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chapter thirteen;
halting bloody hearts
Amaya was getting better at pretending the kiss didn't happen, at least around James, but she apparently couldn't keep quiet about it as well as she thought.
She'd received the letter Lily had told her to wait for, delivered by a pretty grey owl. The girls had invited her to wait up for the guys at the flat, to see if they got home safe, and Amaya had said yes, her decision solidifying after seeing James' grin at the mention she'd been waiting for him.
"You care," he'd teased her and Amaya had rolled her eyes.
"About Sirius and Remus? Yes, I do."
He had only laughed.
That was how she found herself sitting on the armchair at the flat, with a blanket over her bare legs—as she wore her denim shorts and a jumper—and a glass of vodka coke in her hand, a drink Lily had prepared that had a lot more vodka than coke. She'd been laughing all night with the girls and finally, they'd gotten to the James issue, and Amaya's lips loosened with the particular drink it seemed.
"Come on, Maya," Lily said with a giggle, "I know something happened between you two at the pond. James was looking at you like he wanted to devour you."
Marlene cackled. "He always looks at her like that."
"I'll know. He never looked at me that way," Lily said with a laugh, and at that moment Amaya's smile felt forced. The redhead grimaced. "Not that—I meant—"
"You meant what he had for you was a silly little obsession," finished Marlene with a laugh.
Lily rolled her eyes. "And it's over. It was over long before you got here," she assured Amaya and that did little to settle her nerves, even when Lily didn't have to assure her of anything in the first place. James could have feelings for whoever he liked, it was none of her business. "Tell us please."
"We might've kissed," Amaya admitted with a smile verging on a grimace when the girls shrieked in harmony.
"I knew it!" said Lily.
"So?" asked Marlene.
"So, what?" Amaya shrugged. "It meant nothing."
Lily and Marlene merely shared a look. The latter rolled her eyes. "It always means something. Even if it's bad."
"What about you and Sirius?" asked Amaya, not so subtly changing the conversation, and though that got her eye rolls it worked. She sipped her drink, thankful for it.
"It's complicated," Marlene said and suddenly she looked focused. "We agreed to fool around. Not get attached."
"And how's that working for you?" teased Lily and the blonde girl shrugged helplessly.
"We're not ready for anything else. Sirius has a ton of shit with his family and I want to focus on other stuff first. Especially with everything going on with the Order."
"What do you want to do?"
Marlene shrugged. "I've no clue. For starters, I'm focusing on helping the Order. I've been called a few times for more exclusive meetings and strategizing. I've actually been helping. After the war... I'll figure it out, I guess."
"I want to go abroad after the war," said Lily with a grin, "Study Healing in other countries."
"Like where?"
"I don't know. America? South America? Africa? Their magic is fabulous, they learn it wandlessly like, in the Peninsula, you know?" Lily said looking and Amaya and she nodded.
"I do. A lot of the magic I know has roots in Africa. Traveled to the north of the continent and the Peninsula with the Muslim invasions centuries ago." Amaya let out a dry chuckle. "And then we ruined it with prejudice."
Marlene exchanged a look with Lily and seemed to want to stray away from heavy topics as she asked. "What about you, Maya? What do you want to do after this is all over?"
Pausing, Amaya gulped down her drink instead of answering. She shrugged. "I haven't thought that far ahead."
"Well—"
There was a bang on the door that made the three girls freeze. "Is that the guys?" asked Lily and Marlene shook her head as the three stood up.
"They said they'd apparate inside. They're warded in—"
Another bang. The flat seemed to rumble and Amaya felt a chill crawl up her spine. She could feel the wards of the apartment crumbling. She could feel some sort of magic that left her feeling unease. Marlene shoved her wand in her hand.
"Be prepared."
With the last bag, they heard the door open and seemingly thinking the same all three girls cast a disillusionment charm on themselves blending into their backgrounds, though Amaya's was done wandlessly and more accurately as it wasn't exactly a spell but rather a ward around her that maintained her hidden from the world.
