A/N: The peak is about to crumble.

lovirosa: Ah, so good to hear from you! And yes, the Chosen One haha. I feel so funny saying that. And you know you can always count on me to break your hearts haha. Thank you, as always!

nessafly: Haha me too! Things are finally starting to move forward, and I'm super excited to end this story and get started with the next! Thank you!

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missalex3030: Thank you, thank you! I can't imagine how busy you are. Hair styling sounds like a really fun profession, especially during wedding season. But thanks for reviewing still! I'm really grateful that you appreciate the time I put into developing my OCs, and James too. Thank you again!

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SMGF1: Thank you! And once a week seems to be the trend recently, doesn't it? It's mostly because I'm working a lot, and I've been getting distracted with all the excitement of the summer in the city. I've also been writing slowly because, for some reason, these past chapters have been a little more difficult to write. BUT we're almost at the end!

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Chapter 56: Of the Light in the Void

It was two weeks after Harry's birth - the middle of August. The air was still sticky with the summer heat. The evening was heavy with promise - it would probably rain soon.

Remus sat in the Burrow living room on the couch with Lily, with the Weasley boys scattered around them and baby Harry in Lily's arms. Molly had demanded that the younger woman come over so that she and Arthur could meet the newest addition to the Potter family. James was still at the Ministry working - the Auror office was feeling an onslaught of Death Eater activity - so Remus had come in his stead to help. He smiled fondly as he watched the various little Weasleys bounce around the newborn in Lily's arms. Harry's mop of black hair stood out starkly amongst the redheads.

Fred and George's faces hovered directly in front of Harry's with very concentrated expressions. Remus watched them apprehensively - he could never predict how those two would react to anything. They hadn't exactly been enthused when their own baby brother had arrived. He was now sleeping peacefully upstairs - able to get a moment of reprieve from the twins' plotting.

Fred's nose scrunched up finally with some confusion and then looked up at Lily.

"Its name is Harry?" he asked. Lily smiled and nodded.

"Yes, his name is Harry," she responded patiently. Fred nodded sagely, as if hearing a wise proverb, and then looked back down at the baby. Harry gazed up at him calmly. His eyes trailed over the twins' hard expressions.

"Won is bigger," George declared. "Why? They both babies."

"Ron is older, sweetheart," Molly said from beside him. "Harry will be just as big though very soon. Remember how small Ron was when he first arrived?"

George nodded eagerly and then looked back at Fred. They shared a look then slowly stretched into grins. Remus cringed a little inwardly - he knew that expression couldn't be good.

"They should fight!" Fred declared. He slapped Harry's hand loudly, yanking a cry from the infant. A sharp wail erupted from his tiny mouth shrilly. Remus flinched at the sound.

"Fred!" Molly exclaimed, abhorred. She snatched Fred from the couch and stood in a panic. The toddler squealed and flailed.

"No! I did nothing!" he protested. George stood on the couch clumsily next to Lily, who was shielding a now crying Harry from the toddlers, trying her best to soothe him. George was also flailing and hopping precariously on the couch's cushions. Remus' hands shot out to steady the toddler before he fell off of the couch.

"He did nothing!" George cried. He kicked and shoved at Remus' hands as the older man tried to balance him. The boy's little hands pushed and slapped against Remus' face and arms with grunting protests. Eventually, Remus had to wrestle him to the floor, where he simply released him. George pushed away and scrambled to his feet, following his mother and twin brother out of the room on pattering tiny feet. Bill leapt to his feet from beside Remus and ran after his mother, scooping George up with him as he went. The little boy shrieked at his older brother's confining arms, but all four quickly disappeared.

"I'm so sorry, Lily!" Molly cried as she rushed the twins from the room. Lily smiled exasperatedly as she bounced Harry in her arms. The infant gasped and gurgled, but his wails softened to small whimpers.

The loud protestations from the twins dulled as they fell farther into the house. As quiet overtook the room again, the tension in Remus' chest loosened. He sighed and sat back against the couch, breathing deeply.

"Merlin," he gasped, sinking into the old, soft cushions. "How does she have any energy to do anything?" he marveled.

