A Tale of Two Houses

[Kitania Walker]

Part 16

Kyla tilted her head to one side and smiled gently as she watched her daughter sleeping soundly. She knelt down beside the girl’s bed and reached out to brush away the strands of black hair from Krysta’s face with pale, slender fingers.
“Rise and shine, beautiful.” She spoke gently, chuckling when Krysta screwed up her face and uncurled her hands, stretching slightly. Her eyes however remained closed.
“Krysta, dear” Kyla murmured again and Krys stirred.
“A few more minutes, Mum.” She mumbled. Then her eyes snapped open in shock.
“Mum?!” she cried looking into the blue eyes of her Mother; eyes that mirrored her own. Krys leapt at Kyla wrapping her small arms tightly around the woman’s neck. Kyla smiled broadly and wrapped her little girl up in a huge hug.
“It is so good to see you sweetheart. My goodness you’ve grown! In more ways than one!” exclaimed Kyle regarding her daughter’s adolescent figure. Krys blushed and giggled.
“Oh Mum, I’ve missed you! What are you doing here?” she suddenly demanded, wondering what her Mother was doing in her dormitory at Hogwarts. Kyla grinned.
“I had to see Albus. I thought I’d drop in and take you to breakfast before I leave.” She explained. Krys’s response was to squeal loudly and bounce on her mattress.
“Where are we going?” she asked excitedly.
“Where would you like to go?” asked Kyla, enjoying her daughter’s exuberance.
“Rome! No…Rouen! The coffee shop in Rouen!” Krys said, still bouncing on the mattress. Kyla laughed at Krys’s excitement.
“Rouen it is. Now get dressed. We have to get going if I’m going to get you back in time for class.” Her Mother ordered and Krys immediately bounced off the bed and ran off to the bathroom. Kyla grinned after her. She’d missed her daughter so much.

Kyla and Krys apparated into a deserted side street in the middle of Rouen. Krys looked around excitedly at the beautiful old buildings, so quaint and rustic in their design.
“Come on, Mum, coffee and croissants are calling!” she exclaimed and Kyla couldn’t help but laugh. Krys was behaving like an excited 5-year-old instead of the extremely level headed 12-year-old she knew her daughter to be. They walked happily up the street past the Joan of Arc church and the smell of the fresh coffee hit them before they even saw the shop.
“Ah, it smells gorgeous.” Said Krys, who could practically taste the coffee already. They reached the traditional Café, which was situated neatly on a corner near the main-street archway and Krys pulled her Mother inside by the hand.
Krys picked a table where she could watch the people go by outside and her Mother sat down opposite her.
“Oui Madame?” asked a waiter who smiled. That’s why she liked Rouen. The people were so much more friendly than in Paris.
“Ah. Deux café au lait, deux crossant et…”
“Pain au chocolat!” cried Krysta excitedly. The waiter laughed.
“Parfait, Mademoiselle!” he told her with a grin. She giggled back.
“Je pense…un plateau des fruits s’il vous plait.” Added her Mother with a sly grin. Krysta pouted at the prospect of having to have fruit for breakfast, which made the waiter laugh even more.
“Un moment.” He told them and went away to get their order.
“What’s the point of coming to France if you’re going to make me eat fruit?” asked Krysta, pretending to sulk.
“Strong in body, mind and spirit, Krysta.” Her Mother scalded her. Krysta grinned sheepishly.

“So…” he mother began folding her arms comfortably on the table and fixing her daughter with a serious look. “…how’s it going?” she asked.
Krysta shrugged.
“It’s ok.” She replied, non-commitedly.
“Have you made any friends?”
“A couple, yeah.” Krys replied.
“Tell me about them.” Kyla suggested as the waiter brought them their coffee. “Merci.” The waiter nodded and left again.
“Well there’s Severus. He’s in Slytherin with me. He’s really good at potions, which is great because I’m…” she trailed off, unwilling to explain to her Mother about her potions issues. “And there’s Lily. She’s in Gryffindor, but she’s really nice.” She stopped to sip her coffee looking thoughtful.
“What is it?” Kyla asked, catching the look on her face.
“It’s just. You may think this sounds crazy, but the other day Lily saw the Eye of Natherra and she was…I don’t know…” she trailed off again, trying to think how to describe Lily’s reaction. Kyla sat up straight, paying full attention.
“Go on.” She encouraged.
“Well she seemed completely stunned by it! She couldn’t stop staring at it. And I know I’m gonna think this because she’s my friend and everything…” she began looking at her Mother for some kind of input.
The waiter brought their fruit and Pastries and Krys began picking at her croissant. For a few moments Kyla just studied her daughter thoughtfully and with a slight hint of worry.
“You think she may be one of the chosen?” Kyla prompted and Krys looked up at her with a lopsided frown.
“Maybe…I don’t know.” Kyla sipped her coffee and watched her daughter’s face. She set her cup down and clasped her hands together.
“Krys, honey, I can’t tell you whether you are wrong or right. I didn’t find my sisters until I was 16, but that doesn’t mean that you will be the same. Every generation is different. All I know is that destiny will bring you together one way or another. Trust your instincts.”
Krys thought about her Mum’s words and stuffed the rest of her croissant into her mouth, swallowing it with milky coffee. Eventually she nodded.

“What were you talking to Professor Dumbledore about?” Asked Krys, changing the subject. Kyla’s face suddenly turned more serious and she lowered her voice.
“He suspects Voldemort has a group of kids within the school. He thinks he’s pruning them to become Death Eaters.” She murmured. She never kept anything from Krys. Krysta’s eyes widened and although her mouth was full of coffee she nodded profusely.
“He does. I mean he is!” she exclaimed after swallowing her coffee.
“Sssh.” Warned Kyla and Krys bit her lip.
“Sorry.” she whispered. “Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Black are running a “club” – members only if you know what I mean.” She told her Mother quietly. Kyla’s frown deepened.
“Severus joined them. I tried to talk him out of it, but I think it makes him feel like he’s part of something. He’s been behaving differently ever since. More…snobby.” She added.
“That’s unfortunate.” Kyla commented.
“They asked me to join.”
Kyla’s cup crashed into her saucer and a few customers looked briefly over at them.
“What?!” she hissed quietly. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked angrily. Krys shied away from her Mother’s anger.
“I don’t know. I…I…didn’t think it was relevant.” She protested. Kyla leant back in her chair, her composure that of someone extremely frustrated.
“Why did they ask you?” she asked, trying to calm down. Krys looked uncomfortable. She knew her answer would catalyse more anger.
“He knows who I am. Lucius Malfoy. He told me ‘someone’ he knew really wanted to meet me.” She explained. Kyla’s frown turned into a scowl.
“What’s that snake playing at? What does he hope to achieve?” she asked herself out-loud. Krysta shrugged.
“Maybe he’s trying to get to you through me.” Krys suggested. “Malfoy said something about his ‘friend’ knowing you. It was a threat.” Kyla looked thoughtful. Krys might be right.

“Look, Mum. Maybe I should join them. You know, spy on them for you. If Voldemort can have kids inside Hogwarts, then Dumbledore can have kids inside the Death Eaters.” Krys whispered excitedly. She’d been thinking about this for a few days now. It would also mean being able to keep an eye on Sev.
“Not a chance.” Her Mum told her firmly. Krys’s face fell in disappointment.
“But…”
“But nothing! You’re 12 years old, Krys. I’m not going to use my own daughter as a spy…no matter what her future may hold!” she added as Krys looked ready to argue.
“Besides, they wouldn’t trust you enough to tell you anything of use, anyway. You are my daughter after all. All it would do it put you in even more danger than usual. No, Krys, I’m not chancing it. Sorry.” Se explained kindly. Krys nodded and stared into the bottom of her coffee cup.
“Ok.” She smiled. Kyla smiled back.
“Good girl. Now eat your fruit.”
Krys’s smile disappeared.

[Kitania Walker]

Part 17

The weeks leading up to Easter passed quietly. James had finally bitten the bullet and had stated dating a girl called Maryjane who was in Hufflepuff and, big surprise, was a huge Quidditch fan. Remus had had to concede that maybe Sirius had been partially right in his hypothesis as James and Maryjane seemed to be quite a sweet couple and the two got along very well. James mentioned Lily less and less and in all honesty seemed quite happy in himself.
Sirius had surprised everyone by breaking his two-week record. He had now been dating Charlie for 3 weeks and had even on one occasion been overheard referring to her as his ‘girlfriend’: something he had never done with any other girl. Remus had come to the conclusion that Charlie was smart enough and baulchy enough to keep Sirius both on his toes and interested.

A week before the holidays Remus was preparing for his monthly “night out” when two figures appeared at the doorway to the dormitory. He turned to face them, still holding his blanket in his hands.
“James, Sirius, what’s up?” he asked with a smile. He turned back to the small pile of items he had gathered on his bed. James and Sirius exchanged an uncertain look.
“Remus, there’s something we need to talk to you about.” James said in a clam, serious tone. Remus looked up in surprise. He rarely heard his friend talk like that.
“What is it?” he asked, dropping onto his bed. His suspicions were extra aroused due to the coming full moon.
James sighed deeply and took a deep breath.
“You have to come with us. We can’t talk about it here.” He explained. Remus frowned and looked at his friend suspiciously.
“Why not? What’s going on?” he asked. James ad Sirius exchanged another ‘look’ and this time Sirius took charge,
“Remus, we’ll explain everything, but first you need to come with us. You trust us, right?” he asked hopefully. Remus regarded each of his friends thoughtfully.
“Sure I do.” He replied with a nod.
“Then follow us.” Sirius instructed. James and Sirius turned to leave, looking back to wait for Remus. He contemplated the situation for a few seconds then followed his friends out of the dormitory.
They led him to a corridor on the seventh floor and stopped about halfway down facing a blank wall. To Remus’s astonishment James walked over to the wall and studied it for a second. He then walked up and down in front of it, his face contorted in concentration. What happened next made Remus almost jump out of his skin. To his amazement a door materialised on the blank wall before him.
“Remus, mate, welcome to the Room of Requirement.” Announced Sirius with a grin.

Remus stepped forward and touched the door, almost expecting it disappear under his fingertips.
“What is it?” he asked breathlessly.
“It’s whatever you need it to be.” Sirius told him, still grinning.
“The room detects what you need and materialises itself to meet your requirements. Bloody brilliant. I wish we’d found it sooner.” Said James thoughtfully. Remus looked at them with a bemused grin.
“How did you find this?” he asked in wonder.
“Ah…now that’s one of the things we need to talk to you about.” Said James, twiddling his fingers nervously. Remus looked at him questioningly.
“The answer’s inside.” Sirius added, nodding at the door. Remus turned back to the door and looked down at the handle. He reached out and wrapped his fingers around the metal ring, took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

Remus stepped into the room. Immediately his eyes went straight to a figure sitting on a stool on the other side of the room. Krys hopped off the stool and fixed Remus with a nervous look.
“Hi.” She said timidly.
“Hi” he replied. He stared at her for a few seconds. He leant backwards slightly towards his friends who were standing right behind him.
“What’s she doing here?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“It’s a long story.” Said James, a slight hint of guilt in his tone.
“Then please start explaining.”
“Listen, I know you’re wondering what’s going on…” began Krysta but Remus held up his hand and silenced her. She bit her lip and sat back on her stool, wringing her fingers together.
“Look, Remus let’s all just go inside and sit down. And we can explain everything.” Suggested James calmly. Remus mulled over his words and eventually nodded. He walked into the room followed closely by his friends. To his surprise three stools materialised by the one Krysta was sitting on and the three boys sat down. Remus was staring at Krysta in confusion.
“My name’s Krysta He…”
“I know who you are.” Interrupted Remus. “Is someone going to explain to me what she is doing here?” Remus asked again.
“James, this was all your idea.” Said Sirius, passing the buck to his best friend. James smiled nervously, but nodded.
“Ok…it’s like this:”

James talked for ten minutes explaining everything that had occurred between himself, Krysta and Sirius. It was the second time he’d told the story now. Throughout, Remus sat completely still staring into space. James had expected an outburst at some point, but Remus remained silent. Finally James finished, explaining that Krysta had agreed to help James and Sirius train to become Animagi and how she’d shown them The Room of Requirement as a suggested training room.
The room was now deathly silent as Remus tried to digest everything he’d just heard. Occasionally he would look up at Krysta, studying her face with a frown. She smiled awkwardly back at him, aware of how overwhelming this must be for him. None of them were sure just how he was going to react.

