A/N: To the people who have recently liked and followed this story - thank you so much :')

Charlie: Thank you so much for letting me know, it made my whole year!

Love-Fiction-2021: This one is dedicated to you :)

Been a looooong time... I hope to do right by you readers.

Chapter 43: The Unsent Letter

Terribly unedited (I was too excited to just hit 'Post').

Escaping reality was her only hope.

Because she didn't know how much longer she could survive being trapped in her own mind. A mind perennially clouded by a dark fog. A mind that entraps her inside her own mortal body within, like the unforgivable prison that it was...

A mind that knows better, but forces her into situations she shouldn't be in, compelling her to lie, coercing her to pretend into being something she was not, constraining her morals until she could not physically breathe...

But, round goes the clock, and so does her life, as she crash-lands back into the same patterns over and over, waking up every morning as the master Lie-Teller that she was, the bluffmaster the world is still blissfully unaware of.

In a perfect world, where her mind was her ally, her life would be wildly different.

She could simply be who she really was, to begin with. She would be able to smile without ever needing to falter. She would not have to seem cold and aloof all the time. But most importantly, she would never have to lie once — about anything...

In another time, in another universe, where all was well, she might have been the greatest witch the world ever saw. She would be that person everyone loved and admired. She might have moved mountains and raised empires by the sheer force of will. She would have got the love, the life and the laughter that she so dearly yearns for.

In a perfect world, she could follow her heart's wildest desires without ever needing to hold herself back. She could look at him, without needing to flinch once. She could tell him how she truly feels about him. Tell him how much she was willing to give up for him, how much she thought about him everyday, how deeply she cared about him, how much she loved him...

In a perfect world, he would fall for her in a heartbeat.

In a perfect world, he would be able to look straight into her soul and see the beauty that lies deep within her core. And he would make her belong to him forever.

Reality, though, is something else...

In reality, as it was in this very second, she'd be sat here, watching the raven-haired boy melting under the gaze of that Mudblood girl, his hand itching to be united with hers... In reality, he would look worried sick for something that the Mudblood was grappling with, showering her with words of comfort and kissing away her tears. In reality, she'd continue to hide away in the shadows and watch him from afar, while acknowledging that her true place in life was eternally in The Land of Being Misunderstood.

Because in reality, it was her mind that dictated her life's terms. And according to those terms, she would leave the planet having lived as a con-artist for the entirety of her existence.

No.

She couldn't be here to save her own life.

Escaping reality, indeed, was her only hope...

And just as she was about to tear her eyes away from the couple, her heart clenched painfully as she watched the raven-haired boy swoop down and capture the Mudblood's lips in a tender kiss.

The sight seared her eyes like hot lava...

She was numbed into despair and an inexplicable anguish took over her entire body, as he kissed the Mudblood again and again, the love in his heart raw enough for her to feel it gushing out of him...

As her face twitched with emotion, she watched the boy pull back and look up smilingly.

Their eyes met...

Like a bolt of lightening, she whipped her wand and closed the tear in a blink of an eye.

- O -

"Who's that?" Sirius demanded, looking over her head.

"Where?" Isabella twirled around and looked in the same direction.

The pair of them were on the first floor in St. Mungo's hospital, in the visitors' waiting room.

The long hallway of the hospital behind her was empty. The blinds on the row of windows that lined the walls on her right were drawn too. The only movement she could see was at the far end of the long corridor that opened into the busy general ward where scores and scores of witches and wizards in lime-green robes bustled about from one bed to another, treating the patients of their various magical maladies.

"Someone... Right there..." Sirius breathed and looked closely at the wall above a long window that stood by Isabella's right.

Isabella squinted confusedly.

"There's nobody here, Sirius," she said, turning back towards him. Except, his face was hardened with suspicion. "Baby, are you alright?" she asked, overcome with concern now.

Sirius looked extremely confused. "Someone was watching us, Izzy... I'm certain of it," he said and continued to stare into nothingness, his eyebrows scrunched together. "A pair of eyes was looking straight at me..."

"But..." Isabella began, starting to worry now, "that's impossible, Sirius... We would have heard footsteps if someone came —"

"You don't understand!" Sirius turned to look at her, his face marred with bewilderment. "Not one second ago, someone was definitely watching us! It's just..." he faltered, trying to gather his thoughts, "it was strange because... it looked like someone was watching me from a... a hole... in thin air," he said and looked at the place above the window once more, as if trying to break an invisible barrier and catch the intruder.

Isabella blinked.

"A... Hole? In the air...?" Isabella clarified, her eyebrows disappearing into her hair.

Sirius twirled around, knowing quite well how he must seem to her right now. "Like a tear on a fabric, yes..."

Isabella pursed her lips, trying very hard to keep a straight face. She inhaled slightly. "Okay. We're finding you a bed," she declared flatly, trying to snap him out of his reverie.

Sirius turned to look at her wide-eyed. "I'm not hallucina —!"

"— Sirius, please understand, we haven't slept in the last thirty one hours... —"

"Izzy, I KNOW what I saw —!"

"— Be that as it may, but you're not fighting me on this!" Isabella shouted decisively. "The minute we see Angela, we're hitting the sack, period!" she said, crossing her legs and mumpishly sliding further into him, squandering nearly two-thirds of the space left in the long bench they were sat on in the deserted corridor.

Sirius froze, caught between feeling disbelief and amusement at the same time, his demeanour instantly shifting from rigidly tense to casual elegance all of a sudden. With a smirk that brought out the twinkle in his eyes, he regarded her teasingly. "— Merlin's beard, what's the world come to? Are you honestly bossing me around now?" he guffawed, knotting his fingers with hers and beaming down at her sly face.

Isabella chuckled. "Like you'd have it any other way," she muttered sweetly, a wide grin spreading across her face for the first time in the last fourteen hours.

"Don't get cute...!" Sirius slurred, eyeing her hungrily. "You know it's the biggest turn-on in a bird for me," he hummed into her smiling face, a sudden tease flickering in his eyes. "You know what, reckon you are right..." he rasped, a perky grin tugging at his lips. "I do want to get into bed with you right now..." he rasped, licking his lips suggestively.