Lily nodded, grimacing slightly, but didn't say anything. She looked down at her son, who had calmed quickly. He blinked tearfully up at his mother, lips twisting slightly with the remnants of his crying. She rocked Harry with the gentlest expression. Remus smiled fondly. He'd always known that Lily would make a fantastic mother, and yet seeing her with her actual son was warmer than any other vision he'd imagined.

His thoughts trailed to Rowan. Twins - she'd said that she wanted twins. He was torn between a sigh of longing and dread. Twins?

"How can she want twins?" he muttered disbelievingly. He cringed at the thought of running after two tiny mayhem makers like Fred and George on a daily basis.

Lily perked up at this, head jerking over towards Remus. Her eyes glowed with excitement.

"Twins? Who - Rowan?" she exclaimed excitedly. She continued to bounce Harry in her arms, but her eyes lit up at the mentioning of children from Remus. Remus winced as he realized that he'd said his musings aloud.

"Yeah," he admitted, "She said she wanted twins."

Remus could have sworn that he saw Lily's eyes twinkle. He wasn't sure if he should be nervous or not.

"So you two are talking about having children then?" she asked excitedly. She grinned toothily up at him, and he was suddenly reminded of her fiery schoolgirl days. He almost smiled at the thought.

"Well, sort of," he admitted. He mentally shouted at himself for talking about such private matters with his friend - again - but there was something about the woman that just pulled it out of him. "Someday, but not now."

"But that means you're talking about getting married too, right?"

Remus cringed again. He'd certainly dug himself into a hole now. There was no way to get out of this - Lily wouldn't drop it until she got some answers. He sighed.

"I was... thinking about it - proposing, I mean."

Lily shrieked and seized next to him, only restrained by the gasping infant in her arms. She gasped as well, looking down at her son in a panic as she realized her sudden lack of composure and sighed in relief at the sight of him simply frowning up at her. She almost smiled contritely before turning back to Remus.

"How soon is soon?" she asked softly, but still with great excitement.

Remus shook his head. "I don't know yet. Nothing immediate, but I was thinking maybe around Christmas... I'm not sure... What do you think?" he said thoughtfully. He smiled shyly at Lily, ears suddenly feeling very warm with embarrassment.

Lily beamed. "I think Christmas is a wonderful idea," she said earnestly. She then leaned back thoughtfully. "Hmmm... Twins," she mused. Her face stretched out slowly into a grin. "I could definitely see her with twins. She and James are practically twins themselves. I bet they were just as crazy as Fred and George."

Remus cringed again. She had a point. He thought back to the rough, dark-haired duo from their First Year. They'd practically been a pair of wild animals back then. He couldn't imagine how difficult it must have been for poor Carol, Julia, and Alfred to chase after them, even after they'd begun at Hogwarts. He wondered how many owls from McGonagall their mothers had received over the years.

"God, I really don't know if I can handle twins," he groaned. Lily laughed and patted him on the arm.

"I'm sure they'll be the loveliest of children," she teased. "Just keep them away from Fred and George. I can't imagine that'll be a good combination."

Suddenly, there was a slamming of the kitchen door and the sound of stomping feet.

"Hello-o!" rang out a jolly voice.

"Speaking of twins," whispered Lily conspiratorially, grinning. Remus rolled his eyes at her.

"In here!" he called. The stomping loudened as the feet approached until another flash of red hair appeared around the corner, attached to a stout body and glowing smile - Gideon Prewett.

"Gideon! It's so good to see you!" Lily greeted. She then frowned slightly. "It is Gideon, right?"

The older man guffawed loudly. "Yes, yes. Fabian is with Winnie right now prepping for their work tomorrow night. But I didn't want to miss an opportunity to meet the young'un!" He peered around the room in confusion for a moment, seeing only the two of them and Harry. "Where is everyone?" he asked.

"Uh... the twins had a bit of a tantrum, so Molly and Bill are putting them to bed I think. Ron is asleep. Arthur is on patrol. I don't really know where Percy and Charlie are," Remus listed slowly. He heard a distant roar from the upstairs rooms and grimaced slightly - he suddenly had an idea of where the nine year-old was.

Gideon nodded at this explanation and then assessed the young pair on the couch happily. He scurried forward and plopped down next to Lily so that she sat in the middle of the couch and peered excitedly at the bundle in her arms. His brown eyes glowed happily.

