August 6th, 1994
Mary Potter
With only an hour of forewarning before Sirius and Remus left for the day, Mary didn't hesitate in gathering what she needed for her next task. While her godfathers were out on a short mission for Dumbledore – "only going to be gone overnight" – she would travel to Little Hangleton and research the Gaunt House. The time to act was now. With Dobby tidying up the flat in Diagon Alley and Kreacher out running errands and grocery shopping, Mary had hours at most to do what needed to be done.
All it took was a few quick charms taught to her by Lavender and Parvati to get her appearance to change drastically. The face staring back at her in the mirror was almost unrecognisable. Thick sandy blond fringe covered her forehead, the rest was pulled up into a neat bun at the base of her neck. Freckles were flecked across her high cheekbones and bright blue eyes stared back at her mockingly.
The true test was when she walked a few streets away from Grimmauld Place and called the Knight Bus. Like a shotgun blast, the monstrosity appeared in front of her, swerving to avoid a lamppost. Stan Shunpike stepped off in a bored manner and breathed a sigh of relief when he realised she didn't carry any luggage.
"Where to?" Stan asked gruffly.
"Blackburn," she answered quickly. "I'm visiting my Gran."
"The back." Stan bustled her to the rear of the bus, out of the way of the other staring and visibly annoyed passengers. "Stay here and stay quiet. The fare is ten sickles."
Mary smirked and dropped the coins into his outstretched hand. "Thanks."
He walked away shaking his head. "Bloody nutters."
Mary pulled her cloak tighter around herself. Despite the humid mid-summer air, there was still a deep chill settled within her bones. It wasn't a physical ailment or any other explainable reason that she could think of, only that somehow the Horcrux within herself could sense the impending death of its counterpart. It was a cold sickly feeling that left her nauseous, clammy, and inexplicably tired.
Leaning her head on the cold glass window, she closed her eyes and retreated into her mind, working on her meditation and Occlumency as the Knight Bus stopped and accelerated once again, trying its best to make her lose her meagre breakfast.
"Blackburn!" Stan poked her shoulder. "Whatchu doin sleeping? Wasn't even a half hour trip."
"Sorry." Mary pushed past him and dazedly stepped off the cursed bus.
Her foot had barely left the landing when the bang sounded and the bus disappeared into the unknown.
Thick green grass covered rolling hills and a smattering of fog dotted the morning with a humid but ethereal landscape. According to her research, the Gaunt Shack was two miles south of Little Hangleton and another mile straight east of Blackburn. She'd chosen Blackburn because she didn't want to attract attention to the fact that anyone was travelling from London to a non-magical village like Little Hangleton, where the only known wizards were either long dead or had a track record like Voldemort and his demented family.
With a couple carefully cast spells, she disillusioned her Nimbus and herself, setting her course just above the road and following it for a few miles. While she got turned around quite a few times, she finally found what was left of the Gaunt family home.
To call it a shack was a compliment. While the place had four walls and a roof, there wasn't a place where the wood wasn't rotted and falling apart from years of weather damage and lack of regular maintenance. Holes littered the roof and appeared to be the safest way in. She finally settled on carefully flying down to the nearest tree to avoid any perimeter spells that might activate if she walked across them.
She carefully set her broom on the branches and laid down on her stomach, holding tightly to the old willow, letting it bow just enough to set her within the worst hole in the roof. She let go of the branch and assessed her surroundings. All was quiet as she knelt down on the floor and ran her hands along the splintered boards, trying to find that overwhelming sense of malevolence that would guide her to the Horcrux.
It was too quiet.
And then she felt it. It was like she'd stuck her entire arm into a dumpster or down the loo. She felt dirty. The thick aura of Dark Magic was pungent in the air, making her skin crawl and her hair stand on end.
