Song:
War of Hearts (Ruelle)
"I can't help but be wrong in the dark. 'Cause I'm overcome in this war of hearts."
"Claire!" Alastor Moody said once they had all been transferred to the Hospital Ward. "What the hell happened?!"
"Are you fucking serious right now?" She coughed out, the girl that was supporting her as they walked back to the castle cursing under her breath.
Once Callisto had managed to clearly see whose shirt she was clutching and she could finally breathe, she had almost jumped back in fear. Coal black, curly hair, dark, brown eyes, plump, red lips and a defined bone structure that was almost identical to Bellatrix' Black, the woman in front of her had scared her.
The man next to her, Ted Tonks, was quick to inform her that this was his wife, Andromeda Tonks, née Black, not her psychopathic sister, putting Callisto to ease. She could see it now; her hair was much tamer, her eyes were quite kind and she had more tanned features from the sun.
"Isn't it obvious what happened?" She insisted, her voice breaking. "A kid died, Alastor. We're all injured and I have no idea whether they're all alive! And all that because you were late!"
Alastor didn't say anything.
"I saw a woman explode right before my fucking eyes." She hissed. "I don't know whether that's my blood, or not, and you have the nerve to ask 'what the hell happened?!'"
"You better get used to all that." Alastor roughly said. "I'm sorry for your friend, but it won't be the last loss you experience. If you react like that every time, you might as well check yourself in an asylum, because you will drive yourself insane."
"Fuck you."
"Go get yourself patched up, kid." He instructed, rubbing his forehead tiredly. "I will come by later to collect copies of your memory for the Order to look into. You have the full event?"
"No." Callisto said. "Sirius Black does, but I suggest you don't go to him right now."
"I'll handle it." Andromeda calmly said, the first words she had uttered ever since they came. "Interrogate the others, including the Death Eaters once they're healed, and leave Sirius to me."
"Very well, then. Remember, no words about the two Death Eaters that escaped. We have a few suspicions, but we need to act in secret. Nobody knows about them except for us. Let's keep it that way." Moody said, motioning for them to get into the Castle. "And Claire?"
She nodded, her gaze still as cold.
"You did well, kid."
Callisto didn't say anything, her grip around Andromeda's shoulders tightening as she allowed the woman to help her walk. The adrenaline had started to subside, every step becoming more painful. Whatever curse she was hit with had done its job more than just well, the pain spreading to her limbs as she tried to bite back a whimper.
"The redhead and the boy with the glasses will probably be okay with a blood-replenishing potion and a few stitches." Ted said. "Sirius will be fine too, physically. Just some bruises and a few cuts on his face."
"Bellatrix did it."
Andromeda's features darkened, but she remained silent, her head hanging a bit lower. Whether it was from shame for her sister's actions against their much younger cousin, or because of the pressure Callisto continuously applied on the back of her neck, she couldn't really tell.
"What about Remus?" She asked, unable to hide the urgency in her voice. "He was the unconscious one."
"Can't tell for sure." Andromeda said. "He got hit on the back of his head. You're looking from mild concussion, to paralysis or even death."
The look Ted shot his wife would have been comical in Callisto's eyes, hadn't it been for what the woman had just said. It looked as if the two had discussed Andromeda's bluntness multiple times, her overly pragmatic tone contrasting her husband's gentle one.
Despite it all, Callisto decided she liked Andromeda.
The group finally reached the Hospital Ward, Callisto's heart clenching as she saw the doors were already opened and voices were buzzing inside.
Madame Pomfrey was running around, yelling orders to a few people, one of which Callisto recognized as Marlene. The blonde spotted her amongst the crowd, her eyes widening in shock for a brief moment, before she beckoned them over.
Lily was sitting on a chair, applying a healing ointment to her wounds, while simultaneously cleaning the blood of a small girl's arms.
"Where's Remus?" Callisto immediately asked, letting go of Andromeda and Ted, and leaning against the wall to support herself. "Why are you looking at me like that? It's not my fucking blood. Where is he?!"
"Callisto," Marlene calmly said, bringing a chair over to her. "I need you to be calm for me for a second, okay?"
"Where is he?!"
"He's getting treated. Poppy said he'll be fine." Marlene said, Callisto immediately breathing out in relief. "But, this is your blood, okay? You're bleeding."
"No, I'm not, I-"
She looked down at her shirt for the first time. Surely, some of the blood wasn't hers, it was dried from the explosion and Remus' fingertips. Yet, blood was pooling in her stomach, her shirt sticking to the skin, and she could see the needle sticking out from her chest, attached to what seemed to be a tube.
"Your lung was collapsing." Ted explained. "We're both healers, trained both the muggle and magical way."
"And thus, the mystery of why you're still alive is solved."