"Wha —?" Isabella gasped and scoffed at the same time, blushing furiously. "Bavarian Erkling...!" she managed to say, rolling her eyes half-heartedly, except the grin on her face was irrefragable, making him laugh even harder.

"Merlin, I love how red your nose gets when you get bothered!" he guffawed, throwing a his hand around her shoulder and giving a half-smiling, half-sulking Isabella a good squeeze.

"You're an idiot," she grinned, as Sirius tugged her closer to him. "The lads should be here any minute," he said, glancing at the large circular clock that hung above their heads.

"I dunno why they're even coming to get us," Isabella rolled her eyes impassively. "Like we couldn't handle a few hours by ourselves —"

Sirius whipped around in disbelief. "— We couldn't!" he simply said. "Izzy, a chunk of Slytherins are still missing... No one even knows where all of them are... I mean, Regulus may be my brother and Lucius may drool over you, but when it comes to You-Know-Who's affairs, they wouldn't even blink as they slash the life out of us, you hear me?!"

Isabella sighed exasperatedly. "Alright, yes, I get it, but I don't want them risking their necks to protect us, I mean, they could be anywhere disguised as anyone. For all you know, there's probably seven other Sirius Blacks roaming the streets of London right this second looking for targets to kill —"

"— Hence, the marshalling," Sirius said. "I dunno if you've forgotten, but you and I are on the very top of the hitlist, both with the Light and the Dark forces, babe... I'd never take my chances, especially not when it comes to you... In fact, I can't wait for the lads to be here already," he added, his foot shaking more than ever.

Isabella didn't say anything and simply drank the moment in, patiently trying her best to allow Sirius to take care of her... Her mother was right — she had gotten so good at looking out for herself that she almost always felt the need to push people away when they offered to share her burdens... But not this time... Not with Sirius. If he thought he needed to hold her hand, she was going to let him, because she knew how much that little act would mean to him.

Smiling contently, she looked at her watch, her anxiety returning once again. "What d'you think's taking them so long?" she said, glancing at the shut door in front of them one more time.

"I told you... We won't leave here until that cow fucking lets us in," Sirius muttered darkly under his breath. "I'd call upon my uncle and drag the hospital to court if I have to, but we are seeing Angela today no matter what," he declared firmly.

Isabella bit her bottom lip, simmering in inexplicable disquiet. "I cannot believe I left her all alone in a world so alien to the one she lives in, Sirius..." she rasped breathily. "She must be terrified out of her skin, being surrounded by our kind —"

But she was cut off when the double doors in front of them burst open and Pickerin bolted out, wearing an apathetic expression on her face. "She's awake now," the grey-haired and bespectacled Healer tersely informed them, putting out her glowing wand, as if she had just performed some sort of black magic ritual in there. "You are to sign here, here, and here," she said, begrudgingly shoving a clipboard in Isabella's face and showing her a bunch of official-looking documents for her to sign.

Grinding her teeth in annoyance, Isabella yanked the clipboard off Pickerin's hand and scanned the document quickly to realise that it was a permission form that St. Mungo's was granting her, 'an Underage student', permission to visit her sister unsupervised under 'extraordinary circumstances' and that this 'would not be granted again' in any future scenario until Isabella has come of age.

"And just to be clear," Pickerin screeched even as Isabella scribbled her signature on the crisp parchment, "you are to NOT make any reference to events that may stress her out even in the slightest! Do you hear me?" she bit out savagely.

Isabella raised a disdainful eyebrow at the Obscorimagist. "Obviously?" she leered sarcastically and hurtled through the swinging double-doors into the ward without waiting for a response from the Healer. Sirius stabbed the forty-year-old witch with a baleful look himself before pushing into the small and dingy ward behind his girlfriend.

"Angie?" he heard Isabella call out before she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight in front of her.

Sirius himself had to hold back and gape at the stunning display of warm lights that surrounded him as soon as he stepped in, his jaw hanging open in awe.

~] Isabella's POV

Because, where she had originally expected to enter a depressing, lonesome room, with yellowing walls and a dim chandelier that did little to light up the room, she was instead standing in a tiny little magical paradise, with a dozen or so brightly-coloured Pygmy Puffs yawning and laying on a large velvet pillow next to Angela's bed, while the ceiling was lit by hundreds of tiny jelly-fish, floating in the air and emanating a cool yellow light. On the side, Angela's night-stand was crammed with goodies like Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Botts's Every Flavour Beans and Cauldron Cakes and Pepper Imps and Liquorice Wands and what not... Finally, and Sirius seemed hell-bent on not believing his eyes on this one, but clustered around Angela's feet were a bunch of baby Pixies, lolling around and making the squeakiest of noises possible.

Staggering towards Angela's bed, the pair of them kept looking all around, trying to wrap their heads around the odd magic that floated all around them. "Angie, wha... What is all this?" Sirius grinned uncertainly, beaming into the happy fourteen-year-old's face.

"Williams! Black!" Xenophilius Lovegood tweeted, appearing from behind the curtain that lined the large window on the wall opposite to them, his hands laden with more baby Pixies. "'Morning!" he mumbled with his mouth half-full of Chocolate Frogs and stretching his hand out to greet them, dropping three or four the baby Pixies as he did. Isabella's heart jumped into her throat, and Sirius was about to dive down and catch them before they hit the floor, but the little monsters simply flapped their tiny see-through wings and flew right back out of the window, screeching in annoyance.

"Morning... Xeno..." Isabella said, shaking his hand warily, and still looking around wonderstruck. "Did you do all this?" she asked, settling down beside a still weak, yet cheerful Angela.

"Did what?" Xenophilius asked, squinting pompously. "Take care of an Obscurial like they're supposed to be taken care of? Know more basic curing techniques than even experienced Healers? Understand the ways of an Obscurial even better than a trained Obscorimagist?! I reckon so, yeah!" he scoffed, padding his way towards Angela's bed on lean, stick-like legs.

Sirius and Isabella exchanged glances.