"So this is the new pup, eh?" he grinned, taking Harry into his arms. He held the infant out in front of him with arms stretched. His large, broad hands seemed to engulf the tiny boy. Harry stared back at him with large eyes blinking in confusion, but he remained silent. Gideon's grin broadened even farther, if possible. "He looks every inch a Potter," he said approvingly. Lily beamed.

"He does," she agreed.

Gideon then pulled Harry back in and assessed his face more closely. He seemed to look over him like a rare artifact, nodding his head knowingly, as if checking off various details from a list. He stretched the boy's tiny hands out, tracing the little lines and creases in his fingers, then ran his palms over his little head and behind his ears. Lily and Remus watched him, frowning with apprehension.

Finally, the older man seemed satisfied and handed Harry back to Lily. He nodded his head one more time like an exclamation point.

"Yep, he's a wizard, all right," he declared confidently.

Remus snorted, while Lily stared hard at her son, eyebrows furrowed. She then looked back up at Gideon.

"Well... yes," she said slowly.

Gideon shook his head confidently.

"You never know! Squibism can occur anywhere to any family! Like the Longbottom boy - I'm not totally sure about that one. But yours here - he's definitely got some magic in him! A good deal, I should think, too!"

Lily eyed him warily. "There's no way Alice and Frank's son is a squib," she said suspiciously. "And how can you be sure Harry isn't?"

Gideon shrugged. "It's my job - identify children with magic and those without. Your son definitely has magic. Neville could have some in him too. He most likely does - it'll probably come out as he gets older - but he could be a squib. I'm just saying you don't need to worry about Harry."

Lily's frown remained but she looked slightly relieved. Her shoulders sagged a bit.

Remus gazed at Harry thoughtfully. It'd never occurred to him to be concerned about the magical status of a child born from two magical parents, but he supposed it was possible. If a magical child born to Muggle parents was common, he reasoned it wouldn't be completely unheard of to have non-magical children from a union of magical parents. He frowned. He sincerely hoped he'd never have to worry about that with his children.

"How're you feeling this month? Good to go for tomorrow?"

Remus was snapped from his inner musings by Gideon's sudden question. He looked up to see him and Lily gazing at him intently. Remus smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, a bit tired, but I'm okay. I'm more worried about Rowan, to be honest. She's barely slept at all this week," he admitted.

Lily nodded solemnly, but Gideon's chest swelled with pride.

"That girl is going to get a damn Order of Merlin soon. I'd bet some good gold on that," he declared proudly. Remus smiled gratefully and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, she's bloody brilliant. She's going to sort it out any day now," he said, face stretching fondly as he thought of his girlfriend. He imagined her hunched over her cauldrons in some dark laboratory with her messy hair tied up and bobbing on top of her head. He hadn't seen much of her over the past week, due to her rigorous work schedule, and when he did, she looked nearly as gaunt and tired as he did. "I just hope she remembered to eat lunch today," he mumbled.

Gideon guffawed and clapped a rough hand to Remus' back. The younger man choked a bit on his own spit, sputtering slightly. The older man grinned ruefully.

"I'm sure she's fine. She's in good hands," he said encouragingly. "My brother will make sure she's fed and plump."

Remus smiled weakly and imagined Rowan's tired face. Something in his bones ached. He could feel the wolf inside of him howling with the coming moon.

In a cold, basement laboratory the next night in the center of London, Rowan sat on a stool in front of a magical enclosure, wringing her hands nervously. Her right foot twitched uncontrollably. Her stomach was tight, like a bundle of writhing snakes. She wanted to throw or punch something or scream, but she clenched all of her muscles to the point of pain - she would sit still.

"It's going to be fine. Take a breath."

Rowan's head jerked up to see Fabian Prewett smiling down at her knowingly. She half-grimaced, half-smiled, face twisting awkwardly before settling into a furrowed frown. She heeded his advice and took a deep breath, but it didn't help to alleviate any of the tension in her gut and stiff back. Fabian patted her on the shoulder and smiled encouragingly.

"It's only the third cycle, girlie. No one expects it to go perfectly the first few times around. That's why they're called 'experiments,' you know?"

Rowan nodded but hunched over anxiously. "I know," she admitted quietly. "But I've lost so much time already. And now, you all are in this with me too. It's not like I can just relax and let things unravel slowly. I have to get this right," she rambled.

