The Disgraced of the House of Black - A Multi-Character Fanfiction - Part One

121. Reunited

"How angry do you think he is?" Sirius asked three nights after the attack as he and Amara made their way down the stairs to the kitchen for a meeting.

"I really hope not as angry as he seems," Amara admitted, unconsciously tightening her grip on her husband's hand as her brows furrowed in worry.

Sirius sighed, gently kissing her temple as they took their seats by Eliana and the empty seat she always saved for Remus.

"Thank you all for being here today," Dumbledore said, standing up as the last person took their seat. "More will join us after they have returned from retrieving Harry. As for now, we must resume. You all may catch them up upon their arrival. Now, Severus, you had a report you wanted to share."

"Yes," he replied, his voice cool and quiet.

Amara rolled her eyes, taking Sirius' hand in her own as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"I have received intelligence of two new Death Eaters who did not fight with the Dark Lord before," Snape explained. He was silent a moment, allowing them all to process what he had said before he resumed, "They are Ellis Lestrange and Lyra Malfoy."

Bill started.

"Ellis?" he repeated. "That's a lie. He wouldn't-"

"I saw him with my own eyes," Snape interrupted, his voice colder and lower than before. "I was present when he received his first assignment."

Bill opened his mouth to angrily protest again before Dumbledore interrupted, "Harry identified him as a Death Eater, Bill. He was in the graveyard when Voldemort was reborn."

Bill shook his head but said nothing as Dumbledore gestured for Snape to resume.

"He and Lyra Malfoy have been tasked with bringing the dementors to the Dark Lord's side and bringing about the escape of his brother and sister-in-law," Snape finished.

"Is there any possibility either of them are pretending in your...expert opinion?" Amara asked, her eyes fixing on her brother with fridged iciness.

"None," he snapped.

"Lyra was repeatedly seen arguing with her father and brother while at Hogwarts," Sirius retorted. "She clearly doesn't think highly of them."

"No," Snape said, slower and colder than before as though forcing himself with each sylable to remain civil. "She does not. She thinks highly of the Dark Lord. She will not even glance in the direction of her parents."

.

Althea was sitting on the window seat to Ron's and soon to be Harry's room, rereading a letter as Ron paced anxiously and Hermione tried to read a book. It was an old one, a letter she had been keeping in her pocket since its arrival. It had all started with a single conversation that occurred the moment she arrived at Grimmauld Place.

Eliana and Remus sat her down a few hours after their arrival in the kitchen, both looking regretful.

"What's going on?" Althea asked, her brows furrowed in concern.

Sharing grieved looks, Eliana and Remus both hesitated before Remus finally said, "Althea, we know this move is already hard on you. I mean, we both understand it's kind of a miserable house and there isn't much to do, but...well, there's something else. We would have told you sooner, but Dumbledore just let us know."

"What is it?" Althea asked, going slightly pale with worry.

Reaching across the table to take her hand into her own, Eliana explained, "Dumbledore doesn't want letters going in and out of here. He's making an exception for a few letters to Harry every once in a while, but you can't send anything to anyone else."

"What?" Althea replied, her voice harsher than she had expected as she drew her hand back from her mothers. "Why?"

"He doesn't want anything traced here," Remus explained.

"So, what, I'm just supposed to act like I don't have any other friends besides Harry this entire summer?" Althea snapped in confusion.

"Well, Ron and Hermione will be here soon," Eliana said cautiously, but she knew that wasn't what Althea meant.

"Mum, they are not my only friends!" Althea retorted. "What about Neville? I'm supposed to just ignore him all summer? It'll crush him!"

"She's got a point, Ellie," Remus said quietly. "We can let her send him one letter to explain." Catching sight of her expression, he amended, "Not the full truth, just enough to get him to understand she can't send or receive letters. She can say she's travelling all summer or something."

Eliana sighed before she said, "You can send Neville a letter and say you'll be travelling, but make sure he understands he can't write to you all summer."

It had broken Althea's heart to write that letter. She loved Harry, Ron, and Hermione dearly, but Neville was different. With Neville, there was far more talk of books and he would listen to her obscure theories of the world and her philosophical musings without laughing or lack of understanding. He would even engage with them, agreeing, disagreeing, or even modifying them with his own insights. They could exchange different magical plants they came across or talk about novels they had recently read.

With the others, there was much more talking about Voldemort when they were all together, but individually, it wasn't much better. Harry was understandably traumatized and struggled to think of much else, but even Ron and Hermione could be difficult to only be with sometimes. Ron cared nothing for her musings or the books she was reading and preferred wizard's chess or talking about Quidditch while Hermione did not enjoy fictional books and while she would listen to her musings, she rarely said anything other than 'That's an interesting thought' leading Althea to wonder more than once if she had been listening at all or, more accurately, if she had fully understood what she had been saying.

When she had finally forced herself to write it, she had been in tears before she had finished and ended up having to rewrite it because her tears had smeared the ink so terribly. Neville's reply had come three days later.

Dear Althea,
               I completely understand. I hope you and Professor Lupin have fun with your trip. I'll miss your letters, but at least now we'll have no shortage of things to talk about on the Hogwarts Express in September! It's probably for the best anyway. Gran has me doing even more O.W.L.s prep than last summer. Maybe when the schoolyear comes you and I can begin studying from the beginning so we don't have to scramble at all! It would probably also help us keep up with our normal work.
           I did want to tell you, though, that I spoke to my Gran last night and told her what you and Dumbledore both said about Voldemort coming back. She believes Harry, even if most of the wizarding world doesn't. She also said she thought it was only a matter of time anyway. She is worried he'll break Bellatrix Lestrange out of Azkaban, though. I've been trying not to think about it, but I'm more worried that if she did, she would come after me or something.
          I'm glad you're getting to have a little bit of fun before this war gets more serious than it already is, though. You'll have to tell me all about it in September. In the meantime, I'll collect all the information I want to share about plants with you to hand over when I see you. Keep track of your recent theory about the relativity of human suffering. I want to see where you go with it.
                                 Love,
                                     Neville

It was to this letter she now clung, reading the now-flat letter for perhaps the hundredth time already that summer. Blinking away tears, she quickly folded up the letter, stowing it back in her pocket before Ron or Hermione could ask her about it.