Christmas holidays came quickly, and while the days were unpleasant, they were relatively uneventful. Aside from Hagrid's sudden reappearance at the staff table, and the distinct lack of Quidditch in her life, Elizabeth maintained a disaster-free existence. Even her sessions with Sirius started to get easier. The ex-Auror had even declared that she was good enough with her body to start working with her wand. However, it was still a relief to go home to Spinner's End. To sleep in her own bed. At least for a while.
*S*S*
"Elizabeth! ELIZABETH!"
She opened her eyes. Ever inch of her body was covered in icy sweat; her bedcovers were twisted all around her like a straitjacket. She felt as though a white-hot poker was being applied to her forehead.
"Elizabeth!"
Remus was standing over her, looking frightened and still weary from the change. She clutched her head in her hands; the pain was blinding her… She rolled over and vomited over the edge of the mattress.
"Elizabeth!" Remus seemed unable to say anything but her name.
Taking great gulps of air, Elizabeth pushed herself up in bed, willing herself not to throw up again, the pain half-blinding her.
"Mr. Weasley," she panted, her chest heaving. "Fred's dad's… been attacked…"
"What?" Remus vanished the vomit from the floor and set about untangling his goddaughter from the blankets.
"Fred's dad! He's been bitten, it's serious, there was blood everywhere…"
"Calm down," Remus soothed. "It's just a dream—
"No!" Elizabeth protested, and sicked up over the side of the bed again. "It's real! You have to get Dad."
"He's at an Order meeting," Remus cleaned up again. "He'll be home soon."
"Why aren't you there?" Elizabeth looked at him wildly. "Who are you?"
"Sevling," Remus said quietly, carefully examining her scar. "I'm in no condition to travel right now, and he didn't want to leave you alone. Where's your bracelet?"
"It doesn't work anymore," Elizabeth waved her hand dismissively. "We need Dad. Or someone."
"Elizabeth, I know that these dreams are often visions," Remus said gently. "But I'm sure Arthur is at the meeting—
"There isn't a meeting," Elizabeth shook her head. "Fred always tell me, since you guys tell me nothing." She scowled at him. "Where is he?"
"He'll be home soon," Remus tried again, but Elizabeth was not about to be deterred.
"Then we have to go to Hogwarts," Elizabeth said, swinging her legs off the edge of the bed, still nauseated.
"Elizabeth," Remus grabbed her by the shoulders, hoping to get her back into bed.
"Let go," Elizabeth shrugged out of his grasp and headed off toward the living room.
"Elizabeth Evans, don't you dare—
"Are you coming or not?" Elizabeth demanded, running down the stairs.
"We're not going anywhere," Remus walked as quickly as his battered body would let him. The transformations were getting harder on his body as he got older. No potion would change that.
"I am," Elizabeth shouted back, and he heard the floo roar to life as he hit the bottom step.
"Damn it," Remus swore under his breath. Severus must have forgotten to put the child lock on the floo when he'd left. He leaned against the arm of the sofa to catch his breath, and tried to ignore the gnawing ache of his body.
*S*S*
"I was the snake," Elizabeth explained, standing in the middle of Albus' office. Minerva, who had kept her arm around her granddaughter from the moment she'd arrived in the floo, tightened her grip.
"Is Arthur seriously injured?" Albus asked, his voice sharper than it had been before.
"Yes," Elizabeth snapped. Why was everyone so slow tonight? And why wasn't Albus looking at her?
Dumbledore stood quickly, and addressed one of the old portraits of the Headmasters, hanging very near the ceiling.
"Everad?" he said sharply. "And you too, Dilys!"
A sallow-faced wizard with short, black bangs and an elderly witch with long silver ringlets in the frame beside him, both of whom seemed to have been in the deepest of sleeps, opened their eyes immediately.
"You were listening?" asked Albus.
The wizard nodded. The witch said, "Naturally."
"The man has red hair and glasses," said Dumbledore. "Everard, you will need to raise the alarm, make sure he is found by the right people—
Both nodded and moved out of their frames, but instead of emerging in neighboring pictures, neither reappeared.
"They will be able to tell us what is happening elsewhere," Albus said. "Please have a seat, Elizabeth. They may not return for several minutes." He crossed over to where Fawkes perched.