Her hands shook as she pried the loose floorboard up. The small oak box looked completely innocent, covered in dust, but the sense of evil hung in the air like a dark cloud. Knowing it couldn't harm her, Mary plucked it from its dark confines and set it onto the dry dirty floor. Using the tip of her wand, she unlatched the small chest and tilted the lid open. The ring stood out like a beacon in the wandlight, a dark stone that was set in a gold ring laid in a deep velvety green jewellery box.
It was calling to her.
It was no wonder that Dumbledore had succumbed to the lure of the ring. All Mary could feel was a deep sense of urgency to see her parents, to see the ones that she had longed for since she was just a small toddler locked in a dark cupboard. It was their voices that echoed through the late afternoon air. It was their faces that hovered just out of sight, beckoning her to put on the ring and see them once more. A sense of peace enveloped her as she lost herself in the memory and thought of how wonderful the reunion would be.
She could already feel their warm arms wrapping around her, holding her close and telling her that they would never leave her and never let her go. They would be a family again. She would be safe and happy, never having to face the harshness and cold of the world alone. All she had to do was put on the ring.
A sharp stabbing pain shot up her leg, barely pulling her attention away. A small viper, no longer than her arm, buried its fangs deep in her calf, sending intense bursts of pain up her spine. With a small grunt, Mary grasped the snake by the neck and tossed it across the small room. She shook her head to rid herself of the black spots that threatened to take over her vision, wondering what she was doing there.
She was getting ready to see her parents. They were waiting for her. Weren't they? But they were dead. Was she dead too?
A flash of green light.
NO!
"Not Mary!"
The ring! Destroy the ring!
She reached into the pocket of her robes and grasped the handle of the small iron blade and immediately plunged it into the centre of the dark stone. The magical backlash caused a reverberation that sent her flying into the thin panelled wall behind her, the impact making the dark spots in her vision even more pronounced.
I've got to get out of here. She thought, shaking her head.
She scrambled forward, plucking the ring from the box, and looked up. Her eyes widened as she could see hundreds of poisonous snakes emerging from every crack and crevice in the decrepit house. They surrounded her at every angle.
Go away! She hissed in Parseltongue. I don't want to hurt you!
Master's order is to kill. They hissed in unison. Kill we will.
Mary gritted her teeth and raised her wand, knowing that she was blocked in. "Incendio!"
The fire spell blasted the snakes out of the way, giving her a somewhat clear path to the door. The only downfall was that the dry rotted old wood that made up the shack was burning far too fast.
On shaky legs Mary sprinted through the flames, dodging snakes and fire to reach the small wooden door. Her foot landed on a broken board, the rusty nail sinking through the bottom of her trainer and up into the soft flesh in the arch of her foot, making her yelp in pain. She pulled the handle open and flung herself forward, falling heavily onto the dry leaves just as the house exploded behind her, sending bits of debris flying into the air above. She curled up on the hard earth and buried her face into the ground as the splinters rained down.
A lone beam struck her injured leg, burning and cauterising her flesh in one fell swoop. She bit back the scream and focused on getting the Portkey out of her singed pocket before she burned to death. Adrenaline was both working for and against her in that moment, clouding her senses and making even the simplest task difficult, while shielding her from the worst of the pain. With a wave of her wand, she summoned her Nimbus, letting it smack into her palm as she pulled the illegal portkey from her pocket.
"Safety," she gasped out, clutching the Portkey tightly, hoping beyond hope that she'd made it correctly and it would take her home.
The world spun around her and she landed on her bedroom floor with a loud thump. Her leg stung and ached so badly that she feared putting any weight on it would make her pass out. The cold burn seemed to travel throughout her body, making her head swim with each beat of her heart, making the wound throb and pulse. Using the desk as leverage, she lifted herself into the chair and winced as the splinters in her back buried deeper.
