Friday 12th July 1978
Pandoras pov-
The first meet up at her safe house was meant to be last week.
But after the whole hassle regarding the boys’ first mission, James panic attack and Regulus’ moment, they decided to wait until the following week to get everyone together.
Queue everyone arriving at her house for Regulus’ mandatory ‘training sessions’ and check-in meeting.
After the events of the chamber he became very focused on everyone learning how to properly perform wandless and wordless magic, and now, with more than just him attempting to infiltrate Voldemort’s circle, he wants the group to learn occlumency.
So, it’s not for her to push Regulus further than she already has, and as a result they will all be entertaining his desires for this meeting, she will ensure it.
And it’s not just because she is happy to spend more time getting to know a certain red head.
“Ok, it’s not that hard, I don’t know why you’re all struggling.” Regulus huffed out after his 3rd attempt of trying to teach wandless magic to the group, and so far only Pandora has managed to perform the simple accio they are working on, with Lily being the only one who has gotten it to move slightly.
Needless to say, in Regulus’ eyes, they’re all failing.
“Maybe cause we actually had lives in school Reggie, we didn’t spend our time focusing on unnecessary spells.”
“Pads-“ James tries to stop his friend, only to be cut off by the other brother.
“Unnecessary, really?” Regulus scoffs again, his eyes rolling so far back into his head James looks away, “I would’ve thought your little band of marauders would’ve loved wandless spells, ‘what’s that professor, you think I hexed snivellus, nope, I don’t even have my wand on me, see?” he mocks, staring his brother dead in the eye.
“He has a point.” Lily states, a badly concealed smile on her lips that pushes one onto Pandoras own.
“Yeah he does.” James smiles, and Sirius just roles his eyes at the whole group.
“Look, let’s just go again, I can do this easy, I just wouldn’t want to show you guys up.”
“Fine, brother, go again.”
So Sirius lifts his wand hand towards a book in the corner of the room.
“Without raising your hand, idiot.”
“Why-“
“The whole point of wandless magic is to hide that your doing it.” Regulus scowls, most likely fed up of teaching them all as if they’re toddlers.
“Well no, If my wand gets taken, it’s about defending yourself.”
“Yes, and the element of surprise is good. That wont happen if you’re sticking your arm out like an idiot.”
“Fine.” Sirius huffs again, turning back to face the book, this time pointedly dropping his arm to his side.
He focuses a bit more this time, Pandora can see it, the furrow in his brows, the scowl set on his face that she is so used to seeing on her best friend that she is now learning to attribute to just the Black family as a whole.
This time the book does fly towards Sirius.
Along with two others, and with such force the boy ends up ducking as a crashing sound rings out behind them.
“Sirius!” Regulus yells again.
“Well I did it.”
“You’re using your emotions, that’s dangerous.”
“Well if I’m trying to defend myself against those shits I’m happy to be dangerous.”
“Yeah well what if James is bleeding out, you’re captive, they have your wand, you need to save his life, stem the bleeding. You think throwing energy at him is going to save him or kill him?”
“That’s not-“
“What, not plausible?” Regulus asks, stepping forward, his frustration etched clear ont his face, “If James hadn’t showed up that day in the chamber, I would’ve died, Pandoras wand had broken, explosive energy would’ve killed me quicker. You cannot be dependent on your emotions.”
“Reg-“ Sirius starts again, expression broken.
“No, this isn’t a pity party. It’s a reality check. Reign in your emotions and try again.”
“Fine.”
They all watch for a moment as Sirius goes back to his practice before Regulus is snapping again.
“Well, the rest of you can practice too.”
“Reg!” and it’s a new voice this time, Lily.
She watches as the two glance at each other, Regulus rolling his eyes, before huffing out an apology that has Lily smirking.
“Fine, please practice now.” He tries again, a forced smile on his face that is looking more like a grimace, but it seems to please Lily none the less.
“I’ll help Lily.” Pandora offers, being the only one who has successfully cast the first spell.
“But don’t you want to try more complex spells?” the red head asks, looking at her, concern in her gaze that makes Pandoras heart flutter at the acknowledgement of compassion.
“Yeah, but I’m stuck in a house, it’s more important that the people on the field get help.”
“Yeah that’s-” Lily smiles brightly, before it falters slightly, her own voice cutting off as she turns to look at James.