Then two men burst into the living room, wearing metallic masks and dark robes, and stopping in their tracks as they found it empty. Amaya could hear her heart in her ears, as well as the men's hearts, as she got a grasp of their magic, ready to attack.
"The bastard said she'd be here," one of them said gruffly.
"They must've had enough time to run with your ruckus," the other snapped. "Or they're hidden." He raised his wand and cast a charm she couldn't make out, and then Lily's and Marlene's charms disappeared.
It happened too fast.
As soon as they knew the disillusionment charm would go off, Lily and Marlene hadn't hesitated in trying to disarm the two men. Lily's hex hit the hallway wall as one of the men ducked and Marlene managed her shot, but the man snatched his wand back wandlessly, though he did have to speak the word Accio.
And then the living room exploded into hexes, and the moment Amaya lowered her cover, the men snapped, as if they'd found their target.
Amaya tried to fight with the wand because she couldn't duel any other way, not really. Lily was blasted against the wall and fell to the floor with a thud. The distraction caused Amaya to get hit with a spell that snapped all her limbs together, making her fall backward as she was frozen.
Marlene and Lily kept fighting and quickly Amaya got rid of the charm on her, but when she stood up she saw Marlene's wand flying out of her hand and Lily jumping to catch it. Amaya tried to disarm one of the men, but she was only able to do it after Lily had been hit with a curse that made her gasp and fall to the ground.
And then Marlene and Amaya were fighting side by side, though the former tried to go and cover Lily's unconscious body, which caused a hex to scrape past her arm, slashing skin.
Her heart-stopping at the sight of blood, Amaya tried to hold off the two men, who didn't want to let her go alive, it seemed, but knowing nothing more than an Expeliarmus and how to raise wards to protect herself—though because of how quickly they had to be made, they also fell rather fast—Amaya was at a disadvantage.
She could still hear her hearts, their magic, she could take control of it. She could—Marlene was hit in the shoulder and was thrown back. And Amaya snapped.
She heard their hearts.
She took control of them.
And she stopped them.
Just like that.
The first man fell. The other staggered back in surprise before his head snapped to Amaya, and she was the last thing he saw before he too fell.
Amaya blinked. She blinked again. They didn't move. Her stomach flipped, and the blood drained from her face. She wanted to throw up. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She knew what she was doing and she did it anyway. She was a monster—
"Amaya! Lily's not moving!" Marlene screamed.
Amaya took a breath for the first time since she felt their hearts halt.
She went to Lily's side. She'd been hit with a curse that Amaya couldn't recognize, couldn't even attempt to because at the moment Amaya was letting her body roam on its own, her mind blank. She knew she had taken the dark magic from Lily's body.
She felt the girl's heart start to beat more steadily, and she wanted to throw up at the memory of the men's hearts, hearts she'd just stopped. Just like that. She could do the same to Lily. To Marlene.
As Lily blinked awake, Amaya staggered back, the pit in her stomach growing tenfold at her thoughts. She was a monster.
What happened next, she wasn't sure of. She faintly felt Marlene guide her to the couch, trying to coax her to talk. Lily came to sit next to her at some point and tried to get Amaya to respond, to drink the tea she'd made when just a second ago she'd been dying on the ground. She was sure the girls had talked about calling the Order.
Amaya couldn't stop looking at the bodies.
She tried to fight. She tried to duel. She tried to use what James had taught her and yet all she could do was fall into the traps that were her father's teaching. Because he'd been the one to teach her how to stop a man's heart. And now she had accomplished her assignment. Twice fold.
And even through the sickening feeling in her stomach, Amaya couldn't help but wonder if he'd be proud. That made her feel worse.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but the boys returned. She knew that because she felt Sirius' comforting magic swarm her as he sat beside her, the couch dipping with his weight.
He put a hand on her shoulder. "Maya?"