The pads of her fingertips were blackened and blistered from the heat, but still she managed to pull the ring and dagger from her pocket and place them in the locked drawer of her desk for safekeeping until she could get them into her trunk. Before she closed the drawer, she pulled a red pin from the cushion and leaned forward. Her fingers were slick with blood as she stuck the pin into the map, signifying the locations of the Horcruxes. The only green ones left were; Two in Little Hangleton, Voldemort and Nagini. One in Gringotts, Hufflepuff's Cup. And one in Grimmauld Place, herself.
"Ouch," she whimpered, pulling herself onto her bed, not taking her eyes off the pin that signified herself on the map of the UK. "Only four left."
If she wasn't more careful, she'd end up dead before she could destroy the rest. First of all, she had to get the potions kit Sirius kept in the kitchen and patch herself up. But getting there would take time and planning that she wasn't capable of. Calling Dobby or Kreacher would only raise questions, and she knew for a fact that both elves were far too loyal to her not to mention the incident to Sirius. They would all freak out and she'd have to endure both a lecture and their hovering until the end of time. No, she would find her own way.
"Think!" She ordered herself, digging her fingers into her hair and fighting back the urge to cry for help.
A soft knock startled her and she laid down, dimmed the lights and closed the curtains with a wave of her wand, she pulled the covers up just as Sirius walked in. "You okay, kid? It's the middle of the afternoon."
Mary choked down the bile in her mouth at the feeling of the heavy blankets touching the burns on her leg. "Tired. Don't feel so great."
"You're pale as a ghost." Sirius put a hand to her forehead. "Clammy too. And no offense, but you kind of stink, kiddo."
"You're making me feel better already," Mary replied sarcastically, forcing herself to sit up. "Can you bring the potion kit? I'm sure after a pain potion I'll be right as rain."
Sirius waved his wand and moments later the small metal case floated into the room. Her godfather opened it and passed it toward her, but to Mary's dismay, it held only the basic pain relievers and fever reducers, there wasn't a single anti-venom potion or burn paste in the lot.
"Anything I can do to help?" Sirius looked at her with furrowed brows.
"I-I'm fine," Mary slurred, the world blurring around her. "It's just a headache."
Sirius stood up and patted her hand. "You sleep it off and I'll check on you in a bit."
The lights dimmed and the door clicked shut, leaving her alone with her misery. Tears of frustration and fear ran down her face as she pulled the blanket back and pried the sheet away, sloughing off a layer of burnt flesh with it. She needed to clean the wound, but to do so, meant getting all the way to the brewing area they had set up in the basement. At the rate she was going, she knew she'd be lucky to make it to the bathroom. The spinning swirling room dragged her down, like being pulled down a drain, it was impossible to fight, leaving her laying face down on her bedroom floor unconscious.
Sirius Black
Sirius glanced at the clock again, knowing that Mary would never miss breakfast or the opportunity to visit her friends. She looked pretty tired when he saw her earlier, but he chalked that up to the fact that they spent weeks in the dingy old house, cleaning and remodelling without a break. Maybe it was too much too fast, while he had an entire year to get used to freedom, Mary barely had a couple of months outside of the walls of Hogwarts.
"Fred," Sirius said, pushing his plate away. "Would you mind fetching Mary?"
"Sure." The boy shrugged, darting up the steps without hesitation.
The other twin narrowed his gaze and lifted a brow at him. "Everything okay, Padfoot?"
"Yeah," Sirius said, shaking his head, "Just been a long few weeks. This house is taking its toll."
"It'll be cleared out soon enough." George smiled confidently. "Are we all set for taking down the walls in the main entrance? I think it'd open the place up a bit."
"Of course!" Sirius laughed. "The whole floor plan is changing, just like we talked about. Mary even added an office for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes on the main floor."
Fred burst into the room, out of breath, Mary hanging limply in his arms. "She's not breathing!"
Sirius rushed forward and fell to his knees as Fred set Mary on the floor in front of him. "Get Dumbledore. St. Mungo's. Anybody!"
