Calypso stood alone in the quiet room after Dumbledore left to speak to other members of the Order. She stared out of the window and watched as snow fell from the sky and stuck to the ground below. She used to love winter, but lately her winters had been plagued by death or betrayal. And this — Calypso wasn't sure how she was going to get over this.
The door creaked open and she glanced into the reflection of the window. Sirius crept into the room.
"Everyone's heading out — are you okay?" Sirius asked. His frown deepened as Calypso turned to face him, a troubled look on her face.
"Voldemort has a partner. She's called the Dark Lady." Calypso said. Her voice was barely above a whisper but Sirius somehow managed to hear her. He patiently waited as Calypso struggled to get out the next part. She hadn't even wanted to tell Dumbledore, but she did and he gave her a task, one that she wasn't sure she could accomplish. "My grandmother is the Dark Lady."
"Which one?" Sirius asked instantly. Calypso sighed.
"Rhea." She whispered. She could feel her cheeks warming as her hands started to shake. Sirius continued to stare at her, not speaking until she said everything she needed to say. "Rhea loved him when they were in school, but she married my grandfather and told everyone that was the end of it, but I don't think it was. She's been gone for all these years and then she randomly shows up at Hogwarts one day. I can't believe I was so quick to trust her."
Calypso's bottom lip trembled and she huffed. She wasn't sure if the tears were because she was so angry or if she was just sad.
"It's not your fault, Cal." Sirius said.
"Yes, it is." Calypso said, a tear slipping from her eye. "She's Maverick and Alex's Secret Keeper. She's the only one who knows where they're hiding."
Sirius's face fell and he stepped forward, engulfing Calypso into a tight hug. She buried her head into his shoulder, feeling scorned. Her grandmother had felt like the last piece of her parents and sister she had left.
"Maybe . . . maybe she's not." Calypso lifted her head and frowned at Sirius. "Well, Voldemort killed her son. Why would she allow him to do that and stay by his side?"
"Because she's a coward." Calypso said "Remember the vision I had of my grandfather dying? What if I saw that because that was the moment Rhea becomes this 'Dark Lady'?"
"What'd Dumbledore say?" Sirius asked. Calypso chewed on the inside of her cheek. Sirius's eyes narrowed. "What?"
"We agreed it would be best if she didn't know we were onto her until we figure out how to help Maverick and Alex. I know she wouldn't tell me their location because we all swore not to, but I think she would've told another Death Eater or maybe one of their kids knows something." Calypso swallowed the lump forming in her throat. "So . . . he wants someone to go in."
"In?"
"Undercover. Dumbledore is going to pick a volunteer to infiltrate the Death Eaters and find out information. Normally, I'd volunteer but it'd be impossible to convince them that I'd join sides with them and I need answers. I can't live with myself if I don't figure out what's happened to my family and the only way I can do that is by pretending to be one of them."
"Who do you think it'll be?" Sirius asked. Calypso shrugged.
"I don't know, but Dumbledore said he'd want me to train them in Occlumency and Legilimency in case anything happens." Calypso said before frowning. "I hope nothing happens."
Calypso didn't want to have to put someone else's life in danger for her own mistake, but she knew that this was the only way for her to help Maverick and Alex.
Sirius offered to stay with Calypso at the flat but she decided it was one of those nights where she needed to be alone to form a plan. She knew she was good at Occlumency and Legilimency, but she didn't know if she'd be good enough to hide her true intentions from Cordelia's friends or the other Death Eaters. But, she was willing to do anything to prove herself if it meant saving Alex and Maverick.
The next morning when she woke up in the flat, Rhea was, once again, nowhere to be found under the guise of having 'found a lead' on their family's whereabouts. It was the morning before Christmas Eve and Calypso was in the middle of preparing a glass of hot chocolate when there was a knock on the door.
Expecting it to be Sirius dropping in unexpectedly, she didn't waste time looking through the peephole before she unlocked the door and swung open. Calypso's eyes widened to twice their normal size and she felt like she had been petrified as she stared at the face of someone she certainly hadn't expected to appear on her front doorstep.
"Aerin," Calypso breathed out, staring into the smiling face of her ex-boyfriend who had his guitar in hand. He certainly looked a bit different from the last time she had seen him — more like his dad with his hair grown out a few inches, but the warmth on his face when he greeted her was very familiar. His smile turned a bit nervous the longer they stared at each other. "W-what're you doing here?"