"We will need a warning," Dumbledore said every quietly. Fawkes seemed to understand, and with a flash of fire, the phoenix was gone.
"ELIZABETH ROSE EVANS!" Elizabeth looked toward the angry voice and saw Lily standing with one of the ex-headmaster's portraits, hands on her hips. "What were you thinking, young lady!"
"Lily?" Minerva looked at the shouting redhead. "What's the matter?"
But Lily wasn't interested in speaking to anyone except her daughter. "You do not go running off in the middle of the night! Especially when Remus clearly told you 'NO'!"
"Mum—
"You get back in that floo this minute, young lady!"
"No one knows you're here?" Minerva looked at Elizabeth. "You can't go running off—
"Ladies," Albus said calmly. "I believe we have some news."
The wizard called Everard had reappeared in his portrait, panting slightly. "I yelled until someone came running," said the wizard, who was mopping his brow on the curtain behind him, "said I'd heard something moving downstairs. They carried him up a few minutes later. He doesn't look good, he's covered in blood."
The silver-ringletted witch reappeared in her picture too and said, "Yes, they've taken him to St. Mungo's, Dumbledore…They carried him past under my portrait… He looks bad…"
"Thank you," said Dumbledore. "Minerva, I need you to go and wake the Weasley children."
"Of course," Minerva nodded. "I'll be right back."
"I'll come—" Elizabeth started.
"You will stay right where you are, Elizabeth Evans," Lily snapped. "Now who is hurt?"
"Arthur," Albus said quietly.
"And you're running around in the middle of the night?" Lily turned her green eyes on Elizabeth. "You just wait until your father finds out about this."
"Where is Severus?" Albus looked at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth shrugged. "Dunno."
"Phineas!" Dumbledore shouted. He looked up at a clever-looking wizard who was clearly pretending to sleep. "Phineas!"
The wizard grudgingly opened his eyes. "What?"
"I need you to visit your other portrait again, Phineas. I've got another message."
Phineas gave a long, fake yawn. "I'm very tired."
"Phineas," Dumbledore said sternly. "You are to give Sirius the message that Arthur Weasley has been gravely injured and that his wife, children, and Elizabeth will be arriving at his house shortly."
He turned to Lily as Phineas sloped out of the portrait. "Lily, I need you to let Remus know that Elizabeth is going to Grimmauld Place. Tell him to direct Severus there when he gets home. And tell him to come himself as soon as he's able."
Lily nodded. "Certainly, Albus. You do exactly what Professor Dumbledore says," she pointed at Elizabeth.
"Yes, ma'am," Elizabeth chose the easiest course of action. Had everyone gone crazy? Arthur was hurt. Maybe dead.
The door opened again, and Minerva entered, followed by Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny.
"Betsy, what's happening?" Fred asked, his eyes searching hers. "Professor McGonagall says—
"Your father has been injured in the course of his work for the Order," Dumbledore broke in. "He has been taken to St. Mungo's. I am sending you to Sirius's house, which is closer to the hospital than the Burrow. You will meet your mother there."
Fred looked shaken. Elizabeth wasn't sure that she had ever seen him like that. She reached out and took his hand. He pulled her to his side. "How are we going?" he asked Dumbledore.
"Portkey," Dumbledore drew an old teakettle from his desk and taped it with his wand, muttering something Elizabeth didn't understand. "The floo network is being watched."
Suddenly, there was a flash of flame in the very middle of the office, leaving behind a single golden feather that floated gently to the floor.
"It's Fawke's warning," said Dumbledore, catching the feather as it fell. "She must know you are out of your beds. Minerva, go head her off. Tell her anything."
Professor McGonagall left at once.
"He says he'll be delighted," said Phineas's bored voice as he reappeared. "My great-great-grandson has always had odd taste in houseguests…"
*S*S*
Sirius tried to make all of them go to bed, though it wasn't terribly convincing. They ended up in the living room, Ginny curled in a chair, Ron on the floor staring out the window, George pacing, and Fred sitting next to Elizabeth on the sofa, nodding off against her shoulder.
Elizabeth shifted, trying to get him to lie more horizontally, but the sofa was decidedly not meant for sleeping. "Not sleeping," he muttered.
