.

She looked to her again feeling that strange familiar sense that there was more to her professor than meets the eye. She noticed that she was staring at her and decided to break the silence. "Um professor, why do you keep staring at me like that?"

"Like what?" This had seemed to catch her off guard for a second as she blinked at her.

"Like you know me or something?"

"Oh sorry it's just your look reminded me so much of someone I knew once from a very long time ago. We were close when we were little but then…" She was fiddling around with a gold locket and saw that there were initials on in gold cursive writing: C. V. It was the same locket she had seen in her dream, the one she had borrowed for her 'wedding'.

She was still staring at it before Promfrey came over to check how she was doing.

"Well I must be off then. I'll be seeing you later for class with not only to discuss pogrebin but with some very special news for everyone which I'm sure will cheer you up. Feel better and don't let the gossip try and bring you down, never believe everything and always try and nip it in the bud before it grows worse."

She waved goodbye and left, leaving Keller a sense of awed and wondered if she knew something that she didn't and that she was going to find out pretty soon.