“I’ll help James, and my idiot brother can handle himself for a minute I’m sure, his emotions getting in check probably wont work if I’m breathing down his neck.” Regulus offers, only appeasing the girl once he has moved into their space and out of Sirius’ ear shot for his admittance.
“James huh?” Pandora asks, a cocky smile on her face at the use of the other boys first name.
He’s said it before of course, when the other boy was in the middle of a panic attack, but whether or not people see it, she knows Regulus has a heart, and he would’ve said anything in the moment to help.
But apparently, in the week he’s been gone it’s become a habit.
When she gets no response other than a glare, Lily cuts in.
“What about Barty and Evan?” she asks, the three of them turning in sync to watch where the two boys are firing spells at each other back and forth, wincing and laughing, clearly ignoring the no wand rule.
“I have an idea for them,” Regulus grins, turning back to watch the two, “but why don’t two go practice in the kitchen for a bit, it might help Lils if she’s away from this chaos.”
“Ok.” Pandora smiles, grabbing Lily by the arm and pulling her out of the room.
“Eager are we?” Lily asks, a light laugh on her lips as she looks down to where Pandora is gripping her arm, causing Pandora to let go of it quickly when she sees the crease on the other girls head.
“Sorry i-“
“No it’s fine, i-“ she pauses, and looks up to catch Pandoras eye, “I don’t mind.” She offers with a smile.
They watch each other for a moment, matching smiles on their faces before Lily looks away, glancing to the soap dispensers on the other side of the room. “Should I try get them?”
“Huh?” she switches her glance to the other side of the room, following the green eyed gaze, “Oh yeah, that’ll work. If you mess up at least we’ll be clean.”
She doesn’t get a reply to that, just a soft laugh, the girls not looking away from the soap across the room.
“Ok…” she pauses, breathes, “accio.”
Nothing happens, the bottle shakes a little, jerking around as if an invisible force is pulling at it.
The same way it moved earlier, taunting, but not actually moving.
“I don’t get how- ugh!” the other girl spins on the spot, frustration spreading across her face before she pulls to an abrupt halt again, glaring at the bottle.
A breath, “Accio.”
The same thing.
“Lils-“
“No I’ve got this.” She ignores Pandoras gaze, eyes only for the bottle, and tries again.
“Accio.”
Same thing.
“Lils-“
“No, accio.”
“Lily!” she raises her voice ever so slightly to ensure the other girl hears it over the rushing in her head, and she watches as Lily whirls around to look at her.
“What?”
“Breathe. The soaps bubbling, you aren’t Sirius.”
That, at least, pulls a soft laugh from the red head. One that sends another spasm to Pandoras heart, skipping another beat in some kind of eagerness, desperation to pull the laugh from the girl again.
She’s just so beautiful. She wants to trace the lines on her face, watch it as it moves through her emotions. Try to freeze it on the happy ones.
The lovely ones, the ones that cause that laugh, that make Pandoras heart skip beats.
So uncomfortable, but a feeling she wants none the less, because it means Lily.
She doesn’t know when she got so, absorbed, with the girl.
But she saw her with Reg, saw this beautiful girl, this muggleborn, give Regulus a chance.
And she knew, if nothing else, she would always love her for that.
That open heart, despite everything, in a girl with such a fierce fire.
And really, she only kept seeing the other girl in a glowing light since.
“No, I am not Sirius.” She laughs, “I don’t know how I do this.”
“Just- can i?” she gestures to the girls arm, where she had been gripping It earlier, and grabs it again when Lily nods.
“What do you feel?”
“Your arm?” Lily laughs again, confusion and something else washing her features.
“Yeah,” she lets out another laugh and Lily smiles, causing this tingling feeling to wash over her again, a hope that maybe Lily feels the same joy light her up whenever Pandora laughs too, “but what, my fingers, warmth, a pulse?”
“They’re soft.” The other girl offers quietly, “Like you use moisturiser, and you’re grabbing stronger with your pointer finger, the ring fingers grip is a bit weaker. Your hairs brushing over it too, so,” she pauses, glancing up at her softly, before looking away and Pandora mourns the loss, “I feel that too.”
“Yeah, what spell where we doing?” Pandora asks softly, eyes still lingering on the other girl.
“Accio?”