"Okay," Elizabeth soothed. "How about you don't sleep lying down, alright? You can be awake." She held his head in her lap as he stretched out as far as his long limbs could be accommodated. He opened his eyes and looked up at her.
"He's going to die, isn't he?"
"Shut UP, Fred," Ron snapped, looking as if the last bit of blood had drained out of his face.
"We don't know that," Elizabeth said, ignoring Ron and ran her hand through Fred's hair. "You can sleep. I'll wake you if we find something out."
"Can't sleep," Fred shook his head, staring at the ceiling.
"Okay," Elizabeth said quietly, holding his hand and resting it on his chest.
He dozed. Ginny stared at the fire. Ron's head was in his hands, so it was hard to tell if he was asleep or not. George tired of pacing and sat on the floor, leaning his head against his twin's feet.
It was ten past five when the door opened and Mrs. Weasley entered. She was extremely pale, but when they all turned to look at her, she gave them a weak smile.
Elizabeth shook Fred awake, and he sat up, looking expectantly at his mother.
"He's going to be all right," Molly said, clearly exhausted. "He's sleeping. We can all go see him later. Bill's sitting with him now, he's going to take the morning off work."
George and Ginny got up and hugged their mother. Ron gave a shaky laugh and downed the rest of the butterbeer he'd been nursing. Fred stood, looked as if he were going to pass out, and then took off, up the stairs.
"He'll be alright," Elizabeth assured Molly and followed. She saw that her bedroom door was closed, and she smiled a little before opening it. "Hey."
He was standing by her window. When he heard her come in, he quickly dashed a hand across his face, but it didn't get the redness out of his eyes, nor did it keep the water from reforming.
"Fred," Elizabeth said, going to him and pulling him over to the bed. "It's okay. He's okay."
"Yeah," Fred nodded. "I don't know what's wrong with me."
"You're relieved," Elizabeth sat beside him. "And you're exhausted. You need to sleep."
"Merlin, Betsy," Fred leaned his forehead on hers. "If you hadn't seen him—
"But I did see him," Elizabeth cut in. "Come on. You need to sleep. Really sleep."
"You sound like my mother," Fred grumbled, a little of the spark coming back into his eyes.
"I'm way less scary," Elizabeth assured. "Sleep. Real bed."
"I would have gone to my own room," Fred said apologetically. "But all the boys—
"It's okay," Elizabeth smiled. "Lie down. Sleep."
"You too," Fred ordered, stretching out on top of the blanket and patting the spot next to him. "You're the one who really hasn't slept all night."
There was a knock at the door, and Elizabeth opened it to see Sirius, running one hand through his hair.
"I'm sorry—
Sirius shook his head. "Let him sleep," he said. "You come with me."
Elizabeth followed him downstairs and into the basement, where she immediately noticed a new room. "What are we doing?"
Sirius opened the door to reveal that the room looked very much like the Room of Requirement when they were training.
"Sirius," Elizabeth groaned. "I haven't slept—
"Exactly my point," Sirius said, gesturing to the middle of the room. "Tonight, you fight tired."
"I hate you," Elizabeth growled under her breath.
"Then perhaps we should start with running laps," Sirius said, motioning for her to get started.
"I'm not wearing shoes," Elizabeth protested.
"Well," Sirius shrugged, "I suppose you'd better start sleeping with your shoes on."
Elizabeth groaned, but started to run. Sirius watched, and after several minutes, called her to him in the center of the floor. "We're not at school, so no wands," he said, squaring off. He threw a right hook, and Elizabeth dodged.
"Too bad you saw Arthur so late tonight," he said casually, sweeping to trip her.
Elizabeth's eyes flashed. "It's not like I can control it."
"Sure," Sirius shrugged, resetting after she blocked a kick he aimed at her knees. "Just saying that it would have been better if he hadn't been attacked at all."
"I know that," Elizabeth spun away from him, ducking another punch.
"I think if you're going to spend your time in Voldemort's head, maybe you could do a better job of anticipating."
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and blocked another kick. "You do it then."