In truth Remus was being bombarded with a thousand thoughts a second. There was so much information to absorb and so many reactions to what he’d just learnt that his head was scrambled. Right now he was feeling a plethora of emotions including anger, shock, guilt, relief, joy, gratitude and fury.
He didn’t know how to feel. Should he be angry that James betrayed his secrets or grateful that his friend would go to such lengths to try and help him. Should he be horrified at the prospect of James and Sirius endangering themselves by training to be Animagi, or should be excited and relived at the prospect of no longer being alone. And as for Krysta. He really didn’t know how to feel. Did he trust her? Should he trust her? Was he angry that she knew his secret and had taken his welfare into her own hands or grateful that a complete stranger would do such a thing?
He just couldn’t process all of this?

“I…I’m sorry.” He stammered, getting to his feet. “I just can’t deal with this right now. I have to go. I have to…get ready. The Moon’s coming.” He stammered, not looking at any of them. Krys got to her feet and went as though to stop him.
“No! Don’t touch me…please. Just stay away from me. And…don’t come tonight. Leave me alone. I need to be alone.” He ordered, not meeting her eyes. She let her hand drop and looked hopelessly at him as he ran out the door.

That night Remus sat on the mattress on the floor of the Shrieking Shack, hugging his knees to his chest. He could feel the change approaching and tears stared to tickle down his cheeks. He wished he wasn’t alone.

[Kitania Walker]

Part 18

When Remus awoke he sat bolt up-right in shock. He looked around him. Not only was he lying comfortably on the mattress feeling well-rested with his wounds dressed and treated, but there was a flask of hot chocolate, a silky sleeping bag, a gas lantern, a soft pillow and a box containing chocolate sitting right by him. He looked around at the offerings and a smile crept over his face.

That morning in Potions Krysta fell into her seat and yawned. She was absolutely shattered, not to mention in pain. She had fallen into her bed at 6am without managing to dress any of her wounds and she was really paying for it now. She had a nasty gash on her back and several nasty bruises on her arms and legs. Luckily she could cover all of these up with clothing,
She was just getting her potions kit out when a piece of paper landed on her desk. She looked at it in surprise.
“What’s that?” asked Severus, also noticing it. Krys frowned and unfolded the note carefully. The message was short and sweet:

‘Thank you’

Beneath the writing was a scribbled drawing of a paw-print. Krys smiled and looked over at Remus who was watching her intently. She grinned and he grinned back. She scribbled something on the back of the paper and floated it magically back to Remus. He opened it up and smiled at her reply;

‘You’re welcome.
X’


Later at lunch Krys was at the Slytherin table, resting her head on her hand and pushing her food around her plate aimlessly. Her eyes kept drifting shut as she fought the sleep she so desperately needed. She yawned for the millionth time that day and winced as the movement made her sore neck muscles throb with pain.
Severus joined her, jovially clapping her on the back as he sat down.

She screamed.

Severus jumped back in shock and everyone within earshot suddenly stopped their conversations to turn and stare at her. Half the school seemed to have their eyes on her. The room was suddenly quiet. She gulped, looking at all the faces staring at her in surprise, amusement and confusion.
Ignoring the sniggers, muffled whispers and taunting whistles she ran from the Great Hall as fast as he could.
On the other side of the Hall the Marauders were joining their fellow students in staring at her in shock. Remus however muttered an expletive curse under his breath and quickly got up from the table and ran out of the hall after her.
Severus on the other hand watched with his mouth and eyes wide open as his friend tore from the room. It was almost as though when he’d hit her on the back he’d caused her great pain. It was the strangest thing. He was about to follow when he saw Remus Lupin run after her. His eyes narrowed and his lips curled and pursed. He waited for a few seconds then followed.


“Krysta? Krysta? Where are you?” Remus called as he entered the foyer. He heard a door click shut and ran towards one of the doors that led off the foyer. She must have run through there. The corridor he found himself in had several doors leading off it and as he heard one of them slam he ran to it and cautiously opened it again.
“Krysta?” he called softly, poking his head around the door.
“I’m here.” She replied. He let himself into the room and he saw her sitting on a desk. The room appeared to be an old classroom. It didn’t look like it had been used in years and the dragon skull that sat on a nearby bookcase was covered in cobwebs.
“Are you ok?” he asked tentatively. She smiled weakly and nodded. He looked at her incredulously, but with a smile.
“You don’t look ok.” He commented and her smile faltered. She looked as though she was struggling to find an excuse and then a resolve seemed to pass over her and she grinned sheepishly.
“Yeah, you got me pretty good, last night.” She admitted, looking over her shoulder at her back. Remus’s face fell and he suddenly looked incredibly guilty.
“Oh, God, Krysta, I’m so sorry. Did I really hurt you?” he asked, rushing over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder with concern. She smiled in response.
“I’ll live. I just didn’t get chance to treat the wound this morning. I only got an hour of sleep. I’m knackered.” She admitted. Remus sat beside her and sighed.
“I’m really sorry.” He repeated.
“It’s ok. You didn’t mean to…I mean wolf-you did, but you didn’t mean to.” She said and he shook his head at her with a sideways smile.
“I can’t believe you’re so understanding about this.”
“I know what it’s like to be a freak.” She replied with a grin. He laughed.
For a moment they just looked at each other, a gentle smile on their lips.
Krys found herself staring into his face, a feeling of calm spreading through her. Reality hit home like a freight train and she shook herself out of it. She looked away, biting her lip. She couldn’t go falling for someone now. Things were just too complicated. But Remus was so nice. She looked at him again and inside she whimpered. So nice. She looked at her knees, her internal turmoil confusing her.

“Do you want me to have a look?” he suddenly asked, freeing her from her anxiety temporarily. She looked up at him and saw too that look of confusion in his eyes. She looked questioningly at him, not sure what he meant.
“Your wound. Can I have a look? The nurse may have to treat it.” He explained.
“Oh.” She said, startled. “Yeah, sure. It’s on my back.” She told him, turning away. He carefully lifted the back of her shirt, revealing the ugliest wound Remus had ever seen,
“Oh my god!” he cried, staring at it. “Did I do that?” he asked in horror.
“M’yeah.” She replied, almost apologetically.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry!” he gasped. It was her turn to laugh.
“Remus, stop apologising!” she exclaimed with a giggle. She turned to look at him and he looked up into her eyes.

Her eyes dropped to his lips. She swallowed hard and looked into his eyes again.

He couldn’t stop staring into her eyes.

As they leant forwards, their lips touched briefly and softly. A tiny spark seemed to buzz through them and Remus shivered.
“Sorry.” He whispered. Krys smiled.
“Stop apologising.” She whispered back. He smiled gently and leant forward to kiss her again. As Remus slid and arm around her he accidentally caught the wound on her back. All hell let loose.

As she cried out in pain the door to the classroom burst open and Severus rushed in with his wand drawn.
“What are you doing?! Get away from her! Get the hell off her!” Sev screamed furiously pointing his wand at Remus. Remus raised his hands to defend himself but Severus reacted too fast.
A stream of blue magic left Sev’s wand and shot through the air hitting Remus square in the chest. He was blown backwards off the desk and Krysta screamed again: this time in anger and panic.
“Remus! Sev what are you doing?” she screeched, jumping off the table and dropping to the floor where Remus was lying stunned on the floor. He moaned in pain and disorientation.
“Remus are you alright?” she asked, placing her hand on his shoulder and trying to pull him into a sitting position. She turned to face Sev, a look and pure fury on her face.
“What are you doing?” she repeated vehemently. He just stared at her for a second, complete confusion and shock on his face.
“He was hurting you!” he finally replied.
“He wasn’t hurting me, you idiot.” She hissed back, then turned her attention back to Remus who was steadily getting to his feet.
Severus never got to answer or enquire after her meaning. The door to the classroom opened once more and they all turned to see Professor Slombardo staring at them all in astonishment. For a moment they all just stared at each other before the tiny little old Religious Studies teacher spoke.
“What on earth are you three doing in here?” he demanded, looking at Krysta and raising an eyebrow at her. She gulped and looked decidedly sheepishly at him.
“Causing unrest already are we, Miss Hegwig?” He asked, a hint of bemusement in his voice.
“It wasn’t Krys’s fault.” Remus immediately leapt to her defence.
“I heard Krys scream. I came in and found him.” Sev explained, hissing the word ‘him’ like it left a nasty taste in his mouth.
Professor Slombardo looked questioningly at Remus, who looked extremely awkward. He opened his mouth to speak not entirely sure what he was going to say. Krys saved him the trouble.
“Professor, Remus was just helping me. I hurt myself last night. He was looking at it for me.” She explained quickly. He raised his eyebrow again and looked sceptically at her.
“Hurt yourself, did you? Ran into something that disagreed with you, I suppose?” he asked. Remus was sure he winked at her.
“Yes, sir.” She replied.
“Very well. Mr Lupin, take Miss Hedwig to the hospital wing. Mr Snape, get to your classes. I don’t want to catch you in here again.” He warned then.
“Yes, sir.” Krys replied quickly, grabbing Remus by the arm and pulling him towards the door. She stopped momentarily to glare at Sev and then left the room with Remus close behind her.

[Kitania Walker]

Part 19

In the hospital wing Remus sat on the edge of a cot and grinned to himself at the sounds coming from behind the white privacy screen he was staring at.
“Ouch.”
“Sit still.”
“Gerrof me!”
“Give that back!”
“I’m fine. I don’t need it.”
“Sit down!”
“I’ve had much worse than this.”
“That doesn’t surprise me!”
“OW!”
“No needles!”
“It’s not a needle.”
“Well I don’t want it.”
“Do as you’re told.”
“Do you know who I am?!”
“No! Now sit down and shut up, or I’ll give you a sleeping draft.”

At that Krys’s protests stopped and Remus suppressed a chuckle. He was just thinking that he didn’t really know what he’d got himself into with her when a very harassed looking nurse appeared from behind the screen with a serious scowl on her face. Her hair was untidy and she was red in the face. He grinned sheepishly at her and the nurse pursed her lips before marching off to her office, muttering grumpily to herself.
“Oh, you’re still here.”
Remus looked back towards the screen to see that Krys was peering around the edge of it at him. He just smiled and nodded. She grinned back.
“Wait while I get dressed.” She told him before disappearing behind the screen again.

A couple of minutes later they were walking back to the main staircase together.
“You gave her a bit of a hard time, didn’t you? She was only trying to help.” Remus said with a grin. Krys giggled.
“I know. I’m a terror aren’t I?” she grinned cheekily and he laughed.
“What have I got myself into?” he asked with another chuckle as he took her hand in his. They walked together hand-in-hand, but Krys had fallen silent and the grin had gone from her face. Remus looked sideways at her and saw a fleeting expression of concern and worry.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
“What? Oh. Yeah. I was just thinking that I’m the one who should be worried. Trust me to fall for a werewolf.” She said; her casual voice slightly forced. He stopped and made her face him. Her eyes didn’t quite meet his.
“I’d understand if you didn’t want to carry on seeing me…I mean assuming that you want to see me at all, it’s just…I don’t normally go around kissing people and…I really like you…I’d understand you know because of the…furry little problem and everything and…if you want to call it all off right now…but I hope you don’t because you’re really cool and sweet and pretty and a bit scary, but I like that…”
Remus’s ramblings were cut hurriedly short by two soft lips pressed firmly against his.

