A/N : Season 2 is ouuuuuut ! Here's a chapter to celebrate !

Storytime

It was past eleven in the evening when she was finally allowed to get back to her bedroom. Taking care of the children, bringing everyone back to the castle, searching for the ones still missing who they thought had fled to Hogwarts at the beginning… it had been a daunting task. Thankfully, it ended up with only a few bruises and cuts already healed by the Mediwitches of St. Mungo's.

Then they had a very, very long debrief with Dumbledore himself, looking particularly concerned for the first time since Caitlyn had met him. All four of them had to explain exactly what they saw and what they did, but, quite surprisingly, the Headmaster dropped the topic of Vi rather quickly. Maybe he knew things that Caitlyn didn't. She also suspected that, although he didn't mention anything in that sense, visits to Hogsmeade would be suspended until further notice.

What concerned her most about this case was that she knew, with a jerk like Marcus in charge of the investigation, it wouldn't go anywhere. The couple of suspects the Aurors managed to bring in would probably wall themselves in silence, and she didn't trust her former colleague for a second to get anything out of them. The higher-ups would probably make up some stories about poachers or gang wars to calm the press and the public, and they'd move on. She knew. It had happened already. She also knew that this went much deeper, that this was much bigger than just a simple gang. All because of that mark in the sky. That damn mark.

"Professor Kiramman? May I have a word?" hailed the tired voice of McGonagall behind her as she was about to exit the room.

Caitlyn didn't manage to hold back a sigh of frustration but at least got her voice under control.

"Yes, Professor?"

"I know this might be easier said than done, but you should remember, you are a teacher now. Not an Auror."

Caitlyn received the comment like a punch in the gut.

"I know, why are you…"

"Running headfirst toward trouble to stop criminals, no matter how commendable, is not your priority anymore. Your priority is the safety of the children. You and Miss Lane abandoned us and a hundred students to go fight your battle."

The young woman felt the blood drain from her face.

"But… there were children fighting, and we…"

"I know. And this is why we're having this discussion here and now, rather than with Albus and the board. But at the moment, you had no way of knowing. This troll was wreaking havoc, and we are very lucky we were able to subdue it fast enough, but the presence of the defense teacher would have certainly made things easier and a lot less risky, for us and for the children."

Caitlyn lowered her head.

"Coming from the Head of Gryffindor, this rather stings," she said with a sad smile.

The old professor matched her smile.

"Don't be too hard on yourself. You did save three students today. Things could have been a lot worse, but they weren't. And if it makes you feel better, it did take me a few decades to get my Gryffindor instincts under control. But it is for the safety of the children. I understood that, and so will you."

"If I don't get fired first," muttered Cait under her breath.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Nothing, Professor. I understand. I will do better, although I hope this situation won't present itself again. But if you don't mind, I am rather exhausted and would appreciate some sleep."

The Head of House nodded.

"I understand. See you tomorrow, Mrs. Kiramman."

Caitlyn dragged her feet back to her room before crashing heavily onto her bed. The fatigue of this unbelievable day washed over her like the tide on the beach.

"Merlin…" she whispered.

She closed her eyes before even blowing out the candles… but she never got the chance to fall asleep. A recognizable sound of footsteps against the stone, not running but not walking either, caught her attention, and the sound of the neighboring door opening and slamming shut made her jump off her blanket.

"Vi!" she realized.

She dashed out of her room as fast as she could and found herself in the hallway, dressed only in her nightgown, banging on the assistant groundskeeper's door.

"Vi! Vi, it's me! Where were you? Please, open up!"

She banged a few more times before freezing, hearing the sound of uncontrollable sobs through the wood.

"Vi! Please! Let me in!"

"Leave me alone. Please," croaked the voice inside.

It wasn't angry, it wasn't defensive; it was so heartbreakingly sad that Caitlyn felt her own tears swell up.

"Vi! In Merlin's name, I swear, if you don't open this door, I'll blow a goddamn hole between our rooms! Please, let me in!"

After a few seconds of silence, the door finally opened, slowly, creaking and resisting. Vi was still in her dirty robes, her pink hair messed up, and a few drops of blood had dried on her cheek.

"Merlin, Vi…"

It wasn't that Caitlyn had thought Vi could never cry; it was that her own brain could never have conceived seeing her in such a state. She was still the same, maybe even more impressive with this battle-worn look, but the dying light in her eyes and the earth-swallowing sadness on her face completely broke Caitlyn's heart. Before she even registered what she was doing, she had thrown her arms around Vi in the tightest hug her body could provide.