"You seem cheerful," Sirius observed sarcastically, taking in Xenophilius's outfit and stifling a grin, only to receive a painful nudge from Isabella on the side. Because, oddly enough, the boy had chosen today of all days to show-off his amazingly over-sized, and khaki-coloured shorts collection which he paired off with a white, half-sleeved shirt that he had buttoned-up up to his larynx. His long and pale-blond hair was parted in the middle and tied in a loose ponytail that trailed the small of his and his extra-long socks nearly covered his legs up to his knees, making him seem very funny indeed.

Blinking rapidly and hoping Xenophilius's had not sensed the mockery in Sirius's tone, Isabella asked, "What d'you mean, Xeno?" whilst noting that Angela was still boiling hot next to her.

Angela stirred and spoke before Xenophilius could respond. "Xeno's sister was an Obcurial too, Izzy." Isabella whipped her head around to look at Angela, horror-struck. 'Was'? she thought, shuddering a little in dread.

"Your... Sister?" Isabella asked, turning to look at the fifth-year once again. "You have a sister...?"

Xenophilius, who was eyeing them blankly with an expressionless face, simply nodded. "Yes. Magnolia Lovegood..." he shrugged his shoulder matter-of-factly. "And, yes, as little Miss here stated, she was an Obscurial too... She was six years younger to me, and was my father's favourite," he said, sitting down woodenly and staring into the distance at nothing in particular. "She was born fine, but when she was a year old, we noticed she was in extreme distress... Cried for a whole week non-stop. The only time she didn't cry was when she finally feel asleep at night, tired from all the crying. Her Healer, Mr. Owix Conebush, told us that sometimes, for reasons unknown to date, the body perceives magic as a threat and begins to quash it out of it on its accord. And it is when the magic inside begins to fight back that the person goes into distress and die. But in some rare and extreme circumstances, they do not die and become an Obscurial instead."

Isabella sat there, completely dumbfounded. "That's what happened to your sister...?" she asked.

"Yes," Xenophilius shrugged again expressionlessly, except his demeanour had become stiff and forlorn all of a sudden. "She was one of those Obscurials that became what she did, not because of bad treatment or physical and mental abuse, but because of an auto-maleficiuno syndrome."

A numbness crept up her hands and paralysed her whole as she digested this new piece of information about her fellow House-mate. All these years, she had merely thought of Xenophilius Lovegood as that odd goofball who said weird things and put strange spells in his hair to make it smell queerly. Never once had she paused to think there may a story behind those large, glassy eyes, a story worth empathising with...

Sirius cleared his throat, pulling her out of reverie. "So, this was how you took care of your sister too?" he asked, gesturing at the twittering chaos that subsisted in the room.

Xenophilius puffed out his chest at once, his hooked nose flaring. "The happiest Obscurial to have ever lived, says Healer Conebush," he said, a kind of despondent pride washing over his face. "The soul is scarred, the mind is blotched, and the only thing that can keep their wounds from spreading and killing them ahead of their time," he said, absent-mindedly playing with a jelly-fish that had broken off from its bloom and descended to hover around the lanky boy's head, "is solace."

Sirius and Isabella exchanged glances, their faces numb with newfound respect for their junior.

"And yes, to answer your unasked question," Xenophilius continued, glancing at the pair of them impassively, "she died three years ago at the age of six."

A chill swept over Isabella. But before she could delve deeper into the mysteries of the boy in front of her, she was shaken awake by her little sister next to her.

"Check this out, Izzy," Angela croaked lifelessly, her hands and neck marred with mild, grey lines that resembled the spindly roots of a tree, "Dear Xeno here was showing me how if I used this little horn here, I can draw out all the Gnomes in our backyard..." she said, holding a long snout-like conch in her hand.

Isabella raised a curious eyebrow. "I didn't even know we had Gnomes in our backyard."

"Everyone has Gnomes in their backyard," Xenophilius shrugged woodenly. "You just don't see one because them suckers are master-hiders," he snorted.

"Oh, and he also taught me how to use this special paper to make bird origamis that would actually fly," Angela gushed on, gurgling with joy and catching a couple of tiny Pixies that had started zooming around her like giant flies now.

"Wow, Xeno, this is amazing," Isabella said, overcome with warmth for the odd fifth-year Gryffindor. "I dunno what to say, except thank you."

Xeno simply beamed, his shoulders filled with lounging baby Pixies now. "Well, you seemed awfully scared for her, so I did what I had to, to make sure that that foul Healer never kicked me out of the ward," he grinned, making a face at a particularly nasty-looking Pixie. "She's terrified of them jelly-fish, so..." he chortled, his eyes twinkling devilishly, making Sirius burst out laughing in amazement.

"My lad," Sirius grinned, patting him appreciatively on the back. "Next up, Lovegood for Minister!" he said guffawing into the stonily pleased face of Xenophilius. "Minister Lovegood, so charming, his name says it all!" he spluttered.

"Charming enough to join the Marauders?" spoke a voice from behind them all, making the company jump up in surprise.

Sirius whipped around. "JAMES!" he roared, flitting across the room to hug the messy-haired boy wearing the widest grin ever. Oddly though, he wasn't sporting his usual t-shirt and jacket over a pair of denim look today, and was wearing undersized robes meant for women that clung to his body and knees. "So glad you're finally here!" Sirius exclaimed, smacking Remus's back, whose hair was jet-black instead of its usual mousy-brown colour. "What's with the weird clothes, though?" he asked, gesturing at them collectively.

"Dumbledore's orders," Remus stated shortly. "Pomfrey needed help transferring some students with more severe injuries to Mungo's right away, so he suggested we go in disguise instead," he said, waving at a gleeful Angela.

"Yeah. Had to take Polyjuice Potion," Peter added, ruffling out his midi-skirt for emphasis.

"Polyjuice?" Isabella frowned, curiously assessing the school-girl look Peter had gone for. "Whatever for?"

"So we don't run into unwanted company and attract attention to ourselves," he replied, slumping onto the visitor's bed next to the door. "Mungo's is teeming with Ministry officials."

"Which reminds me. I was helping someone out in the same ward that Abraxas Malfoy was in, visiting someone," Remus said.