What seemed like hours later the new couple reached the Stairwell and then stopped. It was an awkward moment. Remus looked down at the soft white hand he was still holding, not wanting to let go of it. They looked at each other for a few moments, smiling slightly.
“Now what?” Krys suddenly asked and Remus frowned. He wasn’t sure what she was asking.
“Well your common room’s up there.” She said nodding up the stairs. “And my Common Room is down there.” She added nodding towards the dungeons.
“Ah. Yeah…” he said awkwardly. He didn’t want to part just yet but he knew the other Marauders must have been wondering where he was and why he wasn’t in class this afternoon. He couldn’t even sit with her at dinner or cuddle with her in the Common Room.
“Why do you have to be in Slytherin?” he asked in exasperation and longing. She suddenly looked affronted and pulled her hand away.
“Look if you’re just going to behave like every other Slytherin-hating Gryffindor idiot…” she began but was cut off when Remus hastily grabbed her hand back.
“No, no, that’s not what I meant. It’s just that it makes it more awkward to spend time together.” He said reassuringly. She smiled uncertainly.
“Yeah…especially when our friends hate each other.” She said, rolling her eyes and thinking of Sev’s reaction earlier that day.
“Yeah.” Said Remus uncertainly, also thinking of Snape’s reaction. He didn’t fancy constantly being attacked by Krysta’s friends any time he got near her.
“At least my friends like you.” He offered hopefully. Krys surprised him by snorting.
“Like me? No they don’t. They just want me to help them train, so they can help you.” She said and Remus suddenly came over defensive.
“That’s not true.” He disagreed, dropping her hand.
“Sure it is. Sirius Black hates my guts. And the feeling’s mutual to tell you the truth.”
“What’s wrong with Sirius?” Remus asked raising his voice in the beginnings of anger. Krys snorted again and he was beginning to find it annoying and arrogant.
“He’s a bully! He’s arrogant, he’s mean, and has an opinion of himself that’s way higher than it should be.” She announced, counting off Sirius’s worst qualities on her fingers. Remus stood defiantly with his hands on his hips.
“Well some people say that about you!” he replied frostily. She looked at him gob- smacked. Her mouth just hung open whilst she stared at him. She couldn’t believe he’d just said that to her.
“I don’t say that.” He added hurriedly. :Just…some people do.” He finished, mumbling slightly. Krysta pursed her lips angrily.
“You mean Sirius?” she asked, accusingly. Remus just shrugged; a motion that Krys took to mean ‘yes’.

“Well what about your friends?” Remus suddenly asked, breaking the hostile silence. She looked at him sternly.
“What about them?” she asked him angrily as though she couldn’t see what Remus could possibly find wrong with her friends.
“Severus Snape? C’mon Krysta, they guy’s a slime ball!” Remus replied as thought this point should be obvious. Krysta squared up to him, folding her arms across her chest crossly.
“Sev is a lovely guy, I’ll have you know. He’s smart, he’s generous, he’s funny…” It was Remus’s time to snort now.
“Funny? Are you kidding?” he interrupted. Krys scowled.
“He’s a much better person than Sirius Black will ever be. At least he doesn’t go around terrorizing people just for the fun of it.” She hissed at him.
“No, he just hangs around with Death Eaters.” Remus hissed back.
Krysta stopped and took a step back. Her mouth hung open and then closed. Her arms dropped by her sides. She stared at Remus as though she didn’t know whether to scream at him or start crying. She did neither. Instead she turned away from him and walked away.

[Kitania Walker]

Part 20

Krysta walked slowly through the Common Room, keeping her head down. The Junior Death Eaters were sprawled across the sofas by the fireplace, laughing raucously amongst themselves. She seethed with hate for them right now. The comment Remus had made about Sev heightened her hate and when a particularly shrill peel of laughter from Narcissa cut through the room, Krysta’s fury peaked. She felt it rise to a tumultuous crescendo and for a split second it spilled over and she lost control.

Narcissa’s laughter was replaced with a scream as the glass of firewhisky she was drinking shattered, spilling the rich liqueur and shards of glass all over her robes. To begin with her friends just stared at her and then they all broke in laughter. Narcissa just stared at the mess on her clothes for a second and then she looked up, her furious eyes searching the room. They fell on Krysta almost immediately and she leapt to her feet, whipping her wand out and pointing it at the 2nd year girl.
“You did that.” She hissed.
Krysta slowly turned to face her, her eyes somehow darker than their usual electric blue. She squared her shoulders and glowered at Narcissa.
“What do you mean, Cissy? I don’t even have a wand.” She said calmly, almost mockingly. She held up her hands to demonstrate that they were empty and Narcissa shook with anger. By now the others has risen to their feet also, staring at Krysta with a mixture of interest and distaste.
“I don’t care if you have your freakin’ wand, it was you!” Narcissa insisted; her voice distorted with anger. By now the other club members had drawn their wand and were pointing them at Krysta. She studied each of them with mild interest for a few seconds.
“I repeat: I don’t have my wand.” She said, in a low, warning tone. Narcissa sneered and her friends chuckled.
“Are we supposed to be bothered by that? This is the Slytherin Common Room, not the namby-pamby Hufflepuff’s. The fact you can’t defend yourself is your problem, not ours.” Narcissa laughed and her friends joined her. Krysta smiled.
“You misunderstand me, dear Cissy. I don’t have my wand. And that doesn’t bode very well for you. I seriously recommend that you all lower your wands.” Krysta growled.
They all burst out in taunting laughter. Lucius, who had remained silent throughout the standoff was silent, watching Krysta cautiously. Bellatrix kept throwing him fleeting looks and frowning.

Narcissa was still laughing at this ridiculous child who dared to threaten them.
“Kid, you are in for the cursing of your life.” She announced with a gleam in her eye. She waved her wand in the air and went to send her curse at Krysta.
“No!”
Narcissa suddenly found her wand being knocked out of her hand and looked around angrily to find that it had been her own sister that had disarmed her.
“Bella, what the…”
“The brat’s not worth it, Cissy.” Bellatrix grumbled. Behind them Lucius breathed a sigh of relief.
“Not worth it? Who cares? It would have been fun!” she yelled angrily at her older sister.
“Yeah, Bella. It would have been a whole lot of fun. Please let her curse me!” agreed Krysta with disappointment that was only partly fake. She would have loved to seen their faces. Right now she wanted to blast them all to pieces and partly hoped that Narcissa would have given her the excuse.
“I’m going to blast your head off!” screeched Narcissa suddenly, reaching for her wand.
“Go on and try it! Come on! Give it your best shot!” Krysta shouted back, daring Narcissa to attack.
“Enough” screamed Bellatrix, snatching Narcissa’s wand out of reach before she could grab it.
“You! You pathetic little wretch, you disgusting little brat. Do you have any idea what you’re dealing with here?” Bellatrix hissed at Krysta. Krysta’s smile turned into a sneer.
“Do you?” she replied threateningly. Bella’s lip curled, revealing her teeth. She stepped forward and walked slowly over to Krysta. She leant down and spoke in a low, hissing voice so that only Krysta could hear.

“Let’s get one thing straight here, child. I don’t care who are, or where you come from, or who your great, great Grand Mummy was. You’re finished, don’t you understand? It’s all over for you, for your Mother. He’s got your number. He knows everything. And he will finish you.” Bella.
Krysta held Bella’s eye the whole time, her expression blank. When Bella fell silent Krysta smiled gently. She raised her face so that her lips were merely an inch from Bella’s ear. She whispered softly.
“You keep telling yourself that sweetheart.”
With that Krysta smiled and took step backwards and her smile broadened.
“Oh and you should keep a tighter reign on your sister. You might not always be around to stand in the way.” She suggested in a bright, helpful tone with the slightest trace of a threat. She began to walk away towards the dormitory. When she was almost there, Bella called out to her.
“Hedwig.”
Krysta stopped and looked back at her.
“Your little friend has really impressed The Dark Lord. He has a lot of potential. I’d hate for something to happen to him before he can be initiated. It would be such a tragedy.” She called out. Krysta narrowed her eyes, but looked un-phased. Instead she nodded her head and returned the threat.
“Yes Bellatrix. It really would.” She replied warningly.
With that she disappeared up the stairs.

Krysta dropped onto her bed in her empty dorm room and gasped for air. Her head was spinning. She honestly felt like this day couldn’t get any worse.
She lay down on the bed and pulled her knees up to her chin, curling up into a tight ball. For the first time since she was a small child she burst into tears.

*

Remus slumped into the Common Room feeling completely deflated. His new relationship with Krysta seemed to go from one disaster to another and they’d only been going out for 4 hours.
Sirius, Charlie, Diane and Peter were sitting on the sofas laughing and talking. Remus scowled. He knew Sirius hadn’t actually done anything wrong, but he couldn’t help feeling bitter towards him right now. Part of him felt like the argument had somehow been Sirius’s fault and the sight of him canoodling with Charlie just added to his feelings. Why should Sirius have it all so easy? He went from girl to girl without a care. He’d dump one and be dating another days later, sometimes even later the same day. Remus used to find it amusing, but right now he couldn’t help feeling that it was unfair. Remus had finally found someone he felt he could be with without constantly worrying about keeping secrets, someone who intrigued and excited him, who was fun to be with. And it already seemed to be doomed.
It was bad enough that she was in Slytherin, but he could deal with that. It was the fact that their friends hated each other and the animosity she felt for the other Marauders. He just couldn’t see how it would work.

He headed straight for the dorms, hoping no one would notice him.
“Remus! Hey, mate, where have you been?” called Sirius, sounding pleased to see his friends. Remus cursed silently and quickened his pace. He ran up the stairs and into the dorm, hoping to the higher powers that Sirius wouldn’t follow. He was annoyingly disappointed.
“Oi, what’s up? We missed you in History earlier. Not that you missed much.” Sirius announced and dropped onto his own bed. Remus managed a weak, half-hearted smile and didn’t respond. Sirius watched him with a worried frown for a few seconds.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. Remus shrugged, not sure how to answer. He didn’t want to talk about Krys. He wasn’t even sure he wanted Sirius to know about her. There were two reasons. One: that the whole Slytherin-Gryffindor feud would definitely be an issue with Sirius and two: he just wanted to keep it to himself right now. It was almost like it was his own special little thing and the idea of having a secret romance was actually kind of exciting…if she ever spoke to him again of course.

“I’m fine. I’m just tired from last night.” Remus lied.
“Fair enough. That reminds me, why did Hedwig scream and go tearing out of the Hall this morning? I saw you go after her.” He asked. Remus was glad that Sirius had believed the lie, but somehow the conversation had still come back ‘round to Krysta again.
“Oh, yeah. I wounded her last night and that idiot Snape hit her on it. She screamed in pain. I just went out to see if she was alright.” Remus explained in a voice that he hoped sounded casual. Sirius just rolled his eyes.
“Snivellus is such a moron.” Sirius commented nastily.
“I don’t think he meant to.” said Remus, then realised he was defending Snape. “He followed us and had a right go. None of his greasy business.” Remus added, just as nastily as Sirius and Sirius nodded eagerly.
“I don’t know why Krys hangs around with him. She is so above him.” Sirius added, then realised he was being nice about Krysta. He quickly backtracked. “If she’s stupid enough to hang around with idiots like him, it’s her own fault.” He added.
Remus looked at Sirius warily.
“I didn’t think you liked her.” Remus commented, a slight glimmer of hope in his heart. Maybe if Sirius and Krysta could learn to be friends their relationship would be easier. Unfortunately Sirius snorted dismissively.
“I don’t! Like I said: it’s her own fault. Besides, she’s a Slytherin.” Sirius said, firmly. Remus’s heart drooped.
“Yeah.” He said, staring out of the window. “She is.”

