Celestial Beings

Remus had tried knocking on (y/n)‘s door, hoping to talk with her and make sure she was alright after breakfast, but she didn’t answer. After a few minutes of waiting he left, walking downstairs to the parlor room where Sirius and Tonks were waiting for him. He shot Tonks a dirty look when he walked in, taking a seat next to Sirius on the small couch.
“Is she okay?” Sirius asked, hoping that Remus got through to her. Remus just shrugged, looking toward the fire. “She didn’t even answer the door, did she?”
“No, she didn’t.” Remus sighed, rubbing his hands together. “Did you fill in Tonks on everything?”
“Not quite everything. I haven’t gotten to the part with the mirror yet.” Sirius explains, looking at Tonks. “Almost forgot to tell you the most recent bit, You-Know-Who was spotted by (y/n), in a mirror down the hall from our rooms. Oh and Alecto Carrow is in the cell downstairs, Kreatcher caught her in her animagi form.”
“In a mirror?” Tonks asked, her hair changing from a cool purple to a bright yellow. “How did she possibly find him in a mirror?”
“We were all heading to bed, Sirius had a head start of course.” Remus chuckled, his friend gently elbowing him in the ribs. “I left (y/n) at her door and went to my room. I should’ve waited until I heard her door shut, but I was tired. Sirius found her a few minutes later, down the hall.”
“She said she heard whispers and went to see what it was. When she looked into the mirror, he was in it, smiling at her. She was shaking really bad.” Sirius conjured a glass of brandy and took a sip. “Wouldn’t let me touch the mirror either.”
“Why?” Tonks inquired. “Did she not want you to destroy it?”
“She said she would.” Sirius shrugged. “We left it in the hall, but when Kreatcher went to go find it, it was gone. I had him search the entire house, that’s how he found Alecto.”
“How’d Alecto find this place?” Tonks grabbed the drink out of Sirius’s hand, taking a sip herself. “I mean, between everything Kreatcher has put up to hide this place, pre-existing security from your parents, and the spells the Order have placed, this should place should be nearly as safe as Hogwarts. Someone would’ve had to have tipped her off.”
“Why don’t we go ask her?” Remus smiles, getting up and heading to the basement. Tonks and Sirius followed closely behind, almost tripping into each other halfway down the stairs. “Can you two behave? I swear, the two of you together makes me age even faster than the lycanthropy.”
“Oh come on, Moony!” Sirius laughs. “We’re the black sheep of the family, we have to have at least some fun. Especially at your expense.”
“Besides, Carrow is gonna suck all the fun out of the room as soon as we speak to her.” Tonks rolls her eyes. “Where is she exactly?”
The three of them opened the cell, only to find an empty room. Carrow was gone. Sirius swore under his breath, calling for Kreatcher immediately.
“Did I not tell you to put her down here, and to make sure she couldn’t get out?” Sirius barked.
“You said to put her in the cell, I did. I also spelled it so she couldn’t escape.” Kreatcher grumbles, looking at the empty room. “You never told me I couldn’t let her out if she asked.”
“Kreatcher!” Sirius grabbed the glass fromTonks and threw it at the house-elf, enraged. “What did you do?”
“I followed your instructions, and then Carrow asked for a favor for the Dark Lord. Mistress Black told me to always help the Dark Lord if asked, so Kreatcher said yes.” the house-elf smiled thinking of his old master. “Carrow told me to take her to Knockturn Alley, keep it a secret until asked. Kreatcher always listens perfectly, Master Sirius. You just don’t know how to-”
“Kreatcher, you’ve put all of us in danger!” Sirius yelled. “You ignorant, pustular, little bag of bones! I thought it went without saying, you don’t do favors for people like Carrow. Better yet, only listen to me and whomever I tell you to!”
“Yes, sir. Kreatcher won’t make the same mistake again.” The elf chuckles as he disappears.
“I hate him,” Tonks says, breaking the shocked silence in the basement. “That is the most conniving house-elf I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”
“Well, I’d say it might be time to give Moody limited privileges of Grimwald Place,” Remus suggests. “Until we can find Carrow, probably her brother, and anyone else she could’ve told about this place.”
“Yeah, well who wants to have that conversation with (y/n)?” Sirius asks.
