The Potion Princess

The Unbreakable Vow

The sun wakes her up the next morning.

Fred's still there.   She only remembered putting her head on his shoulder, but now they were stretched out across the couch, legs tangled together and her head on his chest, his arm around her waist.  It's too warm, the heat from the fire and the thick wool of the blanket he had pulled over them was stifling, but Audra does not want to move until she has to.  She closes her eyes, but the sun is bright behind her eyelids, and besides, now she can only think about the sound of Fred's voice as he told her good night, and the way he kissed her forehead before he decided to go to bed, and the feeling of his hands in her hair.

Audra pulls herself away, managing to stumble to her feet without waking Fred up.  She throws the blanket back over him, places a kiss on his cheek that she knows he won't remember, and makes her way out the portrait hole.

She's not sure what time it is, but from the sun shining through the windows, she thinks its around lunchtime.  She doesn't bother to check, just heads straight to the wonderful quiet of the dungeons.  There's no homework that can't be put off for another day, and she's confident that Emmeline will be with Clary by now, so she's looking forward to diving into bed and not waking up again until dinner. 

Except when she pushes the door open, Emmeline's still there, standing at the window.  She's still in her pajamas, hair pulled up into a high pony tail, and when she turns around, her lips are red from where she bit them.  There's a crumpled letter in her hand.

"The mark's coming back."  She says, and the words wake her up so fast she might as well have been doused in a bucket of ice water.  Just like that, the memories of last disappear, replaced with the horrible feeling that reality had just socked her in the stomach.  "Mum just wrote me, it's not just them, it's everyone."

"How bad?"

"They said it almost back to how it was when he was at full power."  Emmeline sank onto the bed, and Audra walked toward her, hanging onto one of the posts just so she had something to hold onto.  "He's going to come back."

Audra stared down at her own arm, wondering what it would look like to have that awful mark herself.  "I don't think he ever left."

And it's strange, really, that it keeps happening like this- her being happy, the kind that fills you up and makes it seem like nothing can go wrong, and then the world rises up behind her, all dark and evil.  She looks at Emmeline, and sighs, knowing that it's gotten to where they are dealing with facts, not speculation.  "My parents have been expecting something like this ever since the world cup.  They told me stop hanging out with Fred and George."

"And you didn't listen?"  She said, aghast.  "Audra, you should have, he's going to know, he'll know everything, and if you lie, if you say you weren't friends with them-,"

"He's not going to know!"  Audra leaned forward, voice so low it's going to be a hiss.  "You talk like you're going to join him!"

"Of course we are!"  Now it's Emmeline's turn to look at her like she's crazy.  "He'll take it out on our parents if we don't.  Besides, they'll find us, no matter how far we run."

"We have to fight!"  She stood up, pacing the length of the room, read the letter for herself. 

"What about your family?" 

Audra rounded on her.  "What about Clary?"  Emmeline looked away, and Audra laughed, but it wasn't funny.  "Going off on me about Fred and George, what do you think you're going to have to do when he finds out about you and her?  Doing god knows what with a mudblood."

"Don't call her that!"  Emmeline said, standing up now, wand out. 

"See?"  It gave Audra a vicious kind of pride, to know that she was right.  "You already made your choice.  You can't turn away from Clary."  And when she still wouldn't admit it, Audra added, "If he comes back, she's dead.  And if you join him, you help kill her."

Clary's a problem, one they have to fix.  They make a plan to protect her then, because they know that no matter what happens, no matter what choices they'll have to make, even if they end up having to point wands at each other, one thing will stay the same: They will care about Clary more than they care about themselves.

They make their way to Ravenclaw tower together, bully a third year into finding Clary when they can't answer the stupid riddle.  She's happy when they see her, which makes it even harder.  Emmeline doesn't look like she's going to break the news anytime soon, so Audra blurts it out, the words falling out of her mouth to lie at their feet.  "We're making an unbreakable vow, and we need your help."

Audra walks a few feet away, thinking its best that she leaves Emmeline to do the explaining, but she can't help but overhear.  Clary's not happy about it, and Audra's pretty sure she's crying, which isn't surprising but is still painful to hear.  They're still arguing, with Emmeline trying to coax her into silence (he's coming back, Clary, you don't know what it's like, we need to protect you) and Clary fighting back despite the tears (but who's going to protect you, even if  you get me out he'll punish you for helping me, I won't let you).  Finally, when Audra's had enough, she walks back over, knowing that she'll be more blunt than Emmeline would dream of being.  "There's going to come a day when you might need us, like it or not.  And we don't know if we'd both be there to save you if we don't make this promise in a way we can't get out of."

"What if I refuse?" 

"You die." 

Emmeline glares at her, but Audra doesn't regret it, because it at least makes Clary give a hesitant nod, pulling out her wand.  "You guys are sure?"

And they are, more sure of anything.  Emmeline and Audra sink to their knees and grip hands, Clary above them, her hand trembling as she places the tip of her wand to their joined hands.  "Do you swear, that should I be in need of your protection, you'll protect me to the best of your ability."

"I do."  Their voices are loud, echoing against the stone walls, and when the first binding wraps around their wrists, it chafes, cutting into the skin.

"Do you swear, regardless of what side you find yourselves on, that you'll put your differences aside to come to my aid, if one of us ask you to?" 

"I do."  A second, and it burns now, and a tear falls onto Audra's skin.  She's not sure who it belongs to.

"And do you swear, that no matter what you get it involved in, you'll turn your back on it to come rescue me?"

Emmeline doesn't speak at first, but then she and Audra lock eyes, and the hesitation fades.  "I do."

Audra leaves the two of them alone, going into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom to work on a potion order for the twins instead.  It's always easier to think like this, when she has something to do with her hands.  It's easier to calm herself down, when she can follow instructions, when someone had made all the decisions for her, when there is no gray area for herself to lose herself in.  Fred tells her it's the simple pleasure of doing something easy, something that she's good at, but she thinks there's something more to it than that.  Audra knows that it's in doing something that she really loves, an art form, losing herself in the smoke and the ingredients and the complicated rituals, the same way the twins lose themselves in a game of quidditch or Hermione in a book.

She brews one cauldron, then two, then another before her hands stop shaking.  The magic still burns, wrapping around her wrists, reminding her of the promise she made, like she could ever forget.  Audra wonders if her hands will itch every time she thinks of this afternoon and hopes not; it'll grow incredibly distracting.  She hadn't expected it to hurt, but maybe all promises do, in the end.

When she gets back to the dorm, she crawls under the covers like she had wanted to do hours ago. 

"I love her,"  Emmeline says later, like she's half talking to herself and half hoping that Audra is already asleep.  They're both in their separate beds, staring up at the ceiling.  The binding is still burning, Clary's magic pulling tighter as if it may keep them all together, and it feels like there are thousands of tiny bugs crawling over her hands.

"I know."  A pause.  "You should tell her."

"I can't."

The words are pained, like they're being ripped out of her throat.  Audra doesn't bother asking why.