A/N:
27/02/2022: The world is in a TERRIBLE place right now. My heart aches for the people of Ukraine... From the bottom of my heart, I pray for the country and its people, may you find peace and happiness once again. #NoToWar
I also deleted my other story today because I didn't see myself finishing it any time soon, and I'm really sad about it... :( I just hope I don't randomly delete this story too...
Anyway, rant over, onto the actual update.
James Birdsong: Thanks so much for leaving that review :')
Love-Fiction-2022: This one is for you. :)
Chapter 41: Elizabeth's Dark Secret
Completely Unedited... My sincere apologies...
"And why the BLOODY hell should we listen to you lot?" Peck roared, bewildered beyond belief that the bunch of sixth-years unflinchingly continued to mouth protective Charms around the Gryffindor tower, royally ignoring his vermillion 'seventh-year' face. He shot an appalled look at Daniel. "This is ridiculous!" he shrugged indignantly at his equally dumbfounded friend.
Right after their little conference in the hallway, James had dragged the seventh-year boys into the little room and informed them of their plan to push back the Slytherins and prevent them from spreading around the castle and wreaking havoc within. In the meanwhile, the rest of the search team split into four groups of three and surreptitiously slid out of the Common Room, leaving Frank, James, Sirius and Isabella behind to finish casting off the rest of the ward Charms. The problem, however, was that the seventh-year boys were not too keen on staying back in the tower ("I'm not going to BABY-sit a bunch tosspots while you lot thrash the Snakes, Lupin!" — "You'll be 'STANDING GUARD'! Not baby-sitting, for MERLIN'S sake, Evantrap!") while the younger students got to get their hands dirty.
Sirius glanced at the light orange horizon behind him and nearly jumped out of his wits in fright — because a fresh bout of smoke had erupted in the distance indicating more deadlier explosions in Hogsmeade.
"Fuck, they're getting closer," he muttered, urgently hammering the hallway with more spells, while Isabella continued to stare at the ominous vermillion sky, her mind so far away from her body right now. She could hear the chaos in the back and feel the urgency in the boys' voices, but unwelcome flashes of reality kept ramming into her so often, that she was left feeling no emotion at all — except anger.
"Ah, bloody hell, you're right!" Frank ground out, pushing his glasses up his sweaty nose.
"There fucking needs to be a bleeding protocol in place for such emergencies, good Godric!" roared James, wiping the sweat off his brow and mouthing incantations at the same time.
"I swear, if the Death Eaters find a way in through any of the four Houses or the secret passages, we're absolutely done for!" Sirius concurred.
Isabella, wiped her face and continued to seal the Gryffindor tower with protective enchantments, not even registering all that was being said or done behind her, her eagle-like focus on the twilight sky never wavering. The explosions had lit up the sky bright enough to reveal several dozen flying brooms zooming in and out of focus against the dark silhouette below. Whether they belonged to the side of the Light or the Dark, she couldn't tell. But Sirius was right — they were drawing closer — the people responsible for her parents' death...
"Alright, that's it, let's get moving you three! Move! Move! MOVE!" James bellowed, clapping his hands loudly at his friends.
"Got the map?" Frank demanded.
"Got it!"
"And the Cloak, and the compass?"
"Yes to both, Frank!" James gritted out impatiently.
"Good! You lot! Keep your eyes and ears open AT ALL TIMES!" Frank barked, turning towards the sulking seventh-year Gryffindors this time. "Blow out ALL the torches in the tower! We need to stay hidden from view. Make sure the rest of the House does not hear of the crisis we are in currently, it will only ruffle them all up unnecessarily. And if someone comes knocking on the portrait, make sure they're not any of the names mentioned on this list here and LET THEM IN, because this will be the safe house for ALL students of Hogwarts for the time-being! Got it?"
"Look, Longbottom —!"
"— Mate. I'm not asking!" Frank shouted cuttingly, bringing a scowl to Julius and Ryan's faces. Huffing apologetically, he added, "Look. Honestly, I wish you all could join the party too, but we DEFINITELY need someone here as well! There are eleven-year-olds among us for Merlin's sake!" he bellowed, clearly saying enough to drive his point home.
Julius gritted his teeth in annoyance, but seemed to give in. "FINE!" he roared.
"Good! So can we really count on you lads?" Frank insisted.
Oliver and Ryan exchanged frustrated looks but nodded all the same. "Yes, you can! We'll 'stand guard' here," Ryan mumbled, air-quoting the words bitingly.
"Thank you! Now, Potter, where's everyone?" Frank barked out, as the four of them gathered about the Map.
"There they are!" Sirius exclaimed, pointing at tiny clumps of dots inching about different hallways in various parts of the castle. "And we agreed we would be covering the third floor!" he added, flinching at Lucius's name flashing back at him.
"Actually, I think we ought to talk to Remus first," Isabella stated, determination oozing from her eyes. "I want a field report of what is going on, what they've seen till now, what we ought to know, y'know?"
The three boys stared at each other having rendered mute at Isabella's ominous tone.
"She's right," Frank conceded after a second, nodding at Isabella's stoic expression. "We do need to know."
"It's settled, then. Wands out, we're leaving," Sirius announced grimly, his hand reaching for Isabella's on its own accord while James threw the Invisibility Cloak over them all.
- O -
They hadn't seen the castle so empty all year. Sneaking up to the third floor inside James's Invisibility Cloak, the group encountered dozens of near misses with inconveniently placed Auror members on patrol, or teachers out of beds, looking sleepless and harried, their wands held loosely in their hands as if they were perennially expecting attack. Even the ghosts seemed to be on edge tonight, screaming baubles at each other and inadvertently flying right through them sometimes, making them jump up in fear. But they had to keep quiet or the sleeping inhabitants in the hundreds or so portraits around them would stir and scream, drawing attention to the four invisible students lurking towards their target.
Eyes roving over the map, Sirius signalled to the others that Remus, Lily and Vernon were crouching behind Boris the Bewildered's statue up in the fifth floor near the Prefects' bathroom, waiting for their arrival. So far, none of their compasses had gone off, which was a huge relief in itself because it meant no one was in trouble just yet.
Noiselessly pushing the door open, the four of them snuck into the bathroom while Sirius whispered a, "In here!" to Remus and gang, signalling their arrival.
As soon as seven students trickled in, Lily shut the door behind them and Sirius ripped the Invisibility Cloak off of the company. "Glad you lot are still alive."
"Gallopin' Gargoyles, am I glad to see you lads too!" Remus whispered, relief washing over his face as he pocketed his wand and hugged James and Sirius. "Mate, it's an absolute MADHOUSE out here!"
"Why? What's happened?" James demanded, as Lily secured the door with non-penetrable enchantments.