“No need.” (Y/n) said, standing on the bottom step of the stairs. “I heard you had Carrow in the basement this morning when you passed my room. The two of you can’t whisper worth shit.”
“We were going to tell you, we just didn’t know how…” Remus trails off, watching her walk toward the cell.
“His barriers are weaker than the ones I had.” (Y/n) told them, running her hand on the side of the doorway. “She would’ve just gotten out anyways, there’s a small hole in the back wall that Kreatcher missed. Might’ve taken her a while, but she would’ve found it.”
“That might be how she got in actually.” Sirius thought aloud. “We missed one small thing, one tiny detail and she found it. Still doesn’t explain how she knew where to find us in the first place but it does help.”
“Not to sound stupid, because I’m sure you’ve thought about it or have some reason why he wouldn’t know, but Pettigrew?” (Y/n) suggested, causing both men to freeze up. “He was friends with you for a while, right?”
“Yeah, but he never knew where I lived. Not that I know of.” Sirius says, trying to remember every detail of his youth, coming up mostly with terrible memories. “Except, when we were learning to apparate, I accidentally landed just outside, and he was helping me. He could’ve hoped to find something and sent Carrow this way.”
“You apparated here?” Remus asked. “You always said you were always perfect, made no mistakes while traveling.”
“I may have stretched the truth a teensy bit.” Sirius gives him a small smile. “But why send Carrow? Why not show up himself, he turns into a rat.”
“A rat with a solid gold paw might be a bit more suspicious than a random field mouse.” Tonks points out.
“Carrow is also one of the few people that actually listen to Pettigrew without my father around.” (Y/n) admits, trying to push through the barrier in the cell, watching as it cracked partly under the pressure. “She would’ve gone through this within the day, I’ve already cracked it and I’m not even using full force. In other words, the work upstairs is masterful, this is poorly made.”
“We spent over a week strengthening the ones upstairs, this was thrown together last second.” Remus defended. “Wait, you’re breaking it?”
“Well yeah, it isn’t hard. Just takes a little concentration on my part.” she shrugs, pushing the rest of the way through. “See? It also helps to find the weakest part of the spell too. The spells around Hogwarts are all the weakest at the direct top, and nearest the Black Lake. Although out of the two options, the Black Lake is scarier than open air.”
“There’re barrier spells around Hogwarts?” Tonks asks confused.
“Not exactly, mostly to keep intruders out, muggles and whatnot. Also, one to protect against apparition, which there’s a version of that surrounding this place too, didn’t show up until after the whole ordeal down here though.” (Y/n) explains. “But, yeah Hogwarts has a lot of protective spells. They have to be redone every few years otherwise they’ll fade away, lose their potency, all that.”
“Back to Carrow though, why specifically her? Why not her brother?” Remus closed the door to the cell once (y/n) exited.
“He isn’t an animagi.” (Y/n) tells him. “He’s not patient enough, or really smart enough to complete the ritual for it. Alecto is just insane enough that she pulled it off a few years back. She’s unregistered, surprise surprise.”
“How do you know all this?” Tonks looked at (y/n) in awe.
“I’m not exactly allowed to share my opinions at home, so I decided to get better at listening to people passing by. Dobby sometimes told me about stuff growing up. Of course, he wasn’t supposed to so he would punish himself for it.” (Y/n) told her, not looking at the colorful woman. “I’m more worried about what Alecto found while she was here. She wouldn’t have told Kreatcher to take her to Knockturn Alley unless she had something to go back with.”
“What if she was the one that left the mirror?” Sirius suggested. “We found her not too shortly after, and Kreatcher hasn’t been able to find it again.”
“I guess.” (Y/n) shrugged, her heartbeat speeding up with the mention of the mirror. Remus noticed this, his hearing picking up on the change in her pulse. “Well, if Carrow isn’t down here anymore I’ll go back to my room. I just needed a break from my book.”
“(Y/n), are you okay?” Remus asked as she turned to head up the steps, listening more intently to her heartbeat. It skipped again as she lied.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” she forced a smile onto her face as she answered. “You know where to find me if you need anything.”
Remus waited until she was gone, completely out of earshot. Sirius went to follow, but Remus stopped him, grabbing his elbow and shushing him. Tonks looked at the two men confused, still unsure of what just happened.