"Maybe you should leave it to us," Sirius said, making contact with her hip. "If you can't protect anyone, what's the point?" He aimed a punch to her shoulder, stepping a little too close to her, and felt a crushing pain as his goddaughter hit him with a hand kick to his ribs. He fell, and Elizabeth stepped over him, stalking out of the room, pushing past Remus on the stairs.
"What happened?" Remus asked, holding out a hand to his friend.
Sirius accepted the hand, grinning. "I got her to fight back."
*S*S*
Elizabeth lay down beside Fred, snaking an arm across his waist.
"You looked sick in Dumbledore's office," he said, opening his eyes.
"You're supposed to be asleep," Elizabeth said, kissing him.
"Can't sleep without you," Fred said. "And you didn't answer me."
"You didn't ask a question."
"Betsy."
"My scar," she said quietly. "Hurt so bad, I sicked up twice before I made it to Hogwarts."
"How do you feel now?"
"Tired," Elizabeth put her hand over his mouth. "Sleep."
"MmK," Fred said, kissing her palm and closing his eyes.
*S*S*
Severus Snape was in pain. He knew it had been a bad idea to go with Lucius to that meeting. But it was important that he seize the opportunity to get back in with the Dark Lord. His original plan to work through Lucius had one fatal flaw. Lucius was an idiot.
Luckily for Severus, the Dark Lord was almost as stupid. Or at least blinded by ego. Of course Severus had not abandoned him. Of course, it had been a misunderstanding. Caused by his animal attraction to the mudblood, of course. And his daughter? Of course it was ridiculous that a half-blood could overthrow him. The Longbottom boy was far more reasonable.
That didn't keep the sadistic wizard from punishing him for his lapse, of course. Severus had almost forgotten just how painful the Cruciatus curse could be. When he finally made it home, apparating into the living room, Remus was sitting on the sofa.
"You look better," He said, painfully stripping off his robe.
"Can't say the same about you," Remus glared.
"What?" Severus looked at the clock. "Is Elizabeth still asleep? It's almost ten."
"Your daughter is at Headquarters," Remus frowned. "And I'm here, waiting for you, to tell you that Arthur Weasley was attacked, and that the Weasleys are all staying with Sirius."
"What happened?" Severus limped over to his chair.
"Elizabeth saw Arthur get hurt, then charged over to Hogwarts. And of course I couldn't follow her. I finally made it there an hour ago, but that was long after the fact," Remus grimaced. "You shouldn't leave her with me when I'm like this, Sev."
Severus frowned. "It's not your fault. She has too much Snape blood in her."
"Speaking of Snape blood," Remus raised an eyebrow. "You look like hell."
"Don't worry about it." Severus stood up, wincing. "I need to change and get to London."
"I'm coming with you."
"You're feeling alright?"
"Sev, you look like you were run over by a herd of hippogriffs," Remus shook his head. "I think I'll make it."
*S*S*
Elizabeth opened her eyes to see Fred staring at her. She smiled. "You were supposed to sleep."
"I did," Fred said.
"What time is it?" Elizabeth sat up.
"About ten," Fred sat up as well, stretching. "Are you hungry?"
"Starving," Elizabeth nodded. "Do you think everyone else went to bed?"
"With my mother in the house?" Fred laughed. "Probably. But I bet they ate first." He stood and helped her up as well. "Do you think your dad is here yet?"
Elizabeth laughed, looping an arm around his waist. "Well, no one burst in to save us from sin… so probably not."
"Where do you think he is?" Fred ran a hand through his hair.
"Not sure," Elizabeth shrugged. "Not an Order meeting, I can tell you that."
Elizabeth led the way down the stairs to the kitchen. "Elizabeth," Remus stood near the table, arms crossed.
Elizabeth grimaced. "Remus, I'm sorry. But I had to—
"Come here," he ordered, and she obeyed, standing in front of him. He looked at her. "You're alright?"
Elizabeth nodded. "Pain is going away."
"Good." Remus pulled her to his chest. "I'm sorry. I should have listened."
Elizabeth relaxed considerably. "Sorry I didn't stop last night. On the stairs."
Remus grinned. "I hear you kicked Sirius' butt."
Elizabeth shrugged. "Is dad here?"
"Yes he is," Severus' voice came from inside the pantry. "In fact, he is trying to find coffee that isn't older than his daughter."