"Abraxas?" Sirius asked wildly. "That wanker is here too?!"

"Yes, and on some very important errand it seems," Remus nodded, tearing the double-breasted jacket off his shoulder and looking up at the company, ridden with exhaustion. "One look at his dilated eyes and I knew he was up to something, so I threw on the Cloak and followed him until he snuck into a private ward that was heavily guarded by goblins," he said and paused to note the looks of confusion on his friends' faces. "Unfortunately, I could not follow him inside, so I waited by the door and listened intently... I wasn't sure if I heard him right because he was whispering feverishly, but the message was short and simple: he was informing the occupant of the ward that," he paused to loosen his tie and exhale heavily, "that apparently someone called Mother Medea has finally arrived...?"

"Mother Medea?" Isabella repeated, her ears perking up at once.

Remus shrugged. "No idea. But because Malfoy seems so gripped with fear that she has arrived, I am ready bet on my broom that it has some connection with You-Know-Who."

"You seem awfully certain of that," James said, sinking into the bed next to Angela and grabbing a box of Chocolate Frogs to munch on.

"I am because he announced it like it was the end of the world almost," Remus said, leaning onto Peter for support.

"Medea...?" Sirius said, scowling curiously to himself. "Why have I heard that name before?" he asked, rubbing his scruffy chin thoughtfully.

"So, I did hear right?" Remus asked, looking genuinely surprised.

Sirius did not say anything and looked up, nonplussed. "I've heard Mother utter her name every now and then," he said, staring back motionlessly. "Thought she was just rambling in madness, but reckon I was wrong...?" he asked, looking at his friends.

"But who do you think she is?" Isabella asked.

Xenophilius suddenly looked around the room wildly as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "D'you honestly not know who Mother Medea is? Why, she's the One-Eyed Witch, obviously!" he said, and everyone's heads swung around to look at him charily.

"What?" Xenophilius shrugged, looking at their bewildered faces. "Haven't y'all heard of Medea, the One-Eyed Witch who lives under a silver birch tree behind Hogwarts at all...?" he asked, incredulously.

Isabella raised her eyebrows, swallowing her frustrations before speaking up. "'Fabled', Xeno. The One-Eyed Witch is fabled to be living behind Hogwarts, but there's no one really like that —"

"— I've actually met her," Xenophilius simply stated, making heat rush up her face at once. "Very old woman, but quite nasty. My father sought her out during the last days of Magnolia... He was desperate for her to live. Apparently, the witch has powers that could make one immortal. But, of course, she turned him down and sent us away. Could have done with a few more years with Magnolia, but whatever..." he shrugged woodenly and shuffled out of the room to grab some water, leaving the rest of them gaping and mouthing gibberish after him in astonishment.

A stunned silence followed the exit of the silver-haired fifth-year, as the rest of them broiled in dubiety of whether to take him at his word or not.

James looked around, bewildered. "D'you...? That...? Really...?" he blubbered, unable to form full sentences yet.

Remus looked doubtful too, but a second later, he shook his head vigorously. "Nah."

"Right?!" James confirmed.

"Of course...!" Remus countered half-heartedly. "There's no way that that woman was her... I mean —"

"— I MEAN!" Sirius added with a bit more vigour, making the others around him snigger quietly.

"Bloody bonkers, that one," James finally declared, making the rest of them burst into chuckles now, even as Isabella turned to look at her frail sister, reality ramming into her once again... It's going to be just her and Angela going forward... Alone and at the mercy of life itself... Almost as if Angela had read her mind, the fourteen-year-old wordlessly took her sister's hand in hers and squeezed it, as if to say, 'Everything is going to be alright.'

Peter looked at his watch. "Time to leave, lads. McGonagall wanted us back five minutes ago. She thinks we are going to board the train and go home just like the rest of the school, but we're staying back, aren't we? Got a beast to kill...?" he smirked, jumping up and looking around at his friends, even as Isabella's stomach melted and churned silently. Something told her she was not going to be staying back in Hogwarts like the Marauders had planned... It was finally time to face her worst nightmare, it seemed...

James, who was watching her closely, exchanged a furtive glance with Sirius and Remus before saying the words she hoped no one would utter.

"No, Peter, we're going home," James said, his tone suddenly softening. "Everything else is going to have to wait."

Peter looked confused.

"What's more important than this war, Prongs...?" he demanded dumbfoundedly.

The messy-haired boy didn't say anything and continued to stare back at the petrified face of Isabella, his demeanour gushing with reassurance. "Being there for your family."

Isabella turned away at once and pretended to help Angela with the sheets, while discreetly wiping away a tear. With a pang of sadness, she realised there was no way she could push meeting her parents one last time beyond this point.

Exactly five minutes later, there was a sharp knock on the door and there stood Pickerin, holding an umbrella, no doubt to shield herself from any stray jellyfish dropping on her from the ceiling, and wearing an expression of absolute disbelief that the room was now not occupied by three but six visitors wearing the strangest set of clothes ever. With her screams being just a little short of scandalous, she drove the bunch of students out of the room, without failing to pierce Xenophilius with a particularly nasty scowl. Wading through a sea of witches and wizards suffering from ailments of varying degrees of seriousness, the bunch of Gryffindors disappeared through the fireplace of St. Mungo's and spun back into life in Dumbledore's office in no time.

"Blimey, I haven't had the time to pack any of my stuff," Peter grumbled, as the bunch of them sped down noisy corridors filled with students scampering about and preparing to flee the castle before the Ministry took full control of the school.

"I hope you know we're returning, Wormy," Remus said, patting the confused boy's back and looking oddly grim.

Isabella had seen that look on Remus before and knew instantly he was very far away in a world of his own at the moment. "What is it, Remus?" she asked, pulling him away from the others and reading his face. "What's bugging you?" she asked quietly.

Remus looked at her as if he ridden with guilt. "Izzy, would it be okay if I stayed back?" he asked out of nowhere.

Isabella blinked ditheringly. "Er... Well," she started, trying to ignore the pain in her chest at being possibly abandoned by her dear friend, "I reckon it should be fine," she lied, as the pair of them crossed a corridor and climbed the moving staircase that spun them around dizzyingly. "But why, though?" she asked, pausing in front of the Fat Lady. "What do you have to do that can't wait until... after?" she swallowed painfully.