Vi didn't even try to push back or react or say anything. She just broke down in Caitlyn's arms and cried, cried so much that her legs gave out, and the professor had to hold her up and slowly kneel down with her as her shoulder gathered an ocean of tears.

She didn't ask anything—not what happened, not where Vi had been. She didn't say that things would be alright. She just stayed there and made sure her arms held as warmly as possible.

"He… he lied to me!" Vi finally stuttered with a voice wrecked by tears. "She's alive! She's fucking alive! Bastard lied to me!"

"Easy, Vi, easy. Take your time. Breathe, and start at the beginning when you're ready."

Vi took a deep breath, and for a second, it looked like she was about to speak, but she broke down once more into ugly crying. Caitlyn gently grabbed her by the neck and pulled her close against her collarbone, a silent way of telling Vi she was here, she was not going anywhere, and that she could cry all she needed.

It took ten more minutes until Vi's eyes were deep red and emptied of tears, and Caitlyn's legs were completely numb under her weight.

"Do you want to tell me what is going on?" she finally asked.

Vi blew her nose into yet another tissue and nodded.

"It's a long s-story," she stuttered.

"It's okay. I've got the whole night, and more if needed. Go at your own pace."

Vi stared a her for a second, then nodded silently and took a deep, deep breath, as if she prepared to dive underwater.

"I told you I had been adopted. By Vander. But I wasn't alone. I had a little sister, Powder. Four years younger, she barely knew how to walk when our parents died. And a year or so later, he adopted two more boys: Claggor and Mylo."

"Turned into quite a big family," Caitlyn commented with a warm smile.

"Yeah, it was. A giant mess, but a family. They all came here to Hogwarts too; you might have seen them in the hallway or something. But we were all in Hufflepuff, except my sister. She went to Slytherin. We didn't really understand why; we expected Ravenclaw because she was so smart, Caitlyn. So, so smart. A perfect little shite too, but still a true genius. But you know, it's just a House. Didn't change a thing, even though she didn't like it at first."

The pieces of the puzzle started to assemble in her mind. The use of the past tense, the "she's alive," the hooded figure calling her sister; it all started to form a shape she really didn't know how to comprehend.

Vi resumed:

"When you graduated, she was in the second year, and my brothers in the third, i was in sixth. I didn't really know what to do with myself back then; I had no career plans or whatever. I figured I was happy enough just helping Vander at the inn, at least until Powder graduated, you know. We always talked about what we'd do together when we grew up. She had dozens of plans and ideas, and I… I just wanted to be there to help her realize them, that's all."

"But five years is a long time," Caitlyn added, understanding.

"Yeah, exactly. During that time, she made… new friends. Folks from Slytherin. I didn't like them. I thought they had a bad influence. She started tinkering with weird magic; she basically stopped answering my owls in her last year… I dunno. I wasn't very cool either; I was getting bored and tired of waiting, and I didn't make much effort to understand her."

"You felt like you were being replaced and had been waiting for nothing."

Vi smiled with deep sadness.

"Probably. I mean, yeah, you're right. I was."

"You can't blame yourself for such feelings, Vi, it's normal and—"

Vi interrupted her with a wave of her hand.

"Nah, you don't get it. We had a bad fight. A really bad fight. I said some things I should never have said, things I didn't even mean! I said I didn't need her, and I just… left. I wasn't even there for her graduation."

Caitlyn wanted to grab her again, hold her close; she wanted to chase that pain away. She settled for a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

"I messed up bad, Cait." Vi started sobbing again. "So bad. You've got no idea. When I said I left, I didn't mean I just went to my room. I went to America."

Caitlyn choked. She hadn't expected that at all.

"Why?" was the first thing that came to mind.

"Because I thought we had some family left over there. Some cousins or crap like that. Something Vander had let slip one day. Turned out I had just misunderstood, and I completely messed up our lives for nothing."

"But… how long were you gone?"

"Seven years," Vi deadpanned.

Caitlyn gaped, taken aback. The story was really not going the way she had expected.

"Wait, it gets worse. A lot worse," Vi chuckled bitterly. But then she hesitated; she held back. Used to reading faces and reactions in interrogation rooms, Caitlyn immediately picked up the clues, as if Vi were a suspect about to confess a crime but still biting her tongue. She just needed a little push.