And just like that, a strand of Pandoras hair lifts up and pulls towards Lilys face, brushing her cheek.
They both freeze for a moment before pulling apart laughing.
“Well, that certainly wasn’t a soap bottle.” Lily laughs, averting her gaze.
“No, but I washed my hair before you arrived, maybe you sensed the soap on it.”
Another soft laugh fills the air, an awkward one, but it’s less strained. “Maybe that was it.”
“I think,” Pandora offers again, “Regulus was right, in sending you out of the room that is. You were too distracted, you kept seeing the threats of what will go wrong if we fail, who is at risk if you fail, and it stressed you out. I’m safe, I’m hidden, I’m not at risk, so I’m not a threat to you. You could calm down-“
“I think you’re just calming actually.” The other girl offers quickly, like she forced it off of her tongue.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I think it was just you.”
When they finish practicing, they get back to the other room where chaos has clearly ensued based on the way the boys are snickering and Regulus looks about ready to kill someone, or himself.
His usual state to be fair.
“Why does it look like a Zoo has rampaged through here?” Lily asks, scoffing with a smile spreading slowly across her face as she takes in the boys in front on her.
“Because these people are a bunch of animals.” Regulus spits, rolling his eyes and spinning around again so he can face them all head on, “Legilimency, get in a line and organise your minds, Sirius.” He jerks his head forward, indicating his brother to go first.
“Legilimens.” And they all watch as Sirius face goes blank, almost as if nothing is happening. But for Sirius, that in of itself it odd.
“Next.” Regulus calls out clinically when he clearly pulls out of his brothers mind and turns to James despite Barty being the next in the queue, “James.”
She watches as the other boy squeezes his eyes shut, preparing, his knees shaking for the few minutes Regulus is in his mind.
When he pulls out, he gives James another glance, a second longer than usual before glancing to Barty, muttering “Better.” Slightly under his breath, ready for the next mind to investigate.
He works his way through the two boys and Lily before turning to Pandora.
“Ready.” She smiles at him softly, getting a small smile back and then they tune out of the people around them, Regulus delving into her mind.
She immediately gets a zoom in on the clutter of her mind.
It’s almost like a junk pile, except it smells like a garden, like a salty sea, like the world after rain, and morning dew.
Everything clean. Everything colourful, bright pastels littered everywhere.
It’s all piled up, all piled high, so much so looking for a memory is essentially a needle in a haystack.
She can feel the annoyance ripple through her mind, passing over from Regulus’ as she watches the pile of her things shake slightly, almost like a small animal running through it, scouring, but too small to be seen.
She watches as things get run over and retraced, watches as the piles reorganise themselves second by second as if hurricanes keep running through, moving the memories, so Regulus has to start from scratch again.
She feels the annoyance ripple through her mind once more as her mind re-shifts again.
But this time it’s intertwined, a feeling of pride coursing through her.
And as Regulus pulls out of her mind, they exchange a soft smile, an incline of a head in conceit, and turn back to the rest of the group.
“Right that was pathetic.” Regulus complains, ready to drill them all again, and Pandora just laughs.
Lily-
“I literally did it!” Sirius protests immediately.
“You’re crediting James-“ Barty cuts in.
“None of this is good enough,” Regulus complains immediately, “Barty, Evan and Lily are practically letting me into their minds. James is better, but still not there. Sirius mostly has it, but that’s fighting me. Keeping me out needs to be muscle memory if you want a chance against him. Pandoras mind is a mess, which is… actually good.” He admits, though it seems slightly begrudging.
“So what do you want us to do?” Lily asks softly, watching him intently, trying to figure out what’s going on in his mind. She knows she didn’t do a good job keeping him out, it’s like the stress of it all was just making her mind more open. Bringing the memories that need to be hidden the most to the surface because they’re the most stresfful.
And she can see it’s working them all up.
“We just- need to start over.”
“Well how do you do it?” Barty asks, eyeing up the other boy as Evan tags on.
“Yeah, it might help.” Evan offers, backing up the other boy, neither of them looking away from Regulus still.
