"It is in the vacuum of thought that evil is inscribed."

Hannah Arendt

Sirius stared at his brother, his face closed, as he had never seen it before. This man he had always seen as the perfect little pureblood, whom nothing could shake. Yet, at that very moment, he felt sorry for his brother. He was crying, his eyes haunted as never before.

"What the hell is this?"

James handed him Hermione's letter, which Remus had now made visible and he read it quickly. He read it again, to make sure he understood what it said.

"How... How could she know so much? Reg would never have confided so much to a stranger. And what's he doing here anyway?"

"Give him veritaserum. He won't answer us otherwise."

Remus nodded and went to get the enhanced veritaserum from the supplies in the infirmary. He returned and saw Regulus clinging to his brother like a lifeline.

"It was horrible... Bella... Bella came back... Never again."

Sirius was stoic, letting his brother cling to him, but not moving either. But he lost some colour when Bellatrix was mentioned. He grabbed the potion Remi was handing him and forced Regulus to swallow it. He sat him down on the couch and everyone else did the same.

"State your identity."

"Regulus Arcturus Black."

"What's happened? Where are Fabian and Helena? Why are you talking about Bella?"

"Bella is alive! You have to believe me, Sirius. Bella is alive! She appeared during the meeting, with the worst smile I've ever seen... I never want to see that again..."

"Fabian and Helena. Where are they? Are they alright?"

Regulus shook his head, but his sobs prevented him from speaking.

"Shouldn't the veritaserum force him to speak?"

"He's too shocked. The potion makes him calm down before he speaks. It's not like the classic potion that spills all the information at once. Regulus. We need you to tell us what happened. Helena allowed you to come here, didn't she? You have to tell us everything so we can save her. And Fabian too. He's a tall man with red hair. Have you seen them?"

"They cannot be saved."

The five men blanched furiously, none of them having stopped staring at Regulus, even though horror had replaced surprise in their eyes.

"Are they dead?" James asked weakly.

"I didn't see the man, but the Dark Lord said he is, he died in the dungeons. And Helena... Her spirit will soon give out."

Remus held back a sigh at the dribble of information they were getting. He glanced at Gideon, who was shaking all over. He was too shocked to do anything else.

"Regulus. I need you to tell me as much as you can about what's happened in the last four days."

"It was one of the most important meetings of the year. A lot of Death Eaters were invited. We didn't even know why we were going, but we did, we had no choice. Then the Master told us that two members of the Order had been captured. They brought Helena, and they said that... what's his name... Fabian, right? They said Fabian was dead. Then He cast a spell on Helena, but it wasn't cruciatus, yet it always starts with cruciatus. She screamed, then Bella came. She knew her, I don't know how, but she knew her. She even called her 'my favourite mudblood'. She had a smile... It was Bella, but at the same time it wasn't really her. She was more sadistic. She tortured her for hours. She cast the worst spells I know, and there were a hundred I didn't know."

"Wait, wait, wait. A hundred?"

"And the Dark Lord was mentally torturing her. She was shouting out names, Harry came up most often. Then it was Rem and Ron, and there was Neville a few times. She was crying in pain, screaming names, but they didn't stop. They didn't even ask her about the Order, even though almost all the Death Eaters know she's the one leading you. They tortured her, like they'd never done before. And we had to watch. All of us, without exception. For hours. In between spells, they insulted her. But it was as if they really knew her very well. 'You little mudblood' 'What would your half-blood friend say if he saw you?' 'Is your werewolf okay? I can't wait to send him your body.' She told her that she was going to go as crazy as her friend's parents. Then she told her at length about how she killed a blood-traitor baby. Teddy, I think. Helena screamed, but Bella went on singing that soon she would do the same to the monster who had fathered the child. Helena finally shut up. The pain was too great, she couldn't do anything else, she didn't have the strength. This went on for three days. For three days we were all forced to watch Helena being tortured, and then they let us go, saying we would be informed at the next meeting. I can still hear her screams in my ears."

"And where is she?"

"I don't know. They didn't take her back to the dungeons."

"And my brother? How did he die? Where is his body?"

"I don't know. He wasn't killed by a Death Eater."

The five men looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Gideon had just learned that his brother was dead, and from what Regulus had described, Helena would soon be dead as well.

"How could she have come back to life? You killed her! We were all there when it happened. Her blood spurted everywhere! We made sure she was dead! And how did she and you-know-who know her so well that they sent her pictures of her friends?"

Remus didn't answer, maybe because the answer was already in him, but he didn't want to admit it, because it was the worst thing that could happen.

"I need to see Minerva and we need to inform Dumbledore."

With that, Dumbledore entered the HQ and looked at the members in front of him.

"Emergency meeting, everyone's invited, you'd better sit down, it'll give you a shock."

"I think we already know, Albus" Remus pointed to Regulus who was hidden by James.

"How..."

Sirius handed him the letter Hermione had written and Dumbledore read it quickly.

"Did he explain to you what happened?"

"For Helena at least. My brother is dead, but I don't know more than that."