Fabian smiled and nodded. "It will," he promised quietly. He then grinned at her. "Just think - this time next year, you'll be a world-renowned Potioneer! Maybe even a Potions Master! Master Delacroix," he sang dramatically.

Rowan chuckled a bit at this. She was incredibly grateful to have Fabian there with her. Even though she felt relatively comfortable with Amrit and Lescos at this point, the older Order member was truly a source of light during these dark nights. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to continue onward without his bright cheering.

"What about you, Ike? You plan on doing anything exciting next year once this thing gets nailed down?" he called through the enclosure.

The still form in the center of the room stirred at the sound of his name. Isaac's pale eyes opened calmly. He looked up at the pair through the glowing, translucent wall that separated them from him. He seemed to think for a moment before answering.

"I imagine not much will be different for me," he answered measuredly. "I will work with Ms. Delacroix on finding a cure. Otherwise, I will most likely continue with my work at the Ministry."

Fabian gaped dramatically at the pale man. "You're kidding! You must have something exciting in mind! Maybe a vacation you otherwise wouldn't have been able to take? Someone to confess your love to?" Rowan's mouth twisted amusedly - Fabian certainly had a very melodramatic narrative developing in his mind about Isaac.

Isaac thought carefully again. Rowan wondered if he was actually thinking or if he simply answered slowly out of habit.

"No, I would imagine not," he finally answered. His response sparked a question in Rowan's mind - something she had been wondering for a few months now.

"Isaac?" she called.

"Yes," he responded simply.

Rowan turned the words over in her head before voicing them. "You know my mother's assistant Alfred?"

Again, Isaac paused.

"Yes," he finally answered.

Rowan took a deep breath. Her chest was slightly tense for some reason. "Did you two know each other from anywhere else?" she asked carefully.

Again, Isaac paused, but it felt heavier this time. Rowan wondered if she was imagining it.

"Why do you ask?"

Something rejoiced in the back of Rowan's mind. She knew she'd caught onto something!

"I just had a feeling that you two had met before - like maybe you met while at Hogwarts, you know?"

Silence again. Rowan's thoughts came loudly in screaming accusations and righteous victory and then quieted back down to a whisper. A great deal of time passed. Rowan listened carefully to the clean clicks of the clock's second hand on the wall. Still no response. Perhaps her suspicions hadn't been right after all. Perhaps she had just imagined it. Right when she'd given up on an answer, Isaac spoke again.

"Yes."

Rowan perked up at this. "Yes, as in you knew each other already?" she asked quickly.

"Yes."

Isaac's eyes remained closed. His back stood prostrate and still, like a figure carved from the smoothest of marble. Despite the lack of windows in this cramped space, the sight of Isaac's pale form glowing in the dim light of Amrit's laboratory seemed to serve as a substitute moon. Each restrained movement of his pre-transformation ritual whispered like a lap a water. His pale skin and veins had glowed eerily. Each blue trail seemed like a spill of fading ink, pulling and pushing from itself into long faint webs around his body. She wondered if the secrets to their questions could be read from the words they spelled out.

"How-"

"It's almost time."

Rowan and Fabian jumped slightly and turned to see Amrit Kohli and Lescos Farago emerge from the dark perimeters of the room. Their features washed out and shadowed hauntingly in the strange light. Amrit's large, inky eyes pierced through the sterile light of the laboratory. Her crimson lips stretched pleasantly into a calm smile. Rowan felt some of the tension in her neck dissipate at the very sight of the older woman's even form. The naked man nodded from his kneeling position but otherwise didn't move.

"I'm sorry we're late," Amrit apologized, bowing her head to Rowan slightly.

"My fault, I'm afraid," admitted Lescos jovially. The large man grinned down at Rowan contritely. "Got caught up with a patient - he's got a new strain of vampirism that we've never seen in this part of the world before. I got distracted and ended up losing track of time. Won't happen again!"

Rowan smiled with some relief.

"No, I totally understand. I know you have prior commitments before this. I'm just glad that you're here at all!"

Lescos beamed at her then clapped his hands, rubbing them together excitedly. He checked the watch on his wrist and nodded eagerly.

"Looks like we made it just in time! Moonrise should be in about four minutes," he announced.