"ȋValerso," Remus simply said in his very strong Welsh accent. When Isabella regarded with a 'Are-You-For-Real' expression, he quickly added, "Izzy, I just need to test a theory I have in mind... And it can't wait, unfortunately. But... you must surely know how much it pains me to even have to ask this of you —"

"— You think?" Isabella asked, her lips quivering already.

"Izzy, please," Remus beseeched. "Don't hate me, I beg you..." he said, reaching for her hand. "I'll make it up to you, Izzy, I promise —"

"— I don't believe you can, Remus, but yes, please do stay back!" Isabella shouted, acidly. "And do save your adventure stories for when we return, won't you?" she said, knowing fully well how spiteful she must sound right now, but she didn't care, as she twirled around and barked out, "Balderdash!" at the terrified Fat Lady, before he could try and say anything else.

Without another word, Isabella squeezed in though the hole into the loud Common Room, leaving Remus staring back after her.

~] Remus's POV

You're a sodding dickhead, you know that? he thought to himself as he silently trudged in after the hot brunette, feeling more terrible than he ever had in his life. You're a total arsehole who'd make even Sirius seem like a fucking SAINT —

"— Trouble with the ladies?" a voice streaked through his mind, striking him awake.

Looking up, he saw Edgar eyeing him chaffingly by the window, bringing a genial smile on his face.

Sighing, he ambled towards him. "It amazes me just how much they care for us, for all the little things," he said, joining his old friend on the window sill and looking into the chaos that ensued in the Common Room in front of them. "They make us lads look like trolls, y'know?"

Edgar scoffed. "Also one of the reasons why they're at least ten thousand times better than we'll ever be," he conformed, taking a sip of pumpkin ale in his hand. "You know what might help, though?" he asked, casually wiggling his eyebrows at Remus's tired face. "Talking to the best friend."

"I'm sorry?" Remus asked, frowning at his dormmate who was nodding violently in Claiborne's while laughing uncontrollably at Remus's fast paling countenance.

"I mean it. Talk to her instead."

"You're not serious —"

"— Just explain everything to her, and she will sort things out with Williams for you."

Remus scoffed. "Yeah, you're mad if you think that's ever going to work."

Edgar deadpanned at Remus, exhaling heavily. "Don't you think it's time you admitted that even I have more experience with girls than you, Lupin?" When Remus merely turned a ghastly shade of red, Edgar guffawed and added, "Are you honestly more scared of talking to Jones than upsetting Williams —?!"

"— ALRIGHT, enough from you!" Remus tried to hush him up only to watch him crack up even more. Regardless, he knew Edgar had a point. Claiborne, especially, is the Master Solver of problems. Anything anyone ever brought up to her, she would be able to fix, something that always blew Remus's mind. Secondly, he knew she would do anything if he was the one with the problem. Thirdly, she also possessed the weapon that he knew would help him perfectly in his mission with ȋValerso... Edgar was right, all Remus needed right now really was Claiborne...

Drats.

"I don't like you, Bones," Remus flinched pettishly, making the black boy roll with laughter. "I'll never come to you for advice again, you know?" he added with mock disdain.

"That's cool. I feel bad about being right all the time too," Edgar sniggered, prompting Remus to throw a fake punch at his face. "Just remember, though..." he guffawed, trying to avoid a second fatal mock-punch from the werewolf, "kissing the bird... would increase the quality of her advices as well —!" but the rest of his sentence got drowned into a muffled choke when Remus tackled the lanky boy in a friendly banter.

When Remus finally let him go, the pair of them stood looking at each other for a while, before bursting into chuckles a second later.

Wordlessly, Edgar jerked his head towards Claiborne one more time on the other side of the room, before bounding off to pack his own trunk, leaving Remus sputtering and billowing by himself at the window.

From that second on, everything around him disappeared into the background, and the only thing he was completely aware of were the ragged sounds of his own breath hitching in his throat as full-blown panic took over. In all honesty, Remus would have happily chosen hell with Williams a million times over having a minute-long conversation with Jones if the situation permitted, but sadly that wasn't the case here, was it? He did genuinely need her help in cracking the mysteries surrounding this war, didn't he?

Merlin, help me, he thought to himself, shuddering a little as he diffidently waded his way across the room towards the unwitting blonde, caught in a deep conversation with Lily Evans next to her.

"— this is such a nightmare!" he heard Lily sighing to Claiborne.

"I'm sorry Lil, but you have to make her understand!" Claiborne retorted.

"That's just it, she won't! It's her birthday, Clay!"

"Izzy's parents died, Lily!"

Lily huffed loudly, sweating buckets now.

"Petunia wouldn't understand... She hates me already, and if I did this, if I missed her birthday, it's ALL over for me and — Remus!" Lily called out, when she finally saw the lanky boy doing his best to retract his steps and leave the place, pretending to have not heard a word of their conversation.

Still caught in the painfully frozen position, Remus eyes alone flicked sideways to look at them, trying his best to convey his profuse apologies for interrupting them in this fashion.

"I'm sorry — I didn't mean to —"

"— Oh, don't be ridiculous, we were just talking about my sister," Lily sighed, patting on the couch next to her, indicating that he should join them. "I'm in such a fix!" she howled into her hands as Remus sat down, expertly avoiding looking in Claiborne's direction as he did. He had done it for so long now, he was practically a pro at it...

"I know, I heard," Remus said apologetically. "Unfortunately, Clay — er — Claiborne," he stuttered, "is right. Izzy needs you more than your sister at the moment, Evans..." he said, stealing a glance at the blood-red face of the blonde opposite to him.

Lily looked devastated.

"You're right," she finally said, albeit hating herself for saying it, "you're right, I should explain my situation to Tuny and if she doesn't understand, it's her problem..." she said, sounding unconvinced even to herself. "I should just learn to... be okay with her... being upset with me..."

Remus and Claiborne didn't say anything and simply watched her ruminate in mind-numbing hurt.