"Mate, it's a fucking insurgence!" Vernon hissed urgently. "It looks like You-Know-Who's been planning this day for months now! He's brainwashed the Snakes — underage STUDENTS to be precise — to do per his bidding when the time strikes!"
"To do what, exactly? What the hell's he actually making them do?" Sirius roared.
"KIDNAPPING!" Lily answered, slapping them all awake. "He's making them kidnap as many students out of here as possible, Sirius!"
"And take them in as hostages," Remus ground out, staring wide-eyed at the four of them.
A chill ran up Isabella's spine. "And what does he plan on achieving by doing that?" she gritted out quietly, her brain ablaze in rage.
Remus blew out a puff of air as if to contain his anger. "Blackmail Dumbledore into surrendering," he replied, his lips twitching menacingly. "And you do not need me to state the fact that he would probably kill one student every hour until Dumbledore gave in..."
Frank's jaw dropped. "That bloody wanker," he hissed, his glasses slipping down in shock. "What a fucking coward!"
"I KNOW!" growled Vernon.
"Mate! We have GOT to get a move on, then!" Frank whisper-yelled, evidently hyperventilating. "That blue diadem is still with me in my dorm, lads! I've a feeling the Ravenclaw tower might be the first target —!"
The words had hardly left his lips, when a loud, spine-chilling explosion resounded through the walls, making the floor judder and quaver under their feet.
A flash of panic streaked through them all when loud of cries of fear from afar reached their ears.
"That's coming from the west!" Frank cried, his face screaming in panic now. "They've broken into my tower! I'VE GOT TO GO!" he bellowed, and without warning, wrenched the door open and bolted outside, blasting something out of his way as he disappeared from view.
"Good Godric, it's happening, it's happening, it's happening!" Lily squealed, her wand clutched tightly in her hand and shaking on the spot, even as more blasts reached them, accompanied by a maniacal cackle of laughter, plunging everyone in a pool of horror.
"Bellatrix..." Sirius muttered, turning white in dread. "She's here. They're all here!"
An unexplained strain of wrath washed over Isabella as she tightened her grip around her wand and stared at the rumbling corridor beyond the open door to the Prefects' bathroom.
"I don't care, I'm going in," she announced flatly, anger seething through her eyes. Fighting the odd beating in her chest, she pulled Sirius down and kissed him dizzily. "Come back to me..."
"Always."
Brushing her hair off her face, she turned around and strode straight into the epicentre of hell, with wood splinters and rock debris raining over her head on the back of curses smashing through half the hallway. Squinting into the distance, she could see an influx of black-robed witches and wizards pouring into the corridor from the floors below, wreaking havoc in their wake. Fuming on the spot, she broke into a run, locking her eyes on her target, thrashing out curses with all her might, her screams ominously jarring against the walls.
Flashes of spells streaking from behind her told her that her friends were not far behind too, as hurtled fearlessly towards the masked Death Eaters scampering up the spiral staircase that led into the Ravenclaw tower.
"Confringo! CONFRINGO!" Isabella screamed, aiming at the staircase and causing it to blast right in the face of a rather burly Death Eater and throwing him into the wall behind him, while a large hole gaped in the place of the fifth and sixth stair.
Stepping over him, she quickly ascended the dilapidated, broken staircase, scraping and pulling herself up on to the seventh stair and running up, while gut-wrenching screams of terror-stricken students filled the air. Running in through the broken double doors, Isabella blasted a table that was blocking her way and waded through the hallway to find the blue and bronze Common Room in a state of absolute shambles. The thudding of shoes and the rumbling of the walls around suggested that the entire House was fleeing for their lives up into their dorms — BAD idea!
"IN HERE!" came Remus's voice from behind her, as he dashed forwards and ran through a door on the left that led to the boys' dorms. "Izzy! Lily! You two head over through THAT door!" he screamed over his shoulder even as James, Sirius, Vernon, and Lily burst into the defaced room and hurried into the hallway beyond.
Coughing away the dust and debris, Isabella sprinted up more spiral staircases into the first-floor landing. "James! Lily! Go further up while I clear out this floor!" she shrieked and did not wait to see if Lily had heard her as she blasted the door open and ran straight into something black. Falling flat on the floor, she turned around to come face-to-face with a short and stout Death Eater who looked equally stunned. Wrenching their wand out, they whipped around, ready to blast her out of recognition, but she was too fast for them. Swivelling over, she swung her wand around and shrieked, "STUPEFY!" hitting them straight in the face sending them crashing to the ground with a loud thud! Jumping up to her feet, she fanned the dust away to realise at least half-a-dozen girls were crouched in a corner behind a bed, screaming their lungs out in fright.
"HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE BROOMS HERE?!" Isabella bellowed, throwing an Impedimenta! out through the window on her left and neatly hitting a Death Eater on the floor above.
"I do!" screamed a second-year student, diving into her trunk and pulling a tawdry old broom.
"GOOD! Take one more with you and fly out of here, NOW! Go into town beyond Hogsmeade and hide in one of the houses. Take this so I know exactly where you are!" she screamed, quickly replicating her compass and shoving it into the little girl's hand. "I will come find you when this whole thing blows over, alright?" she yelled as the girl tearfully nodded and swung her legs over the broom while Isabella rounded up on the rest of the girls and shoved them through the door towards the stairs that led into their Common Room. "RUN STRAIGHT INTO THE GRYFFINDOR TOWER AND STAY INSIDE UNTIL I COME BACK!" she roared at the rest of the girls and ran up the stairs into the second-floor.
Crash landing on the top step, she hurtled into the dorm only to find it ruined beyond comprehension. "Bavarian ERKLING!" she swore under her breath and quickly clambered over scores of fallen stone blocks and wood splinters from the four-posters to see if anyone was trapped under the wreckage when a blood-curdling cry rumbled through the walls, stopping her heart entirely. Rushing to the window, she looked out to find a red-faced Frank struggling with a masked Death Eater on a broom that was in mid-flight out of the window. seemingly caught in a tug-of-war of sorts. And it was evident both Frank and the Death Eater seemed to have lost their wands because neither was doing anything to fend the other off.
"MERLIN'S BEARD! FRANK!" she cried out. "I'm coming, Frank! I'M COMING!" she yelled, and careened out of the dorm, running at break-neck speed down the stairs towards the boys' dorms, wondering where James and Sirius were. Climbing the stairs two at a time, she rushed up to the seventh-floor in under a minute and burst open the door to find Frank still clutching desperately at the blue diadem, his hands bleeding from the effort now. "CONFRINGO!" she screamed without thinking and aimed it straight at the Death Eater on the broom. The window that Frank was standing by shattered under him, throwing him off the wall.