"The girl is right, you're bleeding, so I'll go help Poppy, while Dromeda patches you up."
"The point is, you're not going to die." Andromeda said. "Ehm, your name is..."
"Marlene."
"Marlene, can you please get me some wound-cleaning solutions, blood-replenishing potions, stitches and healing ointments?"
Callisto shook her head, "The blood-replenishing potion won't work."
"In this case, please check for more clean bandages." Andromeda calmly said. "We're going the muggle way."
"Would you have killed him?" Lily said all of a sudden, looking at Callisto. Andromeda didn't seem to be affected by the girl's words and lifted up her shirt slightly, Callisto almost fainting as she saw the gruesome wound. Dark vines were spreading around her stomach, blood oozing steadily and staining the skin.
"Lestrange?" She hissed as Andromeda started cleaning the wound. "Yes, she was hurting Sirius."
Lily nodded, "They should start sending people that aren't related."
"Kind of hard when you've been marrying into the same 20 families for the last hundred years."
"28, not 20." Andromeda mused. "Get your inbreeding stats straight."
"Forgive me for not being all too keen in reading about how your ancestors boned their sisters."
"Touche."
"Are you and James both okay?" Callisto asked, glancing at Lily.
"Just some minor cuts, nothing crazy."
"And Sirius?"
"James took him back to the dorm." Lily sadly said, averting her gaze to the window. "He wouldn't let go of Ares."
"Is Remus unconscious?"
"Yes."
"When will he wake up?"
"Not a seer, Claire."
"Don't play smart with me today, Evans." Callisto warned. "I've already had a lung collapse, my intestines in open view, a woman's blood on my hair, a finger landing in front of me, my boyfriend almost dying, and it's not even time for lunch yet."
Both girls stared to the front, silence falling in between them as Lily gazed at the wall and Callisto tried to pretend she couldn't see how deep exactly the now clean wound was.
"Claire."
"Yes."
"How much will this fuck us up?"
"I'm never stepping foot on Hogsmeade again and I don't think I can sleep alone again until I turn thirty."
"I can get you both a sleeping draught." Andromeda offered. "Now, this is going to hurt. Feel free to scream."
Callisto was confused for a moment, before Andromeda placed a bandage on the wound and applied pressure, a cry leaving Callisto's lips.
"We need to stop the blood somehow." Andromeda explained. "I'll draw out the dark magic, and we'll go from there as we would if this was a stab wound. It will scar though..."
"Ah great, a souvenir..."
"Just stay still, Claire."
~ ~ ~
Callisto was growing more stressed by the minute. The Hospital Ward was finally calmer now, only five or six beds fully occupied. She had convinced Madame Pomfrey that she was fine, although the matron still insisted on her staying in the infirmary for a while, and had put her next to Remus.
Remus that was still fucking unconscious.
It would be a lie to say she wasn't absolutely exhausted. Her eyes would flutter close before she forced them open again, her head constantly dropping on her right and snapping back up straight. It didn't help that the bed seemed like the softest, most sleepable thing she had ever been on to her tired body and that all the painkillers made her drowsy.
The wound on her stomach had been treated and was now covered in white bandages, a mint blue paste applied wherever her veins had turned black from the dark magic. It alleviated the burning feeling and smelt quite pleasant, much to her surprise. The hollow tube was still sticking out of her chest, and Madame Pomfrey had been rather successful in slowly returning her lungs back to normal.
Ironically enough, what annoyed her the most was the blood that was still in her hair and a splinter on her finger.
Her head was about to fall to her right, her eyes fluttering closed once more, before she shot up.
Remus was looking at her from the adjacent bed, seeming to be trying to process his surroundings.
"You're looking from mild concussion, to paralysis or even death."
Screw the concussion and the paralysis, at least he was alive. All tiredness seemed to fade away and she got out of the bed, slowly reaching the empty chair next to his bed.
"Listo," He called, his voice hoarse. "Are you okay?"
"That's irrelevant." She blurted out. "How are you? Do you want me to call Madam Pomfrey?"
"Not yet." He murmured, touching the bandages on his head curiously. "Great, I look ridiculous now..."
"I have a tube sticking out of my chest and I had to cut half my shirt." Callisto deadpanned, raising an eyebrow. "Also, I have blood in my hair. You look just fine."
"Yes, you do look positively butchered."
"Are you always this cheery when you get head injuries?"
"I want to throw up, but sure." Remus sighed, observing the tube curiously. "What happened to you?"
"Long story short, my lung collapsed, I almost had my intestines rearranged and I have a splinter on my pointer finger." She raised her finger, pointing at the small black dot. "Do you know how uncomfortable this is?"
"I can only imagine, Claire."
