The first thing that Hollis could do was smell and listen, because the place they had arrived to was so dark that she couldn't see her own hand a few inches in front of her face.
There was the pungent scent of strong salt that she deeply inhaled after the breathlessness of apparating, along with the vague, metallic smell of something that she recognized to be blood.
The sound of enormous waves as tall as hills made of water crashing against solid, indomitable stone sounded all around them and, to Hollis's slight alarm, right below them. The sounds of water hitting what she assumed were cliffs confirmed that they were indeed by the ocean.
Looking the way she assumed was up, Hollis's eyes were only met by a sky that was painted a heavy, dark steel with thick clouds that wouldn't let even the tiniest bit of starlight penetrate through.
"Reg?" Hollis asked, turning around quickly to try and see where he was. "Where-"
As she rotated though, a small, unexpected rock slick with water and ice skid under her black boots, catching her off guard and slipping.
A firm pair of hands caught her right around the waist.
"Lumos," Regulus muttered, lighting up the two of their faces with pale, blinding white light.
They locked brown eyes for a few seconds before immediately standing back up, deciding to ignore that little trip.
Hollis lit up her wand as well and was able to get a good view of the scene around her for the first time.
The two of them were standing on a high outcrop of dark rock, water foaming and churning viciously below them. Glancing over her shoulder, Hollis saw that there was a towering cliff standing behind her, with large chunks of rock just like the one she and Regulus were standing on nearby it.
Connecting the fragments quickly, Hollis realized that these pieces must have been knocked off the original cliff over some point in time, by an enormous amount of either natural or magical force.
But above this eerie appearance, there was a deeply wrong, magical air surrounding the place that sent a shiver down Hollis's spine from something mental rather than physical.
"I know," whispered Regulus, seeing the sickened expression on her face. "I can feel it, too."
"What is this place?" Hollis asked, turning to him and away from the cliff she had been staring at with intensity.
Swallowing hard, Regulus knew this was the part where he would have to explain everything to her.
"I think we should both answer each other's questions now."
And so, the two Slytherins sat down on the rocks without even noticing the cold for hours upon hours, completely captivated by the other's story.
At first, the tension between them had been very high, with tightened expressions and emotionless reaction for their sudden lack of trust for one another that had grown with the months of separation.
But then, the more they talked, the more they started to stop focusing on the bad memories between them and change that aim towards the fact that even after everything, they were finally together again.
By the time the sun rose with a dim, blood orange light over the stormy sea only slightly lessened in its ferocity by the change in tide, the purebloods had discovered in fullness what they had missed out on in each other's lives.
All, except that is, the most recent even of what this place was.
"And that makes us wind up here," Regulus said sourly, trying to hold in a yawn after staying up all night talking to her. "I've been waiting for months for the Dark Lord to finish his protections of the object hidden somewhere around here, but it was only a week or so ago that he finally did."
Hollis blinked a few times, thinking of how incredibly stupid Voldemort was.
"And it would never occur to him that two kids were working against him," Hollis stated back, looking out contemplative at the water below her. "He's too arrogant to even consider the idea that we could make him vulnerable."
Regulus smiled softly at her.
The Rosier's wise, deep comments that came with maturing faster because of trauma were something that never failed to amaze him, and something the Black boy had greatly missed hearing.
"But we aren't really turning against him, are we?" Hollis asked Regulus with a smile of her own.
Regulus moved across the rocks a little closer to her, resting his chin on his knees and giving her his utmost attention.
"What d'you mean?" he questioned, moving a strand of hair out from his face the wind had swept there.
"I mean that you can't betray something that you were never even a real part of."
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Days passed in a hopeless blur, and there were no signs of Hollis returning or what her status was.
It had been a week before Christmas when the Rosier had set them up so that she could make the swiftest exit possible, and the desperation of the Gryffindors was only rapidly increasing as they came up with more and more theories of what could have happened to her.
In fact, the five of them had all gone back to Hogwarts early to stay with the rest of the students who boarded there for Christmas break for a large number of reasons.
First of all, the castle had one of the largest magical libraries in all of Europe, only rivaled by ones in private collections such as Rosier Manor. This meant that they could surround themselves with any knowledge possible that might help them find Hollis, or even just know if she was alive.
Secondly, the Marauders Map worked, obviously, in the castle. They had someone watching it at all times. If Hollis came to either Hogsmeade or the castle, they would be the first ones to know of it and get there as quickly as possible.
Last, they were surrounded by some of the smartest people known to the magical world, such as McGonagall and Dumbledore. In a situation where they had to choose any professors to help them or give them information, it would have been those two.
None of them had known that Christmas passed until a sudden stream of students arrived back at the school.