[Kitania Walker]

Part 21


Alice looked up from her homework to watch her friend as she worked her art. Abi was painting an enormous picture of horses grazing in a field.
“That’s really good!” she whispered. Abi looked at her and grinned.
“I know.” She said and Alice giggled.
Alice was a second year Hufflepuff with long golden curly hair that swung around her shoulders in locks and sparkling hazel eyes.
Abi was one of her best friends. She too had blonde hair, but Abi preferred to wear hers in a long plait that hung down one side of her head, hiding half of her face. She was the creative one.
Alice on the other and was the clever one, and many often said she should have been in Ravenclaw. Abi often told her it was her heart of gold that placed her in Hufflepuff, but Alice wasn’t convinced. She wasn’t very sure of herself at times and confidence was a big issue with her, sometimes resulting in bouts of clumsiness. It was this that Alice believed put her in Hufflepuff.
Their other friend Maryjane was the wild one. She was a practical joker and a Quidditch obsessive. It always made Alice and Abi laugh as outwardly; Maryjane was a very quiet and polite person, which only made her more deadly. The teachers never suspected her and so she often got away with Murder.

Right now Maryjane had gone off with her new boyfriend James Potter, leaving her other two friends in the study hall. Alice, although often asked out by boys had never actually gone out with one and didn’t see why James should take precedence over homework. Abi on the other hand felt the opposite and declared that the moment someone asked her out she’d be off and as far away from homework as she could get. Abi had been out with a few boys over the last two years, but had grown bored of them very quickly. Alice fancied it was her unquenchable thirst for inspiration. Abi needed to be stimulated and challenged, and she had yet to find a boy that matched up. In other words: she was fussy.

Right now she was settling for painting.
“What are their names?” asked Alice, watching the horses develop on Abi’s canvas.
“Twitchet and Puddle” replied Abi without looking up. Alice laughed.
“Good names.” She commented. Alice watched Abi paint for a bit before speaking.
“So what do you think of James?” she asked, thoughtfully.
“Think of him? I don’t really think of him much.” Abi replied dryly, not looking up from the painting.
“You know what I mean.” Said Alice impatiently.
“Well he’s in Gryffindor.”
“Yes”
“And he’s on the Quidditch team.”
“Yes.”
“He’s a Marauder.” Abi continued with a slight grimace.
“YES!” yelled Alice. Abi was deliberately being annoying.
“I like him.” Said Abi, looking up from the painting for the first time.
“Yeah… I think I like him too.” Commented Alice, nodding her head.
“At first I thought he was a bit arrogant, but he’s quite sweet really.”
“He’s nice to Mary and that’s what matters.” Abi said conclusively and Alice nodded.
Abi looked very thoughtful for a moment.
“Do you think he’d put a good word in for me with Sirius Black?” she asked in amusing hopefulness. Both girls looked at each other for a moment then burst out laughing. After they stopped Abi looked serious for a moment.
“What? You think I’m joking?”


Lily wandered through the study hall looking for Severus. Behind her two blonde girls were laughing loudly and she frowned. In her opinion the study hall was for study, not for socialising.
She spotted Severus hunched over his books a few tables over and hurried over to him.
“Where’ve you been?” she asked crossly. “I thought you were going to meet me after lunch.” She added, folding her arms and glaring at him. Severus barely looked up from his books and simply shrugged.
“Well I finished my essay anyway. How are you getting on?” she asked, ignoring his ignorance. He shrugged again and she scowled. Then her face became soft and she reached out to touch his hand.
“What’s wrong?” she asked gently. He looked up and Lily was shocked to see his eyes were red. He wasn’t crying but his eyes looked exceedingly puffy. He opened his mouth to speak then closed it again, merely shaking his head.
“It’s Krys.” He finally replied and Lily looked surprised.
“Krys? Why? Where is she?” she asked, looking around for her other friend. Severus shook his head again. And lowered his face over his books once more. Lily squeezed hand.
“Severus.” She said, using his full name for the first time in years. “Spill it.”

Lily listened to Sev’s description of the afternoon’s events thoughtfully, exclaiming out loud when she heard of Krysta’s injury.
“But how did she injure herself?” she asked.
“I’ve no idea, I haven’t had the chance to ask her. Judging by the look on her face when she left, I’m not sure I’m her favourite person right now.” He said glumly. Lily looked sympathetic.
“You thought he was hurting her. You were just trying to defend her.” She said reassuringly, but Sev just shrugged again.
“She looked furious. But now I think about it, it IS Lupin. He’s not exactly a formidable character. Why I thought he was hurting her, I don’t know.”
“You reacted on instinct, Sev. You were just looking out for your friend.” Lily added, giving him a kind smile and squeezing his hand again.
His hand tingled and he looked at where her skin touched his. He shivered, hoping she would leave her hand there forever.

“This whole thing is rather odd, though. I mean, like I said: how did she get injured? And what was Remus doing with her anyway? I didn’t think he even knew her, let alone care enough to go and help her.” Lily removed her hand from Sev’s and frowned, deep in thought. Sev looked mournfully at the spot where her hand had been on his.
“No idea. She’s been odd recently.” Sev said dismissively. Lily frowned at him.
“How’d you mean?” she asked.
“Well…she always on my case about The Club…”
“Well to be honest I agree with her, Sev!” Lily interrupted.
“Oh, Lily, not you too.” Sev moaned. Lily looked sternly at him.
“Sev, everyone knows Malfoy and Bellatrix are trouble. Some people even think they in League with…you know…Him” said Lily, whispering the last word as though afraid someone might hear her. Sev looked up sharply at her.
“Who told you that?” he asked, sounding angry. She looked at his change in manner in surprise.
“Sev…everyone thinks it. They’re not nice people, Sev, I don’t know why you like hanging around with them.” She said, calmly. Sev shook his head, still annoyed.
“You wouldn’t understand.” He said in a low voice.
“No, I don’t!” she exclaimed, her voice full of concern. “Sev…you’ve changed you know.” She said gently. He looked at her with a hooded expression, but she continued delicately. “Since you’ve been a member of that club you’ve been different. You’ve been…” she trailed off, not really wanting to finish, but he looked at her sternly.
“What?” he demanded. “Go on, say it.”
“Mean.” She finally replied. He looked at her with a mixture of hurt and anger.
“I haven’t been mean to you! I’d never be mean to you!” he protested. Lily smiled sadly.
“No, no I know you haven’t. But to others…you’ve been snapping at first years, making horrible comments about anyone who isn’t in Slytherin…”
“Only people who deserved it!” Sev interrupted and Lily looked at him in exasperation.
“It’s like you look down on people.” She added, uncertainly. He shrugged and stared at his unfinished essay. For a few moments he didn’t say anything and she sat looking at the table uncomfortably.
“You know what, Lily: you’re right. I have been looking down on people: because they’re nothing. They’re scum. I am better than them. I’m smarter, I’m more talented…and one thing being in The Club has taught me is that if you want what you deserve you have to take it for yourself.”
He spoke boldly, his voice full of a pride and resolve she hadn’t heard before. She looked at him and her face expressed the concern and fear she felt.
“Sev…you sound…you like one of Them.” She said, cautiously, not wanting to cause another outburst. To her horror, he just smiled.
“Lily…” He took her hand and she gulped slightly. “I AM one of Them.”



Remus had been sitting up with James, Sirius, Peter and Lily’s friends. Lily herself had come in and given them all a weak smile before heading straight upstairs to the dormitory. It was fairly late and after a hurried discussion, Diane and Charlie (much to Sirius’s displeasure) had followed Lily upstairs to see what was up with her.
James had spent much of the evening talking about Maryjane, which although Sirius and Peer listened eagerly, Remus wasn’t really in the mood for.
All he could think about was Krys and the argument they’d had. He wanted to talk to her. He wanted to say sorry. He wanted to tell her he didn’t care which house she was in or who her friends were. And he wanted her to tell him the same thing.
But would she? Could she look past his Marauder friends and the Gryffindor banner? He hoped so. She didn’t strike him as unreasonable…mostly. She was incredibly hot-headed and quick to fight. But she couldn’t hate Gryffindor that much, could she? She was friends with Lily Evans after all.
He got thinking about Lily for a moment, wondering if there was anyway of using Lily to get to Krysta, to make her listen to him. But why would Lily listen to him? Yet again his status as a Marauder worked against him.

What felt like forever later, the rest of his friends decided they’d yawned long enough and declared it was time for bed.
“You coming moon-boy?” asked Sirius stifling another yawn. Remus grinned at the strange new nickname but shook his head. James laughed too and ruffled his already messy hair.
“Moon-boy” James repeated with a chuckle. Sirius grinned sleepily.
“Nah, I’m gonna stay up a bit. I think my body clock’s off.” Remus lied and his friends waved lazily at him as they left for the dorm.
Remus shifted himself into a more comfortable position, now he had the sofa to himself. He stared into the fire, seeing a thousand pictures in its flames. He found fire hypnotic and never boring. It was ever changing and never the same. He gazed at it in a trance-like state for several minutes before glancing around the empty Common Room enjoying the quiet solitude.
What’s wrong with that tapestry? he thought to himself. It was moving. It was quivering as though something was struggling behind it. Suddenly a large figure tumbled out from behind the tapestry onto the stone floor and Remus cried out in surprise fumbling frantically for his wand. He stopped however when he realised who the figure was. He stared at her in astonishment, back to the tapestry, then at her again. He couldn’t speak. Krysta smiled awkwardly at him.
“It’s about time.” She grumbled, pushing herself to her feet and dusting herself down.
“I thought those idiots would never leave.”

[Kitania Walker]

Part 22

“How the hell did you…where did you come from?” he demanded, not bothering to keep his voice down. She looked startled slightly, but looked and pointed at the tapestry through which she’d just tumbled.
“Through there. Secret passage.” She explained simply. Remus looked horrified and quickly got to his feet. He went right over to the tapestry and started studying it, looking behind it at the wall for the hidden way. He looked back around at her flabbergasted.
“Where?!” he asked, unable to locate it.
“Here.” she replied, walking over to him and gently tapping the wall with her first and fourth finger. Remus nearly jumped back in surprise as a door appeared in the brickwork.
“But how did you…what did you…What?!” he stammered, gently turning the handle and pushing the door open. He peered into the gloom beyond and shivered.
“How long has this been here?” he asked. He couldn’t believe there was a secret passage into the Common Room. This was outrageous.
“It’s always been there. Salazar Slytherin put them in. He told the others they were escape routes, but I think he just wanted full-run of the castle…or means to spy on his fellow Founders.” She mumbled with a frown.
“You mean there are others? Into the other Common Rooms?” he asked in disbelief.
“Yep. Though I haven’t found the Hufflepuff one yet.” She confirmed sounding slightly annoyed with herself. Remus just stared at her shaking his head. This girl never ceased to amaze him.
“I can’t believe…this is so out of order. It’s not right. You can’t just go letting yourself into other people’s Common Rooms.” He exclaimed, staring at her in horror. She looked confused,
“Why?” she asked.
“Because that’s the point of The Common Rooms! They’re meant to be sanctuaries! Somewhere that’s just for us! They have passwords for a reason, Krys!”
Krysta stared at him for a few seconds. She chewed her bottom lip.
“I wanted to see you.” She said in a trembling, quiet voice.
“Then wait until tomorrow. What can be so important that you have to break into Gryffindor tower?” he asked, waving his arms in frustration. He honestly felt he was the only person with a grip on reality sometimes.
Krysta’s face screwed up and she spluttered a little. To start with he thought she was in pain or was going to be sick. But when the first sob left her throat the anger instantly melted away. He found himself running across the room and wrapping her small body up in his arms, hugging her tightly to him. For a while he just let her cry.