“I don’t-“ Regulus starts, before seemingly looking into all of their eager faces and caving, “I drown, I grew used to the sensation as a child, so it’s realistic and a memory in it’s own right, making it more distracting. Sirius-“
She watches as he glances to his brother, seemingly looking for approval which he gains through a slight nod, “he suffocates himself, it’s simple, and usually, that isn’t good, but, it was a natural legilimency response. When he chose to fight, it wasn’t thought out and pre-planned, it was instinct, and an instructional, experienced memory shield, it is incredibly strong, which is why he would have it work for him, and not you if you tried.”
“So….” Barty asks?
“So, it needs to be catered to you. If I asked you to hide something in a house, you could find the best hiding spot, but the best spot, the best option is catered to everybody. So it’s not the best. Everyone with a bit of skill could easily find it, because that was what they were taught to look out for, taught to dismantle. It needs to be inherently you. give you enough time to confuse them when they weren’t expecting it, use that time to grow your shields and get used to them in your mind, find their weaknesses. And preferably, make your mind something the someone you’re hiding from doesn’t know about you.”
“What should we try then?” Evan asks this time, and Lily looks to him. A boy who looks so similar to his sister, and so different in the same glance.
She wonders how one could pick this all up so easily, and the other with such difficulty. Is it because of what Pandora said? She’s hidden, so there’s no threat, no pressure to get it right?
But Lily meant what she said too, she knew of the threats, but Pandora felt so comfortable, she managed her first fully successful piece of wandless magic.
And what was that? Why could she feel such comfort in this other girl. Why did it feel like her magic was drawn to her, it was a competition, but for the first time she didn’t feel envy towards her competitor, but longing.
For what she doesn’t know. it’s almost like her magic wants the other girl.
“Well, ideally, you would come up with your own spaces in your minds, the less people that know the more secretive.”
“But, seeing as we’re all incompetent?” Evan offers with a smirk, and Regulus merely rolls his eyes before pulling them off to the side one at a time to tell them how to conceal their minds in a way most effective for them.
It’s a moment like this where Lily realises just how much Regulus knows everyone in this room, everyone even partially in the loop.
He seems to be the common denominator.
He’s the reason James, Sirius, Barty, Pandora and Evan are all doing what they’re doing.
Lily left Dumbledore for Remus, but she joined this mission the second she knew Regulus had a plan, knows Remus joined him with little to no doubt as well.
Lily may be a leader, but of this particular group, Regulus is pulling all the strings.
Even with her other friends, the ones not involved, she is leading them, Regulus is leading her.
Regulus is in control of, everything.
An unlike Dumbledore, unlike Sirius or someone else leading a study group, she’s completely comfortable in following his guidance.
“I think a library would suit you well.” Regulus offers when he pulls her off to the side.
“Is that not too simple?”
“For my brother maybe, for James. But you could map out every nook and cranny of a library, find hiding places that people wouldn’t even think to exist. You can make it complicated. Each genre is a category of memory. Each bookmark indicates a memory, but is actually hiding the real one in itself. The spines of books, the annotations.”
“Right.”
“I don’t want you to tell me what’s what. I don’t want you to tell anyone. But if anyone knows you in a library, it’s me and Remus. If I can’t get in, you’re good.”
“Ok.” She offers again, not providing much with her words as her mind starts to whir through different possibilities, ways to hide it all.
“And when it comes to you, you are smart, everyone knows this, even him, with his pureblood mania, he would know you’re a threat in a second. So you need to offer things up, things you wouldn’t want him to have, anyone to have. You need to make it look like you’re trying to hide things, that you’re doing so well. But with just enough clarity that the person looking can find everything. And then, when they think they have everything, they won’t see the rest.”
“Got it.”
“Ok, so take a minute-“
“No,” she protests immediately, she wont have a minute to prep in the field, she wont have one now, “no, do it now.”
“Lily-“
She fixes him with a glare, his voice cutting off as they talk.
If there’s one thing she knows how to do, it’s take control.
Regulus may be the one holding them all together, but she can gain control in a second. And she knows Regulus admires her for it, even as he smothers a smile.
“Yeah, ok.” He concedes this time, and they lock eyes as Regulus delves into her mind.
When he enters her mind is everything is dark.
She didn’t know what to do last time, didn’t know exactly how one shields their mind from intruders when it’s never been something she has had to figure out before.
But with a plan, it’s a lot easier.
She focuses on the moonlight pouring in through the window, a crescent moon that gently lights up a desk with three chairs, high bookshelves surrounding them everywhere.