Panic took hold and he could do nothing but grasp her thin shoulders and stare, wondering what had happened and how. Her lips were tinged blue and he couldn't think of any spells that would help. His hand shook as he tried to find her pulse, but he just couldn't stop the tremors. And then he felt it, her pulse was weak and thready, but it was there.
"Anapneo," George whispered, his wand pointing at Mary's throat.
Much to Sirius' relief, his goddaughter took in a shuddering breath, but the wheezing and gurgling sounds she made had him worried all the more. Fred stepped away from the Floo to sit beside them on the gleaming floor.
"Black." Snape stepped out of the fireplace, a glare on his face. "What have you-"
"It's Mary." Sirius looked up at his old nemesis with hard eyes. "She was fine last night, but when I checked on her earlier she seemed out of sorts. She said she was tired and I let her sleep in."
Snape ran his wand over her and stared at Mary in confusion. "She hasn't left the house?"
"No!" Sirius growled out defensively. "I'd know if she had! What are you trying to say, Snivellus? Do you think I did this to her?"
Snape's cold black eyes focused on him for the briefest of moments. "She's been poisoned."
"No." Sirius shook his head. "That's not possible. No one else is sick. And both Dobby and Kreacher love Mary, they would never hurt her."
Snape ignored him, looking through the leather bag that sat on the floor beside them and pulling out a bright orange vial. "She was bitten by a snake, you nitwit."
Sirius stared in shock as Snape gently lifted Mary's head and emptied the vial into her mouth. He wanted the greasy git to get the hell away from all of them, but knew that he could very well be the best chance that Mary had.
"Where was she bitten?" Snape asked after a moment. "I've given her an anti-venom draught, but unless the bite itself is treated, she won't fully recover or at the very least she may lose an arm or leg."
Sirius looked down and the only exposed skin, her head, neck, and hands, were covered in scrapes and scratches, but he couldn't see any bite marks. "I have no idea. She hasn't left the house in days and she was fine last night when Remus and I returned from our trip. What in the hell happened to her?"
"Her robes are burned." Fred pointed to the charred hemline of the green cloak. "Her jeans are too."
"Should I get Mum?" George interrupted, looking from Snape to Sirius. "Or someone else of the female variety?"
Sirius clenched his fists and glared at Snape. "Where's Pomfrey?"
"On holiday with her sister." He arched an eyebrow. "Now cut her damned clothes or get out of my way. You're not a poor man, surely you can afford more."
Sirius pulled away Mary's outer robe, being careful while he was unsure of where she had been bitten. Her arms looked scratched and dirty though there were no signs of major injury there. But when he looked down, he could see blood on her trouser leg.
"Left leg." He choked out in horror. "Roll her on her side."
Fred and George gently pulled her onto her side and George kept Mary's hands in his as she mumbled and groaned incoherently. Fred ran his hands through her hair and didn't take his eyes off her pale face.
The denim leg of her trousers was blackened and singed, leaving holes that revealed oozing burnt patches of skin and tissue. Not far above her left ankle, a pair of puncture marks marred the already grotesque looking skin. Sirius put a hand over his mouth as the putrid smell hit his nostrils. It smelled like rotten flesh and decay. The thin skin was taught and stretched over the swollen ankle and calf, blowing it up to twice its normal size, while dark blue veins ran horizontally across her leg creating a spider web like pattern.
Sirius could only watch in horror, leaning back to hold Mary's hand, while Snape severed the trouser legs just above her knees. Snape worked quickly to pour a thick blue potion onto the wounds and sat back on his heels, brushing the hair out of his face as they all watched the swelling disappear and colour return to Mary's leg.
"What about the burns and splinters?" Sirius asked quietly.
Snape waved his wand to vanish the foul smell and went to stand. "Show me your brewing area. Burn-Paste works best while fresh. While I'm gone, see if you can remove the splinters. First aid is something you should get used to when living with idiots like Potter."