Remus led her to one of the sofas and made her sit down. He sat beside her and she leant against him. He placed an arm comfortingly around her shoulders and she rested her head against his chest. Her tears had now stopped and she merely sniffed occasionally. They just sat there for a while and he could feel her relaxing and soon her breathing was even and slow. He rubbed her shoulder with his fingers and with his free hand he took hers and squeezed it reassuringly.
“What brought that on?” he asked softly. She sniffed again and he felt her shrug.
“I had a bad day.” She answered and he smiled to himself. She couldn’t see his face right now anyway.
“You strike me as the kind of person who has a lot of bad days.” He commented, teasing her slightly. She chuckled and he hugged her closer.
“You don’t strike me as the kind of person who cries a lot though.” He added, sounding concerned.
“I’m not. I haven’t cried since…” she trailed off and frowned. He looked down at the top of her head.
“Since…?” he prompted.
“Since my Dad died.” She concluded quietly. He kissed her head and held her more tightly.
“I’m sorry we argued earlier. I shouldn’t have said that about Snape.” Remus finally said. He sincerely felt bad about it. Krysta sniffed again.
“Yeah, but it’s true isn’t it? He is hanging around with Death Eaters. And I don’t know what to do about it. Even if I could talk him around I’m not sure they’d give him up without a fight.” She said, sounding deeply troubled. Remus frowned down at her black hair.
“What do you mean? He’s just a 13 year old, what do they care?” he asked.
“Hmmm.” Krysta mumbled. Remus pushed Krysta upright and looked at her seriously.
“Krys, is there something you’re not telling me?” he asked, looking her right in the eye. She held his gaze for a few moments and then closed them in defeat.
“Yes…quite a lot.” She admitted. He looked at her, his eyes full of concern and curiosity. She took a deep breath, and began to tell him everything.


Sev yelped in surprise as the three of them apparated into the grounds of a large house. Lucius let go of his shoulder and Sev tumbled to the ground. He’d never apparated before and even though it was only side-along, he felt decisively disorientated. He quickly gathered himself and scrambled to his feet. He looked at Lucius who gave him a reassuring nod and then at Bellatrix who smiled at him. There was something cold and calculating about that smile.
“Come one. He does not like to be kept waiting.” Lucius ordered and Sev quickly fell in step behind the older two as they began marching towards the stately building.
His stomach was doing somersaults the whole time and he was terrified he might suddenly be sick. That would not look good. Somehow he managed to hold onto his dinner as he was led through the mighty front door.

Once inside, Sev couldn’t help but stop and look around in surprise. From the outside the house had looked so grand and impressive. Now inside he was shocked to find it dark, dreary and poorly maintained.
“What’s the matter?” asked Bellatrix impatiently.
“It’s just…look at it.” Breathed Sev, trying to keep his voice low in case someone may hear him and take offence. Bellatrix looked solemn and serious.
“What did you expect, Buckingham Palace? The Dark Lord has no need for grandeur. Such creature comforts are beneath him and distract from the important things.” She explained briskly.
“Well said, my dear.”
Sev froze as the cold, silky voice met his ears. It echoed around the room like it was detached from its speaker. His eyes darted around him searching for them, but could see no one.
“Bring Mr Snape to the Drawing Room.” The voice ordered and Bellatrix grabbed Sev’s arm and dragged him past an ancient but grand staircase and to a wooden door leading off the hall. The door opened by itself and Sev looked at Lucius uncertainly.
“Come in, boy, you have nothing to fear.” The voice order gently and Sev gulped. Now he was here he wasn’t so sure it was a good idea. He should have stayed at Hogwarts and taken Krys’s advice.
“Go on.” Encouraged Lucius with a smile. Sev returned the smile weakly and stepped forward into the Drawing Room.

The room was dark lit only by the fire that crackled in the hearth. It gave the room a warm, almost comforting glow, though Sev’s stomach was still in his feet.
“Come forward.” The voice ordered and this time the voice felt close, like the speaker was barely feet away and the echo was gone. Sev obeyed. He moved to the middle of the room, his eyes constantly darting around, searching. Suddenly his eyes locked on a figure standing by the fireplace and he gasped. The man smiled at him and Sev found himself mesmerised. The man stepped forward to stand in front of the boy and held out his long, pale hand. Sev stared at the man’s hand horror-stricken, frozen by his nerves.
“Will you not shake hands with Lord Voldemort, Severus?”

Severus stared into Lord Voldemort’s face, his lips slightly open in wonder. He cautiously slid his hand into Lord Voldemort’s and was surprised to find it strangely cool and smooth. They shook hands gently and Lord Voldemort released his grip, beaming triumphantly.
“It is an honour to finally meet you, Severus.” Voldemort said with a seemingly genuine smile. Severus smiled slightly then remembered his manners. He dropped to his knees and bowed his head.
“The honour is mine, my Lord.” He spoke sincerely and humbly. With his head bowed he did not see the glint of satisfaction that crossed Voldemort’s face.
“Please, my boy, stand. Come and talk with me. I have heard much about you from Lucius and Bella. They speak very highly of you…and I have the highest respect for their opinion.
Sev looked up at Voldemort in surprise and quickly rose to his feet. He smiled with embarrassment.
“My Lord, I fear they may have exaggerated greatly…”
“Nonsense!” Voldemort interrupted before Severus could continue his modesties. He sat in a large, high-backed armchair by the fire and motioned for Sev to sit in one opposite him. Sev obliged and clasped his hands in his lap.
Voldemort watched him closely, studying his face thoughtfully. He was still smiling gently. Sev couldn’t explain it, but he was beginning to feel strangely at ease. This was not what he expected at all. He cautiously looked back at Voldemort noting his remarkably pale, smooth skin and his oddly small nose. He couldn’t explain it, but Voldemort’s nose looked as though it was gradually receding back into his face. The man’s eyes were slightly hooded and they sparkled. He could not tell what colour they really were. There was a reddish tinge to the eyelids right up against his eyes as though the blood vessels had burst. Other than that he looked like a regular man. Sev didn’t know why he was surprised. What had he expected?
Voldemort smiled with amusement.
“Is Lord Voldemort what you expected Severus?” he asked with kind taunting. Severus blushed and looked down at is hands.
“It is alright, Severus. It is natural that you should be curious of me. I am sure you must have spent hours wondering what I must look like.”
Sev nodded, still blushing. It was true. Voldemort beamed at him.
“I hope I do not disappoint.” He added and Sev looked up immediately.
“No, My Lord!” he exclaimed and Voldemort’s smile broadened.

“Enough of me!” Voldemort suddenly announced, clapping his hands together and making Sev jump slightly. “Let us talk about you. Tell me about yourself, Severus.” Voldemort ordered in a friendly manner. Sev smiled, but felt awkward. He didn’t know where to start.
“Tell me about your parents.” Voldemort suggested. Sev’s heart dropped. He had hoped that subject would not be brought up.
“My Mother’s name is Eileen Prince, My Lord. She was in Slytherin at Hogwarts, like me.” Sev began, hoping he could avoid the obvious. He was wrong.
“Good. And your father?” Voldemort asked and Sev’s face fell. Voldemort watched him closely.
“My father…left us years ago, My Lord. I do not know much about him.” Sev explained, not telling the complete truth. Voldemort frowned for the first time since Sev had met him and he gulped. He had heard that Lord Voldemort could read minds. Voldemort leaned forward slightly and fixed Severus with a serious but kind expression.
“Severus, you must know that you can tell Lord Voldemort anything. It is no matter to him who your Father was. It is your loyalty and love that matters to him.” He said gently. Sev noticed for the first time that Voldemort only referred to himself in the third person. It was slightly unnerving. He smiled shyly.
“My father was a Muggle, my Lord.” He explained, hanging his head in shame. “It is not something I am proud of.”
Voldemort studied Sev for a few seconds then smiled kindly.
“It is not your fault that your Father is a Muggle, Severus. In fact I feel strongly for you. You know first hand the nature of these filthy creatures. What kind of filth would leave his child?” Voldemort hissed and Sev looked up in surprise. It was exactly how he felt about his Father.
“Yes, my Lord.” He agreed enthusiastically. Voldemort smiled darkly.

“Tell me about your friends.” Voldemort suddenly changed the subject and Sev looked surprised, but pleased.
“Well, my lord…there are the members of the club obviously.” He said, holding his hands palm upright. Voldemort nodded and smiled.
“Of course. A fine bunch they are too. Tell me about…Miss Evans is it?” he asked. Voldemort’s voice sounded calm and neutral and he looked at Sev with honest interest but Sev was immediately on alert. What did he know about Lily? What had Lucius told him?
“Yes, my Lord. Lily Evans. I met her before I started Hogwarts. For years she was my only friend. She’s in Gryffindor, though” He said with a slight frown. Voldemort nodded, encouraging him to continue, seemingly not bothered by the Gryffindor problem.
“How did you meet?” he asked and Sev gulped involuntarily.
“I saw her around my neighbourhood. I knew she was a witch…I saw her doing magic in the playground with her sister so I introduced myself.” He explained honestly. Voldemort looked thoughtful.
“Hmmm, yes. You have to be so careful these days. Muggles are everywhere, especially in London. She has a sister you say? And which house is she in?”
Sev froze. How was he going to get out of this one? And yet something told him that Voldemort already knew the answers to his questions and was merely testing Sev’s honesty. He decided that in this case being honest was the best possible course of action.
“My Lord, Petunia isn’t in Hogwarts. She is a Muggle.”
He spoke so quickly he wasn’t sure that Voldemort had heard him. He certainly didn’t seem to have reacted. He just stared at Sev for a few seconds.
“I see.” He said simply.

After a few more seconds of torturous waiting, Voldemort finally spoke again.
“Tell me about this other friend of yours. Krysta Hedwig? I know her Mother, did you know?” Sev’s heart almost stopped with relief. Voldemort was going to let Lily’s blood-status drop. He couldn’t believe it.
“No, my Lord, I did not know. Krys never mentioned it.” A bemused expression flashed across Voldemort’s face and was almost instantly gone.
“No. I suppose she wouldn’t. Tell me, are you and Krysta good friends?” asked Voldemort casually.
“Yes, my Lord. Besides Lily she is my best friend.” He replied and Voldemort smiled broadly.
“Excellent.” He responded, more to himself than to Sev. Sev twiddled his fingers slightly, not sure what else to say about Krys. He certainly didn’t want to mention the fact that Krys kept telling him to leave “the Club”. He didn’t have to, however.
“I very much wanted Krysta to join our little club, you know.” Voldemort told Severus, sounding sincerely disappointed. “Lucius tells me she has been quite awkward. Can you think why?” he asked. Severus thought for a short while before shaking his head.
“No, my Lord. I tried talking to her, but she won’t listen.” He said apologetically.
“No matter, Severus. Her Mother is as stubborn.” He said with a grin. “And besides, there is more than one way to crack a nut.” He added with a wink and Sev was startled, wondering what he meant.