The light glimmers across her chair, and she feels her presence settle into it, watching the bookshelves, waiting for the sign of entry in her mind.
Regulus is quiet and precise, noting his presence in the room is hard.
It’s almost a waiting game.
Watching him delve into the others minds, it seemed rough, hard, the recipient shaking under his focus.
When it came to Pandora, it was more as though Regulus was the one to struggle, his face twisting slightly in concentration.
But this time?
It is equal focus, a chess game, waiting patiently for the next move, never knowing when it may come, an endless amount of time.
Moves may be brutal, but the pieces move with eloquence as the owners simply watch.
Chess is about planning, yes.
But it’s also about reaction, and though she knows she can’t see Regulus the way he can see her, she can feel his presence, she made the library eerily calm, still.
And no matter how quiet the other boy is, she can always find him in a library.
She stays perfectly still, freezing the time of her mind, not a cloud outside is moving, nor is her presence shifting, no indication given of where to look, as she simply stares ahead, waiting for the other move to be made.
She hears a rustle at a bookshelf behind her, whipping her focus around to focus on the movement that has since stilled.
It was a test, to assess panic entering her mind.
She knows that now, and she calms herself, thinks of the book that had moved, lets her mind wander through the plot.
Lets Regulus know she isn’t reacting because of threat, but because she is simply going to follow him.
Track his movements.
Her eyes will only give way to what he is looking at.
She is making an exchange.
Regulus has to give her something, show himself, what books, what parts of her life he deems important, if he wants access.
She knows she is giving more, but it’s still an exchange.
Trying to neutralize the threat.
Keep control of the middle of the board.
She watches as he flits through book by book, flipping to the ones with bookmarks, inspecting them, inspecting the spines, all the advice he gave her that he uses to try and find his way into her mind.
She keeps her mind focused, ignoring where she hid is all, letting her mind focus on book title by book title, the plots, the characters, keeping her mind focused on anything but the things to be revealed.
This goes on for a while, a true chess game going and going, a stalemate of revelations but none too dangerous.
Eventually he makes his way over to the table, looking across the seats and the desk, and she flips her mind to memories of sitting here with Regulus and Remus, switching her focus between the boys as he switches his focus between the chairs.
He feels along the top, looks under the table, and when he still finds nothing, she finally feels him pull out of her mind.
“Well?”
And she turns her head to look to the blonde off to the side, watching them both with concern before she flips her gaze back to Regulus.
“It’s good.”
They go for a while longer before Regulus leads the 4 of them to another room, leaving Evan and Barty behind to focus on their wandless magic, having moved them to the garden and adding more wards to try and prevent extra damage being placed on Pandoras house.
When they all slip into the library, he throws up a quick silencing and eavesdropping charm before turning to the 4 of them, his face having fallen back into a blank slate.
“Reg?” James’ concerned voice cuts through.
“We’re going after the first horcrux next Sunday.” His tone is clipped, to the point, leaving little room for argument, but that’s never stopped the group of them before.
“Reg, don’t you think-“ his brother tries to cut in this time.
“No, we can’t keep waiting, every second we do, more people are dying, I’ve only been waiting to go to the cave for when we have an opportunity, and we have one.”
“Isn’t that the day of the attack?” James tries again, confusion crossing his features, but Lily switches her gaze back to the other boy.
“Attack, what attack?”
“That’s what I need you for,” Regulus supplies to her, “There is going to be an attack at the quidditch game, they want to cause a scare, Barty and Evan are going, but he still wants me on potions, and enough people volunteered that James and Sirius were able to get away this time without volunteering.”
“Ok.” Lily nods, her mind already whirring through the plans.
“Send Remus-“ Regulus starts, pausing himself for a second as he watches Sirius open and shut his mouth, seemingly forcing a protest off his tongue so his brother can continue, “you can stay back in case we need to call out for back-up.”
“I’m coming with.” Pandora interrupts, and Lily switches her gaze to watch the pure determination on the other girls face, a feeling of admiration sweeping through her despite the odd need to stop her going.
“Panda-“
“No, that was the deal. I’m staying in this house, and you are letting me help.”
Regulus watches her for a second, “Please-“
“I am coming with, or I am leaving this house.”
Regulus watches her for another moment before nodding his head and avoiding her gaze, “Fine.”