Rowan's stomach clenched again. She squeezed her fists tightly in her lap until her knuckles glowed white in the light of the magical barriers. She took a deep breath.

"Good to go, Isaac?" Lescos called.

Isaac nodded, kneeling and straight-backed. His eyes were closed. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, ribs and sternum expanding and settling calmly. Rowan watched him with slight awe. Did all werewolves look like such ascetics pre-transformation? She thought of Remus' graceful, long limbs. How would his pale arms glow in the moonlight?

"Yes."

The four researchers gathered around the enclosure as the seconds ticked down. Their faces glowed in the faint yellow light of the enchanted wards. Strange runes etched the ground surrounding the glowing barrier in a language primarily lost to time. Rowan's breath came shallowly, her heart beating like a distant drum.

Finally, she saw it - the slightest of twitches in Isaac's face. His eyes remained closed, knees and shins pressed to the ground and palms resting on his thighs. But there was a slight twitch at his eye, then a pull at the corner of his lip. His mouth creased and tightened, as if trying to prevent the monster within him from escaping past his lips. The steady tempo of his chest swelled like a rising tide. His ribs expanded with air as a sharp intake of breath shot up his nostrils audibly. His mouth continued to twist and fight, back straining and straight.

But then it fell open like the swinging of a door, head lolling back as if the muscles in his neck had collapsed. The hands that had laid flat on his thighs fell and hung limply at his sides, chest splayed like an offering. His ragged shallow breath emptied out into a low groan - a gasp of pain.

And then his eyes opened.

They were black and empty and hollow, like two of the deepest voids. Rowan imagined herself falling into them and never coming back out. They, too, seemed to groan and rumble distantly.

His entire body seized, snapping forward. He fell onto his hands and knees with a sudden shriek and the cracking of bone and skin against concrete.

There was another twitch - the bubbling at his spine. First it was just one - then two vertebrae, then three. They pulled upward like blooming flowers. His ribs stretched like roots to those blossoms and then small black shoots of grass - fur. His skin twisted and stretched tightly over the contorting bones. He was screaming and thrashing, head and face smashing into the cold floor as if trying to distract himself from the pain. His arms and legs collapsed from beneath him and shot out, groping desperately for something, anything.

Rowan's chest was too tight. She couldn't breathe as she watched. It wasn't the contorting or the twisting - it was the pain. Each stretch of tooth and bone seemed to scream out in agony. Isaac's entire form seemed to be screaming for relief, fingernails tearing at his own skin and throat shrieking hysterically. Each sound seemed to resonate from a completely new depth. It made every inch of her own skin crawl and shiver. She wanted to peel away her own flesh along with his. A cold sweat broke out across her forehead. She felt dizzy. It felt so heavy...

"Rowan!"

Her head shot up to see Fabian's brown eyes piercing into hers.

"Keep it together, girl!" he barked.

Rowan's lips quivered but she nodded, gathering herself upward. Fabian, Amrit, and Lescos were all holding onto their wits - so could she. For Isaac.

But the screaming and groaning continued. Rowan felt herself fall into a numb daze as she waited for her patron's transformation to end. It seemed to go on and on, without any sign of ending in sight. Isaac's body was now covered in a coat of dark gray fur. His fingers had expanded into massive clawed paws. His face had twisted and elongated into a snarling snout, drool dripping from the long teeth protruding from red gums.

But then he stilled. His form remained curled up and twisted over, face pressed into the floor, but the shrill cries and howls emptied out into the softest of whimpers. His legs trembled like fragile leaves.

For many moments, the werewolf didn't move. None of the researchers dared to move either, each waiting for any sign or reaction from Isaac. Rowan realized dumbly that she was barely breathing, but her lungs seemed to have shrunken during Isaac's transformation.

And then there it was - a twitch, a shift in weight. Isaac stirred.

First it was his front legs, then a slight shift to his side. Isaac's face remained pressed against the floor, but his paws splayed flat against the ground. His toes stretched and clenched, testing his weight against gravity. The tendons beneath his skin pulled and pushed, and finally - finally - there he was.

Rowan's lungs seemed to expand all at once. She nearly choked on her own throat. Despite the fur and the claws and teeth, she knew the person in front of her. His eyes remained dark and daunting, but in their depths, she saw a glimmer of recognition, of sentience. She knew that piercing expression, that quizzical look. It was her patron, her advisor.