Finally after several moments deep in thought, Voldemort looked at Sev with a hearty grin.
“Severus, my boy, I am so very glad you came here today. You know my resolve; my goals; the wonderful plans I have for our world. I would be proud to have you at my side in this fight.” He said, rising to his feet. Sev quickly stood up too and nodded politely.
“I would be honoured to serve you my Lord.” He replied sincerely. Voldemort clamped a hand on the boy’s shoulder and began to lead him from the room to the hall where Lucius and Bellatrix were waiting for them.
Both Bellatrix and Lucius bowed respectfully in the presence of their Master and Voldemort smiled at them both.
“Thank you, my dear friends, for bring Mr Snape to meet me. It has been a most enjoyable evening. I hope you shall come back and visit me again soon, Severus.” He announced and Sev nodded eagerly.
“Of course, my Lord.”
“Excellent.”


When the three youths had left the building Voldemort returned to the drawing room and sank into his armchair. He smiled to himself. Mr Snape was going to be a very useful asset indeed.

[Kitania Walker]

Part 23

The Marauders climbed jovially into their seats at breakfast. Sirius and Charlie were all over each other and Peter was listening to James talk about Maryjane. Remus, however, sat in silence, pushing his breakfast around his plate wistfully. He was not the only one. Lily too was making modern art of her grapefruit and staring at it sadly with a gentle frown. For a while this went unnoticed, so interested in each other their friends were. It was Sirius that called them out.
“What’s up with you two? You look like someone’s died!” he exclaimed with a slight laugh. He didn’t get the reaction he’d expected. Remus looked up horror stricken and white as a sheet and Lily took one look at him and burst into tears before running from the table.
“What did I say?” asked Sirius, sincerely baffled. Remus watched the redheaded girl disappear from the Hall and shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it, mate. Don’t think it’s your fault.” He said airily, staring at the spot when Lily had vanished with a frown on his face.
“She’s been acting odd since last night.” Commented Charlie and Diane looked up from her Cornflakes and nodded sadly.
“She wouldn’t tell us what was wrong, though.” She added. James looked towards the Hall entrance with concern on his face,
“Do you think she’s alright?” he asked quietly. “Should someone go after her?” he added as an after thought. Remus shook his head.
“No. Just let her be.”


“Euch, just look at them. What does he see in her anyway, she’s not even that pretty.” Mumbled Abi, spearing her bacon with her fork violently.
“What? Who?” asked Maryjane. She was staring at James with a slight smile on her lips.
Abi looked at her and shook her head.
“Love-struck. Completely love-struck, it’s disgusting.” She muttered in mock pity. Maryjane scowled at her.
“Shut up.” She said with a grin as her cheeks turned pink. Alice giggled and shovelled some cereal into her mouth.
“I was talking about my Sirius.” Abi continued. “What does he see in that girl? I really don’t get it.”
“Charlie’s ok.” Maryjane said casually before swallowing some bacon. Abi looked at her friend incredulously, and Maryjane recoiled from the look.
“What?!” she asked, defensively.
“You’re supposed to be on my side.” Abi told her crossly. Maryjane looked completely lost.
“On your side in what?” she asked, reaching for her pumpkin juice.
“The fight for Sirius!” Abi exclaimed loudly and dramatically, causing a few Hufflepuffs to look curiously in their direction.
“Sirius?” asked Maryjane, sounding confused. “But he’s going out with Charlie!” she said and even Alice shook her head and rolled her eyes.
“What planet are you on, Mary? That Potter’s stopping your brain from working. Sirius is going to break up with Charlie.” Abi announced firmly. Maryjane looked surprised.
“He is?” she asked looking over at the Gryffindor table where Sirius and Charlie looked far from planning to break up.
“Yes, he is.” Abi confirmed resolutely. Maryjane still looked confused.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because he’s going to go out with me instead.” Abi replied and Maryjane grinned.
“Ah…I see.” She said, finally cottoning on to what this was all about.

“And how do you plan to pull that off?” asked Maryjane as they walked to class. Abi looked at her like it was the stupidest question ever asked.
“Oh he’s way better off with me!” she exclaimed.
“Explain.” Prompted Maryjane with a grin.
“Well I’m smart, I’m pretty, I’m funny, I’m creative…”
“…Modest…” interrupted Alice and received a nasty look for her trouble. Maryjane chuckled.
“Yes, that’s all true, my dear, but how do you plan to a: split him and Charlie up and b: get him to notice you?” asked Mary, grinning at Alice over Abi’s head. Abi frowned.
“Both objectives can be dealt with in one way. If I get him to notice me, he will leave her anyway.” She announced.
“You seem very confident.” Alice commented with a raised eyebrow.
“Exactly! Boys are drawn to that.” Abi told them wisely.
“I thought it was girls that were drawn to confidence.” Alice whispered to Maryjane. Abi pretended not to hear her.
“Someone like Sirius likes that. He needs someone feisty and inventive. Someone who will keep him on his toes.” Abi explained, beginning to sound like a criminal mastermind.
“And you’re the girl for the job?” asked Alice. Abi grinned.
“Naturally.”

The three girls traipsed into Defence class laughing and not really paying attention to where they were going.
“Oomph, oh I’m sorry!” cried Alice in alarm as she crashed into someone. She looked at the ground in dismay as books went scattering everywhere.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry.” She wailed, dropping to the floor to start picking things up. A deep voice chuckled and she looked up in surprise. The boy she’d bumped into was smiling at her warmly. He dropped to his knee next to her and began helping to pick everything up. Alice was bright red in the face. She recognised the boy as a Ravenclaw student she shared a few classes with. He was quite tall and had very dark brown hair and brown eyes. Eyes that made her blush.
“I really am sorry.” She said again.
“You said that.” He said with a gentle chuckle and she laughed a little hysterically. Her face reddened even further. She was making a fool of herself! He must think her such a clutz.
“I’m just such a ditz at times!” She exclaimed in frustration.
“Don’t worry about it, please. No harm done.” He said kindly. She looked up at him and saw that he was still smiling at her. She swallowed hard. His eyes were so pretty.
She gathered up the last of his books and got to her feet, shaking her head at herself. What was wrong with her?
He joined her, still smiling and they swapped books so that they each had their own.
“I’m Frank by the way.” He said. She found herself smiling nervously at him.
“Alice.” She said. He smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, I know.” He said, his smile broadening. She looked at him in surprise as he turned and went to his seat, re-joining his friends. She stared after him her mouth slightly open in surprise.
Abi sidled up behind Alice and whispered into her ear.
“Well…it looks like someone’s made an impression.”



Later than night Remus went to the 7th floor corridor as arranged and stood outside the Room of Requirement staring at it nervously. Even though it was a blank wall, he was wary of what lay hidden behind it. Taking a deep breath he walked back and forth three times thinking:
“I need to get into Krysta’s training room.” as he marched. He almost didn’t expect it to work, but to his surprise a door appeared in the wall and he cautiously stepped forward and pushed it open.
As he entered he was met with a loud bang and a flash of light. Something on a table against a wall smashed into a thousand pieces and Krysta stood facing it, her face screwed up in concentration.
“What was that?!” he cried out and Krys turned to face him. Her initial shock turned to relief and happiness when she saw him. She grinned.
“That was ‘obliviate’” she informed him.
“Blimey. Is it meant to do that?” he asked, sounding nervous. She grinned even more and nodded.
“Yes…only I’m having trouble localising my attack. I can do it with my wand, but if I try without my wand…” she began and demonstrated the problem: she waved her hand in the air as though it were a wand and Remus cried out in surprise when the entire table blew up, taking a chunk of the wall with it.
“Ah.” Commented Remus. “Yes, I see the problem.”

Krys dropped onto a large cushion and sighed in frustration. Remus walked over to her and sat on an equally large cushion next to her. He just looked at her for a few seconds.
She chewed her knuckle for a little while staring at her knees.
“I just don’t seem to be able to get in under control.” She moaned softly.
“That was pretty scary” agreed Remus. She snorted.
“You should have seen what happened with my first wand. We never did find all the splinters.” She said with a grimace. Remus smiled gently.
“We really are a couple of freaks, aren’t we?” he said, taking her hand. She looked at him and smiled.

Remus stayed and watched Krys practise for hours. Having him there seemed to lift her mood and she revelled in showing off her skills. He couldn’t believe all the spells she knew; all the jinxes and defensive spells, many he’d never even seen or heard of. Her Mother had trained her well.
It made him sad, however, to know that in a few days when they left for Easter, they would not be able to spend time together. Krysta’s Mother was taking her back to Romania for training and he would not be able to see her. As it was, Krys trained 3 nights a week already. If he was honest with himself he was beginning to wonder how much time they would be able to spend together, especially since they had agreed to keep their relationship a secret. That would limit their time together even further since they couldn’t be seen together in public. What once seemed like a fun and romantic venture was soon turning into heartache, before it even got started.

He watched her as she let a trio of Hinkypunks out of a chest and began shining light on them from her wand. He watched as they froze and began swaying in a stupor. It made him chuckle.
However when she tried to do it without her wand both hyunans cried out in pain and the hinkypunks fell over as the light she created was so bright it nearly blinded them.
When the light had faded and their eyes had readjusted, she threw him a sheepish grin and he shook his head at her in amusement. She went back to her work and he watched her, studying her techniques, trying to learn the spells she practised. But his heart was heavy. And when at last they left the room and went their separate ways it was with a touch of sadness that he kissed her goodnight.

[Kitania Walker]

Part 24

The days leading up to the Easter break dragged on for most of the students at Hogwarts. For a select few they passed by all too quickly. But whether they liked it or not the last day of term arrived and it was time to go home.
For some this was exciting and inviting, for others it was boring, tedious and in some cases: terrifying.

James and the Marauders boarded the Hogwarts Express with a skip in their stride. They had three weeks of fun and relaxation ahead. Much to their delight everyone had been invited to The Potters for the holidays and they busied themselves discussing all the exciting and wonderful things they would do. To his joy, his Mother had said that Maryjane could come and stay too and bring some friends. He was so excited about the prospect of have all his friends and his girlfriend with him all holiday that the grin didn’t leave his face once throughout the journey back to London.

Others were equally happy about this arrangement. Amongst them were Maryjane and Abi. Maryjane was excited, but equally nervous. She’d never met James’s Mum and although everyone assured her that the lady was lovely, she still found it quite daunting.
Abi on the other hand had been walking around like the ‘cat who got the cream’ for days. Charlie was not going to the Potters as her parents had insisted that she return home. In Abi’s eyes, this made Sirius fair game.
Amongst the other guests were Alice, of course and James’s cousins Henry and Codi, who went to school in America. They all found this fascinating as the American Wizarding schools were completely independent from the European schools and they were all dying to hear what it was like.

Remus joined in the smiles and laughter on the train, but it took a lot of energy. A large chunk of his heart was elsewhere…far, far away on its way to Romania.
Krys on the other hand was quite focused. She’d resolved that the best way to make the time go faster was to throw herself into her training. She was looking forward to seeing her Mother and brother again. She missed them. And as much as she was going to miss him, she knew Remus would be back in England waiting for her when she got back.

Lily was going back home to London and was looking forward to seeing her parents and Petunia. Her sister had stopped writing to her recently and she was worried about her. Part of her was really going to miss being able to do magic, but the prospect of seeing her family again was more than enough to make up for it. Besides, she knew she’s probably bump into Severus whilst she was home, as they lived so close.

Severus was glum as ever. He hated being home. His Mother was constantly depressed and the house always a mess. In truth he knew he would spend most of his holiday cleaning up the house and looking after his Mother.
His only solace was that Lily had promised to meet up with him, and so he at least would not be alone all holiday. He hoped maybe they could talk a bit more. Things hadn’t been the same since he’d snapped at her the previous week and she had been avoiding him a bit. He wanted to explain, to make her see that he still cared for her as he ever had; that this did not affect their relationship. And it didn’t! Did it? No, Lord Voldemort hadn’t told him to stop seeing Lily, he hadn’t said a word. So it must be ok, right?
Lucius had also suggested that Severus would be seeing some of him during the holidays and that meetings would continue through the school break. This too excited him. Would he see Lord Voldemort again? Would he get his Dark Mark?
He thought about this all the way back to London, wondering what the holidays would bring.


