AN: Due to some wonderful reviewers, I decided to post early. Regrettably, it is a particularly cheerful chapter, but hope you like it anyway.
Chapter 31 - When You Wake
James had never liked rats. Even when Remus said Peter was cute, James had always found him just a little bit gross.
Wormtail was his nickname for a reason.
But the kids?
James held them both in a blanket. Harry's kite form was precious. James had been informed by Harry that he was a white-tailed kite. Kites being birds of prey that were much smaller than eagles and most hawks.
White bodied with dove-grey wings with a black swoosh along the shoulder, Harry was smaller the Luna's Skvader. The winged rabbit had her wings and tail curled around Harry.
The two of them together barely weighed as much as a baby.
"Who knew transfiguration would roll back the clock," Sirius said in a low voice.
James held the two sleeping animagi to his chest as if that could protect them.
Protect them when the Dark Lord could attack his son in his nightmares.
"He's going to be okay, James," Sirius said.
"You don't know that."
"I know that," Sirius said. "Darkness cannot last forever. If Lily could defeat Voldemort, we can finish what she started. He runs from Dumbledore, but he chases us. We will be his doom. Not for vengeance, but to prevent more harm from falling upon the world. To our Harry."
James let out a long breath, cradling the children closer.
Mr. Lovegood walked in, steps long.
Were his shoulders broader? His eyes flashed a pale amber, pupils slitted as he came to tower over James.
James offered the blanket bundle up to the man who gracefully bent to take them up in his arms.
Neither the skvader nor the kite woke, merely resettled in the man's arms. Harry's beaked head came to rest on Luna's hair between her fuzzy ears.
Mr. Lovegood glared at James, silence filling the room.
James couldn't stand the silence long, "Luna wasn't hurt."
Mr. Lovegood sighed, "No, James. She was hurt, and she will continue to be hurt because my daughter bleeds for the woes of the world. She feels more deeply yet for those she loves."
James flinched, "I–"
"Do not apologise. My daughter's gifts may be a burden upon her soul, but I would not wish her to be other than she was."
"I wish I could protect them better," James said, feeling no more than a child himself.
"We will," Mr. Lovegood promised. "There are monsters in this world that need to be slain, and I've always had a speciality for slaying monsters."
James exchanged a look with Sirius.
Mr. Lovegood hadn't fought in the last war.
He wondered if, for this second war, people would be less afraid, or more infuriated.
Voldemort breaking the Statue of Secrecy had been excused away by the muggles, the Muggle Prime Minister had stepped in to ensure that investigations only went so far.
As far as the muggles knew, the prisons had been a case of arson by a crazed terrorist, likely a homegrown, terrorist.
The story claimed that several 'napalm' bombs had been denated throughout the prism complex.
When James had asked what a napalm bomb was, Malcolm had explained that it was the modern version of muggle Greek Fire.
That the muggles outnumbered magical folk a hundred to one and that they had invented fiendfyre without magic was nothing short of terrifying.
But muggles of this age were married to their science, so much so that they would believe in alien intervention from outer space before the public believed in magic.
So at least, the war between Death Eaters and the wizarding world wouldn't include the muggles and their weapons of wanton destruction.
Mr. Lovegood held the two younger animagi close. "Don't look so despondent, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black. Going to war with humans is a messy business; monsters are more straightforward."
"Harry would say they are human," Sirius said.
"It is their duty to live and build a better future," Mr. Lovegood said. "But our duty is to ensure our pasts do not haunt them."
There wasn't much for James to say to that than his fullhearted agreement.
oOo
It was not what Albus had to go on, it was what he didn't have.
Fiendfyre was destructive and left very little behind it. However, the prison had still been burning when the authorities arrived. Meaning, that something had been done before fiendfyre, despite the wide range the flames had extended.
It was impossible for one person to do. More impossible for a mad sadist who would have taken his time killing muggles individually before setting the place ablaze.
Moreover, there were no survivors and the police had arrived at the same time as the Aurors. That Harry's uncle and aunt had been being held in that particular prison was too notable to be mere happenstance.
So here Albus was, in Azkaban looking for empty cells in the highest security section of the prison.
The climb made his knees ache, his hands had gone numb from the cold ten minutes of winding steps and hallways.
Albus hated this prison, hated the torture that all endured in this miserable place. That the dementors would gladly turn on them all was at the very bottom of the amorality of this sickly island.
Very few people could have every earned this.
To think that Sirius had lived here for over a decade due to Albus's shortcomings was a heavy weight on his heart as he trudged behind Kingsley and the prison guard.
"I'm telling you," the guard was saying for what have been the dozenth time. "We count them all. We ain't missing no one."
Neither Kingsley nor Albus replied to this as hands reached out toward their silver protectors, crying out in renewed agony as they moved on.
Albus shut his eyes, part of him wishing he had pursued politics despite the harm he might have caused in a place of greater power.
He might have at least ended this.
"See," the guard said, sometime later.
Kingsley took Albus's arm as he stumbled. The hike up the slick stone steps hadn't been good for his bones, age it seemed was truly catching up to him.
Kingsley raised his wand, lights darting from the tip to illuminate each cell.
The supposed death eaters were unresponsive, slumped in the corners of their cells.