Sirius lurched forward, ready to strangle Snape, but was stopped by a small hand hitting him forcefully across the cheek.
"NO!" Mary shrieked, sending them all jumping back in shock as she sat straight up, her eyes staring at the wall in horror. "SIRIUS! GET BACK!"
She lifted her reddened left hand, palm up, and faced the blank white wall. "Voldemort!"
"She's hallucinating," Snape hissed suddenly, reaching toward Mary.
The second his arms wrapped around her, the wall her hand was pointed at exploded into a million pieces, sending plaster and bits of wood flying everywhere. Sirius dove beside the couch for cover, his hands grasping Mary's arms and dragging her out of harm's way as she thrashed and screamed, trying to get away from him.
"Kill me!" Mary yelled. "It's me you want! Leave them alone! RON! HERMIONE! RUN!"
"Potter!" Snape pulled himself forward, brushing debris from his face as Sirius struggled to hold Mary down. "Wake up! It's not real!"
Mary's eyes darted to him and back to the wall. "Hide, Snape! He knows! Voldemort knows you're a spy. He'll set his snake on you! I can't watch you die again. I just can't. Hide!"
Snape's jaw dropped and he seemed – for the briefest moment – to lose his composure completely. Sirius used all of his strength to hold her arms down, making sure that she was pinned to the floor hoping that he wasn't hurting her. Truth be told, the mixture of worry for her was warring with the way her pain filled screams echoed through the house. His heart broke at the thought of her being trapped in a nightmare where he could not reach her.
"Mary?" George knelt next to her, glancing at Sirius, then turning to pat her shoulder. "You're safe. Sirius is right beside you, and Snape's okay too. Don't worry."
"But Fred," Mary cried pitifully, tears running down her dirty face. "Not Fred."
"I'm here, Marrito." Fred patted her arm. "Come on, old girl, you're getting all sorts of attention right now and you're going to hate yourself for it later."
George looked up at his twin and then to Sirius. "We need Mum, and maybe Ron. They'll snap her out of this real fast."
"Get them." Sirius sighed, trying to keep Mary from moving.
Snape spat a mouthful of dust onto the floor. "If she hadn't just drank an Invigoration Draught I'd say we Stun her and leave her to sleep it off."
Sirius didn't reply, he was too focused on the way Mary was staring at the doorway in fear. Her fingers dug into his arm and her entire body shook with enough force to move him. Before he could even comprehend what happened, she lurched forward, running for the doorway, her wand in hand.
"Shit!" Sirius hissed, jumping up to follow her.
Had the situation not been so confusing and dire, Sirius would have laughed at the way his goddaughter limped through the house, ducking and weaving behind everything she could find, her wand brandished like a torch.
"It didn't occur to you to take her wand?" Snape sneered at him in disbelief.
Sirius shot the other man with a disgruntled look. "Mad-Eye taught her how to put Anti-Theft charms on them both. If you want the piss shocked out of yourself, be my guest."
"I'm surrounded by imbeciles." Snape shook his head, then looked up to where Mary was teetering on the top step leading to the basement dungeons. "Don't move, Black. Any sudden noise and she could topple to her death."
"Wouldn't her magic save her?" Sirius responded, copying Snape as the other man took a few small steps forward while Mary was looking the other way.
Snape shot him a condescending look. "Accidental magic saves small children when they know they're in danger. Potter wouldn't know the difference between danger and daisies at the moment. Not that she's ever been very bright."
The Floo flared to life and Molly stepped out, followed quickly by Ron. Sirius waved them over, holding a finger to his mouth to signal the need for silence. Ron ignored him as he ran toward Mary with no hesitation, his arm wrapping around her and pulling her from the dangerous stairwell, holding her in place as Sirius and Snape hurried to assist him.
"Please don't tell her I did that," Ron squeaked worriedly. "She'll kill me."
"Ron?" Mary's glassy eyes focused on her friend. "Where's Hermione?"
