Chapter Seventeen
Lyla POV
To say that I was panicking would be a gross understatement. I was full on losing it, hysterical in my fear and adrenaline.
“Lyla, breathe,” Remus commanded me. “You need to breathe.”
“What if—what if that is why he attacked Hogsmeade!” I cried, mind racing too fast to be bothered with breathing. “It was a distraction so he could get the diadem!”
“Lyla,” Remus paced calming hands on my shoulders. “Think. Why would he want to get the diadem if it hasn’t been found for this long. He would just leave it.”
I couldn’t be deterred that easily. “Then he must have been after something else! Either way we have to get the diadem. Now.”
Remus grabbed my sleeve before I could dart away. “How would we find something that has been lost for centuries? And if it really is filled with Voldemort, why would we want to have it?”
“First of all, it is filled with him, and second of all, so he can’t have it back!” I cried, throwing up my hands. Why couldn’t he understand that this had to happen? “I got a clue from Helena.”
“Got a clue for what?”
I turned around to see James, Sirius, and Lily stand on the other and of the hall. James, who asked the question glanced at Remus.
“Are you both alright?” He squinted at us. “The attack is over. It was scary, but you’re safe now.”
“No!” I shouted, frustrated. Why could people just see that we weren’t safe? Once they accepted that we could actually do something about it.
Sirius raised his eyebrows at me. “Zemen, you’re looking at little stressed. Any chance I could massage your back while singing Bowie to you? Lily says it’s very calming.”
Lily glared at him. “I have never said that!”
I opened my mouth to yell at everyone to please just shut up for the love of Merlin, but paused. This was the Marauders I was talking too. If anyone knew a hidden location for a lost item it would be them.
“If you need to ask, you will never know. If you know, you need only ask.”
The entire group frowned at me.
“What?” James tilted his head to the side. “You’re not making any sense. Maybe Padfoot is right about the massage.”
I ignored him. “It’s a riddle for a location in the castle. Think you can find it?”
“Why?” Lily asked, but I could tell her mind was already racing for possible answers. I hesitated wondering if I should tell them the truth.
“A bet of course,” Remus answered. “I bargained that you wouldn’t be able to solve one of Lyla’s infamous riddles.” I looked at Remus gratefully.
“Well you’re on, Moony!” Sirius whooped. “We’ve totally got this! Right, Prongs?”
“Oh yeah!” James responded, high-fiving Sirius. “We got this in the proverbial bag. We’re gonna crush this. We are totally—“
“I think I know where it is,” Lily interrupted.
“You’re a genius,” James threw his arm around her. “I adore you.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “I haven’t even said the answer yet.”
“We’ll go on, Lilypad,” Sirius urged. “Do tell.”
“Remember that date we had at the beginning of the year?” Lily asked, and James nodded. “There was a room on the seventh floor that you could ask to become something and it would.”
“Yup,” James said. “The room of requirement. See? You are a genius.”
I glanced at Remus, eyes wide. He nodded his head slowly in agreement. I took off down the corridor, sprinting at full speed.
“Why are we running?” Sirius panted from behind me.
“I dunno,” James responded, gleefully. “Maybe it’s a timed thing or something.”
I ignored them, barreling up flights of stairs and pushing past other students. I wasn’t fully sure why I was so anxious to find it, but the thought of some with Voldemort inside it laying around the castle in a room James and Lily had dates in was rattling. Remus seemed to feel the same way as he kept pace with me.
By the time we reached the seventh floor we were breathless and tired, but I faced the empty wall anyways.
“Did we make it in time?” Sirius gasped, his hands on his knees.
“What should we ask?” Remus questioned, looking at me through his long bangs and shrugged and looked at the bare stones again, feeling foolish.
“Can you, um, show me where, um, a place where lots of…things are hidden?” I asked, pretending my blush was from all of the running.
“No, here’s how you do it,” James said, stepping forward. He began pacing in front of the wall. He’d gone three times back and forth when the stone started to vibrate.
From the wall emerged a large, wooden door, changing from beige to black as it turned different textures. I gasped and glanced at Remus.
He had the nerve to wink at me and I stifled a giggle.
“So did we win?” James asked, bowing and looking supremely happy with himself.
“Sure,” Remus said as I stepped forward.
