☽☽☽
"TELL ME AGAIN WHAT HAPPENED?"
"I was telling her about the dream with the veil and she freaked out. I didn't realise she was going to pass out I thought she was just scared or something. She just seemed to think someone was going to fall through the archway and... then she told me to come and get you, next thing I know she collapsed and I panicked"
"Thanks Theo...that helps a lot"
"I swear I didn't realise she was going to—"
"Don't worry about it, Remus is just stressed"
"What's going on?"
Athena blinked a few times, waking from a slumber she'd been unaware she was experiencing. Everything around her felt groggy, there was a light pain in her head and her vision was blurred, only able to make out blotches of colour like watercolour paint around her.
"You're awake" Remus sighed, she felt someone take her hand "Rena we were worried"
"Worried?" Athena frowned, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to wake them up properly, "how long was I out"
"It's only been ten minutes or so" came the voice of Sirius, "we were more concerned that you passed out in the first place, you hit your head on the floor but you should be fine"
"Archway" Athena mumbled, pushing herself up in the bed, "archway... did Theo tell you about the archway"
"Yeah he did" Remus replied, "look Rena, obviously you've got yourself wound up about this dream"
"It's not just a dream" Athena groaned, "it's a vision, a prediction of what's going to happen. I saw it too, remember I told you. I saw the archway in the crystal ball"
"Yes I know that but there's no point stressing yourself out about it—"
"Someone's going to die!" Athena exclaimed, almost toppling out of the bed as she sat up straight. Remus stopped her from falling just as the clarity came back into her vision.
"You don't know that" Remus murmured.
"Theo felt it!" Athena called out, "tell them Theo, you told me you felt a sense of loss when looking at the archway"
Theo looked to Remus anxiously as he stood by the door, obviously unsure about what he should say. His eyes shifted nervously to Sirius for help but Remus stepped in before Sirius could say anything.
"The archway is a harbour of spirits, it's supposed to form a connection with the other world if such things exist. Many call it the death artefact and others say it's the closest anyone's come to understanding death. It makes perfect sense that when Theo looked at the archway he felt a sense of loss"
"How do you know so much about it?" Athena frowned, "it's in the departmental mysteries for a reason, that's the most secret department—"
"Dumbledore told me"
"Why would—"
"Because two months ago Elle wrote me a letter that worried me" Remus began, "explaining a dream she'd had, a one almost identical to the one that Theodore says he had. I went to Dumbledore on behalf of her to ask what this meant because she too felt a sense of loss. Dumbledore explained what I've just told you and I think it makes perfect sense"
"You didn't tell me that" Athena muttered, "why didn't you tell me that? Even when I came to you telling you I'd had a vision of the archway!"
"We'll give you some space" Sirius muttered quickly, grabbing Theodore's arm and pulling him out of the room.
"Because of this!" Remus continued, "because it's obvious you're still terrified of that archway and what it reminds you of. Athena you seem sure something bad is going to happen there but in reality we don't know that"
"I do know!" Athena yelled, "I felt it!"
"No, you saw the archway and paired with it your feelings from losing Archer"
"He has nothing to do with this!" Athena snapped, "someone is going to fall into the archway, someone's going to die!"
"Did you see someone fall into the archway?" Remus asked.
"No but—"
"If you had seen someone fall into the archway, is there anything you could do to ensure this didn't happen?"
"No but—"
"Then it's not worth you fainting and worrying over" Remus concluded. "Rena I know you're burdened with being able to see the future, knowing you'll see the end of the war and I know you're terrified of losing someone else but the truth is, we have no idea what's going to happen and there's therefore no point of wearing yourself down about it"
"But I know something bad is going to happen" Athena whispered.
"There's nothing you can do about a feeling that somethings going to happen" said Remus and Athena hated that he was completely right, of course he was but that didn't stop Athena from worrying.
"I still wished you'd told me that you talked to Dumbledore" Athena muttered bitterly causing Remus to sigh.
"I'm sorry" he stated simply, "I was only trying to stop you from feeling anxious, look I know that archway has bad memories for you but the chances are you won't even have to go back there"
Athena didn't say anything in response because she didn't believe him. Of course she had to go back there, everything had been pointing to it for a while now. The question was when this would happen, why she'd be back there and most importantly who was going to fall into the archway? No matter what Remus said, she couldn't ignore what information she'd been given. Athena knew something was going to happen there and nothing that anyone said was going to change her mind.
☽☽☽
Athena had felt rotten for days. She didn't want to be a burden on everyone else but she did realise it was annoying for the other three members of the house to put up with her. She didn't feel like talking and pretending she felt fine when there was a pit of doom sitting inside her.
Sirius was making the most effort in an attempt to cheer her up but even this was achieving nothing. He even attempted to allow her to win at chess however somehow he still ended up with a victory. It was as though he couldn't even stop himself from winning anymore.
Remus was being wary around her and Athena quickly realised that he thought she was angry at him. Truthfully, she wasn't. Athena found it difficult to be annoyed at Remus. There were always arguments in love but none of them could turn Athena against him. She loved him too much for that.
However for now, Remus wasn't even mentioning the order, the war and most importantly the ministry. All of these things would simply remind Athena about what she was stressing over, not that anything could make her forget.
Unfortunately, without these three topics there was very little to talk about. None of them had realised how much these things controlled the lives that they were living but there really wasn't anything else going on.