It was Isaac.

The hours passed slowly throughout the night, but no changes came. The beast in the cage hardly seemed a beast at all. After gazing at Rowan for a long stretch of time, Isaac seemed to have been pulled into sleep almost against his will. He'd simply laid his head back down and fallen into the deepest of slumbers.

There'd been nearly nothing to record, and yet, none of the remaining four researchers had been able to sleep during their normal shifts. All had remained awake, silent yet alert, throughout the night. Rowan was unable to fathom what could possibly be running through her colleagues' minds - her thoughts were too loud, too overwhelming, to even consider those of others.

Finally, there was a distant note - the clock on the wall. It was already morning.

The wolf stirred at the soft gong of the clock, ears and eyes twitching from the invasive sound. Those two deep pools opened blearily, staring blankly into the distance. A soft whimper whispered from its throat.

The process of the return to man was quiet, almost humble, in comparison to its predecessor. The fur didn't so much as pull back into the skin as simply whisper away. The bones slid back into place almost properly, clicking like pieces of a puzzle. The skin pulled modestly, like the fold of skirt. Before Rowan could really get ahold of her bearings, Isaac, the man, was once again laying in the middle of the floor, pale and naked. His body trembled beneath the weight of the white light.

Rowan was shaken from her stupor as she saw the glowing barriers fade away slowly with the soft mutterings of Fabian's reverse spells. He was the first to rush forward to cover Isaac. His nakedness - so normal in the quiet of the night - seemed much more indecent in the hours of morning. Fabian summoned a blanket from a distant counter and covered the exhausted man with it. Rowan also moved forward quickly. She caught his hand as it shot out suddenly to grab her.

"Ms. Delacroix," he whispered. His pale fingers clutched onto Rowan's robes, arms pulling himself forward with all of the strength his could muster. Rowan staggered forward under his weight and held him as best as she could. Lescos rushed forward to support the two, holding the majority of Isaac's weight.

The exhausted man's face turned up towards her. His dark eyes had returned to that pale, translucent shade of ice. They remained in an unfocused daze, blonde eyelashes fluttering wildly with fatigue. But running down his face were two small delicate tracks of tears.

"Thank you," he choked. His mouth trembled, fingers digging into her shoulders almost painfully. "Thank you. Thank you."

Rowan's own lips quivered at the sight of the usually stoic man in such a state - bare, trembling and humble. Her own eyes stung in response.

"No, Isaac," she gasped. "Thank you. If it weren't for you, I... this..." She couldn't seem to find the words. "It's all thanks to you - all of it."

Isaac looked like he wanted to respond, but his eyelids seemed to be holding their last against the heavy hand of sleep. His mouth trembled once more - was it a smile that she saw grace his lips? His fingers loosened their hold on her robes before slipping away to the floor. He was asleep.

As Lescos hoisted Isaac away and onto a cot that Amrit had summoned, Rowan kneeled limply beneath the sterile light of the laboratory. Any energy in her arms seemed to have been sucked away by Isaac's prying fingers, but she felt no urgency to move. She allowed the implications of the night to wash over her slowly.

She thought of the black pools of Isaac's eyes as he'd stared back at her through the enchanted barriers - the familiar gaze of her patron from behind the eyes of the werewolf. She'd known him. And he'd known her.

The stinging heat from behind her own eyes finally spilled. They pulled a gasp from her lungs, and before she knew it, her chest was heaving with desperate breaths. Her diaphragm seized and contracted painfully. Another gasp pulled.

"Rowan?" Amrit called, worriedly. She rushed forward towards the younger woman. "Rowan, what's wrong? Are you all rig-"

"We did it," Rowan choked. The tears were now flowing wildly, blindingly. She could barely see the older researcher in front of her, but she felt her face pulling almost maniacally. She grinned wetly, grasping Amrit's searching hands tightly. She pressed her forehead to them and choked back another sob. "We did it!" she gasped again. She heard her late master's trumpeting laughter. What she would give to be able to see him again! "Master Belby, we did it!" She thought of Isaac's pale eyes, full of tears. She thought of Remus.

"We did it," she whispered.

She held onto her new mentor's hands and pretended that they were Belby's. She silently said a prayer for all of them.

She couldn't wait to see Remus.