"Where were you?" Elizabeth pulled away from Remus and went into the pantry.
"Have you had breakfast, sir?" Fred asked, going over to the refrigerator. "I was going to make eggs."
"Thank you," Remus nodded. "I think I'm going to take a quick shower before that."
"No hurry. I'm not as fast as my mum," Fred pulled out the egg carton and tried not to eavesdrop on the pantry.
"I had business," Severus said, turning away from the shelves to look at his daughter. "Honestly, Elizabeth. Can't you stay in your bed for one night?" He looked at her with a strange mix of disapproval and pride.
"Can't you?" Elizabeth looked at him, watching him not be able to hold back the wince as he moved. "You're hurt."
"I tripped."
Elizabeth snorted. "That's not even a good lie. You've never tripped in your life. Dad," she looked at him, "Where were you?"
"Elizabeth," Severus frowned, "not everything is your business. I tell you everything you need to know."
"Dad," Elizabeth glared. "Fred's dad almost died last night."
Severus sighed. "Enough. You need to eat. How much sleep have you had?"
Elizabeth decided to table the matter. With her father, sometimes it was best to do her nagging in spurts. He got less annoyed that way. "A few hours this morning," she said. "Some last night before I saw it."
Severus pulled her into a one-armed hug and was quiet for a minute. Elizabeth buried her face in his robe and breathed in the smell of potions that always lingered on his clothing. "Remus said your scar hurt so badly you were sick," he said finally.
"It's okay now."
"Hmm," Severus loosened his grip and tilted her face back to look at her forehead. "It's inflamed," he said, inspecting the scar. "I suppose you ran out of the house before Remus could give you something for it?"
Elizabeth looked abashed. "Yeah."
"'Yeah'," Severus repeated before guiding her out of the pantry. "After breakfast, we'll take care of that."
"Are we staying?"
Severus nodded. "I promised Molly that I would stay here while she takes her children in shifts to the hospital. She doesn't want to overwhelm Arthur."
"She doesn't trust Sirius?" Elizabeth laughed.
"I'm sure the woman values her children," Severus said dryly. "Besides, it may be good to stay out of the house for a little while. Your mother may have screamed herself out in a few days."
"She traveled through multiple portraits to come yell at me in Dumbledore's office," Elizabeth looked at Severus with a "She's soooo embarrassing" look.
"Maybe you shouldn't use the floo without permission then, hmmm?" Severus pushed her gently toward a chair.
"So my mum's awake?" Fred asked, plating four helpings of eggs and bacon.
"She went back to the hospital when I got in this morning," Severus said. "She said she'd be back this afternoon to take two of you at a time."
"Oh," Fred said, floating the plates over to the table with his wand. Elizabeth met his eyes, but he looked away.
*S*S*
"Elizabeth, I need to speak with you," Sirius said later that morning.
"Sirius, I'm really not in the mood to train—
"In my study, please."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "You sound like Dad."
"Elizabeth," Severus said, pointing toward the hall.
Sighing, Elizabeth moved from where she was sitting beside Fred, and followed Sirius, who closed the study door behind them. "Look, Sirius, I'm sorry I kicked you."
Sirius raised his eyebrows and leaned against the front edge of his desk. "Really? Because I've been trying to get you to do that for weeks."
Elizabeth looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "You wanted me to attack you?"
"You didn't attack me," Sirius said calmly. "You defended yourself. Which you've been failing to do." He held out his hand. "Come here," he ordered, waiting until she was standing in front of him. "Now look at me." He tilted her chin up to meet his eyes. "You caused me the amount of pain you needed to get away. There's no shame in that. And now that you've broken through that wall, I don't ever want to see you backing off to avoid hurting your opponent. If you do, you'll run until your legs fall off. Understand?"
"Yes, sir," Elizabeth grimaced.
"Good," Sirius hugged her tight.
*S*S*
"I'll take the twins first," Molly said when she arrived that afternoon. "Then the babies."
"Mum!" Ron scowled. "I'm not a baby."
"You're my baby, darling," Molly ruffled his hair.
"They can go first," Fred said. George looked at him, then at Elizabeth, who shrugged.
"Alright," Molly ushered her younger ones toward the door. "We'll be back in a little while."
"We'll be fine here," Remus assured her.