"FRANK, NOOO!" Isabella screamed and rushed forwards to hold his legs just as the Death Eater wrenched the diadem off his hands and shot out into the dark night like a bullet. "HOLD ON, FRANK!" she shrieked, as she grabbed his jacket and used all her might to pull him up even as his glasses went crashing to the ground far below.
Setting her legs firmly against the wall, she held his jacket and pulled as hard as she could, screaming on top of her voice, until he finally slid back in through the broken window. "Frolicking frog brains!" Frank ground out, heaving and panting and shaking uncontrollably, as the two of them settled back against the wall. "That... That was... Oh god, the diadem...!" he stuttered, blinking uncontrollably as his tiny eyes struggled to see clearly without his glasses on.
"I know...!" Isabella panted, an exhaustion washing over her. "But, oh, Frank, you almost killed yourself holding on to it!" she said more loudly, shuffling next to him to examine his gashed hands. "Where the hell are Sirius and James?" she cried, quickly muttering a Healing incantation to temporarily bandage his hands.
"Fending off Bellatrix, of course! Down by the fifth-floor." He winced in pain as the spell stung him giddy. "Las I checked, Sirius was duelling his cousin but somehow this one Death Eater made it past him and I followed him up here to protect the heirloom — Owwwww! IZZY, YOU'RE KILLING ME!" Frank bellowed in pain.
"I know, I know, I know! But, just a second longer, Frankie, I promise! Please just hold steady!"
"And I can't even see without my glasses!" he wailed, his extra-tiny-eyes-sans-his-spectacles watering profusely, when suddenly, a loud ticking went off on both their compasses at the same time. Wrenching the gold ornament out of her pocket, Isabella squinted at it to find the initials C.J. blinking back at her from the North-West part of the school. "Good Godric, it's Claiborne! It's Claiborne, we have to go!" she said, jumping up to her feet and Accio!ing the shattered pieces of Frank's spectacles from below. "Reparo!" she screamed, and the tiny little glass pieces neatly jumped back into their place. Shoving the new pair of glasses into Frank's hand, the pair of them dashed down the stairs, following the directions on the compass.
Running down half-broken staircases, Isabella braced herself as a terrifying cackle of laughter reached them from down below. Just the thought of having to face Bellatrix gave her the chills, she had no idea how James and Sirius were actually in a room duelling with her.
Crashing onto the fifth-floor landing, Frank and Isabella burst into the room to find James and Sirius pummelling a delighted Bellatrix with curses while, much to Isabella's horror, Remus duelled with two young Slytherin boys at the same time on the other end of the room.
"Confringo! CONFRINGO!"
"Impedimenta!"
"Expulso!"
"REDUCTO!"
Bellatrix crowed even more loudly, deflecting every one of the curses with the ease of a snake. "Come now, darlings! You can do better than that! Oh, look! WE HAVE COMPANY!" she shrieked, and without warning, lashed her wand out, hurling a Blasting Curse straight at Frank and Isabella.
Time nearly stopped as Isabella watched the curse advance from the tip of her attacker's wand. Everything was moving in slow motion, and little pieces of debris scraped past her face and hand. She was willing her mind to think of a blocking curse but none came.
"Frank, RU —"
BLAST!
Frank and Isabella got thrown off their feet and hurtled backwards, slamming painfully against the wall behind them. Another ear-splitting explosion followed that blast, lighting up the whole place. Pieces of bricks and glass peppered their faces and bodies and Isabella winced in pain. Collapsing to her knees, she struggled to hold herself up even as she coughed up blood.
Shakily, she looked up to find Bellatrix still cackling hysterically, her head swimming out of focus now.
"IZZY!" cried out Sirius, and hurtled towards her while Bellatrix gleefully spun out of view behind him in a thick black smoke. She desperately wanted to get up and run after the vile old witch, but her head lolled to a side and her eyes closed on their own, plunging her into blissful silence.
- O -
"Oh god! OH MY GOD! Izzy! IZZY! God, are you alright?!" Sirius screamed, crashing to his knees and picking up her frail body in his hands. "Izzy! Izzy, can you hear me? Fuck, James, her ear's bleeding!" he bellowed, melting in mind-numbing horror.
"Dear Merlin, Frank doesn't look good too!" James cried, roughly shaking his equally-unconscious friend, trying to wake him up. "We need to get them into the Gryffindor tower right away! Bearfist or Goody can help with the Healing Charms! MOONY!" he yelled frantically over his shoulder.
"Be with you in a second! STUPEFY!" he cried, stunning both the boys at the same time and sending them crashing to the floor at last.
"DID YOU GET THEM?!" Sirius yelled.
"IT'S MALFOY AND ROWLE! Of course, I got them!" Remus huffed incredulously and crossed the room to meet them, a trickle of blood dripping down his face under his left eye.
"GREAT JOB! Now go get Claiborne! I think she and Vernon may be in trouble!"
"Good Godric, I didn't even realise it was beeping!" Remus cried, pulling out his compass. "Merlin's beard! I'M ON IT, PRONGS! I'll get her, you two get those two in a safe place too! Go, go, GO!" he wheezed and dashed out the door, while Sirius and James picked their friends' bodies and dashed after him down the stairs. The tower almost looked like it had been ravished by a deadly storm as they jumped and skipped over all the debris. Running into the Common Room, the three of them ran straight into Lily who was dashing down from the girls' tower too. "Oh, thank MERLIN, you're all alright!" she shrieked, throwing her hands around all of them.
"Lily! Lead the way and keep us from getting hit while we get these two safely into our tower!" James bellowed and tossed his Invisibility Cloak at Remus at the same time.
"And I'll see you lot in a bit too! BE CAREFUL!" Remus yelled and scurried out of the tower without waiting for a reply. Clicking the knob on the compass to stop the annoying chiming, he studied Claiborne's location and gasped. "Fucking hell, the dungeons?!" he muttered, alarmed beyond expression. "Good GODRIC!" he swore, as he threw the Cloak around and sprinted down flights and flights of stairs, running straight down to the bottom of the castle. Crossing the Entrance Hall and dashing into the door on the right, Remus unflinchingly sprinted down the stone steps into the dungeons with nearly no regard for his own safety.
Arriving in front of the bare stretch of stone wall, he yanked his wand out of his pocket and traced the line of bricks along the centre of the wall with it, until the outline of a massive green serpent's head appeared on the wall. Sending out a blinding green glow, the bricks on the wall automatically started to spin and fold unto themselves until a small archway appeared in front of him. Crossing the long tunnel, Remus quickly slipped into the quiet, untarnished Common Room of Slytherin, making his blood boil at the peace that persisted here while the rest of the castle burned to the ground. Breathing heavily to stop himself from panicking, he ran into the door on his left and studied the compass once more.