Several hours later the Hogwarts Express pulled into Kings Cross. James, Sirius, Peter and Remus waved goodbye to their friends and hurried over to where Mr and Mrs Potter were waiting for them. James was instantly swept up in a huge hug by Mrs Potter, who kissed his cheeks with happiness.
“Darling you’ve grown again! Oh it’s so wonderful to see you. How are you boys, have you had a good term?” she asked with huge smile. The other three boys smiled back, each receiving hearty smacks on the back from Mr Potter.
“Yes, thanks Mrs Potter. James has been in all sorts of trouble, but I took care of it.” Sirius told them with a massive grin. Mrs Potter laughed gaily and Mr Potter roared with laughter, making Sirius grin even harder.
“I’m sure you did, lad, I’m sure you did.” Said Mr Potter with a sly wink. The other boys laughed as Mr Potter ruffled Sirius’s hair so that it looked very much like James’s.

William Potter looked very like James except he was slightly stouter and had a bushy moustache. He was so like James in temperament that Remus often wondered how his wife coped when they were both home. He was wonderful fun to be around, however and was always the first to make someone laugh.
Edie Potter was quite tall for a lady and wore her long brown hair up, held tight on her head with pins. Today she wore a lovely dark red skirt and jacket with a tilting hat to match. The ensemble suited her very nicely, complimenting her pretty face. Remus always thought she had the kindest face of anyone he had ever known. For Sirius she was the loving Mother he never had and she had a very special place in his heart.

“Come on then, boys, let’s get you all home and have some supper. Bill, dear you can talk in the car.” She told her husband with a bemused smile. He had been quizzing James about the Quidditch season and both Potter men looked up with a grin.
“Right you are, Mother.” Mr Potter replied, his old fashioned pet name for her making the boys giggle. He offered her his arm and she took it with a smile as the boys fell in behind them
.


James’s cousins came to stay from America two days later and their arrival was a very happy one indeed. As their carriage pulled up James rushed out of the house at top speed, full of excitement. The others watched from the front stoop as a pretty blonde girl climbed down from the carriage and greeted James with a hug and a grin.
“Wow, is that James’s cousin?” asked Sirius, sounding impressed. Remus rolled his eyes.
“You have a girlfriend, Sirius.” He reminded his friend, tiresomely.
“Doesn’t stop me looking.” Sirius hissed back. James’s cousin flicked her hair over her shoulder and they noticed that one streak of hair was bright pink.
“Look at her hair.” Whispered Peter. They’d never seen a hairstyle like that before.
“I like it, it’s different.” Sirius announced.
“Isn’t there a boy too? Where’s his other cousin?” asked Peter, sounding confused. No one got to answer. There was a loud, distant yelling sound that was getting continually louder and the sound of rushing wind met their ears.

“Look out below!” a voice shouted and out of nowhere a figure on a broom crashed headlong into James sending him flying to the ground. They both ended up tangled together in a heap on the front lawn, laughing their heads off. Finally the newcomer got to his feet and offered James his hand. James, still laughing took the boy's hand and pulled himself up.
“You gotta be faster than that, cous.” The boy told James, also still laughing. “Hey who are these guys?” he suddenly asked, spotting the others standing by the door.
“Henry, these are my friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Guys, this is my cousin Henry.” He said proudly. Henry laughed and stepped forward to shake all their hands. Sirius quickly stepped forward first, a huge grin on his face. He instantly liked this guy. He could see why James had been so excited.
Henry was taller than any of them, but from what they understood he was a year older than them. He had sandy crown hair that was far too long for him and a freckly nose. His skin was nicely tanned and his eyes were sparkling with mischief.
“Nice to meetcha.” He told them shaking each of their hands enthusiastically. “You must be the famous Marauders I’ve heard so much about.” He said with a wink. Sirius laughed.
“Infamous more like!” he exclaimed, which sent Henry into another peel of laughter.

The girl had been standing by the carriage this whole time, watching the spectacle like it was something she saw every day and was used to. She sighed deeply and began pulling a large case up towards the house.
“Here, let me get that.” Said Remus, seeing her struggling. He ignored the smirk Sirius sent his way and took the case from the girl who smiled gently at him.
“Thanks. It’s nice to see there are some gentlemen left in England.” She said with a disparaging look over her shoulder at James. James shrugged and grinned.
Remus carried her case inside to the hallway and she followed him.

[Kitania Walker]

Part 25

Krysta was having the dream again. She was surrounded by fire. Bodies lay everywhere on the ground, some of them screaming and writhing in pain. She looked about her in every direction.
“Do it, do it now!” she ordered to the boy who stood over her. He looked…it was James Potter, but he was older and his eyes…his eyes didn’t look right…though strangely familiar.
“I can’t!” he yelled through the crashing of masonry as it tumbled and fell to the ground. It was all coming down around them.
“You have to! If you don’t…if you don’t they’ll all die!” she shouted back. She barely recognised her own voice. It was deeper, urgent and full of resolve.
“I can’t, Krys…” He looked at her pleadingly. The hands that held the knife were shaking and tears were pouring down his face.
“Please?” she begged as a deafening roar surrounded them. They both cowered and the boy fell to his knees. They both looked around them in fear and then back to each other. She reached out and touched his trembling hands.
“This is your destiny. You know it deep inside. You have to kill me. Every moment, everything either of us has ever done has been leading to this.”
“I can’t.” he repeated beseechingly.
Their eyes locked, blue and green searched each other and each saw pain, fear and regret for what they knew had to happen.

“NO!” she screamed and everything: the fire, the deafening roars and dying bodies all slipped away in a split second.
She was dripping with cold sweat and her breathing was deep and laboured. Slowly her surroundings came into view and recognition set in. She was in her room. It was dark. And she was 12 years old. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, gripping the sheets in her small pale fingers so tightly her knuckles turned white.
She gasped when there was a gentle knock at the door. It opened a crack and a face peered around it.
“Krys?” asked a deep, male voice. She let out a sigh of relief as her brother Simon came into the room. He crossed the stone floor to her bed in the darkness and perched himself on the end of her bed.
“You ok?” he asked gently. She smiled at him in the darkness and felt her breathing slow down. He always had such a calming effect on her.
“Yeah…just a dream.” She said quietly. She heard him snort gently.
“I’ve grown up with you, Mum and Grams. There’s no such thing as just a dream with you.” He said softly and kindly. She chuckled and reached out for his hand. He squeezed her fingers reassuringly.
“Have you had it before?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She said, admittedly.
“How bad is it?” he asked, almost dreading her answer. She sighed.

Her eyes were beginning to become accustomed to the darkness and her brother’s features were beginning to become clearer. He was the spitting image of their Father: tall, blonde and handsome in that old fashioned manner. He had the kind of smile that melted you and you felt like everything was always going to be alright.
Simon was Krysta’s rock. Growing up in her family had always been hard. It often felt to her as though they were cursed rather than gifted. Death always seemed to be a part of their lives and danger was something they all just became used to. Kyla had always been open and honest with her family about everything, as had her own Mother: Kitania. Through the generations, the women of their bloodline had learnt that honesty was the best way to prolong the lives of the people they loved. Their own lifelines remained, sadly: short. Krysta grew up knowing this: knowing she was different, knowing that her life never going to be normal. It was easy to lose touch with reality. Simon was the one thing that kept her feet on the ground; that made her feel like a regular girl.

“It’s pretty intense.” She admitted. “Fire, destruction, death: the usual.” She said, forcing a casual tone. Simon smiled sadly. He watched his sister for a few moments and then stood up.
“Come on. You need some sleep. You know you’ll be up at the crack of dawn.” He instructed and Krys sighed grumpily.
“Yes, boss.” She grumbled, lying down and pulling her blanket up around her chin.
“Sleep tight, kid.” He whispered as he turned to leave.
“’night, Si.” she whispered back and he smiled to the darkness as he left her room.



“Ouch!” Krys shouted angrily as her Mother’s spell hit her in the backside. She glared at Kyla with pursed lips and muttered to herself.
“You’re not paying attention.” Kyla barked, also crossly.
They were duelling. Or at least that was the idea.
“You’re not giving me a chance!” Krys moaned in frustration.
“That’s the point! You have to be faster, you have to be ready and you have to expect the unexpected.” She lectured, sending three successive curses at her daughter who deflected two of them but let the third one past, hitting her on the shoulder. She cried out again and shot her Mother a vicious look.
“No point shooting daggers at me, Krysta, do you think your enemies will wait for you to be ready before they curse you? They will show no mercy or lenience and so neither shall I. I have to get you ready.” she explained firmly, sending two more hexes at Krysta as she spoke. Krysta deflected both of them: one of them directed straight back to her Mother. Kyla dodged out of its way just in time, but a grin spread across her face.
“That’s better, you nearly got me.” She said, a hint of pride creeping into her voice. Krys grinned in triumph and quickly sidestepped another hex.
“Good. Never let down your guard. Your enemy may use any diversionary tactic to put you off-guard. This could be taunting, telling you a long-winded story, over explaining themselves or even complimenting you.” Kyla explained. “Do not be distracted by anything they may say. Be ready for attack at any time.”
Krys deflected two more hexes and sent her own third hex after them. One hit her Mother’s forearm and Kyla cried out and then looked at her daughter with delight.
“Excellent.” She beamed.


“I’m having real problems with wand-less casting.” Krys told her Mother tentatively. They had stopped training for lunch and were sitting on a rolling hill covered in lush green grass and poppies. They were eating mangoes with their fingers and letting the juice get everywhere. Kyla licked juice off her fingers and wiped some off Krysta’s chin before looking down at her daughter thoughtfully.
“Yes, I thought you might be.” She said, quietly. Krys looked at her in surprise.
“I thought you’d be angry!” she said in shock. Kyla smiled and shook her head.
“No, dear, I was the same at your age.” She explained kindly and Krysta’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
“Really?” she asked in disbelief. Kyla nodded.
“But you’re always on at me to try and control it!” Krys cried out, almost accusingly. Kyla smiled guiltily at her her.
“I know…it’s just that it was such a shock to me when I finally got it under control. It all happened over night and then I got thrown head-long into a fight. It was quite disorientating and I suppose…I just wanted you to be prepared.” She looked at the ground and Krysta’s face softened as she watched her Mother. “I just wanted it to be easier for you.” She added and Krys reached out and touched Kyla’s hand. Kyla looked up and smiled, giving Krys’s hand a squeeze.
“The truth is…” she trailed off and an awkward, uncomfortable expression filled her face. “I never gained control over my power until I was called.” She explained hesitantly. Krysta’s face fell and she swallowed a lump in her throat.

What this meant was that Kyla’s powers had only come into control when her Mother had been killed and she’d taken her place in The Coven. That meant that Krys’s own powers would probably also remain erratic until Kyla died and that was something Krys didn’t even want to contemplate. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Krys drew herself up straight and stuck her chin out.
“Well then I’m just going to have to put up with it, then. I can fight well enough with my wand.” She said confidently and resolutely. Kyla looked down at her daughter and smiled softly, although her heart was almost breaking. She knew that the truth was so much harder. She knew that there were battles to come and not as far away as Krysta would have liked to pretend. The truth was Kyla didn’t know how long she had before someone had a lucky day, before she had one bad day. The women in her family rarely lived past 30. It was just the way it was.
But they had a sacred duty and right now hers was to prepare her daughter for the fight ahead of them. For it was coming. Oh yes it was coming. She could feel it in her bones. And deep down Krysta could feel it too.
Both women stared out across the Romanian countryside, their black hair flying elegantly in the wind. For several minutes neither of them spoke a word.