"I'm sorry, Lily, but as your best friend, I can't knowingly let you do the wrong thing," Claiborne said contritely, sending a rush of warmth down Remus's chest. Of course, she couldn't... She wouldn't.

God, she's precious, he thought to himself, trying his best to keep a neutral face.

Lily mutely nodded. "I know, you're right," she said, shaking it off and turning to Remus. "So, what did you want, Lupin?" making him yelp, fumble and drop his wand in anxiety at being spoken to suddenly.

"I er... Well, erm... Y'know that's a very good question..." Remus began, having never hyperventilated like this in his whole life up until this point. Lily and Claiborne, though, merely stared back, wild-eyed, waiting for him to state his reasons for seeking them out a moment ago.

I mean, this ought to be the simplest thing to do ever! he chided himself between pants, even as the stares from the girls got wilder. You just have to tell Lily you need to speak with Clay alone... That's it! I dunno why that should be such a hard thing to do...?!

"Well," Remus collected himself and closed his eyes to steady his heartrate just a little, "I really just... wanted to... have a private," he gulped. Damn, I wish Sirius was here right now. "A private word with," incredibly, all the mousy-haired boy was able to do was nod in Claiborne's direction.

The two girls merely blinked, as if they were confirming to themselves if they had heard him right.

"You need to speak with Clay?" Lily asked, her voice sounding uncharacteristically high-pitched for some reason, an amused grin slowly spreading across her face.

Claiborne, though, was shaking her head as if she was denying Remus's request to speak with her.

"I mean, of course, if she... doesn't want to..." Remus began, unsure why he was referring to her in third-person whilst clearly speaking directly at her. But when Claiborne looked taken aback, he immediately backtracked with a wave of his hand as if asking them to dismiss his last comment, "I mean, yes, YES! I would... very much like that," he finally churned out, much to Lily's delight.

Lily nodded vigorously, trying very hard to keep things nonchalant, lest she might scare him away. "Of-of course, you can, Remus. In fact, you should have a private word with Claiborne after all this time," she added, smirking slyly at the murderous face of Claiborne next to her. "I'll leave you two to it, then," she whispered, exchanging an excited-cum-nervous look with the blonde before bounding off from their corner, leaving an earth-shattering silence in her wake.

Licking his lips, Remus finally looked up, allowing himself to stare fully into the girl's face for the first time in months since they stopped talking to each other. Breathing heavily to calm his nerves, he continued to bravely look into her face while she fidgeted nervously with the end of her skirt, but her face itself had a deathly calm to it.

"Clay," he finally said, astounded at his own bravery. "How are you?" he said when she looked up, ignoring the painful churning in his stomach.

"Very well, thank you," Claiborne said quietly, reading him like an X-ray. "It's too soon to be talking again since the last time, don't you think?" she asked, a hint of curiosity and sarcasm trailing her voice.

Remus nodded guiltily, the churning getting wilder than ever now. "You're a smart girl. I'm sure you would've guessed by now that I am only here because I... because I need a little favour from you?" he asked, unbiddenly staring into her pale blue eyes.

"I do," Claiborne nodded, "not that I think that that's bad in anyway, though," she quickly added before Remus drowned himself in guilt. "It just feels good to know that you think only I could solve this problem of yours..."

Remus smiled his most genuine smile for the first time in months. "Like I always tell the boys, if you ever reach a place of impossible, talk to Claiborne Charlotte Jones," he said, loving the sparkle in her eyes. "Anyway, you remember the Christmas gift I gave you last year?"

"The mind-reading journal, yes," Claiborne said at once. "What about it?" she asked, leaning forwards a little.

"Could I have it for a while...?" Remus asked, knowing fully well how ridiculous this must sound to her.

Claiborne blinked rapidly, looking incredulous. "Y-You want it back?"

"What? No! I don't want it back —"

"— But you just asked for it —"

"— BORROW!" Remus said loudly, stretching his hands out and gripping her on the side to calm her down. Getting up, he quickly shifted into the couch Lily was sat on a few moments ago, his hands still holding her tight. "It's your gift, Clay, I wouldn't dream of taking it back... I just need it for a few days, that's all," he said, acknowledging the sudden rise in his heartrate once again.

The other thing about Claiborne that Remus absolutely hated was the absolute serenity that she carried in her eyes that made him often lose track of his own reality... He hated how much he loved that about her.

"You want it right away?"

Remus faltered. "Before you left, yes."

"So, you're not coming with us?"

"I'm afraid not..."

Claiborne kept quiet. "I'll miss you at the funeral..."

Remus looked up amazed. "You're not going to nag me like you did Lily?"

The blonde shook her head. "No, I get the feeling you're needed here more than by Izzy's side at the moment..."

It didn't help that Remus was still holding her. And it most certainly didn't help that she had rested her hands up his thigh now, because, he was falling irrevocably in love with her in this instance, and was highly likely to commit indecent acts supremely beneath a gentleman.

Nodding mutely, all Remus could do was hold still until he snapped out of his reverie.

"I see," he gulped, finally letting her go, but still gazing into her placid face. "Thank you."

~oO Williams' Cottage, Islington

She didn't know she could do it when she first boarded the train back home. She didn't think she would ever look at 'home' the same way ever again, but the warmth that she felt the minute she stepped inside her humble house was enough to prove her otherwise. She didn't think she would make it through the day knowing she was saying goodbye to her beloved parents one last time, and most importantly, she didn't think she could get through this trauma without Lucius by her side...

In all frankness, she did keep looking over her shoulder to see the tall blond striding down towards her as the ceremony came to a close, only to find an odd bunch of other people show up for the funeral... For starters, she couldn't believe Dorcas Meadowes would be there, watching from a distance and nodding curtly at her when their eyes met for a brief second, nor did she expect to find all of her teachers there except Dumbledore, Marlene McKinnon, Esmeralda Blishwick, Ursa MacDougal, Sally Smith or her arch Quidditch rival, Pollux Emberpike, or even Edgar Bones, Vernon Béchanac, Xeophilius with the biggest bouquet of flowers she had ever seen before (which luckily helped Angela cry a little less) or even Ornelle Spratt for that matter... So much for the long-standing prejudice that Slytherins were a bunch of heartless Dementors born to suck out the happiness from this world.