"You'll never know pain this intense, Lupin." She teased. "It feels as if I... I was born with glass bones, and paper skin. Every morning, I break my legs, and every afternoon I break my arms. At night, I lie awake in agony until my heart attacks put me to sleep."
Remus just stared at her, unable to stop himself from laughing. He groaned in pain at the sudden movement, a small smirk remaining on his lips.
"Stop it."
"I'm not doing anything."
"You're thinking about something. It's just as bad." Remus teased. "Stop making me laugh, woman. I'm in pain."
"It's adorable."
"Me being in absolute, gut-wrenching agony is amusing to you?"
"No, I meant your laugh." Callisto smiled, shrugging. "If you ever mention this to anyone, I will end you."
"Wouldn't dream of it." Remus sighed, taking her hand in his. "Do you have a safety pin or a needle?"
"No, who the fuck carries-"
"I know you collect weird shit you find in the castle, love." He cut her off, Callisto's eyes widening. "Please, check."
"Ugh, fine."
Remus waited as Callisto dug her hand in her pocket, pulling out an assortment of different objects. From muggle and magical money and chewing gum, to shells and a single golden bell, she finally found a bright pink safety pin and handed it to Remus.
"You're like a little magpie." He mused, opening the pin and holding her hand so that her palm was facing him. Callisto closed her eyes tightly shut as he pressed the sharp tip on her finger, slowly working to remove the splinter.
"Are we done yet?" She asked, refusing to open her eyes. "Come on, Lupin, this is torture."
"You had your lungs collapse."
"This is torture, I said." She complained, letting out an offended gasp as Remus slapped her forehead lightly.
"Shut up."
"This is a lawsuit, Lupin!" Callisto complained, exhaling loudly. "I'll see you in court, mister! You are not getting away with this!"
"Can we make out in the bathrooms before?"
"Sure."
"Then, I gracefully accept the lawsuit." Remus let down the pin and cleaned her finger with a cotton swab, before kissing it lightly. "All ready."
Callisto opened her eyes and looked at Remus. She had almost lost him, and there was nothing she could have done to help. Or was there and she was so preoccupied with how she could save herself, that she didn't even consider it?
"Did they escape?"
"No, they caught them." Callisto said. "For some reason, we couldn't exit the shop."
"I put a protective ward around it." Remus explained. "Fleamont taught it to us last summer."
"Why?" Her tone was harsher now, almost a bit betrayed.
"I couldn't let them escape, Listo." He explained, as if it was the obvious answer. "They're some of the worst Death Eaters out there."
"We couldn't leave either." Callisto stated angrily. "We were trapped like fucking mice, Remus!"
"James and Sirius know the counter-spell." Remus calmly said. "You were never trapped. They, on the other hand, were fucked."
Callisto stayed silent, her lips pursed together tightly. There was nothing more she could say, nothing to blame him for.
"Ares died."
"I saw." Remus murmured. "Is Sirius with James?"
"Yes."
"It will take some time, but he will push through it." Remus pondered. "Sirius is a strong person."
"You almost died too."
"Almost." He stressed. "I wouldn't leave you like that, Claire. You should know by now that when I promise something, I mean it."
"Is this how it's going to be from now on?" Callisto asked, her gaze trailing off to the occupied hospital beds. "It hasn't even really started, but I want it to be done already."
"I thought he had killed you." Remus stated. "When the curses hit you, I thought you were dying."
"We have lots in common then."
"Not funny."
Callisto snickered, "Kind of funny."
"It would have been my fault if he killed you." Remus continued. "You would have gone back to the castle, if I hadn't-"
"Don't even finish that sentence." She cut him off. "I make my own decisions, Lupin."
"I know you do."
"Then don't you dare think that any of this-" She pointed at her wounds "-is your fault. I swear, you Gryffindors think everything revolves around you. I could stab myself with a fork, and you'd still find a reason to involve yourselves."
"That's not true."
Callisto raised an eyebrow, "I choked on my pumpkin juice and James wrote a soliloquy about him accidentally almost killing me by filling my goblet."
"That's an isolated incident."
"Sirius did a painting of James killing me with the goblet and painted himself as a silent witness and then wrote a description about how he, as a bystander, could have helped." She continued. "Sirius wasn't even there when that happened."
"And you never take responsibility, even when something is your fault." Remus accused, making Callisto narrow her eyes. "You made a second year drop their books and then blamed them for it by saying it was because he had "horrible reflexes"."
"Because he did!" Callisto argued. "And, it was an accident."
"Oh, hush, Listo."
"My point is, it wasn't anyone's fault other than Lestrange's." Callisto concluded, huffing. "And don't you dare scare me like that again, Remus, because I will bring you back from the dead just to kill you again."