"Seven levels below?" he whispered, a slow dread descending upon him. "Seventh-year dorms? Mulciber...?" he thought, even as a distant scream reached his ears making him physically shudder in terror now. "God, Clay!" he yelled and sped down the stairs, not even registering that he was taking three steps at a time. The lower he went, the louder became the sounds of agony, rendering him dizzy with trepidation — the Snakes were clearly having their way tonight... Fucking BASTARDS! he thought to himself and he finally reached the seventh-level.
"— can't you see, we're so close! If all goes well today, Hogwarts will be FINALLY fuckin' captured!" someone's voice echoed through the open door of the dorm, not even wincing at the hair-raising scream that jarred through the walls once again.
Good Godric, what the hell are they doing to her?
"The day we've all been dreaming of is nearly here, you wretched tosspots! A day when we're finally freed from that arsefuck Dumbledore's tyranny! Tonight we rise as the supreme nonpareils under our Dark Lord's reign —!"
"— Oh, SHUT UP, for the love of Herpo's bleeding tits, Goyle!" a girl's voice rang through, cutting Harley Goyle's passionate speech quite abruptly. "I just wish the lot of you would get those blood-traitors out of here, they make me recoil in aversion."
"Come now, Meadowes, we just got them! Besides, Mulce has been itching to get his hands on one of those Gryffie birds for months now, he deserves a treat, don't you think?" scoffed Alecto Carrow, sending waves and waves of rage up Remus's head. "He's just going to flick her off a bit before releasing the poor lamb —"
"— REDUCTOOO!"
An ear-splitting blast reverberated across the tunnel as the wall of the dorm exploded to bits, hurling its unsuspecting inhabitants across the other side of the room. "Relashio! EXPELLIARMUS!" screamed Remus as half a dozen wands flew high up in the air and landed on the floor behind them. Ignoring the flashes of red he was seeing, he ripped the Cloak of his head and ran into the room making the bunch of Slytherins jump up in surprise and scream and scurry away to the back of the room in fear.
"Clay! VERNON?!" Remus screamed, desperately searching the room.
"Here, HERE! WE'RE HERE, LUPIN!" came Vernon's strained voice from the far left. Remus swung around to find Vernon and Edgar tied up in silky, black bands of rope, while Sebastian Mulciber, like the rest of them, was crying out manically and retracting into a corner at the sight of the dire wolf in front of him. Whimpering in pain and lying half unclad on the floor was Claiborne, her hands tied behind her back with the same black bands, whilst a tiny blob of magical wax-like substance seared against the skin on her bare chest — evidently, Mulciber has been setting the wax on fire and letting it melt and burn her all along... Fighting back tears of horror, he also noticed how her jeans were torn in places and her shirt was ripped open, leaving her dignity laid bare for the whole world to see.
And his brain shut off completely.
"Get us out of here, Remus..." Claiborne sobbed, her lip bleeding and swollen.
Everything from that second on became blurry and slackened as he wordlessly, marched towards his friends and snapped the leathery bands with a flick of his wand, the wrath consuming him entirely now. Given a chance, he'd blast ALL of their heads open and spend the rest of his life in Azkaban too, but his priority was to get his friends out of here first — that was all that mattered.
Whipping his robes off, he threw it around Claiborne's shoulders and picked her off the floor, her hands trembling under his touch. "Can you walk?" he muttered, holding her as gently as was physically possible. "Yes," she replied, pulling the robes tighter around her body. "Come on, lads, we're leaving," he said, glaring daggers in Mulciber's direction, who seemed to have melted completely in manic fear now. Wordlessly, he wrapped his hand around Claiborne and the four of them left, the Slytherins hardly even daring to stop them.
Remus didn't know nor care about how many Aurors they crossed on their way up, didn't once pause to know if the Hufflepuff House was spared at least, how many students were missing, if Dumbledore was back, if the school was secure again, nothing — He didn't care about ANY of the above, because all his energy this very instance went into containing the murderous rage that seethed within him at Claiborne's current condition... To think someone would go to that length to torture a girl just to entertain oneself seemed so hard for him to comprehend. Given a chance, he'd hunt Mulciber down instead on a full-moon's night and devour him alive for the thing he did tonight.
"Fortuna Major."
Entering the over-crowded, bustling Gryffindor tower, Remus quickly patted Vernon and Edgar towards the Healing station, and led Claiborne straight into the hallway beyond the Common Room and up the stairs to the sixth-year boys' dormitory.
Above everything, Remus was thankful for the peace and quiet up in the sixth-floor, because the noise and chaos down below was setting his teeth on edge; it made it harder for him to control himself from throwing a fist at the wall.
"I'll be okay, Remus, go back downstairs —"
"— Sit," he said curtly, not in the mood to entertain nonsense. Looking around, he noticed Frank and Isabella laid two beds away too, still unconscious, but looking pink and healthy at least. Rummaging inside his drawer, he pulled out a tiny vial with lime-green potion in it. "Stay still," he ordered, as he wet a cotton bud in Healing Potion and gingerly wiped the burned area with a piece of cotton and watching the place sizzle and heal at once. Pulling his wand out, he muttered an incantation that numbed the area, so she wouldn't feel any pain or irritation for the time-being at least. "There..." he whispered, trying to not look too concerned about how terrible she looked. "And lastly, drink this," he said holding the vial in front of her face.
"Dittany?" Claiborne smirked. "Are you confusing me for a four-year-old?"
But Remus simply stared back looking unimpressed, his eyebrows raised high up his forehead.
"Oh, alright," she mumbled and gulped down the extremely unpleasant potion. "Merlin, you love keeping things practical and bitter, don't you?" she said, her face twisting with the after-taste.
"Not really. I like to indulge in sweet nothings too, sometimes," he simpered, scrabbling around his drawer once again and pulling out something large. Breaking it in half, he turned around. "Like chocolate. Have this. You'll feel better at once."
Claiborne regarded it suspiciously and shot him a confused look. "Are you giving me this just to prove a point or does it really help...?" she asked, smiling in spite of herself.
Remus rolled his eyes, a slight smile cutting his features. "Trust me, half the Healers of our world can go take a hike if I could prove just how many illnesses chocolate can cure," he scoffed, bending down once again. "Anyway, there's just one more thing," he said, pulling out a peach-coloured, over-sized, slightly moth-eaten jumper out of his trunk and handing it to her. "To keep you warm."
Claiborne hesitated.
"What? It's the best I have, y'know?" he shrugged mock-defensively, making her break into a giggle.