“She’s lying,” Remus whispered, just in case (y/n) wasn’t as far gone as he thought. “I’m not sure what about, but as soon as the mirror was mentioned she wasn’t telling the truth.”
“What would she be lying about?” Tonks asked, still not completely understanding.
(Y/n) found her way to her room quickly. She closed the door and headed over to the dresser, slowly opening the drawer with the mirror. She picked it up carefully, unwrapping it from the cloth she had hidden it in. This time the only thing staring back at her was her own reflection. She let out a sigh of relief, sitting down on the edge of her bed, holding the mirror. The electric purple aura surrounding it had dissipated, meaning whatever it was had either been undone or had moved elsewhere.
She wrapped the mirror back up and hid it again. Looking at her reflection as she closed the drawer, one end peaking out ever so slightly. Her eyes seemed off, but she couldn’t quite understand why. She looked into the mirror attached don her dresser, leaning in as close as she could get, trying to understand what was wrong with her eyes. She nearly screamed when she realized, her eyes had changed, a faint purple aura now coming out from them.
The knocking at the door made her jump, hitting her knee on the dresser. She hopped on one foot to the door, opening it up. Remus was at the door looking nervous. (Y/n) rubbed her at her hurt knee as she stood there.
“Did you need something?” she asked him after a few moments of silence had passed.
“I’m not really sure how to…I have a question to ask but I don’t know how to ask it.” He said, walking into her room, doing one quick look around.
“It’s about the mirror, isn’t it?” (Y/n) sighed shutting the door. She pointed at the dresser, not looking him in the eye. Remus opened the top drawer and pulled the mirror out, looking at her confused.
“Sirius said you didn’t want to go anywhere near it.” He held it up, his confusion turning into betrayal. “Did you lie to us?”
“No, not on purpose anyway.” she bit the inside of her cheek, trying to keep her emotions under control. “I didn’t even know it was in there, not until right before I went down for breakfast. I wanted to- to say something but every time I thought about it, my head…” she groaned, frustrated with herself.
“Your head?” He scoffed. “I’m accusing you of lying to us, and you’re bringing up your head?”
“Yes, Remus. My head. I can’t, couldn’t tell you anything because of my head.” she groaned, frustrated. “I’m trying to explain, but I can’t say it out loud. Hell, I can’t even think of it without…” she feels the sharp pain in her head.
“Just say it, (y/n)!” Remus shouted, slamming the mirror down on the dresser.
“I can’t!” she yelled back, the pain worsening. “I want to! I want to tell all of you everything! But I fucking can’t!”
“Why not?” he asks, still not fully listening to her. “Why can’t you? There’s no one stopping you other than yourself!”
“How can you be so smart and so dumb at the same time?” she asks him. “I am trying to, but I literally can’t!” Her head feels like it’s on fire now, the pain almost to the point of blinding. “God it hurts! This is worse than anything I’ve ever felt!”
“What are you talking about?” Remus finally realizes something is wrong. Her heartbeat isn’t showing any signs of lying, but it’s beating rapidly. “(Y/n), I don’t understand.”
“That’s the problem, isn’t it?” she half laughs, half cries. “And I can’t make you understand either! Just icing on the cake.” she grabs her head, stumbling slightly. “Just make it stop, please just make it stop!”
Remus looks back at the mirror and then at her, finally putting some of the pieces together. His eyes go wide and he sets aside his anger, quickly rushing toward her. He gently leads her to her bed, sitting her down on it. She’s sobbing, her hands both grasping her head, eyes tightly shut.
“I’m going to go get Sirius, okay?” Remus asks, not getting a response before he darts out of the room. He doesn’t even make it down the stairs, just starts yelling for his friend. “Sirius! Sirius! Something’s wrong! Hurry!”
(Y/n) doesn’t even notice that she’s moved, much less heard Remus. All she can notice is the pain, slowly making its way elsewhere in her body. It spreads from her head to her neck, and then once she feels like even breathing will kill her, it moves along her spine. She only notices someone else’s presence when they try to move her, causing her to scream in pain.
“What happened?” Sirius asked, gently setting her back down. “What’s wrong with her?”