[Kitania Walker]

Part 26

Severus lay on his bed staring at the cobweb-strewn ceiling. Another smash from the kitchen below didn’t even make him flinch. He closed his eyes and signed. That was something else for him to clean up, then.
When he returned home the house had been a pigsty. His Mother had allowed the house to become completely run-down and dilapidated. She clearly hadn’t touched a duster in months and the kitchen had new species evolving in it. She had taken to what could only described be as a “liquid diet” and as a result her body had become as run-down and desolate as the house. There was barely a scrap of food left in the house and what was left was inedible.
Severus, unable to use his wand out of school had taken three days to clean the house from top to bottom and refill the fridge and cupboards with food. He was exhausted. And now as he listened to his Mother trashing the kitchen again he felt numb.

He jumped as there was a loud knock on the front door. He heard another crash from the kitchen and leapt to his feet.
“I’ll get it!” he yelled as he rushed from his room and down the stairs. He didn’t want his Mother answering the door in her state. He got to the door and was relieved to hear that she hadn’t even bothered to answer it herself. He opened the door and did a double take when he saw the visitor. It was a man dressed in a blue shirt and dark shorts with a red satchel flung over his shoulder. He was looking at an envelope in his hands uncertainly. He looked up as Sev answered the door and smiled uncertainly.
“Er…is this the Snape residence?” he asked hopefully. Sev nodded, without speaking. The man was clearly a muggle.
“Oh thank goodness.” Exclaimed the man. “I’ve been searching for your house, but the letter just said Snape residence, Spinners End. There’s no house number and er…” He trailed off peering curiously into the hallway. Sev pulled the door to, obscuring the man’s prying eyes. The man smiled guiltily.
“I’ve never delivered to this house before. Never even noticed it to be honest.” He added with a forced smile. Sev did not smile he just looked at the letter in the postman’s hand.
“Is that for me?” he asked coldly, sounding bored. The man seemed slightly taken aback, but smiled anyway.
“Er…oh yeah. Sorry. Here…” he began. Sev took the letter from his outstretched hand shut the door, leaving the bewildered muggle alone on the doorstep.


As he walked back into the hall his Mother was coming in from the kitchen. He looked at the state of her and sneered.
“Who was that?” she asked, sounding angry.
“Just the post, Mum. Don’t worry about it.” He said, making to up the stairs.
“Post don’t come the door, boy. Tell me who it was!” she barked, her voice slurring slightly. He scowled, not wanting to explain.
“It is the post. It’s for me, anyway. Forget about it.” He insisted and began climbing the stairs. His Mother obviously didn't care too much as he heard her wandering off into the lounge mumbling to herself.
“What’s wrong with a bloody owl, that’s what I‘d like to know.”

He ignored her and continued upstairs to his room where he threw himself onto his bed, his long hair falling down around his face. Lily kept telling him to cut it but Lucius said it looked better long. He turned the envelope over in his fingers and instantly recognised Lily’s writing. He smiled and his heart leapt a little. She hadn’t forgotten him after all. He’d been waiting for almost a week to hear from her.
He carefully opened the strange envelope that seemed to be sealed with some kind of glue rather than wax. He used a knife to slit it open, rather than ripping it.

My dearest Severus,

He stopped and re read the first line again, making him smile and a warm fuzzy feeling.

I’m sorry It’s taken so long to get a letter to you. I’d forgotten how long Muggle post can take. I hope your Mum wasn’t too shocked by the postman!
I really miss being at Hogwarts and being able to do magic, and I miss you of course.
It’s been lovely seeing my parents again, I’ve missed them whilst I’ve been away and I think they’ve missed me to. They keep wanting to go out to zoos or the cinema and things like that. They keep asking about school and magic; they seem really fascinated by it all. Not like Petunia. She’s been behaving very odd since I got home and she always says she has things to do when I want to spend time with her. I’ve hardly seen much of her at all to be honest. Do you think she’s still sore at being stuck in a Muggle school? I try not to talk about school too much around her because it seems to annoy her and she’s goes all quiet.

Have you heard from Krys at all? I haven’t had a letter yet, but I suppose running a Dragon Colony must keep her pretty busy. It would be great if we could visit her out there sometime, I’d love to see dragons!

Anyway, Mum says you can come for tea next Tuesday if you want. She says she’d like to see you again. I think she’s just glad that I made friends. She was worried that I wouldn’t because I was raised by Muggles. But I told her that it doesn’t really matter being a Muggle-born. I haven’t told her about You-Know-Who. It would scare her too much.

Write back and tell me if you can come to tea. It’d be great to see you!

Loads of love,
Lily


Severus gazed at the last line of her letter and smiled from ear-to-ear, his heart doing a somersault.
He quickly ran to his desk and pulled out a sheet of parchment and began writing his reply.


Dear Lily,

I really miss you too. I’m so bored at home; it’s horrible here. I wish we were back at school. I don’t think Mum even knows I’m here half the time.
I haven’t heard from Krys, but like you said she’s probably busy. I’m sure she’ll write to us both when she gets the chance.
I haven’t heard from Lucius either. I’m surprised; I was hoping there’d be a meeting soon. He said they were still having club meetings throughout the holiday, but I’ve not had an owl yet.

I’d love to come for tea! I love your Mother she was always so nice to me. Maybe we can meet early in the park like we used to...for old times sake.
Sorry to hear about Petunia, but she’s probably just jealous because she’s not special like you. I’d forget about her, it’s not worth being upset about.

What say I meet you in the park at 2 o’clock on Tuesday? I can’t wait!

All my love,
Sev.

He sealed the letter and went to the window.
“Herod!” he shouted loudly and a few seconds later an ugly large black owl appeared at the window looking decidedly annoyed at being woken up during the day.
“Take this to Lily.” He instructed as he tied the letter to Herod’s leg. Herod hooted miserably and flew off into the sky.

[Kitania Walker]

Part 27

Easter at the Potter’s was turning out to be a lot of fun. Their days were spent lounging around in the vast grounds, swimming in the nearby stream, playing Quidditch and eating copious amounts of ice cream in Fortescue’s.
Henry and Codi turned out to be fantastic company. Henry was a real hell raiser and spent most of his time brewing up schemes and pranks with The Marauders, the aim of their plans of course being the girls. They had learnt to check their beds very thoroughly before getting into them in case dung bombs or some other delight had been left for them. They had also taken to checking their drinks for signs of potion-tampering, their clothes for itching powder and they never sat down without first checking that their chair was firm, stable and not showing signs of bewitchment.

Codi was a real sweetheart and almost instantly fell in with Alice, Abi and Mary Jane, the four becoming very good friends. It was suddenly very sad that the pair would be returning to the States in a few days.
Remus had struck up a close friendship with Codi from day one. He found her honesty and sweetness refreshing and he often spent hours sitting with the girls just chatting and laughing whilst the other boys threw the Quaffle about on their brooms.

Mrs Potter seemed to sincerely enjoy having all the kids around and spent most of her time making lemonade, cookies, pumpkin pasties and anything else she could think of to lavish on them. In fact the girls were all quite worried about how much weight they might be putting on over the holiday, but they all kept so active that none of them seemed to gain a pound.

Abi was doing her absolute utmost to get close to Sirius and as time went on she actually seemed to be getting somewhere. Abi was a feisty little thing with a wicked sense of humour, which Sirius found quite refreshing. And the others were quite amused when he found her retaliating pranks amusing rather than annoying. The two seemed to have taken it upon themselves to shower each other with prank after prank, like it was a competition to see who could out-do the other. On more than one occasion they were caught smiling wickedly at each other across the dinner table, something Mary and Alice had definitely noticed. It was towards the end of the second week that they decided to confront her about it.

“So, Miss Abi…how goes operation Sirius-will-be-mine?” asked Mary with a cheeky grin. They were all sitting on Abi’s bed in the girls’ bedroom. Codi was drifting off to sleep in her own bed so they decided to pounce on Abi whilst they had the privacy. Alice chuckled as she laid herself on her stomach, supporting her chin in both hands. Abi gave them an evil smile.
“The beast seems to be taming, doesn’t he?” she asked in a victorious tone.
“I’d say you’d definitely got his attention.” Agreed Mary with a bemused smile.
“It’s like I said, I’m much better matched to him than that Gryffindor bimbo.” Abi announced in a derogatory tone.
“Charley’s not a bimbo, she’s just blonde.” Corrected Alice.
“It doesn’t matter, she’s totally wrong for him.” Abi insisted. Alice shook her head.
“Abi, that may well be but you’ve got to convince Sirius of that. I admit it does seem that he’s quite taken with you, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to forget all about Charley.” She tried to reason with her. Abi suddenly adopted a smug expression.
“He didn’t seem to be thinking about her much earlier tonight.” She said cryptically. The other girls opened their mouths in horror.
“What happened?!”
“What did he do?”
“Did he kiss you?”
“Oh my god!”
The cacophony of voices woke Codi and she stared at them all with bleary eyes.
“Who kissed you?” she asked sounding intrigued.
“Sirius kissed Abi.” May said excitedly and Codi jumped from her bed and bounced onto Abi’s.
“Spill it.” She ordered, her eyes dancing with excitement. Abi laughed at them all.
“We were out in the grounds collecting raspberries for Mrs Potter and we were laughing and trying to put berries down each other’s tops and he got me! I squealed and he tried to squash it beneath my shirt and I dunno…next thing I know he kissed me.”
The girls listened in complete silence, staring at their friend completely enthralled.
“Wow.” Codi finally murmured, breaking the silence.
“Is he going to break up with Charley for you, then?” asked Alice hopefully. Abi shrugged and looked down.
“I don’t know. I made it quite clear that kissing was something I was all up for when he suddenly just stopped and smiled at me. Then he just walked back to the house. He hasn’t spoken to me since.” She said sounding frustrated.
“Oh Abi.” said Mary softly.
“I bet he feels bad.” Alice suggested.
“Maybe he’s going to break up Charley before he kisses you again. You know so he can be yours properly.” Suggested Mary, hoping it was the truth.

“Enough about me, what about you?” Abi asked Codi changing the subject. Codi looked suddenly confused.
“What do you mean?” she asked nervously.
“Oh come on, don’t be coy. We see the way you and Remus look at each other.” Abi teased her.
“Oh yes, you two would be such an adorable couple.” Agreed Alice, gushing slightly.
“I agree, Remus is a really nice guy. Do you think you two will…you know…” prompted Mary bouncing on the bed slightly. Codi blushed and looked down, pushing her pink and blonde locks away from her face. A huge smile spread across her face and she shrugged.
“I don’t know…I really like him. But nothing’s happened. Sometimes I think it’s going to when he suddenly goes all quiet or distracted and changes the subject or suddenly decides he has to be somewhere else.”
“Boys.” Said Abi wisely. “Bless him, I bet he’s nervous. He obviously likes you.” She assured Codi and Codi blushed even redder.
“Maybe it’s because you’re going back to the States. Maybe he’s afraid of getting too attached to you.” Suggested Alice softly. Codi shrugged.
“Maybe.” She said, a hint of sadness slipping into her tone. “I’ll be back in the Summer though and it’s only a couple of months away.” She said, her voice lifting.
“You just have to make it clear that you like him!” advised Abi. “Then he won’t be afraid of you rejecting him.” She insisted. Codi looked thoughtful.
“Sometimes he just…it’s like I think he’s going to kiss me and then he gets this look in his eyes like he’s terrified or…I dunno he looks guilty.” She said in exasperation.
“Awww.” Gushed Alice. “He’s such a gentleman.” She sighed.