The meeting was long, everyone giving their opinion on the events that had just taken place, on Regulus... Remus couldn't wait for it to be over. He had to talk to Minerva, it was more urgent than anything else. When the meeting was finally over, he hurried out of the room.

"Minerva, Gideon, we need to talk."

He nodded, indicating the floor. They both followed him, under the questioning eyes of the three marauders.

"They're hiding something from us."

"Clearly."

"Do you think it has anything to do with what Bellatrix told Helena? How does she know she's muggle-born? I mean, everyone thinks she's half-blood, including Dumbledore. And she knows that Remi is a werewolf. And this baby Reg was talking about, who is he?"

"Remi's son. He dropped the name 'Teddy' when I messed up when Lily died. That Teddy is his son and Bellatrix Lestrange killed him."

"But when could they have known her? And how does Bellatrix know them so well?"

The three marauders didn't know, but slowly the pieces of a huge puzzle were beginning to fit together. So Remus decided that tonight, when everyone was asleep, he would take a notebook and write down everything they knew about Remi and Helena. He needed to get his thoughts in order. His double upstairs was also full of doubts, but he seemed to have one certainty.

"I think I know why Bellatrix is alive. She and you-know-who knew far too much about Hermione's past for it to be mere coincidence. And I don't think Bellatrix is the type to make horcruxes."

"So what then?"

"I think the Bellatrix Regulus saw is the same one who killed Sirius, my wife, my son, the same one who tortured Alice and Frank, and even Hermione twice."

"But how? I mean... It's impossible."

Remus was slow to speak. And the time that passed was long, too long. It did not bode well.

"I think that by playing with time too much, we have created a temporal rift" he said in a white voice.

Three months. It had been three months since Fabian and Hermione had disappeared. Remus was at rock bottom, he was very depressed. James was trying to keep him entertained, with Harry's help, but it was no use. Not knowing was the worst thing. He knew Fabian was dead, but no one knew where his body was, any more than anyone knew where Helena was, whether she was still alive or not. Sirius and his doppelganger had left within days of returning, much to James' despair, he missed his friends very much, and Remus would have been better at consoling Remi than he was.

Remus had become more withdrawn, he spent his time fighting his training dummy and to make matters worse, his scar had been burning continuously for weeks. He couldn't count the number of times he had woken up from the pain. He wasn't getting much sleep as it was... He tried to contact Hermione with the Time Necklace, but to no avail, it was as if the connection had broken down. He was having breakfast with James and Harry, when he felt himself shaking, without even knowing why.

"Remi, are you all right?"

"I don't know what's happening to me" Remus replied, staring at his hands which were still shaking.

Then he felt himself being grabbed by the navel and disappeared, before James' frightened eyes. He fell heavily to the ground and raised his head, noticing at the same time that he had several hundred eyes fixed on him. He turned his head to the left and saw the Hogwarts teaching staff staring at him, dumbfounded. It was Minerva who stood up first and rushed towards him.

"Remi? What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"I have no idea, I don't understand."

He couldn't say any more as the ceiling of Hogwarts began to tremble. Everyone was staring at the ceiling, which had never behaved in such a way. A rift opened in a whirlwind and a body fell heavily before being held abruptly two metres above the students' tables. Two huge figures, who must have been around three and a half metres tall, appeared, as the students looked on in amazement. Their aura was impressive, there was no doubt that they were very powerful. The woman and the man looked serious, but when all the Slytherins and Ravenclaws recognised them and knelt before them, the woman smiled. She still loved the respect she was shown, she was not forgotten by her house, and that was the most important thing. The more intelligent Gryffindor and Hufflepuff mimicked their classmates and bowed to the two strangers.

The presence of the two people was incomparable, and it was accentuated by their size. They were not human, that was a certainty. Some of the teachers did not even know them, which was a heresy for them. When Remus recognised them, he was stunned. Why were they appearing now?

"Lady Anastasia, I am honoured to meet you."

It was the Slytherin prefect who had spoken. He was in front of his idol, he certainly wasn't going to keep quiet. The mysteries surrounding Lady Anastasia's death had always been a Slytherin legend, one that they learned from first year. But even if he knew them by heart, he never thought he'd meet her. And judging by her size, she was no longer human.

"It's been a long time since anyone called me that. And I'm pleased to meet you too, Arthur Fawley," the woman replied, inclining her head with a smile still on her face.

"I've been studying your work on magic, it's fascinating, but very complex."

"Oh, but I don't doubt it. Slytherins have always been the best, I don't doubt that you'll manage to understand it all one day, in the meantime," she snapped her fingers and a green-covered book that looked very old appeared, "here's the first annotated edition. I hope you will make good use of it."

At the teachers' table, some people were still in awe of these two people they didn't know.

"Who is this Albus?"

"I think I am right in saying that it is Lady Anastasia and Sir Raphaël."

"Lady Anastasia? The magic researcher? The one who found out why Muggleborns were sometimes more powerful than purebloods? Why there were Squib? And Sir Raphaël? Isn't he her husband? The one who helped her theorise all this at the Academy of Magic?"