"With her parents," Ron said softly. "She'll be back in a couple weeks for the World Cup."
"Ireland wins," Mary mumbled. "But Krum catches the Snitch."
"What's happened here, Sirius?" Molly looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Mum?" Mary wheezed out. "Is that you?"
"It's Molly, dear." Molly knelt down on the floor and pulled Mary out of Ron's grip. "You're home. You're safe."
"But the house was destroyed." Sirius watched as his Goddaughter's face crumpled slightly. "Stupid Voldemort. It's all my fault. Maybe I should've just let him kill me."
Molly winced at the name, but didn't stop running her fingers through Mary's tangled hair while she hummed a soothing tune. "You need to sleep, Mary."
"Too much to do." Mary looked as though she was going to sit up, but Molly held her back. "I don't have a lot of time."
Sirius reached forward to speak to her, but before his knees hit the floor, her eyes had already rolled into the back of her head and her body went slack in Molly's arms.
"Quiet." Molly growled at them all. "Cast a Feather weight charm on her, Severus, I'll finish dressing her wounds and put her to bed. Fred, George, have the elves send up tea and soup. Sirius, I'll call you in a moment."
"Put her in the guestroom, Mum." Fred requested. "I'll have the elves clean her room. It's a wreck."
Sirius stood by and watched in a daze as Molly carefully navigated the staircase with Mary held tightly in her arms.
"Mum will help her," Ron said quietly from beside him. "Don't worry about Mary. She's tougher than she looks."
The statement was simple and meant to reassure, but it only made him feel like more of a failure. It was his job to protect and take care of her and he'd left her alone to fend for herself against some unknown enemy. Not only that, but he sat back and watched as Snape - of all people – helped her when he could not. It was infuriating and depressing at the same time.
The door to the guestroom was shut and he didn't want to interrupt Molly, so made his way up to Mary's room, hoping to find some clue as to what she had been doing.
Fred wasn't wrong. The room was a mess. That should have been his first clue that something was amiss. Mary was almost obsessive about keeping things clean and orderly.
The bed covers were pulled onto the floor, dried blood and plasma on the sheets. The smell of decay hung heavily in the air, and the potions kit he'd brought last night had been upturned and its contents were scattered everywhere. She must have been in an intense amount of pain, but couldn't find what she needed in the meagre supply.
"Sirius," Dumbledore announced himself, walking into the room, his blue eyes taking in the mess without so much as a raised brow. "Severus filled me in to the best of his ability. What can you tell me about Mary's injuries?"
"Nothing." Sirius leaned heavily on the wall, shaking his head in dismay. "Remus and I returned last night and I checked on her. She didn't look well but claimed that she was tired. I should have known something was wrong, but I honestly didn't put much thought into it."
Dumbledore listened quietly as Sirius explained, his blue eyes staring at the map on Mary's wall. Sirius stopped speaking and glanced at the map, wondering what the old headmaster was staring at. Four red and four green push pins were stuck in at random places. It didn't look like anything important, but by the look on Dumbledore's face, he realised that there must have been something more to it. And that made Sirius suspicious. Dumbledore was a brilliant man, well known throughout the world for his intellect and insight. Dumbledore knew something that he wasn't going to share with Sirius and quite frankly, it irritated him.
Dumbledore lifted a weathered hand and let his fingertips hover just in front of the map where a small smear of blood blotted out a location with a red pin. "Keep me informed about Mary's health, Sirius. Severus will be available should she need any medical attention while Poppy is on holiday."
Stunned that he was leaving so quickly and without so much as an explanation, Sirius' temper exploded. "What do you know? You can't tell me that you don't even have a clue of what Mary's up to, or how she became injured."
Kind blue eyes turned to him. "It seems that recent events have proven that as much as I think I'm prepared, I'm often wrong and left without the first inkling of what I need to do. As for answers, I think Mary is the one you need to ask. In fact, I have quite a few questions for her myself."
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