"Vi, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But if it's because you're afraid of me or what I might think about you—don't. There's nothing you can say that will make me leave this room right now. Nothing. Pardon me if I'm wrong, but you really look like you need to get this off your shoulders."

Vi took a deep breath. The steel blue of her eyes, mixed with the red from crying, created a stunning view that Caitlyn tried very, very hard to ignore.

"You have to understand that I didn't go there… legally. I snuck onto a Muggle boat. I spent almost a year wandering there, aimlessly. I was doing odd jobs here and there to get some coins, sometimes for wizards, sometimes for Muggles. Didn't matter. Vander had no idea where I was; I had just left him and my brothers a letter to say I needed some time for myself, to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Which wasn't technically a lie. I slept under bridges, or on the ground in some forests… If I'm honest, Cupcake, it wasn't that bad. It was rough, but I felt… free."

"I can imagine."

"Except that I had no idea where to look. I asked around a bit, from Washington to some remote place in Nebraska, or whatever it's called. So at some point, after almost a year, I contacted Vander. To ask him about these cousins of ours. Do you know what I got for an answer?"

"I'm afraid to guess."

"I still remember it, word for word. Please come home. There was an accident. Powder is dead. Mylo and Claggor are dead. Please, Vi. Please come home."

Caitlyn's heart froze in her chest, even though she'd known it was coming.

"Your brothers too…?"

"All of them. I read the letter two hundred times. I couldn't believe it. The problem was, I was a clandestine. I couldn't just show up at the International Floo Services. I ran. I ran as fast as I could to get back, but it would still take days just to reach the coast. I didn't even take the time to answer Vander. On my way, I stopped at a Muggle bar. I was exhausted, two seconds away from collapsing, but I couldn't sleep. So I drank. I used all the Muggle cash I had left to get shitfaced. Thought that maybe it was a nightmare and the hangover would wake me up."

"That's understandable."

Vi ignored her, still staring at the ground.

"There was a fight in that bar. Some feud between a Muggle and a wizard, at least I think he was a wizard, and all hell broke loose. Two men died that night, and… and…"

Vi's throat trembled with a new wave of sobs.

"They thought I did it. I had no papers, no money, only my wand; they thought I was some random homeless person who crossed into their country illegally. They locked me up."

"They did what?"

"The Aurors. They pinned the deaths on me. MACUSA had no idea I was in their country. No one knew, not even Vander, so I was just a dirty illegal to them. It all felt like a bad dream, it was all fuzzy, and when I woke up with the hangover I wanted so much… I was in jail without my wand. The lawyer they gave me didn't care, and it didn't matter how much I screamed that I didn't do anything. I was a scum who came to their country to kill people. They locked me up. I never got a chance to warn anyone, to ask for help. I begged them, begged them to let me write to Vander, or to the British Ministry. They didn't care. I didn't even get a trial, Cait. Well, I did, technically, but it just happened without me. That shitty lawyer told me one morning that I had been convicted on two counts of murder, and... That was that."

"But… for how long?"

"Six years, give or take. I got out last year when they finally caught the guy who did it. He got arrested for another murder or something. They kicked me out as fast as they'd locked me in."

"Six… six years? In an American prison?"

"Yeah… When I came back here… Vander attacked me. He thought it was some cruel prank. He had thought me dead too. Can't blame him; six years without a word from me… but he took me back. He forgave me, gave me more than I deserved. He took me to Powder's grave, to Mylo's and Claggor's. He even asked Dumbledore to help, and that's how I got this gig..."

"Vi… I'm so sorry. For your losses, for everything. We should write to MACUSA, sue them or something!"

"Thanks, Cupcake, but none of it is your fault. And no, thank you—I just want to leave this behind me, please. At this point, I just consider myself lucky I didn't get the death penalty."

"It's not your fault either. You're more a victim than anything!"

Vi shrugged and sniffed.

"Vander doesn't speak much about it. He just says it was an accident, but… I don't really know what happened. I can't push the topic; he's been through so much..."

"So have you, Vi. All those years in a cell, with these thoughts… I can't imagine what it was like. I'm so, so sorry."

But Vi kept ignoring her compassion. At least, she kept talking, kept opening up.

"Except she wasn't, was she? He lied to me!"

Caitlyn felt a bit awkward, feeling forced into the role of devil's advocate.