"I don't know, but I don't know them by that name," Remus said.

He walked towards the two people, his face cold, staring at the body that was suspended in mid-air. He had just remembered, and incidentally noticed, who it was. With a flick of his wand, he brought her to him. He caught her in his arms and glanced at Minerva, telling her to come closer.

"Helena, by Merlin!"

Hermione was unrecognisable. Her body, already badly damaged, was covered in recent injuries. If some parts of her body had been spared before, this was no longer the case. She was extremely dirty, she had dried blood all over her body, and if he didn't know her as well, Remus knew that it was unlikely that others would recognize her at first glance. Her ordeal was visible, but Remus knew that all her superficial wounds hid others, much deeper.

Minerva beckoned Madam Pomfrey over, and the two women carried her to the infirmary. Remus would have preferred to come with them, but he had to get some answers first.

"What are you two doing here? And what are those names? Since when do we call you 'Lady' and 'Sir'?"

"Those are the names we had before we became what we are. I liked my name very much, but she didn't seem to agree with it. Hel likes to change the names of her slaves, sorry, the people who work for her, it was she who called you Remi Lucas after all. I preferred the first one, it suited you much better."

"What did you do to her?"

"To Hel? Nothing, we can't reach her, you know that."

"Proserpina! I'm not joking. You've already tried to kill us. And why isn't Pluto talking?"

"Did you just call Lady Anastasia, Proserpina? And Sir Raphaël, Pluto? How disrespectful!" said the Slytherin prefect, horrified.

"You, the sycophant, I didn't talk to you. You've had your book, so shut up."

"That was centuries ago! Don't stir up the past like that over some youthful mistake..."

"That was seven years ago! And I almost died that day. I need an answer. Helena is between life and death!"

"Helena, good choice. Hel as in her and Lena as in the Muggle... Very imaginative."

"It was Rowena who named her daughter that, she just copied it."

This was the first time Pluto, or Sir Raphaël, though Remus knew he could never call him that, it wasn't believable, had spoken.

"Maybe we should talk somewhere else. Somewhere more discreet. And away from all these students who either think you're gods, not knowing what you've done, or don't know you."

The Damned Spouses nodded and followed him as Remus headed for the great doors. Proserpina said she wouldn't go anywhere but the dungeons, she was a Slytherin after all, while her husband preferred to go to the Ravenclaw tower, where he had lived for seven years. She finally got the last word, arguing that Hel Hogwarts was certainly in the highest tower in the castle, so they might as well stay as far away from her as possible. They found an abandoned classroom, cast a few silencing spells as a precaution, and Remus could finally start asking all the questions that were on his mind.

"Can't you get back to normal size first?"

"This is our normal size. We're not human, Remus Lupin, we were your size the first time around, that was so as not to impress you."

Although they didn't seem happy to do so, the Damned Spouses shrank in a swirl to human size, the size they had before they became damned.

"Good. What have you done to Hermione? Why is she like that? Is this another one of your stupid trials? Isn't our mission difficult enough? Did Hogwarts tell you to ruin our lives?"

"First of all, don't talk to us like that, we are not your servants, have some respect! I thought Hermione Granger was the more insolent of the two of you, I was wrong."

"And no, we didn't do that to your friend."

"Then what are you doing here? Why are you showing up years later?"

"To help you. If you keep this up, you'll never save the world. It's been almost six years since you arrived in the past, and you're still a long way from beating Voldemort. Don't look so gloomy, the name is not taboo for us. You're not moving fast enough. Every day the chaos grows stronger. Do you know how many people have died? The UK has lost an eighth of its population. Over six million people have died! Voldemort is no fool, and even though his soul is weakened, he feels things. He felt the destruction of the locket. He knows that you are looking for the others."

"Others? We only have one left!"

"I just told you that he realized that they were almost all gone! He has created others."

Remus stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. How could they not have thought of that? Hermione had told him. That was how Harry had known that the Slytherin tiara was at Hogwarts. Voldemort could sense it after several horcruxes were destroyed, he could tell when a piece of his soul would die.

"How many?"

"We're sure there are two new ones. Unsurprisingly, he transformed his snake, which he only did in 1994 for you, and he also transformed an object belonging to Merlin, but we don't know what. Maybe a third one, but I doubt he could handle any more horcruxes anyway."

"So we have three or four horcruxes to destroy again. Great.

"And you'll have to destroy them all at the same time, when you're close to the confrontation.

"Why are you telling me all this now? Why not before?"

Remus looked completely desperate, he didn't know how they were going to cope with more horcruxes to destroy. Before the Guardians could answer his new questions, a patronus arrived, and Minerva's voice came out, telling Remus that Hermione had just opened her eyes. He rushed to the infirmary, followed by Pluto and Proserpina, once again in their gigantic form. Remus couldn't see him, too busy running to Hermione, but the Guardians had serious faces, and even whiter skin than usual.

Remus pushed open the doors of the infirmary and rushed towards Hermione. But he certainly hadn't expected to see her like this.

"Yes, we didn't have time to finish our explanations. There have been some complications."