The crackling of flames.
Muffled screams of horror.
A mess of sounds and colors swirling around her head.
Crystal opened her eyes slowly. The very second she regained consciousness, pain wriggled its way within her body, flooding her senses. She could feel she was leaning against something. Her field of vision was blurry and filled with warm shades. She tried to make sense of what was happening around her, but the more she tried to concentrate, the less she seemed to be able to understand.
Then her vision cleared. She realized she was outside and there was a huge fire nearby, creating an outstanding amount of smoke and noise. But she did not remember being carried away from James' house. She only remembered having lost all her strength after trying to protect Harry, and falling into a deep slumber, one which she hadn't been quite certain she would wake up from.
But she did.
She looked around, starting to panic.
Where was the child?
How was she outside?
She remembered Regulus approaching her as she lost consciousness. Maybe he took them all outside; he was the least affected by Tom's blows, after all.
Crystal stood up and tried to walk around. Her ankle still hurt like hell. She could see some people hastily pacing around nearby. Crystal thought about using healing magic on herself, but thought it dangerous, as she could pass out again, out of exhaustion. Looking hazily at the ground, Crystal took notice of a sharp shard of broken glass, she grabbed it and ripped a piece of her clothing for a temporary makeshift bandage for her ankle. The pressure the bandage applied helped her walk better.
She walked slowly towards the two pacing figures. As she approached them, she let out a sigh of relief. Sirius was pacing around, restless, he had Harry on his arms. Regulus paced around too, but in a more static way. It's like both were waiting for something. Crystal looked around, about the same distance she had been from Sirius and Regulus, Remus was passed out, leaning against some rocks.
"Crystal..." The sound that came out of Regulus was not a good sign, he sounded melancholic.
He sounded like he was sorry.
Crystal looked at Regulus, then at Sirius.
"Where..." She looked around. James and Lily were nowhere to be seen. She looked at Regulus and he looked sorry. She looked at Sirius and he looked enraged and remorseful. His eyes were puffy and red. "Wait... Y-You can't tell m-me that..."
A sound of another explosion echoed a little far from them. They were all startled, including Remus, who seemed to regain some sort of consciousness. Harry, however, was scared by the sound. Sirius gently rocked him back and forth on his arms to try and soothe him.
"What is even going on, I can't understand- Why is there a fire?" Crystal asked, trying to make sense of something at least.
"Peter..." Sirius started, but choked back on his words and his tears. "He betrayed us all, just like you warned us. But when I cornered him, that coward... He cast an explosion and ran away... People died, Crys, people that had nothing to do with it." His voice was full of sorrow and a lingering bitterness.
Crystal stared at her feet for a long while, before excusing herself and jogging sluggishly towards the Potter's late house. She entered the place and examined everything around her. From the living room she retrieved her muggle dagger. She kept walking and trying to gather her thoughts. Then she found it.
James laid there on the cold floor. His eyes wide open.
Crystal choked on a sob, putting her hands over her mouth. She walked up to him and knelt on the ground, by his side.
His skin was pale, on the verge of turning purple. His open eyes had lost its vibrant, mischievous hazel glow. She touched his hand and he was cold. But his expression was so paradoxically heartbreaking. The face he made at that moment, where time stopped and his life left him was of a profound sadness and of a calm peace. He must have known what would happen to him the second he jumped in front of the killing curse.
Crystal closed his eyes gently. She planted a gentle, respectful final kiss on his forehead and bowed.
She would make the time to mourn for him. To remember him. To be there for his son. But now she needed to asses Lily's situation and go back to the others, so they could take Harry to safety.
Crystal went upstairs. She thought she would've a solemn, brief parting time with Lily too, but she was alarmed when she heard a masculine voice coming from the room where she had last seen Lily. The whispers were soon followed by sobs. Crystal realized this must've been someone Lily knew and found out about what happened, but she dared not enter the room. Rather, she stalled around the end of the hallway.
After a long while, Crystal decided she could come back later, since the person wasn't leaving anytime soon. She was leaving the house with a heavy heart when a strong wind appeared. It came from inside the house and ran through its rooms until it exited it through the front door. Crystal looked behind her to see the strange gust of wind seeming to go towards the fire and make it worse.
Remus, Regulus and Sirius, along with baby Harry approached her.
"What is that?!" Remus spoke, panting a little, he was still recovering from the blows he sustained.
Regulus and Crystal exchanged a knowing look.
"Tom can't die by normal means..." Crystal spoke, trying to think of how to explain the mess they were in.
"He has split his soul." Regulus completed, staring with a serious gaze at Remus and Sirius. "He might just be back some years into the future."
"Or become a shitty cursed wind that tried to kill even more people in fires. That is awful, too." Crystal completed, her tone melancholic, despite her casual wording.
"What? You mean he can come back for Harry?!" Sirius exclaimed, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Possibly." Regulus nodded. "We know he split his soul, we just don't know how many times and with what. That's the tricky part of it all."
"He'll go after you." Remus spoke, face contorted into deep frown. "He was sidetracked trying to kill you... The only reason he couldn't..."
They all stared at the ground.
"But there's nothing we could possibly do." Crystal exclaimed.
They stared at each other for a long while.
"There is one possibility." Crystal gently whispered, under her breath, as if hoping they wouldn't hear her voice.
It has already piqued their interests.
"I've heard of something..." She looked sideways. "A false memory charm. But certainly we aren't at that level yet, right?"
They all went silent after she spoke. They were considering options.
"No, that's what we all must do. Especially you, Crystal." Remus spoke.
"Peter must have planned this, too." Sirius seemed thoughtful. "Do you remember how some people were wary of you because of your powers? He escaped..."
"He'll probably tell everyone you had a meltdown and lost control of your powers, causing an explosion that killed a lot of muggles and his parents." Regulus completed the line of thought, gesturing towards the sleepy Harry towards the end of his sentence.
"Maybe we should wait and see if he'll actually do that?" Crystal asked, unsure of what they should do next.
"It's too risky."
They all exchanged stares again.