Looking up at her, Remus couldn't help the wild idea that popped up in his mind. It was completely irrational, probably a byproduct of his head injury, but it sounded just so appealing. She didn't seem to notice how deep in thought he was, rambling on about something he was guilty of not paying attention to, just because that single thought occupied so much of his mind.
He wanted her to be his forever.
~ ~ ~
On the other side of the castle, things were going downhill. The dungeons were more silent than usual, everyone locked up in their dorms. They knew all hell would be unleashed on Monday and everyone who even had the displeasure to be associated with Salazar's house would have their head pitched up on a stake.
10 dead students, 30 injured, 5 missing, and the rest, very fucking angry.
"What the fuck did you do?"
Tobias Nott stayed silent, cleaning the wound on his stomach with a spare rag. It was much deeper than he had hoped, but he didn't seem to care about it all that much.
"I'm fucking talking to you!"
"Yes, I heard you the first time." Tobias calmly said. "I just ignored it."
"You fucking killed him!" Regulus shouted, pacing up and down the room. Panic was rising in his chest, mixing with bile and his morning breakfast. He felt as though he would throw up at any moment, unable to keep his mind off those 20 minutes in the shop.
Ares Brown was dead.
Callisto was probably in deep shit, and he couldn't visit her without raising suspicion.
Sirius was mourning, he wouldn't want his brother's sympathy. In fact, Regulus was unable to provide it under those circumstances.
Everything had gone to complete and utter shit.
"Why did you kill him?"
"Someone had to." Tobias coldly said, finally meeting Regulus' eyes. "You think this was easy for me, Black? I had nothing against the boy, he wasn't even my fucking responsibility."
"Then why the fuck did you do it?" Regulus asked, again. "Are you this fucking sick in the head?"
Tobias chuckled darkly.
"Maybe I am, but it's for different reasons than the ones you busy your mind with." He responded, letting the rag on the desk. "I killed him, Regulus, because you're not a fucking murderer. I was doing you the favor of convincing the Dark Lord to allow you to keep prancing around with your little cute head for just a bit longer."
"I had everything under fucking control!"
"You know damn well you had no idea what to do!" Tobias shouted back, feeling anger rise in his chest. "You wouldn't go through with it, because if you could, you would have done it already!"
"What the fuck do you want from me, Nott?" Regulus gravely asked. "What is it?"
"I want not to see you getting your guts pulled out of you while you're still alive, like they did to Pucey's brother. Is that enough for you?"
Regulus took in a deep breath, hoping it would calm down his thoughts even for a second. This had all gone to shit, what had even happened at this point? He couldn't remember half of it, and he was growing more paranoid by the second.
"She knows."
Regulus frowned.
"Who?"
"Claire." Nott said. "She knew it was us. She confunded that auror, so we could escape."
"Callisto couldn't know, Tobias." Regulus immediately denied. "How would she even fucking know, huh? We have goddamn masks for a reason, she doesn't know we've joined, she didn't even know we'd be there."
"She looked me straight in the eye when she confunded her." Tobias insisted. "She knows."
"You have no fucking idea what you're talking about."
"You're fucking delusional." Tobias scoffed. "She knows, whether you want to admit it or not. Maybe it's a good thing... She saved our asses."
"Shut up."
"I'm feeling rather grateful, if we're being upfront." Tobias continued, standing up. "Everything was going to hell, and she just solved everything with a little spell. She's my bloody fairy godmother for all I know."
"I said, shut the fuck up!"
"Might even ask her to get me a fancy dress and a pumpkin carriage." Tobias laughed, steadily walking closer to him. "Do you think they make crystal heels at size 44?"
Regulus' jaw clenched.
"Bippity, boppity, fucking, boo."
It was that challenging look that pushed Regulus that lethal step, all anger building up in his stomach finally exploded. He never thought, however, that the terrifying feeling sleeping in his chest would take form in this way.
Because he had never expected to pull Tobias Nott closer by his fucking shirt, their lips messily colliding and knocking the air out of their lungs.
One, two, three seconds passed. They felt like a fucking eternity, because for some reason, Regulus Black was kissing Tobias Nott and he should hate him, because he had just killed his brother's loved one, but he didn't.
He really fucking didn't.
Nonetheless, he pulled away, as if lightning had struck him, breathing heavily as he looked at Nott.
Tobias brought his fingers up to his lips, opening his mouth to say something.
Once, twice, and thrice, only that no sound came out.
Regulus didn't give him the opportunity to talk when his throat had finally cleared out, storming out of the room and banging the door without him.
Two thoughts circulated his mind.
The first one went along the lines of, 'what the fuck did I just do?', the second nagging him as his heart raced, 'why the fuck did I like this?"
~ ~ ~
How do we feel about Tobias?