Amaya finally felt herself give. She fell against him, as Sirius hugged her to him, and she tried to cry. She tried to show any remorse because she sure felt it, she tried to explain to him she wasn't a killer, that Marlene was hurt, that Lily had been dying and she did what she needed to do. She tried but she didn't manage more than a sniff, as she blankly stared at the corpses.
They looked like they were sleeping. There was no blood—not this time, a voice in her head hissed. Amaya tightly shut her eyes, faintly listening as Sirius whispered in her ear, telling her everything would be alright, that Marlene and Lily were fine, and that she did a good job.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Remus cover the corpses with a white sheet. They did the same for her father. But this time the sheets weren't soaked red.
She saw James or rather felt his presence as he walked over, avoiding the corpses. She closed her eyes for a second. Their hearts were in her hand. She'd stopped them.
She saw the cell. The white stone walls. The children sitting limp against it, the bloody smiles taunting her. She heard her mother's voice, she heard her humming a lullaby. One she used to sing about a little girl going to sleep, a little girl that was an angel. A sweet little angle—and then the song changed. And she heard her whisper in her ear. "My sweet little killer—"
"Love," Sirius whispered and suddenly Amaya was out of the cell. He pulled away from her slightly, "I have to go take care of everything—"
She felt her stomach drop. He was going to leave her alone. He couldn't leave, he just couldn't, if she was alone she'd go back there. They'd sent her away, they'd take her away from home. She felt her skin start to burn, her blood start to boil, her mind spiraling—
"James will stay with you," he continued, halting her thoughts.
Amaya blinked up, and for the first time noticed James had walked closer to them and was standing over her. His jaw was bruised. Concern flooded her. Had she done that? She didn't mean to. Her magic surged, and she felt his magic, she felt his heart beating—What if he hated her? She was a killer—
Sirius gently let her go, stepping away as he dropped a kiss to her forehead as if he was taking care of his little sister and she saw him glaring at James as he walked away.
The latter paid him no mind and instead sat down on the couch next to Amaya. She was watching him warily, waiting for him to explode on her, to scream at her, to push her away. To send her away. Amaya hesitated when he reached out for her and hurt flashed in his eyes.
"I won't hurt you," he murmured calmly.
Don't hurt me, she remembered telling him once in a sleepy reverie. And he hadn't. Her shoulders slumped slightly and his eyes softened.
"Come here, darling," he said, so gently she felt like a wounded animal he was tending for. He looked the furthest away from calling her a killer and pushing her away.
Bloody smiles—Amaya blinked—sweet little killer, she heard the lullaby echoing. A choked sob escaped her lips, and everything came pouring out.
Without hesitation, James scooped her into his arms and Amaya buried her head in the crook of his neck as he let her cry in his arms, gripping his shirt for life. He could leave. He'd leave her alone. Alone. No going back there. No no no no, please—
"You're safe, Maya." He smelled like sandalwood, he felt like magic. She could feel his magic intensify, as if he was doing it on purpose as if he was trying to make sure she stayed with him. She wasn't back there. And the way he tightened his hold on her, told her she'd never be back there.
He cradled her head with one hand, hugging her with his strong arm, as he murmured reassurances in her ear, kissing her hair, as he told her everything would be right until her cries had faded and all that was left were hiccups and faint trembling of her body.
When Remus and Sirius returned, James told her softly, "I'm going to pick you up, alright? We need to go home."
"Home?" she croaked, pulling away from him, her voice scratchy from crying, even if she couldn't cry anymore.
James seemed to try to smile, but all he managed was a tug of his lips as he tucked her hair behind her ear. "Home."
Amaya nodded, but instead of allowing him to carry her home, she peeled herself off him, ignoring the concerned stares Remus and Sirius were giving him, ignoring the way James looked about ready to catch her if she fell.
Her legs were working though. Her eyes fell on the covered bodies on the ground. Nausea swept over her. Their legs weren't.
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author's note:
And that's the end of act one.
(For those who didn't know the story had Acts, me neither, but I just decided that it has).
<3