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

198. The Meeting

Dumbledore was tense and still as he stood waiting, his back to the dark forest behind him as he faced the campsite around him. It was the same place the Quidditch World Cup had taken place two years before. Dumbledore did not turn his head as soft footsteps reached his ears. There was a long, tense silence, broken only by the rumble and crackle of thunder. Soft rain began to pour, covering their faces in fine mist.

"I wasn't sure you'd come," Ellis admitted, coming to a stop by Dumbledore's side and glancing over at him.

Dumbledore didn't look at him, his eyes focused on the flashes of lightning as he said, "It's fascinating, is it not? I have always thought lightning one of the most beautiful and dangerous things in the world."

Ellis said nothing. His curls had fallen flat by then, the rain increasing in its intensity as it drenched them.

"I confess, I was very surprised when Harry told me you had joined Voldemort," Dumbledore remarked. "But not nearly as surprised as I was to find a note from you on my desk. How did you get in?"

"I didn't," Ellis muttered. "Your bird found me. It sounds crazy, I know, but-"

"No, it is not," Dumbledore admitted, finally turning to face him as a flash of lightning illuminated Ellis' pale face. "I told Fawkes to go to you."

"Why?" Ellis called.

The wind had picked up, sending the rain drops into them like bullets. The roar of the wind, the shriek of the lightning, it all echoed impossibly loud in their ears.

"From what I hear," Dumbledore called, "Lyra nearly broke Althea Black."

Ellis' face went green, but he did not look away.

"I need your help!" Ellis shouted. Shaking his head, he said, "I didn't want any of this! This isn't ever what I wanted, Dumbledore!"

"What did you want?" Dumbledore retorted, "To see Voldemort return to power? To be reunited with your family? What?"

"I wanted to kill him! I wanted to end his reign!" Ellis said loudly, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes. "I was trying to get close enough to him to figure out how to kill him!"

"What changed, Ellis?" Dumbledore called. "You could have stayed there, you could have gotten your revenge. That's what this is about, isn't it? You want revenge for what I imagine must have been a pretty tragic childhood? Until you got to start over with a new name at Hogwarts?"

"Of course I want revenge! They killed my sister! They forced me to live in fear!" Ellis cried desperately. "But I saw Lyra's face while she tortured that girl. Lyra's gone crazy, Dumbledore! She doesn't care about ending him anymore, she just wants revenge on her parents for everything they've done to her! She's forgotten where she ends and the character begins! I saw her eyes, the look in them! If that's where revenge gets me, I want out! I can't do this anymore!"

Dumbledore stared at him a moment, watching as more moisture streaked from his eyes, further wetting his cheeks.

"And you're certain of this, Ellis?" Dumbledore asked. "You are turning against Voldemort?"

"Yes," Ellis said. Grabbing hold of Dumbledore's shoulders, he pleaded, "Please, Dumbledore! If I leave, he will kill me. I don't want to die. You're the only person he's scared of. Help me leave! Help me survive!"

Ellis was shaking, his eyes filled with terror as he pleaded.

"No," Dumbledore said quietly, so softly Ellis only knew what he said by reading his lips as the thunder, rain, and wind roared around them.

Letting him go, Ellis took a step back, disbelief painting his features.

"No?" he repeated breathlessly.

He felt like he was plummeting, the ground around him gone. Dumbledore had been his only hope. If he wouldn't help, then-

"Join me, Ellis," Dumbledore said. "Join me in fighting him, but keep your position. The world believes you to be on his side. Complete your original mission. Discover how to kill him and do it...and when the time comes, if it becomes too dangerous for you, I will get you out, I will protect you."

Ellis stared at him, his heart pounding. He was terrified. He felt cold to the bone, a kind of cold that had nothing to do with the rain that had by now soaked him through.

"Do you promise?" Ellis asked. "Do you promise to get me out when the time comes?"

"I promise," Dumbledore said. "I'll be in touch."

Then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Ellis stared where he had been a moment, somehow more grieved than he had been before. Then, he let out a scream, a cry so terrible he couldn't believe he was making it as he collapsed to his knees, mud spattering around him.

.

"We need to figure out what we're going to do," Eliana said softly, sitting down beside Remus on the couch in their home.

"Minnie asleep?" Remus asked wearily.

"Yeah," Eliana said, closing her eyes tiredly. "But Remi, one of us has to stay with her and care for her."

"Not necessarily," Remus said.

"What do you mean?" Eliana asked in confusion, opening her eyes again as she frowned at him.

"What about your cousin Andromeda?" Remus asked. "Maybe, if you go to part-time, and if she and her husband are willing to help. Molly would probably be willing to help too."

"Remus, that's not the kind of life a baby needs," Eliana said softly. "She needs stability, she needs balance. Going from person to person, from home to home, is only going to make life difficult for her."

"Then what do we do?" Remus asked.

"I don't know," she whispered, leaning against his shoulder with a long sigh.