Lily watches as the tension of a plan seeps over the room, all of them going quiet, the only distraction coming from the constant smashing noises created by the two boys they left downstairs.
Remus-
“Faster! Sense your surroundings. Listen to footsteps, feel the magic, the wind with the spells.”
“Kind of hard to hear it when your talking Lupin.” Marlene snaps from where she is blindfolded in the middle of the room.
“Well if you focused on the sound the first time, I wouldn’t have to- PAUSE!” he yells out as Marlene gets hit by another spell and falls to the floor.
“This is ridiculous.” Marlene spits, pulling off her blindfold as Dorcas helps her up and Mary apologising profusely from the blow.
“It’s war, if you don’t want to prepare, don’t bother going in the field.” He spits back, equally as frustrated, and this time he can’t even blame it on the moon.
“I don’t think I’ll be fighting blindfolded.”
“No, but if you can take on 1vs2 blindfolded then you can’t be killed easily.”
Marlene just glares at him before shoving the blindfold back on her face, wordlessly agreeing with his logic even if she’s too stubborn to agree with it.
He knows he is being harsh, acting like a drill sergeant, he cant help it.
He’s worked up, Lily left a few hours, she’s still not back, and once again Remus has been left behind.
Left behind of the information, left behind in the group.
He’s just been left behind.
The worst part is, he doesn’t even know where he stands.
Before they left the school, on the last day, he didn’t really get the chance to talk to Sirius, and every time they caught each other’s eye the other boy would look away.
He doesn’t know where to stand, he doesn’t know what’s going to happen in the war.
And now he is stood here watching his friends duel over and over again. 1vs1s, 2vs1s, 3vs1s, 4vs1s and now they’re at 2vs1s blindfolded.
It’s brutal, his friends are exhausted, but he can’t help but feel as if there’s some sword hanging over their head, nothing has happened yet and he is just waiting for the first blow.
And he refuses to let it be fatal, especially if Lily keeps holding him back from missions.
He got off with only a mild scolding after the first mission he gate-crashed and that was only because she was spending her time trying to wake Peter up and calm Marlene down.
So yes, he is pushing his friends, probably to their limits, he doesn’t care. It’s so much worse out there and he refuses to live with regrets because he was worried about his friends being a little tired.
He looks up as Marlene whips off her blindfold again, “What, no annoying commentary this time?”
He just rolls his eyes and nods to Dorcas, “You go.”
The girl doesn’t let a single protest fall off her lips as she grabs the blindfold from her girlfriend, wrapping it tight around her eyes and letting her wand slip seamlessly from her sleeve and into her arm.
He watches her for a moment, ignoring his friends intense stares waiting for his nod to start the duel.
She weighs the wand in her hand slowly, as if acquainting herself with its weight, she keeps her gaze forward but slightly down, staring closer to where the feet of her competition is, and then she stills, waiting.
Remus sends a subtle nod towards Peter, indicating him to start and keeps quiet, curious about the pure calm Dorcas is radiating at such a challenge.
Peter raises his arm, flicking his wrist quickly, a jet of red light spinning out of the wand.
He waits for it to hit, connect with the girl and disarm her so he cant start his yelling again, his agitation and fear of what they all got into.
But nothing happens, the spell dissipates as it goes to hit her, and Remus finds his head jerking down to look at the wand in her hand.
It’s pointing upwards now, strong in her hold instead of relaxed, but she moved so, discreetly, no one even realised it had happened.
He watches as a smirk works its way across Marlenes lips and one of confusion across Peters before Dorcas is tilting her head staring exactly where Peters eyes are as if the blindfold is doing nothing.
The other boy twists his neck to send Remus a questioning look, when he nods again the boy send off another jet of light from his wand that Dorcas immediately sidesteps.
Remus pauses again as he watches Peter send a few more jets of light towards Dorcas, each being dodged or deflected one after the other, but she never fights back.
Eventually he finds himself nodding towards Mary, curious as to whether she could be knocked off her confidence with another unexpected attacker.
As he watches Mary raise her wand to send a spell, Dorcas moves forward an inch, and all of a sudden a spell from Peter and Mary are travelling at her in one go.
She ducks.
And Peter and Mary are sent into quick defence dodging each other’s attacks before turning back to Dorcas, shock and even a trace of fear etched in their faces.