And surprisingly, it was already eight days later and here she was, still alive, still kicking, still sans-Lucius and still perfectly sane, running about the house, cleaning out the closets, giving her parents' clothes off to charity, making sure she helped Aunt Eleanor as much as she could with the cooking, and looking at guests dead in the face and faking a smile of welcome...

Lily had stayed only until an hour after the funeral and rushed back home to be with her sister on her birthday. Remus had not even taken the train ride back home with them. James was busy doing some damage-control with McGonagall, spending days on end at the Leaky Caldron and speaking to various reporters and Aurors giving his account on all that happened at Hogwarts a week ago. And finally, Peter, Alice and Mary had to return home to be with their worried parents, and even then, the house felt over-crowded with Edward and Alex sleeping on the couch downstairs, Claiborne and Aunt Eleanor sharing Angela's room upstairs and Isabella and Sirius occupying her room on the other end (Angela returned to Mungo's soon after the funeral).

And these were the people who reminded her that she is and will always be loved even if her parents weren't here. That it was finally time for her to grow up and acknowledge that sometimes in life, the people that mean the world to her need to do stuff in their own lives for a bit, and that it was fine. She can and should love them even in those moments...

"Babe?"

Isabella whipped around with a large pile of dirty laundry in her hands and found Sirius staring after her, a kettle boiling in front of him.

"Have tea with me?" he said, already pouring the red, hot beverage into two large mugs for them.

An overwhelming warmth spread through Isabella as she realised that this boy here is most definitely holding her heart in captive and is threatening to shower it with kindness.

"Izzy?" his voice came floating through once again, startling her awake. "It's just tea. Stop overthinking for once, please...?"

"What?! I'm not!" Isabella spluttered, feeling properly offended. And the teasing smile on Sirius's face wasn't helping either. "Thanks for being so nice, though —" she said, scanning the door first before quickly swooping next to him and giving him a peck on the cheek.

"— Hardly," he muttered, grabbing the laundry basket from her and dropping it on the chair behind him, drawing wonderfully close to her, a forlorn look hanging in his eyes. "Don't glorify my shoddy acts of cheering you up, baby, when you're carrying the whole world on your shoulders and make it look so effortless."

Isabella had to physically turn around to wipe away tears rolling down her eyes, but Sirius had already wrapped his arms around her, mizzling her with kisses on her hair and neck and chin before finally capturing her lips as she swooned in his arms, her reality disappearing entirely. Clearly he didn't care if someone walked in and discovered them fiercely locked away in an indecent Frenchie like this, smack in the middle of the most commonly frequented room in the house —

"Oh! OH! Sod it, I'm so sorry!" came Alex's voice that was bolting back out of the kitchen door, making them jump up startled and break apart, having turned an unidentified shade of red in the face now.

Sirius let out a bark of a laugh and rolled his eyes. "Such a drama queen, that one," he sniggered, gripping her waist and pecking her tenderly on the nose. Groaning lightly, he turned to the door and hollered at the older boy. "Alright, Al, you can come back in," he said, turning Isabella around and nuzzling on her neck, watching Alex walk in with his hand plastered across his eyes.

"Only if you two are decent!" Alex sputtered, making Isabella and Sirius exchange exasperated looks.

"Al, I've walked in on you and Rose at least a thousand times now, so cut the crap, will you?" Isabella sighed, even as her cousin squinted back at her from between his fingers before sheepishly grinning back at the couple.

"Man, you two better be careful," he started, regarding them contently. "I mean, I will be devastated if you ever break up..."

Sirius scoffed in disbelief. "You're still not getting the raw details of our first kiss, Al!" he chortled, heavily stifling the smirk bursting at his lips.

Alex rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said coolly, "be like that. Don't tell me anything. The next time you want relationship advice, though, you are more than welcome to go to ED instead!" he added with a dramatic display of disgust on his face, making Isabella crack up. "Anyway, mum's asking for you, Iz, it seemed urgent?" he said, pointing to the room upstairs.

Sirius glanced at her curiously. "Come back soon?" he pouted petulantly.

Nodding earnestly, she gave him a big squeeze before bounding out of the kitchen, leaving the boys sniggering stupidly at each other.

Thudding up the stairs, she pushed into Angela's room only to find an extremely distraught woman, who was the spitting of image of her own mother, sat on the bed with a rolled paper held in her hand.

"Aunt Linny —" Isabella started, watching guilty tears spill down Eleanor's face, making her heart clench with worry. "Oh, what's the matter —?"

"— Izzy, darling, I need you to close the door and sit down first," she said.

With anxiety gripping her heart, she closed the door behind her and slumped against it, somehow knowing in her heart that she was finally going to hear her mother's secret out loud — the thing she had known for a while now.

"Before I give this to you, I want you to know that it was my idea to keep this from you and dear Angie, so please, oh please, do not be angry with her about anything?" Eleanor said, nearly shaking now. "I didn't know she still had this letter, I mean... She wrote it so long ago and even I forgot about it," she sniffed, shifting uncomfortably on the bed. "I just stumbled upon this while clearing her things now, so... Also..." her aunt added, beckoning at her niece to join her on the bed, "Angela's too weak to learn of this right now, so please can we wait a while before she gets her letter from Lizzy?"

Wordlessly, Isabella nodded and sat down, gingerly taking the neatly rolled paper in her hand, breathing deeply to steady her nerves. Without skipping a beat, she tore the wax stamp off and opened the letter, her mother's neat handwriting stinging her eyes at once.

11th April, 1960

Dear little Isabella Grace Louisa Williams,

Welcome to the world, my darling baby.

I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am today, Isabella. You were born just this morning and you are the most beautiful little girl I ever laid my eyes on!

I don't know if I will ever muster up the courage to give you this letter, but I hope whenever I do, I give it to you at a time when you are old and mature enough to understand why I wrote it in the first place, my dear baby.