"I'm going to restore some order to Black's trash bin he calls a Potions lab," Severus said. "You," he looked at Elizabeth, "need to get some sleep this afternoon. You nearly fell asleep in your lunch."
"Yes, sir," Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
"Careful with the attitude, monster," Severus warned.
"I think we could all use some more sleep," George said, clapping his brother on the shoulder.
The three went upstairs, where George went to take a shower and Elizabeth sat on the end of Fred's bed as he lay down.
"So it was nice of you to let Ron and Ginny go."
"Yeah," Fred rolled over to face the wall.
"Fred? What's up?"
"Just tired."
He's afraid, Elizabeth thought to herself. It was a little scary in of itself. Her usually strong, cheerful boyfriend was having mood swings. Terror to relief, back to terror.
"He's going to be okay," Elizabeth moved to sit where she could rub his back.
"Yeah," Fred said again, still not looking at her.
"Fred," she pulled gently on his shoulder, turning him back over to his back. "I love you."
He smiled a little. "I love you too," he said quietly, then sighed. "I… I can't see him in a hospital."
"Okay," Elizabeth nodded, lacing her fingers through his. "But I could go with you. If you wanted. If you decided to go."
Fred stared at the ceiling for a moment. "I ran away once."
Elizabeth, not really following his logic, waited patiently.
"Mum was pregnant with Ginny, and Bill told me that we only had enough money for six kids. And since George and I looked alike, it would be easiest to get rid of one of us."
Elizabeth laughed. "So you ran away?"
"It wasn't funny. I ran away, accidentally apparated, and wound up in the middle of nowhere." Fred squeezed her hand hard. "I wandered around for two days. I nearly starved. But then, finally, my dad found me. He found me, because he spent 40 hours straight looking for me. He never stopped looking." Fred's voice caught. "He was hurt, and I did nothing. I just sat here. I didn't go looking for him. I didn't go to help. He's my dad. He's always been there for me. And now… I don't know if I can see him hurt."
"He needs you," Elizabeth said quietly, squeezing his hand. "You can go to him now, like he's always gone to you." I sound like my father, she thought.
Fred pulled her down to kiss her. "Do you think we'll be here for Christmas?"
Elizabeth laughed. "Your mind changes without warning, doesn't it?" She stood up. "I don't know, but I do know that we won't survive until Christmas if dad catches me in here. We were pushing our luck last night."
"Sleep," Fred agreed. "I'll see you later."
*S*S*
Severus downed two pain relievers and a blood-replenishing potion in the lab. He put two cauldrons on to replenish the store, and dragged himself up the stairs, hoping to get a few hours of sleep himself.
Elizabeth was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling.
"I thought I told you to sleep."
"You aren't."
Severus frowned. "I tell you what to do, Elizabeth Rose," he said, pulling off his robe and transfiguring his shirt and trousers into a cotton shirt and pants.
"Dad!" Elizabeth sat up. "You look like someone beat the hell—
"Elizabeth!" Severus said, exasperated. "I'm fine. Go to sleep before I pour a calming draught down your throat."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "So mum's still mad at me?"
"I think now, she's angry with me," Severus sat on the edge of her bed. "Between you and I, your mother is much more irrational as a portrait."
"Well, you did leave me alone to go off and get beat up somewhere," Elizabeth grumbled.
"You're clearly cranky from lack of sleep," Severus said firmly. "And I could use some as well." He shook out a throw blanket. "Lie down, and stop making me crazy."
"Maybe I'm not tired," she sassed, watching his movements carefully for pain.
"Maybe I'll drug you to I can get some sleep," Severus threw the blanket over her, covering her face. He stood and crossed the room to his own bed, lowering himself onto the mattress. He wasn't in pain anymore; the potions had taken care of that. But his joints were stiff, and his muscles weren't working very well.
"Dad?"
"Yes?" Severus was regretting the decision to share a room at Headquarters more and more by the minute.
"I was the snake."
"No, you were not." Severus said simply.
"Yes, I was!" Elizabeth picked at the blanket. "I saw the whole thing through the snake, and a felt how angry—
"You saw the attack through the snake," Severus repeated. "You were not the snake."
"Felt like it," Elizabeth muttered.