"How is it January already?" Remus asked with a numb voice as he watched a pod of sixth year girls pass by his table.
"I have no idea," Lily replied, leaning her head against James's shoulder and shutting her eyes. "I don't even know what day of the week it is."
This was very much true for all five of them.
They had settled into a drab routine of waking up well after noon once they stayed up until three the previous morning over books, eating at some point when McGonagall made them, and then just increasingly losing more hope when they found out absolutely nothing about Hollis.
They had directed that fateful half hour down to the minute, but nothing had come out of it.
Snapping all of them out from their haze, the large, yellow, Potter owl dropped a copy of the morning's Daily Prophet right in front of Remus's bowl of cereal he had barely touched.
The five stared at it with empty eyes for a few moments, none of them wanting to touch it as if the brown string bound scroll was poisonous.
"If no one else is going to pick it up," Remus muttered, leaning forwards and untying the yarn with a slightly shaking hand.
His green eyes scanned the back page he had opened up to, and there was nothing out of the normal.
Across from him, however, Sirius had seen the headline and looked like he wanted to pass out.
"What is it?" asked Remus, slowly turning around the newspaper only to drop it right back down onto the table with his head in his hands.
Slytherin Student Hollis Rosier Officially Reported Missing
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"No, repeat what Kreacher said again," Hollis told Regulus firmly, turning her neck towards him furiously.
Regulus's eyes narrowed.
"Do you want my help or not, Black?"
Giving in to her demand with the fierce expression on her face that he knew not to cross, Regulus said the same phrase he had said a dozen times in the past hour once again.
"He said that 'it was indestructible to not be destroyed when placed in that basin,'" he sighed. "Has the sentence changed at all since I last told you thirty seconds ago?"
It was Hollis's turn to glare at him.
The two of them had been living off a tiny, coastal village halfway along the mountain pass from them, stealing food and clothing whenever they could without making too much of a noticeable difference.
Hollis and Regulus both had on loose, long-sleeved linen shirts they had taken after their original ones had both been torn to the point of no repair a few days ago after some rock fell near them, and the scraps were now being used to secure their shelter.
They were currently in a lean-to made of driftwood they had propped up against a more dry side of the cliff, and the structure did little to keep them from the January winds.
A series of muggle repelling spells had been added to the tiny space, only making the two of them more impossible to find.
Leaning her head against the damp wall of stone and running her hands down her face, Hollis thought on the house elf's words even further than she had before.
Something clicked.
"We've been thinking about this completely wrong," she said, slowly looking away from her hands and snapping her fingers in thought.
"What do you mean?" Regulus asked, his eyes widening at the brightness in her tone that had been missing.
"I mean we've been trying to figure out what the object placed in the basin is, while in reality, we should be trying to find out the location of the basin itself."
"Oh Merlin, you're right!" Regulus exclaimed, stepping outside the shelter so that he could stand up all the way and pace without knocking his head on the wood. "But this place is massive, where could it be?"
Biting her lower lip subconsciously, Hollis twisted a strand of coily hair that had fallen from her bun around one finger with thought.
"We've already checked the entire bottom coastline," she said, thinking out loud only for the sake of Regulus.
"Don't remind me," he murmured in return, thinking of the strand of five days on the lethally sharp rocks that had resulted in a dozen cuts on each of them. "So it's not there."
"Maybe not," Hollis said, now transferring her gaze out onto the ocean. "Maybe it's inside of it."
They both knew she was right, the logic was completely sound.
Regulus's heart started to beat faster, knowing that they were on the verge of a major discovery here.
"But where's the entrance?" Regulus asked Hollis, his voice raising not with aggression, but with excitement. "How do we get in?"
They both paused, still moving along the rocks their balance had become accustomed to, unlike that first night.
"It's going to be hidden by magic, obviously," Regulus said, only to see that the Rosier was shaking her head. "What is it?"
"I think it's disguised so well that it doesn't even need any enchantments," Hollis whispered. "I think it's hidden in the one place we haven't thought to look yet."
Both of their heads turned to the rocks jutting from the waves on which they had landed.
"I think it's hidden by the notion that no person would be thick enough to risk climbing down one of those," Hollis finished.
Making the decision for both of them, Regulus turned to her with a determined expression.
"A rock and some water doesn't seem like much at this point."
Hollis smiled dryly and without humor.
"There's only one way to find out if we're right," she declared, apparating to the rock they had originally landed on in the center of the waves, shortly followed by Regulus.
Without any hesitation, Hollis instantly went over to the edge of the rock, leaning down on one knee with a hand shielding half her face from the saltwater spraying into their air all around her.
A small thrill went through her as she saw the series of jagged niches that looked perfectly like hand and footholds going down the rock.
When Regulus turned back around from the side of the stone he had been checking, his heart dropped when he saw Hollis no longer standing where she had been only moments earlier.
Fearing the worst that she had fallen, the Black boy spun around frantically.
"Hollis?!" he shouted with cupped hands to try and overpower the sound of the gusts of wind that only amplified the power of the water crashing around them. "Where did you go?!"
Only a few seconds later, Hollis threw her forearms back over the edge breathlessly, to Regulus's relief.
Her entire body was soaking wet from the frigid seawater, yet she only felt the warmth of accomplishment as she looked at Regulus with bright brown eyes.
"I found the entrance."
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Remus, James, and Sirius were used to being looked at by the students of Hogwarts with many different expressions.
One, of course, was admiring or jealous stares from the ladies of the school from all years and houses that they either couldn't have one of the boys or were jealous that someone like Lily did.
There were also the dozens of glances whenever the castle had been too quiet for a week without a prank, and every single pupil knew that something large was going to happen soon. The boys particularly enjoyed these, it made them feel like they had that ability to make all those around them laugh and be happy.
Out of these examples and many others, they had never been looked at like they were now.
With pity and fear.
Whenever they walked down the hall, students became less and less cautious of the words they spoke and in what tones, much to the Gryffindor's fury.
"They're just in denial that she's dead."
"Slytherin's lost every game, no way they're getting the House Cup at this rate without quidditch on their side anymore."
"She was always so outspoken about being against Voldemort, it was really only a matter of time before something like this happened."
"Have you seen the kids she tutored? They're heartbroken."
Whenever they heard these whispers, a variety of reactions ensued.
Students were scared of Sirius because of how unpredictable he had become.
Before, when hexed by Black, the person had always known why it had happened, and knew simply to not talk shit about him near the boy and keep their path clear.
Now, though, it seemed like Sirius would find even the smallest rumors and make sure to get a go at the person behind them through either spells or fists. This resulted in a dozen trips to McGonagall and eventually Dumbledore, but Sirius simply couldn't stop.
Hollis had been the one to calm him down in times like these.
Meanwhile, Lily was starting to not recognize James because of his cruelty.
If she had thought that he was violent towards Snape, especially in their fifth year when that had peaked, then this was hardly anything in comparison.
Whenever James heard even an inkling of a suggestion that Hollis was dead and gone for good, he would walk past the person at first like he hadn't heard what they said about his little sister. Then, as quick as a flash of lightning, he would have his wand at their chest and his eyes narrowed without mercy.
Daring them to repeat that, which they never did in fear of what the Potter would do to them.
The most painful for McGonagall to witness of all, however, was Remus.
Whenever a rumor reached his ears, the only thing he would do was turn and look at the person with a crumpled expression conveying a total low point that only seemed to sink deeper than he ever felt possible.
Remus was too scared that if he engaged in an argument of why Hollis was alive, he would lose it.
Then, reigning with that was the fact that he simply couldn't bear to hurt someone in her name after the effect his use of the Cruciatus Curse on Nott had so deeply hurt her into displaying a side of him he had previously only thought existed on the full moon.
It was some sort of silent coping mechanism, that if he ever saw Hollis again, she would have to be ashamed of him after the awful terms they had left one another on.
The presence of Hollis Rosier brought out the best in them.
But her absence brought out the worst.
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Hollis sat with her knees huddled to her chest in the cold of the unblocked winter winds howling all around her.
Unfortunately, those howls and the full moon above her were only making her mind crumple.
Her anger towards Remus was starting to wear off, replaced by the desire to get back to the boy she loved.
Staring up at the sky, Hollis knew that at Hogwarts at this very second, he was in werewolf form without her there with him to help him through the transformation, night, and aftermath. She wanted nothing more than to run to him as fast as she could, remind him that she was here and that she was sorry for ever leaving him.
But now, that wasn't a possibility.
She couldn't ever go back until the time was safe; until the Rosier wouldn't be putting any of them in danger by rejoining her family.
Having been watching her from the driftwood shelter, Regulus wasn't exactly sure to do about his fellow Slytherin.
Hollis had been flickering for the past few days between having an enormous amount of motivation to get past the slimy, narrow tunnel leading to the 'entrance hall,' as she had named it, of the cave that was sure to be behind the mossy stone and becoming absolutely hopeless.
These changes mildly scared Regulus, but he knew there was no point in telling Hollis that she was acting oddly when it would only make her sink deeper into whatever she was feeling.
Walking out from the wood and cloth and stone shelter, the Black boy gripped a yellow apple in his hand he had taken from the village market earlier that week and tossed it up and down a few times in his hand before standing next to where Hollis was sitting.
"You have to rest, Hol," Regulus whispered even though there was not a single other soul to be seen around them.