“I-I don’t know!” Remus picked the mirror up from the dresser. “She had the mirror, I got angry and we were arguing. And then she was trying to tell me something, but she couldn’t say what it was exactly. Suddenly she just started begging for it to stop, whatever it is.”
“She had the mirror?” Sirius looked confused, grabbing it from Remus. There was a crack on it from how harshly Remus had slammed it before. “It’s not silver…”
“What does that matter? Sirius, look at her!” Remus shouted, watching as (y/n) curled more into herself.
“No, Remus you don’t get it. It’s not silver.” Sirius looked like he had just won a prize. “Whatever was on this, it must’ve made it look silver! But now, now it’s just bronze, not even a slightly silver tint. Whatever curse is hurting her has to be able to do that. And there aren’t a lot of spells like that!”
“So? She’s in pain now, Sirius.” Remus shoved the mirror from his friend’s grasp. “And she dealt with weeks of Cruciatous Curses. Whatever was on that mirror is now… oh damn. That’s what she was trying to say.”
“It moved from the mirror to her.” Sirius agreed, pulling out his wand and pointing it toward (y/n) “Finite Incantatem!” he shouted.
(Y/n) immediately felt less pain as she heard Sirius cast the spell. Though the pain persisted it had been dulled, instead of fire it felt more like very hot water being poured onto her. Much more manageable. She turned onto her side, keeping her eyes shut and covering her ears.
“Looks like it helped at least a little.” Sirius grabbed the mirror again. “We need to figure out exactly what curse this had. I can start checking the library, but you’ll probably find more if you talk to Moody.”
“Right, where is he right now?” Remus asked.
“You won’t find it anywhere.” (Y/n) said quietly. “My father probably made it.” The pain got stronger when she told them that.
“I’ll take your grimacing as a confirmation,” Remus said, noticing her tightening jaw. “Hypothetically, to get rid of the curse what would we do?”
“I’m afraid that’ll be on me to figure out.” She grimaced, slowly sitting up. “I can’t tell you anything, so you can’t help. It’s tailored specifically for me.” she groaned, feeling the pain growing again. “Can we talk about something else? Anything else?”
“Uh, how’s the book reading?” Sirius asks, eyeing the opened book by the window.
“Really? That’s what you’ve got?” she chuckles. “It’s reading books, not much can go wrong. Except for that one.”
“What’s wrong with that one?” Remus walked towards it.
“It’s incredibly dull. The second edition of ‘Divining the Great Beyond’ by Agatha Shortstring. Most of her instruction is basically the same five things.” (Y/n) rolls her eyes. “Meditation, tea, consultation, personal insight, and then discussion. She doesn’t seem to be very good at divination herself. She made three predictions at the beginning of the book that never came true.”
“Let’s see,” Sirius said, picking the book up and finding the predictions. He laughs as he reads them. “Number one; wizards will all die out by the 80s, leaving only great and powerful witches behind. All magic will be female.”
“Number two; muggles will embrace us with open arms after November of 1974,” Remus read aloud, a small smile on his face. “They will see us as friends forever more, allowing us to end world suffering in harmony.”
“Oh don’t forget the third one; there will be proof found of the existence of extraterrestrials by the time our world has 4 billion people, and they will choose a thousand people from each country to take with them to the stars.” (Y/n) recites. She feels the pain subsiding finally. She’s quiet for a moment, unsure of how to continue.
“Take your time, (y/n),” Sirius said, putting the book down. “But when you’re feeling better would you mind finding Remus and me downstairs? We have something to show you on the next floor.” he left, Remus, following behind, stopping at the door. He turned toward her, looking at her guiltily.
“I’m sorry I got so upset earlier. I try not to,” Remus started to apologize. “Anger isn’t one of my favorite emotions.”
“You don’t have to apologize, Remus.” (Y/n) offers him a small smile, but avoids eye contact. “I deserve worse than your anger. Besides, I know what you want to say. You don’t hide your thoughts very well, no one here does.”
Remus was taken aback at the new information. He wanted to say something else but couldn’t come up with anything. He left without saying goodbye, quietly shutting the door behind him. (Y/n) sighed, grabbing the comforter she was laying on and wrapping it around herself. She meant to shut her eyes only for a few minutes, but instead fell asleep, drifting into an unpleasant sea of nightmares.

~~{𝘌𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘌𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵}~~