Ryan could feel that her heart was beating faster than usual once she heard the familiar voice. She knew to who it belonged to and thus, she so badly wished the current moment to be a dream. However, it was real and she saw the reality in his grey eyes when she turned to find Sirius Black standing in front of her. He had a confused expression on his face, which slowly turned to something else. He no longer held mischief behind his eyes, there was only anger.
"Can you talk? Did you lie to all of us?" He questioned once again. Sirius hated people, who told lies to use others and currently he thought Ryan was one of them. When Remus told them she could not talk, they kinda pitied her. But when Sirius saw her ignoring nasty comments, he just found her cool. Cool enough to keep her as an acquaintance or maybe a friend.
"You are a real Selwyn, aren't you?" He hissed at the end. Being a part of Sacred Twenty-Eight, he was, of course, familiar with the name, despite his young age. While all those time he wanted to believe Ryan was not one of them, it was just the same family name, her lie made him confirm she was indeed a part of the cruel family.
"I will tell everyone. You won't be able to use them again."
He sharply turned on his heels to walk towards the door but found it opened by Dumbledore, who came to check if everything was alright with Ryan.
"Mr Black?" Dumbledore questioned the young Gryffindor. But, before he could ask why Sirius was there, a loud crack heard nearby them. Both turned to see that desks were thrown away and the ground was parted by a crack. Dumbledore immediately raised his gaze towards Ryan, only to find her curled on the ground, hugging her knees close to herself. There was a dark mist surrounding her, which alarmed the headmaster.
"Mr Black go back to Gryffindor Tower," Dumbledore said as he pushed the younger wizard towards the door.
"Professor-" Sirius tried to call as he looked at the destroyed classroom. He was about to look at Ryan, but Dumbledore already led him out of the classroom. Yet, Sirius, being a stubborn child, instead of going back to Tower, waited in front of the classroom to see what was going on as he also saw it as his chance to tell Dumbledore how Ryan lied to everyone.
A few minutes later, Dumbledore walked out of the classroom, carrying unconscious Ryan on his arms. He curved his brow up and sent a look at Sirius, once he noticed that young wizard did not listen to him.
"Follow me, Mr Black," Dumbledore said as he began to walk towards the Hospital Wing.
"Professor, what happened to her?" Sirius asked as he saw how pale Ryan seemed, her chin resting on headmaster's shoulder.
"Just an unfortunate accident, Mr Black," Dumbledore replied.
"Are you sure she isn't lying?" Sirius grimaced. "She had been lying to us all these time-"
"She never lied to any of you, Mr Black," Dumbledore interrupted. He opened the Hospital Wing's door and walked inside to place Ryan on an empty bed.
"Madam Pomfrey," He called the matron, when Sirius just stood at the other side of the bed, watching her fellow Gryffindor. He did not know what exactly happened in that classroom, but it also did not mean he forgot what she did.
"Professor-" Madam Pomfrey said as she approached them and let out a gasp when she saw Ryan lying on the bed. "What happened?"
Dumbledore looked towards Sirius, before meeting her gaze.
"She is just tired, I believe."
When the matron began to look for the right potions to give them to Ryan, Dumbledore accompanied Sirius back to Gryffindor Tower, despite the protest of the young wizard.
"But Professor-"
"You are familiar to Selwyns, right, Mr Black?" Dumbledore interrupted his protests with a question.
"Yes," Sirius said. He knew the family rather well, as they were supposed to be a close acquaintance of his parents.
"Have you ever heard about Walden Selwyn?" Sirius took his time to reply Dumbledore's question. Surely, he knew most of the Selwyns, but the name Walden was unknown to him. Sensing the reply was a no, Dumbledore continued.
"He was disowned by his parents years ago," Dumbledore explained.
"Why are you telling me this, Professor?" Sirius asked, a frown spread on his face.
"Walden Selwyn was Ryan's father, Mr Black," Dumbledore said. He did not think it was right to tell an eleven-year-old whole story but to keep Ryan safe and not to face something similar that happened in the classroom again, Dumbledore decided to inform Sirius about Ryan's condition.
"He cursed her," Dumbledore said, which left Sirius frowning. "She can only repeat the last words said by someone else."
Sirius sat across the fireplace and thought what Dumbledore said to him just a few minutes ago. He knew it was possible for a parent to curse their child, he had been a witness of a similiar situation quite a lot of time. But he never knew a curse like Ryan's existed. It explained why she always had that desperate look in her eyes when she could not find a parchment piece to write what she wanted to say. It also explained why she always parted her lips as if she could talk, but no one heard her voice. Sirius suddenly felt bad for what he told her. He felt bad for accusing her of telling lies to others just so she could get their attention.
"Sirius?"
Sirius turned his head towards stairs to see Remus standing there, curiously watching his roommate. "Is everything alright?" Remus asked.
"Not really," Sirius said as he let out a deep sigh. Remus looked at him for a second before walking towards Sirius and taking his seat beside the other.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Remus questioned. Two of them were not the best of friends, yet, but got along rather well, which made it easy for Remus to have a conversation with Sirius.
"I don't know where to start," Sirius hummed. He knew he did not have any rights to tell others Ryan's secret, but he also wanted to find a way to apologise. The problem was, Sirius Black had never said "sorry" to anyone.
"How about from the beginning?" Remus suggested, but Sirius only shook his head and sighed once again.
"I need to apologise to someone," he uttered under his breath.
"Who?" Remus asked.
"Ryan..."
"Then why are you so worried?" Remus questioned, only to leave Sirius puzzled.
"What do you mean?"
"Ryan is a kind soul, Sirius. I believe if you just say sorry, she will forgive you," Remus explained. Despite his young age, Remus was rather good at judging people and he was sure that Ryan was much kinder than she looked.
Sirius, on the other hand, could only accept that as a piece of hope as he said:
