this is about to be an overload of info ESPECIALLY in the second half so bear with me here guys
like pay a lot of attention to dates bc uhm.. youll see
May 1, 1978
4:09 am
Potter Manor
The second Peter heard the crack, he left. He didn't know who was apparating into the house this time, just that there was no way he was going to get lucky again with keeping his identity hidden and had to get the hell out of there.
No one noticed Pettigrew exit out the back door. They were too busy trying to figure out who the threat was this time, and why they had apparated upstairs instead of where it was most likely that people would be located.
Euphemia looked up at the ceiling, heard the shouts, and didn't waste a split second.
There was a stumble as Ella Mae tripped against the corner of the rug and Leo yanked her back up into balance, not having expected the sudden apparition. Anderson had grabbed her hand as Remus took his other, knowing that she wouldn't have known where to go.
Sirius, who had grabbed Anneliese, struggled to keep her upright with the abrupt change of location, grabbing onto her waist as tightly as he could and falling back against James's bedpost for support.
Callaway's strength had taken a getaway. The display of wit and power and bravery she had just put on at Malfoy Manor had drained her to the marrow of her bones. Now, even just keeping her eyes open felt as difficult as sprinting a mile.
"YOU WERE GONE?!" a loud shout came from the hallway, followed by five sets of footsteps coming up the stairs. "WE ARE NEVER TRUSTING YOU ALONE IN A ROOM AGAIN-"
Euphemia, Fleamont, Andromeda, Queenie, and Molly froze when Goldstein threw open the door and saw the scene inside the room.
It couldn't have been more clear that trust wasn't the point right now.
"Fleamont," Euphemia said quietly, eyes not moving off Anneliese as her insides churned with a fury she hadn't felt in a long, long time. "Please show our guests what protective enchantments to put around our home. The smaller the area, the stronger the charm."
Her tone left no room for questioning. They all knew it had to be done unless they wanted the battle to be just transferred in location and not actually end, even if they did want to stay with Callaway after what had just happened.
"Everyone," Euphemia emphasized as Leo, Sirius, James, Ella Mae, and Queenie were the last lingering in the doorway. "There's no point of healing her if they're just going to find us in a split second. We already know that they know where we live. Now go."
James and Sirius exchanged a glance. They both knew she was more than capable after the events of Christmas, but they also didn't want to let her out of their sight.
But Queenie was the one who ended up getting them all out of the door. She saw the expression on Mrs. Potter's face, the one that she often wore around Anneliese as well. And if Goldstein trusted herself, then she also trusted Euphemia.
"We are just leaving her alone with that woman?" Ella Mae exclaimed once the door had shut. "Why on earth-"
"Listen French Girl, that woman is my mother and Anneliese is in perfectly good hands," James snapped as they raced down the stairs. "And once everything calms down and everything is fine, you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do."
Ella Mae's eyes narrowed in anger, but Leo placed a gentle hand on her forearm and gave her a look that said that it simply wasn't worth it to argue with anyone right now.
Remus looked back as he heard their footsteps pause, and then a tiny double take when he saw Leo and Ella Mae right next to each other, their brows in the exact same furrowed position. The two of them seemed to be getting that same, odd feeling as Lupin at the same time.
Did they know each other somehow?
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?!" Sirius shouted from the bottom of the stairs, breaking the spell. "COME ON! WE CAN DEAL WITH THE WHOLE MYSTERY SISTER SITUATION LATER!"
Black was desperately trying to get Riddle's words out of his head. He put every single ounce of his fury and anger into these spells rippling the air around Potter Manor, the work that four of his friends were doing totaling up to his alone.
You want me to be soft and vulnerable and hurt just so you can do whatever you'd like.
Is your memory as lacking as your intelligence? I did.
Sirius wasn't stupid, but he wished it wasn't true. He knew firsthand that kind of feeling boys got when they saw Anneliese. And apparently, it was getting less and less common for anyone to resist their stupid urges and just leave her and her body the fuck alone.
A few floors up, Euphemia was thinking the same thing.
Leave her alone.
She had grabbed a pair of scissors from James's desk and was cutting off the right side of Anneliese's shirt, the part soaked in blood. The fabric hung limply off her skin, slowly peeling away until her wound from both Bellatrix and Nagini was visible.
Well, visible except for the blood caked all around her forearm. Euphemia's face barely remained straight as she magically wiped as much of it away as she could before getting the rest with a towel she had summoned.
Healing without assistance wasn't easy, but it was doable.
Anneliese's back was slumped against the enormous amount of pillows on James's bed as Euphemia stood by the side, slowly but surely getting to the base of the wound as the usually white towel grew darker and darker.
The sobs wracking through her body were uncontrollable, making her shake and the bandages Mia was wrapping around her forearm harder and harder to apply. Euphemia's eyes repeatedly move away from her arm and down to Anneliese's thighs.
She knew that the last thing Callaway wanted was someone touching her right now, but the girl was just too exhausted to resist anymore.
"I know you don't want this," Euphemia whispered, her heart breaking for Anneliese. "But I'm going to have to look at your legs and under your skirt. You could have been seriously injured, and a lot of permanent, irreversible harm can be done down there very easily."
Anneliese just cried harder.
"I don't know what else we can do," Remus muttered, lowering his wand back down to his side as he looked out the window into the dark grey sky. "That's all of the enchantments I can think of. We're as protected as we're going to get."
"You could have told us you were going," Dorcas snapped as they all headed back into the living room, sitting down on the floor, couches, and chairs quietly. "We could have helped. I thought that we did things together."
"We do," Lily said softly. "But if we came down, one of the parents would have tried to stop us. It wasn't personal."
"Please, someone remind me why you are here," Leo snapped, turning furiously to Evans. "You have the most conditional friendship with Anneliese out of anyone in this room. You're a jealous asshole who just-"
"Hey," James interrupted coldly. "That's enough."
He would never stop defending Lily. Potter's love, even though it felt wrong at times, had never stopped for her.
"I'm just trying to make things better," Lily said. "I don't want Anneliese to hate me forever."
"I think you've crossed that bridge," Violet muttered, pressing her forehead into Mitchell's shoulder with a deep sigh. "And I don't even know what happened. I can just tell. You've messed up severely."
"I don't think A is worried about any petty, jealous friendship issues right now," Safa interjected, seeing James's expression turn more and more angry. "I don't care who slapped who, our friend was just tortured. Can we please just focus on helping her?"
All expressions and hostility died down as they realized that she was right. They all just sat there and listened as the summer thunder started to begin again, dark outside even as the sun rose and was masked by thick, heavy clouds.
The past twelve hours had been a nightmare, yet none of them had slept.
Soft footsteps coming down the stairs made them turn their heads. Euphemia entered the room with an exhausted, broken expression on her face, but not a hopeless one. Obviously, her preventing anyone from coming into the room had done its job for her focus.
All of them sat up with straightened spines as they turned to her, anxiously awaiting news on Anneliese's current status.
"She's asleep," Euphemia said, and they all sighed in relief. "She might be out for at least another twelve hours, or that's what it seemed like. Sirius, we moved her to your room before she fell asleep so James can get some rest. I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all," Sirius said softly with a shake of his head.
"I managed to get everything I could, so she's no longer in critical condition," Euphemia said, and they relaxed yet again. "But it's going to take time for her to heal fully. And rest. Lots and lots of rest. And speaking of sleep.."
Mrs. Potter looked more closely at the room. All of the teenagers and adults alike had deep bags under their eyes, awake for far over twenty four hours.
"Most of you need to get back to your parents," she said. "I would be worried sick if my child hadn't come home yet during a time like this. It seems like Peter already did so."
With a scan of the room, they realized that she was right. Fabian frowned slightly, remembering that Anneliese had been suspicious of someone in this group but had never clarified who.
"I know mine are," Myra sighed, standing up. "Please, someone write to me and let me know how things are going."
"Same for me," Cliff nodded. "And if we're needed, we'll be here as soon as we can."
One by one, Safa, Myra, Marlene, Dorcas, Lily, Remus, Fabian, Andromeda, Cliff, Mitchell, Queenie, Violet, Molly, Alice and Frank all said their goodbyes and apparated away, leaving only the original residents of the home, Leo, and Ella Mae in the living room.
"I'm not going back home until I can talk to my sister," Ella Mae said firmly. "Surely you can understand that, yes?"
"Of course," Euphemia said, gesturing for her to follow. "Let's see which room you want to settle into, love. We have plenty available."
Ella Mae startled slightly as she trailed behind Mrs. Potter up the east set of stairs leading to the second floor that had the most guest rooms, not having expected there to be such a lack of fight or protest for her to stay.
"Same for me," Leo said definitively, grabbing a throw blanket off the back of a chair. "Not leaving my sister. I'll take the couch. I don't want to mess up any of the rooms."
"Fine with me," Fleamont sighed, flicking off the kitchen light. "Try and get some sleep, all of you boys. Things will make more sense in the morning after some rest and once we get some breakfast. I don't want to see any faces in the next six hours at least. Sleep."
"Yes sir," Anderson muttered, already fading off.
Sirius and James quickly hugged one another good night, a ritual done since they were eleven, before heading off to their own rooms.
Black's room was on the fifth floor, the very top of the manor. He took the fastest route of staircases and hallways possible, jogging all the way up and only slowing his footsteps once he reached his room so as not to wake Anneliese up.
Sirius cringed as the door squeaked on it's way open, but it was nothing compared to the storm raging outside. The rain was coming down so forcefully on the room's floor to ceiling windows that if Callaway was going to wake up, then she would have by now.
Black could make out the outline of her body beneath the covers, more small and compact than he had ever seen it. Her back was towards him, the outline of her spine and shoulder blades pressing through his shirt that she had put on.
She shifted slightly at the pressure of the mattress sinking as he got on it as well, but didn't wake. Sirius gave her a solid two feet of room, practically hanging off the edge of the bed so that she could have her own space.
Black stared up at the canopy above his four poster bed, completely incapable of sleep.
I'm still in my graduation clothes, he thought with a frown. Maybe that's it.
Yet even after he changed into a Don Mclean tshirt he had gotten courtesy as a joke from James because of how much he listened to American Pie and sweatpants, he still couldn't get his mind to wander off the girl lying next to him.
What was she dreaming of, if she was dreaming? Or was it a nightmare? Could she be too tired to dream? Was she just faking sleep and just as awake as he was? Was she still in pain? There was no way she wasn't. Could he help? Could he have prevented this? What if-
His thoughts were cut off by a tiny whimper of pain.
Sirius's neck turned towards Anneliese, not certain he had heard right and that he wasn't just making things up in his head. But then the sound came again, and he knew that he wasn't imagining things.
Even the darkest points of his mind wouldn't have done that to him.
"A?" he whispered, twisting his whole torso back towards her. "Are you awake?"
Callaway didn't respond, just twisted again. This time it was her hips that shifted, much more aggressive than her previous, tiny movements. Sirius's brows furrowed in concern. He stared down at his hand for a few seconds, not sure if he should try and wake her or not.
After another writhe of both physical and mental pain from her, Black made up his mind. Sometimes you couldn't get out of nightmares on your own no matter how hard you tried.
Yet before he touched her shoulder, he wrapped his hand in a blanket. It just didn't feel right to even put his skin against the cotton of her shirt.
Sirius only let himself hesitate for a split second more before making the contact.
Anneliese's eyes flew open so quickly from her sleep that it made Black wonder if she had even been asleep at all.
Her forearm immediately went in front of her face, fist clenched and a hair away from colliding with his jaw before Sirius caught her by the wrist, shaking the blanket off his hand so that he could protect himself.
A soft sound of pain came from between clenched teeth as she moved her other hand up just as she had the other side, which Black again gripped before she could get too close. Her reflexes were slowed, desperate with sleep.
Anneliese's breaths were heavy and restless as her eyes were wide with panic, somehow still not grasping that she wasn't on that green velvet couch anymore.
"Woah, woah, same side, safe person, it's me," Sirius said as his heart raced, now just as breathless as her. "Yea? It's Sirius. Yeah."
Anneliese's eyes relaxed as she slowly unclenched her fists, Black's grip on her relaxing. She pulled her wrists close to her chest, still confused as to what was going on and why he had just grabbed her like that.
"You're in Potter Manor," Black continued as calmly as he could. "I apparated here with you after you cursed out Voldemort, the literal dark lord. You're safe, the house is protected insanely well now. Mia healed you quite a bit. You're in my room."
Callaway calmed fully, slowly realizing and remembering everything that had happened to her in the past dozen hours.
And that was far too much for it to all hit her in a fresh, vivid blow again.
"Woah, woah," Sirius said, seeing the panic in her eyes as her expression flew back into very recent and even more traumatic memory. "Stay here with me, alright? You're here. You're safe with me. Just stay here. Here, do you feel the blanket? Focus on that. Focus on it. Stay here."
His voice, his words, yanked her back into the present, back into where she was right now. With him. She was with Sirius. She was with him.
"Do you feel safe?" Black whispered, desperately searching her face for some form of acknowledgment. "Please say something."
Sirius couldn't breathe, all the air in his lungs had been given to her.
He wanted to hold her like he'd never see her again, because now he knew that dreadful sensation of pure desolation and hopelessness, he had been feeling it this whole hellish night.
He wanted to put his hands in her hair and tangle their legs together so that maybe, just maybe he could feel like he finally had a grip on her and she wasn't going to slip away anymore. He wanted to taste her on his lips, smell her on his shirt and his skin.
He never wanted to leave, never wanted to let her out of his sight for a single second.
"Yea," she finally choked out. "Yes. I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to try and hit you, I just-"
"No," Sirius shook his head. "No, don't be sorry. Just.. please just relax. Please try and sleep. I can leave if you need me to. Do you want me to go?"
Black found himself at a loss of words of how to comfort her. He was going to say that he knew the kind of pain she was going through and that she wasn't alone, only to realize that he had never once been close to how she must be feeling right now.
Sirius had never had it this bad.
"No," Anneliese shook her head. "Don't go."
I can't go, Black thought with relief that she wanted him to stay. I wouldn't be able to.
He watched carefully as Anneliese shut her eyes again, this time more peaceful than before. The tension leaked from her shoulders into his sheets, slower and slower until she was finally calm, finally asleep without any nightmares this time.
And now that she was resting, Sirius finally could, too.
But looks could be deceiving.
Anneliese was far from asleep, and her mind was far from calm, no matter what her body dictated. Part of her had died in that cold room, but she wasn't about to show that just yet. She still needed to appear as weak as possible, keep herself innocent.
Because even though she hadn't said a word towards it, there was still a single name ringing mercilessly in her mind.
Peter.
She was going to kill him. When she found him, and she was going to, she was going to kill him. It was his fault. Regulus, the movie theater, what had just happened to her. So, so many things all made sense now, all linked back to one person.
All back to that traitorous, filthy little rat.
Anneliese had given him so much. So many chances, so many times that she made sure he was okay and felt included. She had her weak moments, her suspicions, but she had trusted him.
Only to find that the sweet, soft boy who dipped his bacon in his cereal milk and was so excited to have his hair dyed brown had been selling them all out to the Dark Lord, poisoning her boyfriend's brother, and smiling the whole time.
He had won. He had tricked everyone.
Everyone except her.
But Anneliese knew that seven years of friendship wouldn't be thrown away as easily as an accusation from the girl they had all known for two years saying that their best friend was one of the bad guys.
Bonds could be built strongly and quickly, but they were nothing compared to growing up together and forming a brotherhood like these boys had formed with Peter.
So she couldn't just blurt it out. She had to make him say it, she had to find a way.
And then, once they all knew, then she could finish him off.
Yet in all of that fury, there was a problem. There was a feeling stopping her, that tiny little voice in the back of her mind telling her that she was wrong, to give Peter the second chance he deserved, to hear him out and let him explain.
And that problem came in the physical form of the boy sleeping across from her.
His features looked so restful, so peaceful in the dim glow of warm light coming from beneath the door, so hopeful and trusting with the occasional flash of silver lightning when the skies lit up the night outside.
He was her weakness. Even though they had been through so much, he had caused her so much pain, Sirius was still her desire to be good.
Then he just can't know, she thought, forcing her eyes back shut to keep up the sleeping appearance in case he woke. I won't let him. But he'd find out. He would know. But so what? Don't I want this? No, I don't. I can't sink to Peter's level.
Anneliese gave up, letting her eyes flutter open again to steal another look.
Then he just won't know.
But Anneliese wasn't the only one hiding something.
Sirius knew that she was angry. He had known her for two years, he knew that when she was furious like this, she snapped and she hurt someone, something. Sometimes it was herself. Hell, sometimes it had been him who had made her do it.
And to most people, that snap had occurred in the hallway of Malfoy Manor.
Yet Sirius knew better than most people.
Yes, she had screamed and cursed and cried, but that was just the beginning of her feeling, getting in touch with her anger. Before it had just been pain and hurt and humiliation, but that moment had been the one where Anneliese had decided that she wanted revenge.
And yelling at someone for what they had done to her didn't match up to the severity of what they did. The balance of crime and punishment just weren't equal, and Sirius knew that Anneliese knew it too.
So as they both laid in bed, Black knew that she was going to do something and Callaway knew that she had to hide what she was going to do from him.
Sirius was the first to wake.
He rolled over and looked at the clock on his bedside table that told him it was just past twelve in the afternoon. Black did a tiny double take as he looked out the window, the sky still dark and rumbling as if it were night.
Sirius shifted as little as possible in getting out of bed as not to wake Anneliese, but it didn't work. There wasn't the same panic when she woke up this time, however.
Just hurt.
Black felt a wave of guilt wash over him. How could he ever think that she was going to hurt someone, that she had some plan up her sleeve? He had to see the best in her, because if he didn't, then no one would.
Sirius rushed over to her side of the bed, making sure that she didn't need any help before feeling guilty again that he had tried to touch her.
Anneliese's bare legs hit the air with a shiver, and they bucked at first when she tried to stand without leaning on the bedpost. The Cruciatus Curse was still lingering, the soreness and pain still working through her muscles.
"You got this," Sirius said in a tone bordering on desperation for her to be okay, forcing himself not to wrap an arm around her waist and help. "You got this, okay? It was just the first step. You can keep going-"
Anneliese couldn't.
Black cursed as her back fell flat onto the bed again as her hands pressed over her face, feet still on the ground and shirt riding up past her stomach.
He was about to help her again before the bruises made him freeze.
They were dark purple and crimson still, so deep that Euphemia had given her something for the pain and just time. The marks on her lower thighs were less severe, but Sirius wanted to cry when he saw where they were the most extreme.
All across her hips in the rough patterns of someone holding her down, bleeding lower to the blue lace underwear she was still wearing, some of them going underneath the fabric. On her very upper and inner thighs, brutal marks where someone had..
Sirius couldn't even bring himself to finish the thought.
His eyes moved up from her legs to her face again, wide and completely terrified.
Anneliese was looking at him already, cheeks burning in shame and humiliation.
"I don't even know what he did," she whispered as Sirius helped her pull her legs back onto the bed. "I wasn't conscious. I just woke up and.. and it hurt so bad, Sirius. It still hurts so, so bad and I can't stop it. And I want you to touch me, but I just.. I just can't yet, I'm sorry, I-"
"No," Black shook his head. "No, please don't say you're sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for, do you understand me?"
Anneliese feebly nodded.
"The person who has something to be sorry for is that disgusting man that saw a young, vulnerable, attractive girl and decided that he was going to take advantage of that and hurt her in the most vile, terrible way you can possibly hurt someone," Sirius said, voice angry, but not towards her. "You do not deserve this, Anneliese. Not at all."
"But I feel like I did something to make it happen," Callaway said weakly, pressing her thighs together. "I tried to get my wand from him by making him get closer, and it worked before his snake showed up, but.. but I had to.. I had to make him want me, and it must have worked too much, because-"
"Stop it," Sirius shook his head. "Do not blame this on yourself for a second. You did what you had to do. No matter what you do, nothing equates to what he did to you."
"But it seems like I do something, Sirius," Annelise said, voice choking on her tears. "Because every boy I meet thinks they can do this. I must be doing something wrong, because no one can just- no one can just not fucking kiss me-"
All the remaining softness for her melted off Sirius's face.
Callaway's voice had been cut off by her own tears, but it was cut off again with Black's silence and his lethal expression. She shouldn't have said anything.
"Who?" was all he asked, eyes blazing. "Who, Anneliese?"
Callaway shook her head. She knew what Sirius was thinking, she had felt the exact same way, too. But she had been able to push it down while she knew that Black could not, not in a million years.
If I can't hurt Riddle, then I'll hurt whoever else hurt her.
But Anneliese knew there was too much anger for Fabian to be safe, too much anger that he hadn't earned and another man had. It simply wasn't fair to take it out on Prewett.
"Tell me," Sirius said, voice turning cold. "I am done with people taking things from you. First it was that boy, then James, then Lucius, then Voldemort, and now whoever this other idiot is. I don't care what the consequences are, because someone needs to be taken from right back."
"Sirius," Anneliese said firmly, slowly pulling her legs out of bed again. "Did you not hear anything I said in the manor about not fighting fire with fire? You cannot just hate. Believe me, I've been there too, and all I wanted was to set someone on fire and listen to them scream."
Sirius watched as she was able to stand this time, slowly walking towards him.
"I wanted to crawl in a hole and die there, because I had things happen to me that are dark and ugly and unspeakable," she continued, still advancing. "But I didn't. And I didn't hurt anyone, and I pushed through. Putting people through pain does not erase your own."
"We both know that's bullshit," Sirius said, fists clenching. "I know that you still want to hurt someone. I know that you're still going to do something. I know you, hell, I can see it in your face right now."
Anneliese blinked a few times, unable to conceal her surprise.
She could trick lots of people with the hurt and innocent act, but Sirius apparently wasn't one of them. He could see right through her, tell that there was something pressing on her mind, something or someone that she was going to hurt.
There were downsides of them being so similar deep down sometimes.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Callaway shook her head. "I'm not going to do anything."
"Oh, don't give me that bullshit," Sirius snapped. "I'm offended that you think I'm stupid enough to be tricked like that. I can tell that you're hurt, and I know that there is someone very specific that you are going to go after. So who?"
"You wouldn't believe me," Anneliese said. "You'd just think I'm insane."
"Try me," Sirius said firmly, staring right into her eyes. "It's not that insane that someone would kiss you, A- why do you look like that?"
"It's not the same person," Callaway said. "Someone kissed me, but.. someone else, they did something much worse to all of us. But I have absolutely no physical, solid proof, so none of yall are gonna fucking believe me."
"Wait, so it's two people?" Sirius asked, fury building. "How many people hurt you?"
"A LOT!" Anneliese shouted suddenly, patience breaking. "TOO FUCKING MANY!"
"SO YOU ARE ANGRY!" Sirius shouted back, now towards her. "SO DON'T FUCKING PRETEND LIKE YOU'RE SOME WHOLESOME, INNOCENT PERSON THAT DOESN'T WANT TO HURT ANYONE! BECAUSE YOU DO!"
"AND IS THERE SOMETHING SO AWFUL ABOUT REALIZING THAT'S WRONG?" Anneliese cried. "I HATE MYSELF FOR FEELING IT- IT'S LIKE SOME DARK PART OF ME REPLACED THE GOOD PART IN THAT PLACE, AND IT'S TERRIFYING."
Sirius's eyes went wide, now taking a step back from her.
"I AM SCARED OF MYSELF!" Anneliese screamed. "AND I CAN'T GET THAT PART BACK, THAT PART THAT I NEED! NOW IT'S JUST THE DESIRE FOR REVENGE AND I CAN'T FUCKING STOP IT!"
Callaway's fury broke, tears running down her face and eyes going wide.
"I can't stop it," she sobbed weakly, trailing off as she slowly sat down right onto the floor. "I can't.."
"You can," Sirius whispered, sitting down next to her. "Come on. We have to get you something to eat, yea? You haven't had anything in a day. That's not good for you. Let's go, come on- there you go- here, these should fit if you pull the string tight enough."
Fleamont, Euphemia, James, Leo, and Ella Mae all looked up as Sirius and Anneliese finally walked into the kitchen.
Callaway didn't waste any time. She didn't want their pitying looks, didn't want their sympathy even in the slightest. She just turned straight to her sister, arms crossed over her chest and a cold expression.
"Explain yourself," Anneliese demanded. "Now."
James and Fleamont's brows shot up in identical unison, but Ella Mae seemed to agree that an explanation was long overdue. She gestured for her sister to sit down on the couch across from her chair, and Anneliese quickly did so.
The time for trust and an emotional reunion was over. Now Anneliese was bitter, and she wanted to figure out where the hell her sister had been all these years.
"You all might want to have a seat," Ella Mae said, extending her palm flat so that Claude could curl up in it like a little nest. "Because I'm just going to explain this once."
They all quickly did so, even Euphemia. This girl had a very similar presence about her as Anneliese did, the kind of aura that said you did as you were told around her whether you liked it or not.
"As you have probably all gathered, I'm Anneliese's younger sister by two years," she started off, wasting no time just like her sister hadn't. "I'm French, or that's where I've lived since I was seven years old."
They could all tell on both accounts, of course.
Her appearance would have made the two girls recognizable across an entire quidditch pitch from each other, while her accent connected words together without interruption and was full of soft v's that worked their way into places they normally wouldn't belong.
"And remind me how you got to France?" Anneliese prompted, pressing a pillow against her lap. "When did yall move?"
Ella Mae laughed slightly. It was cold and high, a sound that made Callaway and the rest of them bristle back in shock of how hurt and empty it seemed.
"There was no yall in the moving," Ella Mae said. "They left you at the doorstep of that orphanage when you were six, yes? The second they found out I had magic, they did the same thing to me. Except they put up across the world from each other, that way we would never see each other and then see them."
"Then who do you live with now?" Anneliese asked. "You're only sixteen, you can't be on your own quite yet."
"I got lucky," Ella Mae said simply. "A family was looking to adopt, and they did. The Delacours. I have a younger sister, Fleur. She's nine months old. They're the best family I could have asked for."
Anneliese blinked a few times, processing this.
Part of her was full of bitterness, full of anger. Why couldn't that have happened to her? What if she hadn't been beaten, made to feel worthless and unwanted, left alone for guidance, and raped because of her stupid luck? Her life could have been so different.
What had she done wrong to deserve this?
Yet the other part of her was happy. Her baby sister had found a home, even if it was without her. She was content, she was cared for, and she hadn't suffered like Anneliese had.
If it had been in Callaway's control, she wouldn't have had it any other way.
"I watched you in the newspaper," Ella Mae continued. "One of my friends bought a subscription to the Prophet because her mother lives in London. I saw when you got that internship, and then I saw when you went missing."
"And why didn't you try and say something earlier?" Anneliese asked. "I don't understand."
"I didn't think you'd want to see me," Ella Mae said, voice softening and going quiet. "I thought you'd be angry and push me away and.. we both know neither of us could take that again."
Anneliese found herself nodding in agreement, in understanding.
"But then I saw that you were missing, and I realized that if something bad happened to you, I would never be able to forgive myself," Ella Mae continued. "It was surprisingly easy to find this place from there. All I had to do was go to your school, get a copy of the Prophet, and send it to the Potters with one of the school owls so that it would know where to go, and then-"
"Then you just followed it," Leo finished, rubbing his forehead. "Shit. That's way too easy. And how did you know that we would be at the Potters, specifically?"
"Because that's the family name I found for the head of the aurors for this country," Ella Mae said. "Euphemia Potter. I assumed, apparently correctly, that something that could be useful was happening here. And I was right. Cladue got all the information for me."
Fleamont and Euphemia were highly considering moving at this point.
"You can understand that thing?" James asked in surprise as the bowtruckle swung from one of her fingers.
"This thing has a name," Ella Mae said firmly. "His name is Cladue, and yes, I can understand him perfectly. Bowtruckle was an elective at Beauxbatons. And he can understand you too, so don't be rude unless you want a bite from him."
Anneliese smiled slightly.
"And so you just took the information from Bellatrix and my mother and went?" Sirius asked with a raised brow, and Ella Mae nodded. "I guess stupid impulsiveness runs in the family."
"And remind of who you are?" Delacour asked, raising a brow right back.
"I'm your sister's boyfriend," Sirius said. "That's James, my brother, best friend. That's Leo, Anneliese's brother and best friend. These two lovely adults are Euphemia and Fleamont. I don't know how we've gone so long without a proper introduction."
"I've survived," Ella Mae muttered, and the corners of Anneliese's mouth twitched up again. "I can already tell you're not good enough for her. My familial approval is lacking."
"Whatever shall I do?" Sirius retorted dryly, and Ella Mae rolled her eyes. "And is that all? Any other elements of the story of why you're here?"
"A thank you would be nice," Delacour said coolly, and Leo started to smile as well the more he got to know this girl. "I got her out of that room while you people were running around like chickens with their heads cut off."
"It's fine," Anneliese said with a roll of her eyes, letting that happiness creep into her chest again. "I'd rather die young and hot than old and ugly."
"That's an awful thing to say!" Ella Mae exclaimed, but she was smiling as well. "What have they been teaching you at this British school?"