"I'm sorry, I should've written but I — well, we — would it be okay if I came in?" Aerin asked, stumbling over his words. Calypso, who seemed to be frozen in place, blinked before nodding her head.
"Oh, yes, please come in." Calypso ushered him inside, stepping aside so that he could walk past her. Secretly, she was freaking out but she kept a calm façade as she closed the door and turned to Aerin. "Can I get you anything? Tea, water . . .?"
"Water's fine." Aerin said. Calypso hurried into the kitchen, grateful for the opportunity to be alone in another room. She paced back and forth, tugging at the ends of her hair before filling up a glass of water from the tap. She re-entered the room with a calm smile on her face and handed Aerin the water. He had bent on the ground to play with Heracles, but abruptly stood up when Calypso appeared before him.
Calypso sank into the couch and stared up at him expectantly, watching as he downed the cup of water.
"How was your tour?" Calypso asked, trying to alleviate the tension in the room. His shoulders relaxed and he dropped into the chair across from her, a smile stretching across his face again.
"It was amazing. We were huge among the wizards in America and we all had a blast." Calypso smiled. Ziggy, Fraser, and Nancy had always been nice to her and were wonderful people.
"Good, you all really deserve it." Calypso said truthfully.
"Thanks, Cal." Aerin said. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a dry chuckle. "When we were traveling, I thought a lot about you —"
"Aerin, I'm —"
"You're with Sirius, I know." Aerin shrugged, although he looked a little sad. "I do love you, Cal, I meant it when I said that last year but that's not why I came here. I actually came here because I wanted to . . . to thank you."
"Thank me?" Calypso repeated. "For what?"
"Well, I might not have gone if you hadn't forced my hand and our hit song was the one I wrote about you, so I brought you a gift." Aerin handed Calypso the guitar. She furrowed her brow and took it from his hands, gasping when she saw the three signatures on the guitar.
"You didn't." She said.
"I remember how much you love the Moon Sisters." Aerin chuckled. Calypso ran her fingers over the surface of the guitar.
"Aerin, this is amazing. Thank you." Calypso said. Aerin smiled softly before he climbed to his feet.
"I should probably get going, but it was really nice to see you, Cal."
"It was nice to see you too."
Calypso walked Aerin to the door and closed it behind him, putting the guitar away in her room. It was nice to see Aerin, but she hoped he wouldn't get the wrong impression. She really liked Sirius and she wouldn't want to trade him for anyone else.
Calypso checked the time and wondered where Sirius was since he was usually at her house by this time. She hummed a tune under her breath as she moved throughout the flat. Calypso walked down the hallway leading to the two bedrooms when a large burst of color completely obstructed her vision. At first, all she could see was black before her head began to pound.
This vision was different from the other one's she'd had so far. She didn't see anything except total darkness, but she could tell that something was wrong.
The color faded away and Calypso dashed to the front door, pulling it open to see that her Auror guards were nowhere to be found. Calypso ran back inside the house and locked the door, her heart pounding in her chest.
Not again. Not again.
Calypso scooped Heracles into her arm and held her wand tightly in her hand.
"Expecto Patronum," Calypso cast her phoenix and quickly left a message for Dumbledore and the rest of the Order. "They're here."
Her phoenix soared through the open window and managed to make it out before a loud explosion in the distance caused the entirety of Diagon Alley to shake. Calypso stared out of the window to see figures dressed in dark robes flying from the sky, shooting spells at the people on the streets below who ran from them.
Calypso quickly ran to her room and opened the window, climbing out of her house with only her cat and wand in hand. She rushed down the fire escape, struggling not to send herself flying down the steps while the sound of fighting sounded in the distance.
Calypso's feet hit the pavement and she turned a corner, only to be greeted by one of Voldemort's Death Eaters.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Calypso cast the spell before the Death Eater had a chance to raise their wand. She was off in seconds, running down the street before she heard the cries and sounds of fighting coming from another one of the buildings beside her. Calypso debated whether or not she should find somewhere where she could change into her Animagus to escape, but she wasn't sure if she could live with herself if she didn't help.
Calypso set Heracles onto the ground and the tiny grey cat trotted behind her as she drew her wand and ran into the nearest building.
Two Death Eaters faced off with a cowering family of four on the steps.