The papers of course ignored the war but Athena felt inclined to stay away from them knowing that her name had been included in many of the latest publications. Now her name was being slandered beside Sirius'. He seemed to find this all very comical. It was probably because he was used to it. Athena was not and instead of finding it funny, she found it infuriating.
Athena was sat in the kitchen with Theo glad to finally be hearing silence. That was the good thing about Theodore's company, he didn't feel the need to fill empty spaces with words. Instead they were sitting calmly, both reading and minding each others business.
That was until the fire burst into green flames and out stepped the figure of Aurora who was the only visitor of Grimmauld place over the past week. Athena would have been pleased to see her sister if it wasn't for the fact that she presumed the only reason she was here was because she'd heard about what had happened.
"Hi Rory" Athena muttered as she looked up, "listen, I don't know what Remus has told you but—"
"McGonagall's in St Mungo's" Aurora blurted out in evident panic.
Athena froze as she looked at her sister in concern. Her eyes switched to Theo who also looked surprised and taken aback by this news, enough to remove his attention from the pages of his book.
"I'll get the others" he murmured quietly, leaving the kitchen in a hurry.
"St Mungo's?" Athena gawped, "is she ok? What happened? Should someone go see her?"
"Poppy is there now and she's distraught, obviously" Aurora sighed loudly, "it's a mess, I can't believe it. I'm furious!"
"Furious?" Athena asked in confusion, "Rory what happened to her? Was it Umbridge?"
"What's happened to Minnie?" Sirius asked loudly as he burst into the kitchen, shortly followed by Remus who moved over to Athena immediately.
"I was just getting to that" Aurora nodded, "well it happened a few days ago and I would have come quicker but... well you know Minerva she keeps the school afloat and there's been so much to do. It was only today she was moved to St Mungo's because Poppy couldn't improve her condition—"
"Rory what happened?" Athena asked urgently.
"Ok well the OWL exams are happening at the moment and the astronomy one was obviously happening at night time. I was waiting under the tower to ask the students how it had gone once they were done when I heard a sound from outside"
All four of the others were listening with intent. Obviously alive with worry. McGonagall was a large part of Hogwarts and it was rare to find someone who disliked her even among the Slytherins. Even Theodore had looked up to her and was now looking just as concerned as everyone else.
"In curiosity, I went up the tower thinking I could stand at the back and see what was going on. When I got up there it was clear no one was doing their exam, they were distracted by something happening on the grounds so I moved to get a better view"
"And what was happening?" Sirius asked.
"You know how I told you that she was determined to fire Hagrid?" Aurora asked.
"Yeah" Athena nodded.
"Well she tried alright but she brought a whole enforcement of auror's with her" Aurora sighed, "by the time I'd got there it was chaos, they were all shooting spells at him, stunning spells. Obviously he'd argued against her firing him and she'd taken that as a threat"
"They attacked Hagrid?" Athena gasped.
"It was awful, he was roaring in anger... of course none of the spells did anything because of his giants blood but then one of them hit Fang and he became even more furious"
"Is Fang ok?" Theodore asked lightly.
"I think so" Aurora replied, "anyway I was about to go down there because I was furious about them attacking Hagrid when I heard McGonagall yelling at them. She was running across the grounds trying to stop them and then—"
Aurora paused, obviously haunted by the memory as she placed her hand lightly over her mouth.
"And then what?" Sirius asked impatiently.
"They turned on her, the ministry people and shot four stunning spells at her at the same time. Four stunning spells to the chest all at once... it's a wonder she..."
Aurora let her voice die out as silence filled the room. Athena couldn't believe it. Never had she imagined that someone would try and take McGonagall down. Especially when she was unarmed and simply trying to help out a coworker. Imagining McGonagall lying in a hospital bed was a terrifying thought. Four stunning spells, the very idea of it was tragic.
"What happened to Hagrid?" Remus asked in a slightly shaking voice.
"He ran off, grabbed Fang and sprinted out the front gates. No ones heard from him since. He's in hiding I suppose"
"Is she going to be alright?" Sirius asked, "Minnie?"
"Poppy thinks so" Aurora nodded, "she's refusing to leave McGonagall's side at the moment, seems to think she's failed her since she couldn't do anything. McGonagall is the strongest woman I know so I'm sure she'll recover"
"How is Fudge letting this happen?" Athena asked angrily.
"I'm not sure" Aurora sighed, "I thought for sure something would come of it, I think they're trying to cover it up. Umbridge was one of the ministry people down there, she was apart of it... they left her there... I was the one to go down, they didn't even check is she was ok... if she was alive"
"That's disgusting" Sirius spat.
"I took the opportunity to come and tell you but I really can't be gone long, now McGonagall is gone the school is practically falling apart. I've given too many students time off, they're starting to think I'm turning into you"
Athena forced a laugh at the thought.
"I'll come back soon" Aurora sighed, "this needs to be over soon... if this continues I don't think I'll be at Hogwarts for very much longer"
With that Aurora turned and disappeared in emerald flames once more as the others sat in silence around the table worrying about McGonagall. Previously, Athena had loved the silence, wished for it even. Now all she wanted was for it to go away.
☽☽☽
A/n
Words - 2240
Published - 6th August 2021
It's raining so much here
it's crazy :0
Also I know this
isn't a knew piece of
information but
it just dawned on
me today that Remus
is Theodore's biological
uncle...and they both
know that
that just seems odd