"Why, of course, it's the best you have," she said, graciously accepting it. "I was just surprised that you remembered this was my favourite of all your jumpers." Hardly even having the energy to shrug it on, she shakily pulled the jumper over her head, quite unaware of how pink her cheeks suddenly were.
"Well, enough talk, you need to rest now," Remus said, busily tucking her into bed, trying very hard to keep their interactions objective. Placing an extra pillow under her head, her threw the blanket over her, as she sank into the pillows, finally letting her body relax. "Thank you, Remus —"
Remus's head shot up, his face meeting hers with absolute indignance now. "Honestly, Clay?"
Claiborne gasped. "Wha... Remus...? I know you don't like to be thanked, but... we're not friends anymore —"
"— We never stopped being friends, Clay, you just stopped being my 'special friend', that's all," he muttered shortly, still busying himself with the blankets.
Claiborne raised her eyebrows. "And what kind of a friend is 'special'?"
"You know..." he continued, unsure why he felt so strongly to even respond to that question, "the kind whom I could only... watch from a distance."
And Claiborne's eyes shot open. "You never needed to do that, Remus —!"
"— Listen," he held a hand up, "I'd gladly have this discussion with you at length another time. But right now, I must insist that you. Get. Some. Rest," he said with finality, forcing her back into bed and preparing to leave.
She grabbed his hand. "How's your health, Remus?" she said, making him stop dead in his tracks. "Did you get a cure for the Black Cat Flu at all?"
Remus paused, his mind imploding with awe of her. "Merlin's beard, I'm the least of anyone's problem, right now —"
"— Tonight might be the only chance I get to make you talk to me, Remus, so indulge me, will you?" she mumbled, her words slurring in exhaustion.
He bit his lip, drowning out the annoying voice of reason at the back of his head, and finally giving in to temptation. "Of all the times when I teased you for having been wrongly sorted into Gryffindor..." Remus sat down next to her, fighting the growing knot in his chest now whilst drinking in the warm silence surrounding them. "Honestly, Clay, how're you still holding together so well...?" he mumbled.
A despondent look crept up her face. "You won't like what I'm about to say, so I'll keep quiet," she said.
But he didn't need her to say it to know that she was referring to him being by her side. And she was right, he wouldn't have liked that answer.
"Feeling better...?" he asked, running a hand over her head, quite unable to contain his adoration for her.
That did it.
Just like that, in under a second, her steely resolve breaks and her eyes well up, as she broke down crying at last. "I don't think I'll ever recover from tonight, Remus," she shook her head, letting her silent tears seep into the pillows. "I don't know what would have happened if you didn't show up... Vernon and Edgar were screaming on top of their voices to make him stop. Begging even..." she sobbed, curling into a tight ball next to him, the weight of the trauma pressing into her like a wall.
Biting the side of his cheek to stop himself from following suit, he helplessly wrapped a hand around her, hoping it soothed her in some way. "Oh, Clay..."
"His hand print's everywhere, Remus —"
"— Stop it... Don't," he hushed her, partly because he didn't have the strength to hear it himself, his voice cracking up in disbelief. "You're going to be alright, I promise," he said, turning her face towards him and looking into her swollen, tear-ridden eyes. "You... survived that, Clay..." he started, stroking her hair. "And whether you like it or not..." he continued, quite unable to tear his eyes away her strikingly pretty face now. Fighting a mad urge to take her in his arms, he exhaled audibly and brought himself back in the moment, "Tonight has only made you stronger than ever..." he finished, wiping away the unbridled tears streaming down her face. "You will get over this, Claiborne Jones," he said, pressing a kiss to her hand and swallowing the lump in his throat.
Nodding mutely, she let another fat tear trickle down. Wiping her face on the sheets and looking heartbreakingly miserable, she looked up expectantly. "Can we be friends again...?"
Remus smiled apologetically. "We'll see," he muttered, pressing his hand to her forehead to check her temperature. "But I don't mind getting a sandwich every now and then, y'know?" he added with a smirk.
- O -
Rushing back into the Common Room was a dangerous-looking Remus Lupin. As if the room wasn't already on edge, gurgling in unsettled disquiet, housing frazzled-looking students from Ravenclaw sharing beds, and the night's stories with their Gryffindor counterparts. In all honesty, the last time students had truly feared for their lives like this within these walls was when the Chamber of Secrets had been opened by the Slytherin heir, way back in 1943. Who knew history would repeat itself like this once again...?
"Ah... There he is! MOONY!" James yelled from across the room, his hand shooting up in the air to mark his location. Wordlessly, Remus waded his way through the crowd towards his bespectacled friend, fuming in rage.
"Gallopin' Gorgons... He looks mad," Remus heard Sirius fearfully whisper to a blank-faced James. "Merlin's balls, I've never seen Moony this mad..."
"Like you've ever seen Moony mad," James irritably hissed back from the corner of his lips, as Remus closed in. "H-Hey there, mate..." he smiled falteringly, patting him lightly on the back. "H-How er... How's er... How's Clay... doing...?" he asked cautiously.
Remus, for his part though, was extremely glad he wasn't in his alter ego form right now, or somebody would have died tonight for asking that question.
"Leave me alone, Prongs," Remus gritted out quietly, shrugging them off and stalking away.
James and Sirius exchanged horrified glances. "Moony...!" James called and jogged towards him. "What's up, mate, what's going on...? Honestly, how is she?"
"SHE IS NOT FINE, James!" Remus growled all of a sudden, his eyes reddening with rage as his mind quickly lost itself to the wolf's wrath. Blinking away the flashes of images from the dungeons, the wolf roared for blood now. "How the BLOODY HELL could she ever possibly BE —?!"
"— Okay! MOONY!" Sirius cried, quickly wrapping his hands around Remus, but the werewolf nearly tore his arm off and pounced onto James, the two of them crashing to the floor. A flash of yellow glinted in his eyes and Remus's hands went straight for his neck, but James put a firm elbow between them and held him back like a rock while Sirius struggled to haul Remus off of him from the other side.
"Remus, WAKE UP, IT'S ONLY US!" Sirius bellowed before hurling him backwards and holding him tight, giving James enough time to scramble up to his feet and watch his friend helplessly.
"Let me go —!"
"HE'S JUST WORRIED, mate, please!" Sirius roared into his face, finally getting through to the wolf. "We're just WORRIED...!" he loudly repeated, grabbing hold of the front of his shirt and shaking him up roughly. At once he felt Remus loosen up under his grip, much to his relief. It would have gotten really ugly if things got out of control in front of the whole House. "It's only James. Relax... Alright?" he panted, finally seeing his friend flash back to his senses.
The whole Common Room looked gripped with confusion as the three boys continued to heave and pant, fuming in each others' faces.