"No, I don't," snapped Hollis, much quicker than he had expected.
The pale orb of the full moon reflected in her eyes.
When you look up at the sky, you could be anywhere.
I do the same with the moon.
Even though Regulus didn't know the connection between Remus and the moon, he knew who she was thinking of and tried to ignore it.
"C'mon," he pushed. "You've either been wanting to do everything or nothing lately, it'll help to rest."
"Resting isn't going to change anything," Hollis said back truthfully.
"Why not?" Regulus asked, taking a bite of the apple.
"Because he's in my sleep, too."
A tear trickled down Hollis's cheek as she buried her head in her knees and let out a heart wrenching sob.
Regulus simply walked away.
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The missing pictures of Hollis in their book were being replaced by a dozen other things.
Newspaper clippings of updates on missing persons cases, including hers.
Pages torn from books.
Maps of places she could have gone.
Jotted down notes in five different handwritings.
"Please," James begged McGonagall with no childish dramatics in his voice. "Please, professor, I'm so sorry."
"Mr. Gibson is in the hospital wing for two days," she said back in a scolding tone that far bypassed any wat she had ever talked to the Potter before. "You are not sorry, you are sorry that your actions are now being punished."
"His actions were well provoked," Remus added into the conversation with his arms crossed against her office's stone walls. "Did you hear what they said about her?"
McGonagall would never tell anyone that she had cried as well over this statement.
"He said that 'she was better off dead because she would put all of us in less danger,'" Remus repeated with a teary crack in his voice.
"And she's not dead," Sirius said firmly. "I don't care what the bloody Prophet says."
"We're going to see her again," Remus added on, standing up straighter against the wall. "And it would help us if you stop giving a detention every time we stand up for her."
The professor was in quite a dilemma as to whether to treat the three boys in front of her as sons or students at that moment.
"Go, all of you," she said abruptly, making all of their confusion increase.
"Professor-"
"Leave, or I will not hesitate to take even more points from my own house."
The instant her thin oak door clicked shut, McGonagall opened up the drawer in her desk she had let not a single person see.
The one full of Hollis's old essays with teardrop stains on them that did not belong to the Rosier.
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"It's a HORCRUX, Rosier, we can't destroy it!" Regulus roared at Hollis with cheeks flushed from anger. "It's literally impossible!"
"We have to try!" exclaimed Hollis with just as loud of a tone.
The two of them were standing in the echoing small room that one reached after swimming through the passage they had discovered weeks ago, the one that they could simply not get past no matter how much they felt the magic and tried to decipher it.
"The defenses around it could kill us," he reminded Hollis, his hand moving towards his wand in his sopping wet waistband from the swim to get to that entrance location. "Kill us."
"Isn't that the EXACT thing that you told me?" Hollis shouted back at him. "This was always going to be a risk, Regulus, now is not the time to back out of this like a coward."
His brown eyes narrowed with just as much coldness as the water on his clothes.
"Maybe I shouldn't have brought you here," he hissed.
"Amazing!" she screamed, throwing her arms up in the air. "Because believe me, I would so much rather be with Remus right now than you!"
Regulus went silent at these words, but she barely noticed.
"Do you realize how much I have discovered about this?" she reminded him with a raised eyebrow as her voice echoed off the greenish walls. "For all you know you might have never even found the bloody entrance."
"Shut up!" Regulus shouted with animosity.
His wand was pointed directly at her.
If the yelling had echoed loudly off the walls of the cave, then dueling was a bomb in comparison.
"Expelliarmus!" the Black cried, but Hollis deftly blocked the spell with almost no effort.
"Impedimenta!" shouted Hollis back, and Regulus's leg buckled in pain, making him fall to the floor
This time, it wasn't a game.
Sensing that he had to strike first now, the young man obtained the offensive with a tight grip and shot a dozen sharp bolts of dark purple light at Hollis in one swipe of his wand from his stuck position.
The Rosier could only dodge so many.
The final knife like edge sliced against the flesh a few inches below her shoulder, making Hollis cry out in agony and stumble backward against the stone wall with her bleeding arm pressing to the stone.
A pit in Regulus's stomach plummeted once he realized what he had done.
How raw her cry had sounded, and he had caused it.
Just as he was stepping forward to see how deep the cut was, though, the Rosier and Black realized something most peculiar at the exact same time.
The instant the crimson and sticky and warm liquid had touched the stone, a doorway had been formed.
A payment of blood to reveal a lake.
They had done it.
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Remus Lupin felt a crippling gut feeling of pure and utter dread shoot through his chest.
oh my god this took so long to write but i love it sm
like lowkey this chapter was such a rollercoaster with the two locations switching back and forth
4.2k words
what do u wanna see?
VOTE! - it really helps