“Oh,” Lily frowned. “Are you actually looking for something?”
I didn’t respond, instead reaching out with both hands to grasp the large brass hoop acting as a door knob. I pulled and it swung open with surprising ease revealing rows and rows of shelves piled high with what only could be described as junk.
“I sure hope they’re not,” Sirius said. “‘Cause that would be a pain.”
“Remus?” Lily asked, when it became clear I wasn’t going to answer any of her questions. “What are you looking for?”
Instead of responding, Remus slowly stepped into the room. He froze, muscles taught and eyes glinting with alertness. It was almost as if I could see the hairs on his back standing up. In all fairness, he looked the most like a wolf than I had ever seen him before.
Remus lifted his chin, eye dilating to pinpricks, and sniffed the air.
Remus POV
Remus hated being a werewolf more than anything. He did everything in power to shove down the wolfish instincts that came with his condition. Besides the heightened smell, sight, and hearing, he could pretend he was human for twenty seven out of thirty days in a month.
But there was another part of being a werewolf, one that he rarely mentioned and never used. The truth was, Remus was classified as a dark creature. Dark magic pumped through his veins.
At least, that was what the ministry always said. Remus had, after years of being surrounded by loving and supportive friends, begun to believe that all of the rumors about darkness and evil being in his bones was just that: rumors.
Remus could now longer believe that now.
As soon as Lyla opened the door, it was like all his senses were screaming at him.
There is darkness. There is power. There is evil. You know me, and I know you.
Remus gasped and stumbled backward. Lyla grabbed his elbow and James caught him from behind.
“You alright, mate?” Sirius sounded alarmed. I turned to Lyla, quivering in James’s arms.
“You were right,” I gasped. “It is filled with him. It oozes of him.” I swallowed my throat bobbing.
“Sirius, close the door,” Lyla’s voice was firm with an underlying current of fear.
“No! Wait!” I cried, flinging myself forwards to stop Sirius. “We have to find it. With my senses we can find it.”
“No, Remus, it's hurting you,” Lyla insisted.
“It’s not! I was just startled,” I said. “Come on! If Voldemort gets this…we just have to get it first.”
James grabbed onto the back of my robes. “Wait! What is going on?” I froze, recognizing his ‘mom’ voice.
“Explain. Right now,” James stuck a finger in my face. Lyla nudged me out of the way.
“Ravenclaw’s diadem,” Lyla said with more confidence than I had. “It’s filled with Voldemort.”
There was an awkward silence and her statement settled in the air. Finally, Sirius spoke, his face pale with…dread perhaps?
“What do you mean filled?” His voice wavered.
Lyla shrugged. “We’re not sure. We only know that it’s very, very bad.”
James straightened his spine.
“Right then,” he said confidently. “Bad things shouldn’t be in Voldemort’s hands. Let’s go get that diadem!”
James strode into the room and stopped.
“Someone’s going to have to tell me what a diadem is. I have know idea what I’m looking for,” he admitted.
“A crown,” Lily said, entering the room after him. “Look for a crown.”
I stepped inside as well.
“Follow me,” I glanced around the room trying to pinpoint where the darkness was coming from. “I think I might be able to find it faster.”
Lyla took my hand and squeezed it, giving me the courage I needed to start off down one of the ails. We passed statues and cymbals, furniture and fencing, and even a hoard of pixies before I stopped, peering at a table piled high with rope, candles, and a small wooden box.
“There,” I pointed at it. “But I don’t think it’s best if I get closer.”
Lyla stepped forward, fearless. She pulled out her wand and gave it a short wave, gloves appearing over her hands. She reached for the box and picked it up. The darkness became almost tangible.
“Yup,” I squeaked. “That’s definitely it.”
Lyla slowly cracked open the lid. Inside a blue and silver diadem rested. I held my breath as she picked it up, gloved fingers brushing against the eagle formed by silver on the front of the crown.
The darkness dissipated slightly, becoming exponentially more bearable as if the object was pleased to have been found.
Sirius shivered. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Way ahead of you,” Lyla responded, shutting the box with a click and setting it back on the table.
“Just in case anyone keeps tabs on it,” she said, tucking the diadem into the folds of her robes. I reached out and grabbed her hand as we darted back out of the shelves.