"Are you sure it was her? On that roof?"

Vi looked at her straight in the eyes.

"Not a single doubt. She called me Violet. The only ones who know my full name are Vander, Dumbledore, and her. And those hair… Yeah, it was her."

"So that's where you've been. You went to Vander."

"Yeah. I had to know why he lied to me."

"And?"

"And he said that he didn't. He really thought Powder was dead, or so he says. What he conveniently forgot to mention was that her body was never found. Only Claggor's and Mylo's, and a couple of others I know nothing about. He said he didn't want to tell me because… I don't know. He thought I'd go crazy, go looking for her everywhere."

Caitlyn smiled gently.

"Was he mistaken?"

"Well, I just went to dig up her grave. It's empty. So yeah, he was probably right…"

"You did what?"

"But I'm still mad! He should have told me! He should have! She's still alive! I could have found her! Before… before all the crap of today."

Her shoulders crumbled.

"But he went through so much… Because of me, he spent six years thinking he had lost all his kids… That he had lost everything. Then he just… forgave me. Helped me. He's all I've got left. I can't stay mad at him. I'm just… mad! She's alive, Cait! She's bloody alive! I spent six years thinking I was alone, and… She's here!"

Cait's compassionate smile faltered.

"Vi. There's something I need to tell you. Now more than ever. That mark, in the sky… I know it."

"What do you mean, you know it?"

Caitlyn finally moved her legs, which were completely numb and aching. Still sitting on the ground, she leaned back against the door.

"I guess it's my turn to tell my story… Considering the trust you've shown me, it's only fair I do the same."

She looked up at the candle burning low on the ceiling.

"You know I was an Auror—everyone does. And I was a good one. A very good one. Two years ago, I started picking up on rumors here and there about some terrorist attacks in remote areas, even outside Britain. The strange thing was, none of it ever made it to my desk or to any of the Aurors I worked with. I assumed it was being handled by another team or maybe kept secret by the Head Auror for some reason, but it felt off. At some point, I decided to look into it myself. Who would attack a hamlet with just four houses in the middle of Wales? Why? I found a witness, and he could only give me one detail: after the attacks, a giant skull with a snake in its mouth would appear, floating in the air. Then, the same symbol turned up on the Isle of Man. And yet, nothing in the papers? No official investigation? A family of Muggles was literally wiped out, and the Muggles classified it as a wolf attack… but none of our people had heard about it. So, I went to ask my boss. He told me it was nothing, that I was probably bored and imagining things."

Vi scoffed.

"Can't see that going well for him."

"It was suspicious, to say the least. So I snuck into his office later."

"Kiramman! How unbecoming of you!"

"I'm an investigator, am I not? Anyway, I found a letter—different from the others. It didn't look official; it just… felt different. There was only a list of names in it. Two of them I recognized—some lowlifes I'd put in Azkaban for thievery and such. No signature, just this symbol, the same one my witnesses described. The same one we saw today."

"So you're saying… my sister is a murdering terrorist who's been going around killing people for years?"

Something was irreparably broken in Vi's voice. Caitlyn wanted nothing more than to ease her worries, but she couldn't lie either.

"I don't know. For what it's worth, no one ever mentioned a blue-haired girl… The only remotely close description I got was of a small man with a strange eye that glows in the dark… And that was just before the attack in Wales. I can't even draw a direct line between the two."

Vi seemed to realize something then. "But if you're here now, and not investigating…"

"Yes, exactly. Two days later, all my open cases were reassigned, and I was stuck behind a desk. The official reason was that I'd been reassigned due to an injury in the line of duty."

"Injury? You never told me about that."

"Because there wasn't one. I had a scratch on my cheek a few weeks prior during a case in Diagon Alley with a drunk. But I had to file an official report for it, and they used that. They also got my mother's support, of course, who was thrilled to see me out of the streets."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. This isn't on you. It's on them. Whoever they are. As you can imagine, I didn't drop the matter. I kept digging into this mark business. It only took them three months to sack me for 'indiscipline.'"

"Merlin… It seems like we were both victims of rotten, corrupt systems…"

Caitlyn shook her head.

"I wouldn't put my little career change on the same level as the nightmare you went through, Vi. You know that."

"Doesn't change the facts, though. But at least there's one good thing out of your story."

"Is there?"

But despite her question, Caitlyn knew exactly what Vi was about to say.

"Yeah. Now I have a lead to get my sister back."