Roughly shaking him off, Remus untangled himself from Sirius's death grip at last, flinching guiltily. Still standing between him and James with his hands outstretched, Remus watched Sirius physically relax as the tension between the boys slowly diffused. "You're right..." Remus finally mumbled, his hands on his waist now, as he attempted to collect himself. "I... I'm sorry... Prongs," he sighed, his breaths steadying now.
James uncertainly surveyed him for a second, but when their eyes met, his demeanour changed at once, a genial scoff escaping him. "So, we're apologising now, eh?" he asked, cocking his head to a side. "That's what it's come to —?"
Remus looked dumbfounded. "— No. Of course not..." he started, "I just... I shouldn't have."
"You didn't," James shook his head, a slow smile creeping on his face. "Nothing even happened here," he grinned, finally grabbing hold of a stunned Remus in a firm pound hug. "Although," he said, pulling back and beaming teasingly into his face, "I am glad I finally got to see a side to you that we haven't in six long years!" he chortled, a wide tease spreading across his face. "And to think a girl brought this upon you is —"
"— Prongs, man, come on," Sirius howled loudly, albeit chuckling himself, while James reeled under Remus's menacing look.
"Okay, okay, fine..." James sniggered, slinging an arm around his murderous, mousy-haired best friend. "No, but, jokes aside, how is she really doing?" he asked.
Remus sighed, swaying under James's arm while the rest of the House went back to what they were doing. "She's resting," he simply said, shaking his head lightly. "I've given her some Dittany to heal any internal injuries she may have," he said, an uncharacteristic solemn screaming on his features. "Quite frankly, I'm glad I got there before he went any further..."
Sirius watched him with fire blazing in his eyes now. "If only you had let me kill him the other day."
Remus rolled his eyes. "You're right, what was I thinking," he gritted out, swearing under his breath. "By the way, why are we all here?! What about the Puffs?! Aren't we supposed to be —?"
"— We are. The seventh-year lads are taking care of it," Sirius replied, wincing in pain as Brian McAdams, a fifth-year student, worked on the burn injuries on his wand-hand.
Remus didn't look convinced yet, though. "Well, are all the Claws here, then? Do we have a headcount? How many missing?" he demanded, turning business-like in a flash.
"Pretty much every one has been accounted for, Moony. Izzy and Lily sent away twelve students to safehouses in the town beyond Hogsmeade. We are yet to get the location of only two other students who are still missing," James said, "but Dan and Ryan said they were on it."
"Ah, thank Merlin, I'm exhausted," Remus blew out, and sank into the chair next to James. But his head jerked up once again. "Where's Peter?"
- O -
I'm sick. The words rang through his mind. I'm a sick bastard!
Tiny feet scampered against the stony floors, unseen and unheard by none.
The night wore on, and the castle was getting shrouded by an ominously thick smog brought in by the winds that blew over the village of Hogsmeade less than two miles away. The little rat was tired, but it couldn't rest — not yet.
God, I wish I had a simpler life! The rat thought miserably, as it scuttled through dusty, debris-ridden corridors. Why couldn't I just be a good person who didn't have anything to hide...? Like James? How much easier would life be?
It stopped to clean away the dust off its fleshy feet and sniffed the air before turning right and hurrying down the deserted hallways.
Because you are a coward. Just a cowardly little rat.
Not capable of bravery or intelligence. Certainly not capable of love.
Heck, you're even worse than Regulus!
For a terrifying second, the rat was consumed with a heart-stopping bout of fear.
Don't think about it! DO NOT think about it, you promised to yourself you wouldn't repeat the truth to yourself! It screamed at itself, huffing and puffing in fright. Recovering slightly, the lonesome rat sped on.
Finally diving outside into the chilly air through the tiny trapdoor behind the kitchens, the little rat waded through thick, long blades of grass, its nostrils already picking the familiar scent wafting through the air from deep inside the Forbidden Forest. Heart leaping into its mouth, it scuttled faster than ever until the dark silhouette of a tiny, lean man next to a large tree came into. Looking around, the rat decided they were secluded enough before leaping out of his hairy form and morphing into the grouchy, sixteen-year-old boy that he was. He didn't even care that he was all sweaty and smelly, as he approached his hook-nosed, bald-headed, wrinkly father, waiting patiently for him by the tree.
"P-P-Peter...? Is that you?" Elfed Pettigrew croaked, pushing his hood off his head and looking up, his large, piercing eyes scanning the short boy's face.
"Shhhh! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO TAKE MY NAME OUT LOUD, Father?" Peter whisper-growled through his teeth as he approached his pathetic father.
Elfed didn't have to look enraged; his eyes were so large, they made him seem like he was always indignant about something. "But there is nobody here!" he snarled, his brownish teeth grinding together.
"Well, this is Hogwarts! Someone is always listening!" Peter gritted out, his hatred for the grouchy old man searing on his tongue.
He hated everything about his life.
Right down to his birth itself...
He hated the fact that he was born into a family that had a lower social status than even the Bonebeards. He absolutely loathed the little dump that his grandfather proudly claimed to be the Pettigrews' ancestral home in Landers Down. He despised the uncouthness of his folks' ways and their overly revering, shoe-licking tendency whenever they were in the company of members belonging to the proud and rich Pureblood fraternity. But more than anything, he detested his parents from the core of his being... But somehow, he also couldn't do without them as well.
"Anyway, did you get it?" Peter asked, nervously wiping his face, his eyes tirelessly searching their vicinity.
"Yes, I did," Elfed growled, patting the gunny bad around his neck. "That Longbottom boy, though, nearly killed me tonight, trying to grab the crown from me! Look! Look at my hands!" he snarled, holding them up and displaying the cuts and dried blood on his bony hands, as if appealing to the Magical Courts of Justice for compensation for his grand sacrifices. "Look at the extent to which your father goes to take care of our family!"
"— Would you cut it out? I am NOT in the mood —"
"— HOLD YOUR TONGUE, you worthless piece of dragon shit!" Elfed barked, slapping Peter with a Stinging Curse before he could even pull out his wand.
"OW! Father, please —!"
"Hush! YOU DARE TALK BACK TO YOUR FATHER, your gormless little wanker?! Take that! Take that, you Blast-Ended filth, you!" Elfed screamed, slashing and hacking Peter with more skin-burning curses that left him writhing and jumping in pain.
"Father, please! PLEASE, IT HURTS!" Peter yelped, tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry!" he croaked, cowering behind his hands and watching the grouchy, old man grind his teeth in triumph before sticking his wand back in his robes.
"That's more like it," Elfed snarled.