"Absolutely nothing," Anneliese shook her head with a playful grin, and Sirius and James rolled their eyes in unison with yet another blow of Hogwarts slander. "All of my valuable knowledge came from Ilvermorny."
"Beauxbatons is the best, I would have to say," Ella Mae shrugged. "We do not have all of these dark wizards and disasters every year. I don't know what you have done to keep producing bad people, but there is something wrong with your school."
"Hey, don't say it to us," Leo grinned. "Say it to them. We're both American."
"Yes, you are saying that as if that is so much better," Delacour said, and Anderson laughed again. "I am not kidding around with you. None of you could ever reach the level of dignity that our school has reached."
"Yes, you French people with your baguettes and macarons," Anneliese scoffed, and Ella Mae rolled her eyes. "I am ever so jealous of your overwhelming amount of elegance and dignity."
James, Sirius, Fleamont, and Euphemia all began to get a strange feeling as they watched Anneliese, Leo, and Ella Mae bicker. There was something so natural about it, something so easy and carefree that they couldn't quite put their finger on.
Remus would have been able to explain it.
The laughter died down after a few more minutes, the lightness of the room turning dark again as they all sat there, looking between one another. They were all thinking the same thing, the same emptiness lying ahead of them.
"So what now?" James asked quietly, voicing the question for all of them.
Anneliese had a few ideas.
November 19, 1979
5:07 pm
Callaway Investigations
"No," Regulus shook his head, snatching a paper out of the intern's hand. "How many times do I have to tell you to date these two weeks in advance and spaced out by two days at a time? We can't be everywhere at once, now can we?"
"My apologies, Mr. Black," he apologized. "It won't happen again."
"You're right it won't," Regulus said, straightening his suit and walking away briskly across the cream colored marble floors. "Myra!"
"What?" she asked, turning around in her rolling desk chair with an annoyed expression. "Can you not see that I'm slightly busy with this case at the moment?"
"I can," Regulus said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "But we need your help upstairs. The Potters are coming in a few minutes, and Anneliese needs to be done with the eight hundred things she's juggling right now so she can relax and see them."
"Anneliese Callaway, relax?" Myra asked, grinning as she stood up and dodged one of the paper planes full of information flying through the air. "I doubt that's ever going to happen in this lifetime."
"I think it can," Safa said, getting up from her desk as she saw her friends pass by. "She was when her sister came by for tea yesterday."
"Ella Mae needs to come around more often, then," Regulus frowned slightly as his hand ran along the polished banister. "Or Sirius. Someone to calm her down."
"Calming down doesn't keep you running this kind of operation," Myra said, looking off the balcony down into the bustling workplace below and then up to the high ceilings. "It's a miracle she and Leo managed to get all this money from their dad."
"It doesn't surprise me that they managed to get into his movie star fortune with that kind of motivation for abandoning both of them," Regulus replied. "Remus is never going to shut up about how he knew they were siblings all along."
"He probably did, knowing him," Safa said, pausing in front of the frosted glass office door that read Anneliese Callaway, Lead Private Investigator. "ANNELIESE, WE'RE OUTSIDE!"
"COME IN!" a southern accent shouted back.
Anneliese smiled as Safa, Myra, and Regulus walked in, setting down her pencil and pausing in her work, if only for a moment.
"How's the Peter case coming along?" Callaway asked Regulus, forcing false concern into her voice for the sake of Myra and Safa. "Has anyone been able to get any sort of update on his location yet?"
"No," Regulus sighed with a shake of his head. "Last sighting was still two weeks ago in Knockturn Alley. He wouldn't even meet up with James."
"Jesus," Anneliese muttered, rubbing her forehead and standing up from her dark brown leather chair. "It's like trying to catch a whisper with your bare hands."
She took a long sip from her flask, full of water as ever.
"We'll find him," Regulus said confidently, tone dipping into a more meaningful one. "You know I have the motivation."
"I do," Anneliese nodded, walking out of the office with the rest of them trailing behind her. "We're expecting James and Lily, are we not?"
"We are," Safa said, pulling a magically shrunk clipboard from her pocket that she shook to make large again and referenced today's schedule. "Any second, actually."
Right one cue, two figures entered from the enormous main doors. Anneliese's face broke into a grin, racing down the huge staircase to meet her friend.
"JAMES!" she shouted, throwing her arms around his neck with a wide grin and nearly knocking him over with the force of her hug. "HOW ARE YOU?"
"I'm great, A," he laughed softly, pulling away and holding her at shoulder's length. "How are you? This is quite the place you've managed to make. You're going to give the Ministry a run for their money. Not overworking yourself, I hope. "
"Not at all," Anneliese shook her head. "But-"
"That's a lie," Regulus interjected, nodding to James and Lily. "She most definitely is. I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thank you," Lily said softly, nodding back. "As we are for yours."
Euphemia and Fleamont Potter's grave was visited every day by James, three fingertips pressed to his lips and against the stone. Sometimes, he would see a light blue bundle of wildflowers from Anneliese or a rose from Sirius as well.