All but one.
Dolores Umbridge gripped the bars of her cell, shaking like a leaf, her humanity stripped away from her gaunt face.
Albus's sympathies didn't quite extend to her. Maybe he pitied her, but Dolores hadn't become a Death Eater for fear of getting her hands dirty.
Otherwise, her beliefs largely lined up with Voldemort's death cult.
That she had been willing to torture children, Albus's wards, in a just world, should have earned her the Demontor's kiss.
She was fine with criminal activity, just not being blamed for it.
"You came too late," she croaked.
Kingsley made another flourish with his wand and swore, low and long in French.
"What is it?" Albus asked, staggering forward to the cell that was marked as Bellatrix Lestrange's.
The woman's hair was correctly wild, but her face…
Starvation and prison did things to a person's appearance, and yet…
He took a step closer and saw that her eyes were blue, not brown.
"They are muggles," Kingsley growled, sending his patronus away to get help.
"Couldn't be," the guard said. "Even the Dark Lord couldn't find this many look-alikes."
Albus raised his own wand, performing analysis spells as Dolores whispered, nearly drowned out by the renewed pounding of rain, "He broke their faces, he changed their bones."
Albus's spells showed the traces of the Dark magic.
He exchanged a look with Kingsley as the true horror of the situation revealed itself.
The war was on, and if possible, Voldemort seemed ready to be bolder and even crueller.
oOo
Bella couldn't find Siri.
She simply couldn't remember where she left them.
Even though she knew that she had known where he might have hidden himself.
But she couldn't find Cissa either.
They said she had gone to France.
However, her Lord had forbidden her from leaving the country.
So here Bella was, looking for her sister still on home soil.
Even if it was a muggle region.
The altered Point-Me spell she was using was tedious but effective.
Bella's heels clicked pleasingly over the pavement, the stairs glimmered above her. She began to blow out streetlights to better see them.
Twirling her skirts as she dance-skipped to the sound of the breaking glass, thinking of her life.
Bellatrix Lestrange.
The Lestrange brothers.
She loathed them.
She loathed that her name was changed.
She Bella.
Bella Black.
Why had time passed? Why had the world conspired to separate her from her sisters?
She missed the years they had all been at Hogwarts together, when it had been perfect and lovely.
The front door opened of the house her wand had stilled on.
Glass crunched beneath her heels as she approached the silhouette.
"Andy?" she asked.
The outdoor light flicked on, blinding her for a moment before she saw that it was indeed her sister.
Bella launched herself at her, grabbing the younger woman, her curves soft against her unwilling thinness.
Andy hugged her back, holding her close as she whispered, "Bella."
Tears snagged against her eyelashes as she fought back sobs, "Andy. I found you. I found you."
Andy held her closer still, tugging her inside, "Come, I've prepared tea."
"You're returning to us?"
"Ted is gone," Andy said in agreement.
Bella grabbed Andy's hand as she led her into the greeting room.
Andy kissed her cheek before she prepared the tea.
Bella snagged a lemon square, her favourite, off the tray, humming in satisfaction at the tart sweetness that burst over her tongue. "How did you know I was coming?"
"I knew you would come," Andy said as she stirred in four lumps of sugar and a generous amount of cream. "I also set detection wards up around the neighbourhood."
"But that could have been anyone."
"It had to be a person of power, and few are as powerful as you."
Bella beamed and was further delighted by the warm teacup placed in her hand.
Andy knew to warm the cream so it wouldn't prematurely cool the tea.
Her sister was so smart, except for that thief who had stolen her, she was perfect.
Andy stroked Bella's hair, "I missed you, my dearest sister."
Bella clutched her teacup, looking at her beautiful younger sister, warm where Cissa was cold. "Why did you have to go?"
"I'm not going anywhere now, my Bella. I'll be with you forever more."
"You promise?" Bella asked, her voice pitching.
"I promise," Andy said, stroking her hair back from her face. "I'll be with you, till the very end."
Feeling happier than she could remember, Bella took another bite of the lemon treat before taking a sip of the tea.
It was her favourite, red oolong, brewed to perfection.
Seeing that Andromeda had made a full pot, she tipped the cup back.
"Can I have more?" Bella asked, her head spinning as warmth filled her from the inside out.
Andy took the cup from her, placing it on the table. "Finish the lemon bar first."
"Kay," Bella slurred before doing as she was bid.
Licking her fingers clean of the sticky sugar, she purred as Andromeda pulled her in for another hug on the sofa.
"I love you," Andy told her.
Bella sunk into her safe embrace, "I love you… too."
Her head drooped as exhaustion overcame her.
Andy hushed her, rubbing her back in a soothing familiar pattern.
"You be here–" Bella tried to say, eyes closing. "When I wake?"
"Shhh… Bells, rest, I'll keep the nightmares away. You're safe now."
Bella was able to let go at that reassurance, falling into a blissful sleep.
The type of sleep you wished you would never wake from.
oOo
Free, no paywall content, join this discord cult: Live reading this Sunday, 26th of November, 12pm Eastern Standard Time (New York Time) /BNMEXM9RBB Discord dot ggBNMEXM9RBB
oOo
AN: Thoughts, ruby barbs, or feedback, pretty please?