"Thank you, s-sir," Peter sniffed begrudgingly, straightening up and recovering remarkably quickly as if he was quite used to this. "But Father... About the diadem..." he urgently continued, dusting his pain off, his voice simmering down to a whisper now, "Father, Carrow informed me that the Death Eater camp is right by a hut under the hill overlooking Hogsmeade... You need to head over there straight and hand it over to Lady Bellatrix Lestrange, the Mistress of Skulls. She reports directly to the Dark Lord —"
"— HUSH, silly boy..." Elfed roared, his eyes nearly popping out their wrinkly sockets, his teeth grinding menacingly. "I'm not giving this to anyone, not even if this Mistress of Skulls agrees to lick my blasted balls!" he cleared his throat and spat out loudly for emphasis. "I'm taking this straight to your mother and having her sell it to the next highest bidder and —"
Peter gasped. "Father, NO! No, no, no, no, no, PLEASE DO NOT do anything stupid, we are dealing with the DARK LORD here! He would burn you alive for treason —!"
Elfed cackled and spat out yet again, making Peter gag in revolution at the slimy green tinge of the old man's spittle. "The fuckin' Dark Lord... The on'y thing he could ever burn is this blooming snake mark on my arm!" he scoffed, leering stupidly and displaying an array of decayed teeth. "What, he thinks he's King now?! That we, people of lower births, ought to bend and lick his precious little manicured toesies...?"
"YES! He is the supreme Lord, now, Father, STOP BEING SUCH A BERK and LISTEN to me now!" Peter yelled, his mind racing. He desperately needed to convince his bonehead of a father. "Father, the Dark Lord would... would... He would reward you for your loyalty!" he stuttered. "If he knew that you were the one who brought the last piece of the heirloom to him, he'd promote you higher than the Mistress of Skulls even! Trust the Lord, Father, and please, oh please, make sure you DO NOT take this heirloom home, PLEASE!" Peter pleaded desperately.
Elfed though, quite annoyingly, stared at the brilliant silver and blue crown and back at his son, taking his own sweet time to decide, driving Peter mad with anxiousness. "Alright," he finally churned out, soiling the ornament with his dried blood. "Fine, I'll take it back. Only IF you promise that he will give me gold in exchange," he snarled.
Peter had to grit his teeth to stop himself from punching the man squarely in his face. Oh, what he would give to punch and torture the old man long enough to watch his skull crack and his jaw break and never stopping until he bled to death...
"YES," he lied. "Yes, he will give you lots of gold if you get it to him. Now will you do as told?"
Elfed's face lit up at once, and oddly, made him seem nastier than ever. "Yes, I will, son," he smirked disdainfully. "I mean... He was pleased with me when I informed him about that wretched boy, Sirius Black, knocking boots with that Mudblood girl in your class... Told me I was the reason our realm would NOT see the Cursed Pair uniting in our time," he added gleefully, stroking the diadem like it was a furry kitten.
"Yeah," Peter growled miserably, hatred spewing out of his face. "And that's what led to today, when her whole family got murdered at the hands of a thirteen-year-old boy, didn't it?" he hissed. "You were the reason Izzy is an orphan now, Father, so thank you very much for your service!" he growled.
"You watch your tone, boy! Besides, what would you do when that Mudblood gets killed too, eh? You do know that that's what waiting for her, don't you?!"
"What?" Peter demanded, his eyebrows scrunching.
"Stupid dragon filth," Elfed scoffed and spat out once again. "She's doomed to die, boy, and the sooner you accept that, the better," he slurred, his nostrils flaring unflatteringly. "Because a Seer apparently has foretold several moons ago that the Keeper of the Stone would be the cause of the Lord's downfall. And if Black chose her as his faithful little whore —"
Peter winced audibly.
"— the blood traitor and the Mudblood would become the 'Cursed Pair', or summat like that. And that would mean the end of the Lord's reign forever. THAT'S why killing her family and her is so important..."
All the blood drained away from Peter's face as he absorbed this new piece of information that his father narrated so dispassionately.
"But... But..." Peter sputtered, his mind exploding with questions at once. "If she was the Keeper of the Stone, why not simply go after her? Why kill her parents and sister?!" he roared.
"Don't you know ANYTHNG, you filthy blood-sucking cockroach?" Elfed ground out, coughing from the effort now. "Her parents needed to die to release her from the protection of her blood wards, obviously..."
"But their Muggles!" Peter bellowed.
Elfed cackled devilishly, his small belly jiggling from the effort. "They're not Muggles!" he barked out.
Peter's jaw dropped.
"Just because I call them Mudbloods, it don't make them Muggles, you worthless piece of dead ferret!" Elfed continued, oblivious to his son's current state of complete and utter panic. "They're Purebloods, Peter. Except they're lower than even us," he stated proudly whilst slapping his bony chest. "And that equates them to Mudbloods, dunnit?" he cackled once again, pocketing the diadem indelicately. "Oh, to see the look on your mother's face when she sees this..." he hummed to himself.
Peter's mind was imploding in shock now. He was so preoccupied that he hadn't even noticed his father had prepared to leave already.
"S'long, then, son. See ya later," Elfed called out, scornfully shouldering his gunny bag and walking away without looking back, leaving Peter staring back in disbelief.
So, that's why all this was happening in the world, right now. That's what Isabella's mum wanted to tell her about for so long? That's why Isabella was such an important piece of the puzzle in the grand arena of things...?
And even as he stood there, all alone in the dark depths of the Forbidden Forest, lost in his own thoughts, a tiny speck of silver light appeared at the gates of Hogwarts, across the other end of the grounds, with a little girl in its tow...
- O -
The doors to the Entrance Hall burst open, and in stepped a furious Dumbledore, followed by a whole bunch of people, looking fiery, yet haggard, having successfully quashed their enemies and secured the village and the school.
"Minerva, summon Auror Drudalf and the rest of the staff to my office at once," Dumbledore muttered tersely, sending shivers up the large company's spine. "The rest of you will follow me, please," he ordered quietly, and like a swarm bees, the horde of them scuttled after a ferocious-looking Dumbledore up the stairs towards his office. However, just as he had started ascending the stairs, Lance Whittaker and Samuel Willows walked out from the Hufflepuff basement and stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of their Headmaster.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Samuel screamed, and ran forwards, nearly bursting into tears now. "Thank Merlin, you're back!" he said, and before he could stop himself, he had thrown his hands around the tall wizard's waist and hugged him. Sprout's eyebrows disappeared behind her curly white hair, while some of the other witches and wizards watched on pitifully. "Professor, it was a nightmare here while you were gone!" he yelped, even as Dumbledore, quite unperturbed by the odd gesture, patted the boy's head kindly.
"Is everyone safe, Sam?" Dumbledore asked quietly.