But no one visited as much as him.
As for Regulus, he had lost his father a few months back. Orion had passed away, and Walburga hadn't been seen since.
Regulus guessed that she was sitting alone in Grimmauld Place, staring at the tapestry of her lost family. What she had tried so hard to upkeep was now gone, gone forever.
Regulus couldn't say that he was sorry.
He and Myra had just bought an apartment, and things couldn't be going better for them. His Death Eater and spying days were far behind him, now fully dedicated to his job, his girlfriend, and his family.
The second he had woken up from his poisoning in the Hogwarts hospital wing, there had been a business card reading Callaway Investigations with a note that said I know about Peter on the back and instructions for how to open the magically encoded door.
Regulus had shown up without hesitation, and was hired ever since.
"We have some news, that's why we came," Lily said with a wide grin, one hand over her stomach. "I'm pregnant."
Anneliese hadn't squealed like she just did since she won the quidditch cup a year and a half ago. Myra and Safa's hands flew over their mouths, and all four girls excitedly hugged one another.
Lily and Anneliese had never made up, per se. Their relationship was only still alive because of James, Dorcas, Alice, and Marlene. But through association, things had been smoothed over.
Never forgotten, never forgiven.
But smoothed over.
Besides, Anneliese couldn't have herself hating James, her best friend and her boyfriend's brother's wife. That would make Christmas remarkably awkward.
"That's not the only good news," a deep, smooth voice said from behind Anneliese. "I managed to get off my job for the Order early, so I thought I would honor you with my presence-"
"SIRIUS!" Callaway shouted, spinning around as her eyes lit up and wrapped her arms so tightly around his waist that Sirius was convinced she broke one of his ribs. "OH MY GOD! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN WEEKS!"
"Yes, well, the stakouts are taking longer than expected," Sirius grunted, kissing her on the top of her head and hugging her back. "And look at you. Business empire detective person. Stealing Moody's fashion."
Anneliese pulled away, a small smirk on her face that certainly suited the part.
Callaway was wearing a dark brown trench coat over her black pants and skin tight white turtleneck, leather boots on her feet and the A and cross necklace resting on her collar as always.
Thin, elegant brown leather gloves were covering her hands. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun at the nape of her neck.
To most people, Anneliese would look normal, but Sirius saw deeper than that.
Ever since she had gotten back from Malfoy Manor, she had covered every inch of her body whenever possible, unless it was for a job, of course. And she always made it possible.
Even the smallest contact of skin with anyone besides Sirius, Leo, or Ella Mae was too much for her.
"So, you're naming the child after me, right?" Sirius said, throwing his arm around Anneliese's shoulders and kissing her again, this time on the cheek. "At least the middle name. Is that too much to ask?"
"Yes," Lily nodded. "To quote Anneliese, who names their child after an adjective?"
"Harry is still an adjective if you spell it differently," Anneliese muttered, and James laughed loudly. "I swear, it's just a British thing."
"Or a pureblood thing," Regulus suggested, and they all nodded.
"REGGIE!" Sirius exclaimed, wrapping his brother in a bone crushing hug. "Stop being so quiet! I didn't see you there!"
"My apologies," Regulus said, voice muffled in his brother's jacket. "I'll make a formal announcement for myself next time, how about that?"
"Perfect," Sirius grinned. "Anneliese, let's take a walk- you need a break. Last time I saw you, you were asleep on top of like eight books completely passed out. You had coffee on your eyelashes. You need this."
Callaway rolled her eyes, letting him take her hand and drag her out of the huge doors.
Turning back, the building looked like a run down pharmacy with a for lease sign that was never going to be sold.
Anneliese had made up the real estate agency, and any calls that went to it went directly to Safa, who told them it would be up for purchase again after renovation from a private investor, who of course did not exist.
The late afternoon sunlight gently glowed through the changing autumn leaves, a cool breeze touching the couple's faces as their boots crunched through the leaves.
Anneliese took off one of her gloves to hold his hand.
"So, how's the private investigator thing going?" Sirius asked. "I go away for two weeks, and every time I come back, you just have more and more cases with more and more workers."
"Yes, well, we get things done," Anneliese shrugged. "And we do it the best. People trust us more than the Ministry. It's becoming as simple as that."
"Be careful," Sirius said, the same thing he did every time they went on one of these walks. "The more of the reputation you build for yourself, the easier it is for him to find you. You're making yourself a larger and larger target."
"I'm being smart," Anneliese said firmly. "Trust me."
Sirius smiled down at her, a strand of golden hair coming loose with the latest breeze.
"I do," he whispered.
And they kissed.
ik that was a lot but DW were gonna get into the details later
just to clarify in case yall missed stuff (once again specifics later):
leo, ella mae, and anneliese are siblings
james and lily are married and expecting
myra and regulus are a couple
orion, mia, and fleamont are dead
any questions???
8.4k words
what do u wanna see?
VOTE! - it rly helps