Lily and James reached the entrance first holding open the door as we dashed out into the corridor. They closed it with a bang, gasping for breath. My nerves jangled as adrenaline pumped through my veins.
“What on earth are we now going to do with that?” Sirius asked, pointing at the diadem, half in fear and half in disgust.
“Well, it can’t stay with you lot,” said Lyla, who was leaning against the wall, panting. “I don’t want Remus to react to it again.”
“I don’t think I will,” I argued, but Lily was shaking her head at Lyla.
“So, what? Your solution is to just throw this dark, evil object under your bed until you can figure out what it is?” She asked, throwing up her hands. “That’s so stupid on so many different levels.”
“No,” Lyla pulled herself up. “There’s a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw in my common room with a fake diadem on her head. I’ll simply replace it with the real one and no one will be the wiser.”
“Okay that’s not actually that bad of an idea,” James admitted. Lyla pointed at him in victory.
“Alright,” I relented, raising my hands in surrender. “Lyla will keep the diadem until we find out what it is.”
“Until then,” Lyla said, scanning the group. “No one says anything to anyone. Understand?”
The Marauders and Lily nodded under her glare.
“Alright,” Lyla started off down the hallway, and I followed her. “Thank you for your help.”
I wondered if this was what Lyla was like when she was working on a project or finding a solution to a particularly challenging problem, her Ravenclaw wit shining through. I found it ridiculously attractive.
I leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Okay, Brains. What’s next?”
Regulus POV
Winter break had been like something out of my worst nightmares. Everything hurt. My heart, my soul, my arm where I could still imagine the sting of the tattoo. I hadn’t slept in weeks, except when my body would finally give in to exhaustion in the library and I’d wake to find my face sticking to the pages of some ancient book.
It’s not like I was ever into T-shirt’s before but now I made extra sure my long sleeves were never pushed up, always carefully buttoned at my wrist. I triple checked the door was locked when I showered too.
My roommates would probably be thrilled if they found out what had happened to me but I didn’t need them gossiping and bragging to the house about it. Better to stay discrete. I hadn’t gotten a letter from home since I’d been back which was honestly a blessing.
Now that I’d done what I was supposed to do and brought honor and attention to the House of Black my mother and father had no more need of me until the next order that involved me came around. For now, it was enough that I had been inducted. That I had been obedient.
And I would continue to be obedient, while it suited me. Continue to submit, and acquiesce, and grovel like the rest of them until the opportune moment. The nightmares I woke up screaming from weren’t the only things I was avoiding on those sleepless nights. I was also avoiding idleness. Time was my most valuable asset right now. Time and discretion.
Iris POV
I didn’t leave Mel’s side for the week that she recovered in the hospital wing. On day three, she finally became conscious again and I had cried onto her bed in relief. On day five, I dared to ask Madam Pomfrey when the scars would heal and her normally stern expression had softened slightly.
“They won’t, dear,” she told me, then whisked off to see to the other students.
They won’t? What did that even mean? Magic could heal anything, right? Apparently not.
I meandered back to Mel’s bedside still in a daze. She caught my eye and by the expression on her face I could tell she had overheard. She didn’t look sad though, she simply asked, “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course,” I told her.
“Why don’t you flinch when you look at me? I’ve watched you carefully and you never do.”
I was taken aback. ”I guess I’m just so grateful you’re here, looking at me in the first place that I don’t mind them,” I told her.
“Do you think they’re ugly?” she asked, unabashedly.
I cocked my head, pondering. “Not ugly, exactly. They’re striking for sure. But they almost make your face more… intriguing.”
She cracked a smile at that.
“You’re too nice for your own good,” she said, shaking her head. “They’re striking,” she mimicked.
“I’m telling the truth!” I exclaimed, indignant. ”And striking isn’t bad!”
“What, I wasn’t striking before?” she asked, trapping me. Her smile pulled tight at the ridges criss crossing her face.
“You know you were,” I said, rolling my eyes and grinning. And Merlin, it felt so good.
“There goes my love life, I guess,” she said, a bit wistfully.
“Don’t be so sure,” I countered. “More people have scars than you think. Especially these days.”
She reached out to take my hand and I gladly gave it to her. It was true, I didn’t flinch at the rough lines that brushed my palm. I just gripped her hand tighter.