“What the fuck…” Peter trails off, but Remus snaps his fingers and nods at Marlene, sending her into the fold.
All of a sudden, three spells are firing through the air and Dorcas is throwing up a shield that only fades when the last spell hits it.
She stands there, her breathing even, and cocks her head.
“4vs1?” she questions, her tone unnaturally, out of it, like she isn’t in the moment, isn’t in focus.
Nonetheless, Remus doesn’t question it, he merely steps into the fold, and for the first time, Dorcas fights back, it’s more even this time.
Almost as though she is merely fighting a 1vs1, a equally skilled opponents opposite her, and not in a loss of one of her senses whilst fighting 4 of her friends.
When they finally manage to disarm her, the other three pause, but Remus, still curious, sends another jet of light at her, Marlenes voice immediately breaking through the mix to have a go at him, but he doesn’t move, doesn’t acknowledge, merely continues to stare at the other girl as the spell hit an invisible barrier that shouldn’t be there, and deflects back towards him, causing him to quickly cast the counter to his own spell.
When done, all of them finally putting their wands away, Dorcas merely lifts off her blindfold, looking over them all and smirking.
A truly Slytherin smirk.
“Who’s turn is it now.”
“What the fuck?” Marlene exclaims, pushing her girlfriend backwards in shock.
“What?”
“The fuck. Meadows, you can do wandless wordless magic, you can see through blindfolds, what the fuck?” Marlene yells again, still staring incredulously at her girlfriend.
“Well yeah, I am a Slytherin.” She grins, watching all the shocked expressions on their faces.
“What so being in Slytherin gives you a pass to epic magical skill or some shit?”
“No,” Dorcas cuts them off laughing, before her smile turns slightly strained, “But being in my friend group did.”
They all fall silent, looking down at their feet, as if the awkwardness of the situation has put a strain on the room.
Remus once again wants to speak up, say what he knows- even if it’s practically nothing- tell this girl her friends are good.
But before he can even properly question himself, the wards ping, sending tingles all over his skin, and the group whips their heads around in sync to make out the fiery red hair walking up the front path, all but storming into the house.
“Lils, you alright?” Mary asks, gaining Lilys attention, and it isn’t soft, it’s piercing.
It’s the look she has in her eyes when she studies, when she has a competitor for the top of the class (usually Remus or Regulus), it’s the look she has when the boys and Pandora confronted Dumbledore in the hall.
Except now it’s focused on them.
What the fuck happened at that meeting?
“Your wand gets stolen, what do you do?” Lily blurts out the second she seems to think she has their attention.
“Lils?”
“What. Do. You. Do?” she asks again, her eyes challenging anyone to defy her.
“Find an ally to work with until you can find a new one.” Peter offers.
“Where are you finding a new one?” Lily questions, whipping her head around to face the boy, eyebrow arched so high Remus wonders how she doesn’t have a headache.
“The ground, an enemy.” Mary supplies this time.
“Right, and what if there isn’t one, you bring the person fighting you to whoever you’re hiding behind and then you’ve made your friend fight a 2vs1.” Lily argues back immediately, her shoulders drawing up as she continues to pace.
“So, you don’t want us to get help if we need it?” Peter asks, confusion now crossing his features.
“No. That’s not- you need to be prepared, you need to not get into these situations”. Lily rambles off pacing more and more, hardly looking at them anymore as she proceeds to stress.
“You can’t always plan everything out.” Dorcas cuts in calmly, stepping forward to Lily cautiously as if she could spook the other girl if she moved too quick.
“But you need to try. This is war, you can’t half arse it.”
“We know,” Dorcas tries again, “but stressing on the battle field isn’t going to help. We’re learning how to fight more efficiently, larger numbers, but we can’t control everything.”
“We need. To try.” Lily emphasises again, looking only more worked up by the minute.
“I know, and we will,” Dorcas grabs Lilys arm softly twisting them around, “but come with me first, yeah?”
Lily doesn’t acknowledge what Dorcas says, but she merely walks alongside the other girl.
They all stand off to the side, semi shocked at whatever they just saw. Remus desperately wants to go after the red head, but he also knows she needs a minute and wants to let Dorcas handle it.
In the meantime, he lets his own stress overrun and turns back to the group.
“Peter, go.”