Samuel, finally let go off the wizard and swiped the hair off his eyes. He started speaking very fast. "Yes, everyone in our House are safe and accounted for, Professor. No casualties till now... But the Ravenclaw tower was the worst hit... A bunch of us from Hufflepuff and Gryffindor duelled with the attackers —"
Several impressed gasps went up in the air.
"— and the Lions took in ALL the Claws into their tower and... The Snakes are the worst, though! Several missing, several attacked us all, and... and..."
"Thank you, Sam," Dumbledore quietened him politely. "I've heard quite enough," he said, turning to look at McGonagall this time, his eyes blazing even more with fury now. "Get all the Aurors to my office. And summon Minister Bagnold too." His words were so severe, several people nearly winced. "Also, Prewett, Weasley?" he said, turning around as two wizards stepped up at once, one a tall, burly one, while the other, a lean, slightly balding one, "Stand guard down here, please?" he said, and the two wizards nodded dutifully.
- O -
"ANGELA!" Isabella screamed, bolting up in fright and whipping around, making her head hurt at once.
Her heart hammering in her chest at two hundred beats per second, she frantically looked around the dark, quiet room, trying to figure out where she was. "Good Griffin, where am I?" she wailed desperately even as her eyes slowly adjusted to the dark and she could see distinct shapes and forms now. Following the bright moonbeam that shone through the window behind her, she noticed Frank sleeping soundly in the bed next to her, and beyond him lay Claiborne.
Gryffindor tower? How did I get here? And where is everybody?
Jumping up like a bolt of lightening, she quickly wore her shoes and dashed out the door, her head still swimming and throbbing in pain. Flinching under the bright lights out in the hallway, she sprinted down the stairs, steadying her wobbly knees as she did, until loud chatter reached her ears from the floors below. Suddenly finding it difficult to breathe under the weight of her confusion smothering her giddy (and quite frankly feeling miserably left out), she wrenched the door open.
"Sirius!" she screamed and burst in through the double doors into the Common Room and stopped dead in her tracks.
The room went exceptionally quiet the second she appeared at the door. It was quite evident from the looks on the students' faced that everyone was still reeling in shock at the fearsome turn the night had taken in the blink of an eye...
But she didn't understand why everyone was looking at her with bated excitement hitching in their throats until her eyes fell on a tiny person standing by the entrance to the Common Room.
It felt like her heart had stopped beating entirely as she stared back in shock at the tears of joy pouring down Lily's face and the look of pure relief on Sirius's as he crouched next to a little girl who looked like she had seen things a twelve-year-old should never in their life witness. Towering behind her was the bespectacled former Captain of her Quidditch Team, Thomas Walker, who continued to hold her shoulder as if scared he might lose her.
"Lily's Patronus," James smiled, his glasses fogged quite heavily. "We found her, Izzy..."
"Angela..." Isabella's lips quivered. Feeling too tired to feel any emotions right now, she closed her eyes and marched straight towards her sister, her world flipping back up once again when two bony hands wrapped around her neck. Everything was back in order once again, now that Angela was healthy and safe. Nothing else mattered.
~* 1 Hour Later...
The peace and disquiet that resonated in the room was even more formidable than the sheer tragedy that had ravaged the castle up until about an hour ago. Because after all, they were still only a bunch of teenagers — children who had had to shoulder responsibilities way above their mental age.
The Hospital Wing had not seemed more grim as it did, this very second, teeming with sixteen and seventeen-year-olds, from all the Houses sans Slytherin, getting nursed back to health by one matron working away like a machine.
"— You are shivering, Mr. Pettigrew, don't you see?! Don't make me repeat myself now!" Madam Pomfrey was saying to a petrified-looking Peter, trying to shove the same horrid potion she had given Isabella the last time they were all here.
"What d'you reckon is happening now?" Remus asked quietly, staring at the closed double doors of the Hospital Wing, his mind quite evidently racing.
"Dumbledore hasn't even come down to see us all. Obviously something terribly serious," Lily replied matter-of-factly.
"I wish I knew what was happening," Isabella said.
Remus and Lily looked up at once from the chairs they were lounging in next to her bed.
"Izzy," Lily started, wearing a 'I've-Had-QUITE-Enough-Of-Your-Daredevilry-To-Last-Me-A-Lifetime' look, "I'm positively scared for your health now! You've not had a second to process ALL that has happened tonight with your family, and you're here, killing yourself, sailing through one ill-advised adventure after another?!" she whisper-growled, her eyes boring dangerously into Isabella's skull.
"She's right, Iz, don't drown out your sorrow this way —"
"— Remus, me curling into a ball and bawling my eyes out is not going to bring my parents back," Isabella said quietly, her eyes red with manic determination now. "They're gone. Dead —"
"— Izzy!" Lily looked at her, horrified.
Isabella quietened, continuing to lifelessly stare ahead, having lost all respect for life entirely. Because, just this morning she had woken up being complete, whole and happy, and within hours, she had lost parents just like that, as if human life was so fragile that one could just stop existing for no rhyme or reason... Turn to her left, and there her sister was, lying unconscious and getting Healed by an Obscorimagist, having barely escaped the jaws of death...?
"What I'd rather like to know," Remus started, stretching his legs on her bed and looking at her thoughtfully, "is why you?"
Isabella frowned. "What d'you mean?"
"Think about it, Izzy. Tonight was not a random act of violence on innocent lives as it had always been till now, no... It was, quite startlingly, all about you... Using Regulus, a boy you grew up with, the brother of the Seventh Knight, You-Know-Who set out to wipe out your family entirely? A seemingly innocent, totally insignificant, Muggle family? And what's worse, they went after a defenseless twelve-year-old... That doesn't seem right, something doesn't add up," he said, looking gravely up at her.
A slow sense of dread descended upon her as she ingested this new angle Remus was bringing about.
"So, what are you saying...?" she asked, shivering slightly.
"I'm saying, why you? And why now? Right when you and Sirius got together...?"
Isabella's eyes widened. "You... You know about that? Who told you...?" she asked, blinking widely.
Remus and Lily exchanged knowing looks. "That's the thing, no one needed to... It was, well, quite evident from how you two just look at each other now," he said, his voice trailing off yet again as he slipped into rumination once again. "There's something going on, something a LOT bigger than we can possibly wrap our minds around..." he said and paused, his tired, scarred face contorting with stupefaction. "I'm positive," he suddenly said, decidedly, "two things are for sure," he added, sitting up straighter and looking Isabella directly in the eye. "Firstly, there's definitely a spy among us —"
"What?!" Lily and Isabella yelped at the same time.
"— and secondly, you are not a regular person, Izzy. And neither were your parents... If the Dark Lord is singling you out this openly, it only means you're a very, very important person in his life..."