"Stupefy! Stupefy!" Calypso hit the Death Eaters with the spells, before running to the family with her hand outstretched to their youngest son who had tears streaming down his face. "We need to get out of here now!"
"There's no way out." The father said. Calypso furrowed her brows in confusion. "Right before the attack started, we tried to use the Floo Network to leave, but we couldn't. We couldn't Apparate either and there are Death Eaters in the sky stopping people who try to leave on their brooms. There's no way for anyone to get in or out."
Calypso's eyes widened. Aerin. He left right before the attack but Calypso didn't know if he escaped in time.
"Then, we'll have to find one, come with me!" Calypso said. She waved the family forward, but their youngest son remained seated despite his parents and older brother's protests for him to stop cowering in fear on the stairs. Calypso bent down on the ground in front of the boy. "What's your name?"
"H-Henry." He said, his bottom lip quivering.
"It's nice to meet you, Henry. I'm Calypso." Calypso offered him a sweet smile. "I know you're scared, Henry, and that's okay. I'm scared too."
"You are?" Henry asked quietly. Calypso nodded.
"We all are, but we can't let our fear stop us when there are other people out there who could use our help. It's time for us to be brave, Henry. Can you be brave for me?" Calypso asked. Henry slowly nodded and Calypso smiled, relaxing. "Good. Heracles, here, will take good care of you. Stay close."
Calypso placed Heracles in Henry's arms and the cat purred lightly as Henry's mother lifted him up. Calypso glanced down at the Death Eaters as they began to stir.
"I remember reading a book about secret passages throughout the Wizarding World that used to be used to escape witch-hunting. There was one in Diagon Alley, if I remember correctly, that leads straight out. I'll get the four of you out first and I want to try and get others out." Calypso told them as she peered through one of the windows. The streets were filled with smoke and a part of her wondered if she would be able to do this at all, but she turned to the parents. "Wands out. I'll need your help too."
With their arms in hand, they ran out onto the streets, protecting the children. Calypso could hear the faint laughter of Death Eaters, though she couldn't see them, and threw curses over her shoulder as the family followed her through the streets of Diagon Alley. She racked her brain for any idea on where the secret passage was. The book hadn't revealed its exact location but it had given hints and clues.
She knew Diagon Alley hadn't been built until the early 1500s, but the secret passageway was created before there were shops. It would make the most sense for the secret passageway to have been hidden by the first shop that was placed in Diagon Alley — Ollivanders.
"Alohomora." Calypso unlocked the door to Ollivanders and hurried the family inside the tiny shop. "Mr. Ollivander! Mr. Ollivander, it's Calypso Krane!"
The whispy haired wizard poked his head out from around one of the displays. His eyes widened at the sight of Calypso with the family at her side, shaking and frightened.
"Calypso Krane —"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Ollivander, but there's not much time to chat. I want to find more people and lead them here because I think there's a secret passageway under your shop." Calypso said hurriedly, glancing over her shoulder where she could hear the sound of blasts and spells from outside. When she turned back, Mr. Ollivander's eyes were wide.
"Those passages have been sealed for hundreds of years —"
"Well, unseal them!" Calypso said. She turned back to Henry with a small smile on her face. "Take care of my cat, will you?"
"Promise!" Henry grinned before Calypso dashed back outside, leaving the others to take care of opening the passage.
She ran down the streets of Diagon Alley, through smoke and dust. She caught a glimpse of two Death Eaters coming towards her and pointed her wand at one of the shops crying,
"Reducto!" The blast was so powerful that it knocked her on her feet and sent her flying backwards. Calypso hit her skull on the pavement so hard that she began to see stars as she scrambled to her feet, pushing debris off her wand and taking off in the opposite direction.
"Help me! Help me!"
The shouts grew louder as Calypso picked up her pace, battling the Death Eaters that tried to get inside Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.
"Run straight to Ollivander's! Don't look back!" Calypso said when a sobbing Madam Malkin fell into her arms, thanking her profusely. The woman took off in the direction of the wand shop and Calypso went on her way, searching through different buildings to find more people to guide them to Ollivander's.
As she ran, the Death Eaters guarding the skies would fire spells at her that she would have to duck or dodge. At one point, she was leading two sisters to Mr. Ollivander's when a woman stepped in her path.
"CRUC —"
The woman was blasted backwards when a spell hit her square in the chest, sending her flying through the air. Calypso looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened when she saw Dumbledore standing with the Order behind him.