Isabella, there are some things that I will not be able to tell you until you have grown into a strong, beautiful young lady; things that are very complicated for a little girl like you to understand. I hope you know that my sole intentions of keeping you in the dark are merely to protect you from the evils of your destiny that awaits you. I am going to tell you a little story in this letter, Isabella: the story of your lineage.

You are not a Muggle, my dear girl. You are not ordinary and non-magical as I am. On the contrary, we are indeed a very powerful and proud magical family, almost "royalty" so to speak. Our ancestors have held the "pure-blood" status for nearly thousands of years. However, that streak was broken a couple of generations ago when your father's great-great-great-grandmother defied her family values and fell in love with a Muggle-born man named George Alexander Williams.

Fierce woman, she was. Isabella, you have no idea what it is like to go after what one wanted at a time like that. Fortunately, you are born in times when things are looking very bright for young women to choose and want as they please, but back in the 1700's, the magical world was a very cruel place. Muggles were treated like slaves and were made to do odd jobs that were not even remotely civil. It was a time when haughty pure-blood wizards went to town and hunted Muggles down, humiliated them, tortured them, even killed them for their sheer pleasure and entertainment.

Our family was obsessed with blood status too, owing to their ancestral origins. However, as bold as your great-great-great-great-grandmother was, she did not care for what the world believed in, for she had fallen in love with a man that loved her to her very bones. Quite a scandal it was: the two of them had apparently eloped and gotten married in a small Irish town. One year they spent together as husband and wife in the little town as they welcomed their new-born son into the world. However, your father's pure-blood obsessed family tracked them down and murdered the two, while sparing the little baby.

Our family magic continued on, however. And if stories of my mother are to be believed, it is held that your great-great-great-great-grandparents met that fate because of a terrible family curse that our bloodline carries. A curse that leads in the death of our children every once in several generations when they are reunited with their soulmates. And if Seers are to be believed, the curse is doomed to rear its head once again with your birth... I, of course, do not believe in it, but I also want you to live as freely as possible, and hence, my decision to keep this a secret from you. In all honestly, I wish I never need to give this letter to you...

Anyway, I know what you're wondering. I am not a witch, but your father, my third-cousin twice removed, is a fine wizard. A wizard who chose to give up his gifts to live a quiet Muggle life with me, and now you. We wanted to have nothing to do with the evil world of Magic, and raise a family as Muggles, among Muggles in Muggle localities where there is no prejudice and discrimination. You may or may not end up being a witch, but just know that, no matter what you grow up to be, Dada and I will love you and cherish you for exactly that.

I hope you are not angry with mum right now...

Lots of love and hugs,

Your Mother,

Elizabeth Louisa Williams

P.S. Your great-great-great-grandmother was Norvella Scarlett Gryffindor. Yes, you are the successor and belong to the direct line of descendants to our great ancestor, Godric Gryffindor, my baby girl.

~] Sirius's POV

"You alright, mate?" Alex's voice woke him up.

The pair of them were still in the kitchen, sipping tea and chatting about motorbikes, when Sirius's mind had drifted off towards his brunette girlfriend upstairs.

"Yeah, no, I'm fine, Al... It's just," he fumbled, gazing up the stairs and fighting an unspoken urge to run upstairs. He closed his eyes, "I just can't forgive myself for what's happened here —"

"— Sirius, stop it," Alex said fiercely. "We've talked about this, alright?! You are to NOT take responsibility for something your brother did...!"

Sirius exhaled heavily, still swimming in guilt. "I can't believe this is actually real... I can't believe they're actually gone, Al, she was like a mother to me too —" he stopped dead when Isabella's muffled cries reached him from upstairs, shaking the boys up at once. Dear Merlin, he thought, his fingers curling around the wooden chair for support as her wrangled sobs got louder and louder.

Alex looked at him white-faced. "Go," he nodded understandingly.

Without thinking, he bolted out of the kitchen and bounded up the stairs, blinking away the itching in his own eyes.

Marching down the hallway, he paused outside her room, watching Aunt Eleanor stepping out looking completely helpless.

"I don't think she wants to be around me right now."

"Don't be ridiculous," Sirius countered. "I'll talk to her," he said, patting the older woman on the side and pushing inside only to find Isabella sprawled on her bed and sobbing uncontrollably, a photo frame of her parents laying next to her.

Blinking back tears of his own, Sirius walked right up to her and wordlessly carried her into his arms. She was limp as a feather as she whirled around and balled into his chest, sending him into a world of agony himself. Holding her as tightly as possible, he crossed the room and slid onto the broad window sill, cradling her on his lap. It scared him a little to see her be this broken, but he knew he had to be strong for her, as he sat there in silence, kissing her head and wrapping her entirely in his arms.

"I'm a bad person..." he heard her hiccup into his chest, her tears wetting the fabric of his shirt.

"No, you're not," he whispered, combing strands of hair off her face, and pressing a long, loving kiss on her forehead. "You could do no wrong, baby..."

"Sirius..." she said, turning her swollen face up to look at him, "I'm the Curse..." she sobbed, her face getting drenched by a fresh set of tears now. "Gryffindor... Family curse..." she stuttered pointing at herself.

Nearly collapsing in anguish, he frowned confusedly. Wiping her face, he regarded her intently and realised something about her had changed entirely... She was still Izzy, his Ice Princess, and yet, she seemed different. "Gryffindor...? Baby, what —?"

But she was already nodding her head.

A cold numbness crept up his face as he put two and two together.

"I'm the Curse..." she hissed hysterically.

Realization rammed into him like a train.

A light breeze blew over them, sending a thrill of shiver up his spine. "You mean... You... and I...? We —," he had to pause as he felt his breath burst into his lungs, "we," he repeated, pointing at her and himself, "are the Cursed Pair...?"

Isabella sobbed harder as she mutely nodded. "I killed my own parents, Sirius..."

A/N:

.

.

.

.

.

Hey everyone... Just dropping a note here. I know this was a major filler chapter and I do apologise for that. I felt like a lot needed to be said on things that some of the unspoken characters of this story were dealing with and hence... However, I do hope you like this story so far, and I promise, the next update would be a lot sooner than this one. Happy to read your thoughts on reviews.

Cheers.