Darkness.
It was the only thing Calypso could recall experiencing during the time she was away. She felt as though she had been trapped in a never-ending abyss of darkness without any clue of what to do or where she was. Everything had felt so dark and so cold and Calypso wasn't entirely sure what had happened. There was a large hole in her memories and she couldn't offer Ted and Andromeda any answers as they allowed her to sit on the floor by the fireplace, silently sobbing with a blanket wrapped around her and a discarded cup of tea at her side.
What did they do to her? And why would they just bring her back?
Calypso could hear Ted and Andromeda whispering behind her about how they needed to write to Sirius and Dumbledore about Calypso's unexpected return, but the girl felt fear stab at her heart at the thought of having to face Sirius when she wasn't sure if she could even trust herself. So, when Ted and Andromeda turned their backs, Calypso took off running through the woods that she came through, barefoot and still sobbing.
Calypso could feel that something was different inside of her, something stirring in the pits of her stomach, that caused her to have to lean against a nearby tree for support as rain drops slid down the side of her face. She looked up and stared directly into the pale face of Voldemort. Calypso let out a scream loud enough to alert Ted and Andromeda of her presence as she fell to the ground and brought her shaky hands over her face, preparing herself to be taken again.
"Calypso, are you all right? What's wrong?" Andromeda's voice called out as she ran to crouch down next to the crying girl. Calypso peaked through her fingers and realized that there was no one standing in front of her. Voldemort hadn't actually been there at all and for some reason that made her sob even harder.
She slept for what felt like days in the Tonks's guest bedroom until she heard a crack come from outside followed by a frantic banging on the door that let Calypso know Sirius and Dumbledore had arrived. She curled herself into a ball on the bed and brought her hands up to her ears to quiet the whispers in her head. She could hear these voices quietly calling out to her and begging her to pay attention to them, but she refused. She couldn't do it anymore. She was done.
The door opened and a relieved Sirius appeared in the doorway.
"You're okay," Sirius breathed out before rushing to her and wrapping his arms around her. Normally a hug from Sirius would make her feel a bit better, but, instead, it made her feel ten times worse. She wasn't the same girl she had been when she left. They had done something to her, but what? "I'm so glad you're okay. We were all so worried, we tried everything."
Calypso wondered if that was true.
Dumbledore entered the room, a grim look on his face as he stared at Calypso and she knew that he could tell something was different about her.
"Sirius, would you mind giving Miss Krane and I a moment alone?" Dumbledore asked politely. Sirius agreed, though he didn't look particularly happy to oblige, and gave Calypso a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room. Dumbledore shut and locked the door behind him, casting a charm so that Sirius wouldn't be able to press his ear against the door to listen in before he turned back to the girl. "What do you remember?"
"Darkness." Calypso said quietly. "It was . . . it was cold and dark, but there were. . . things, dark creatures of all sorts that spoke to me. They told me such horrible things, Professor."
"What did they say?" Dumbledore asked. Calypso's face contorted painfully, more tears welling in her eyes.
"They told me that everyone I love is going to die." She whimpered. "James, Lily, Sirius, Dorcas, Marlene . . . they're all going to die because of Voldemort."
Dumbledore stared grimly at his feet, unsure of what to say and doubtful that anything he did come up with would ease the girl's worries.
"They did something to me. To my mind. I'm not sure what but I'm-I'm starting to hear voices and s-seeing things. I try not to listen to them."
"What do they say?" Dumbledore asked. Calypso frowned, afraid that the voices would tell her even more awful things if she listened. When she saw that Dumbledore was patiently waiting for her response, she felt obligated to listen.
So, she did. Dumbledore always seemed to have all the answers and her father had trusted him. But, that still didn't stop the sinking feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach as she closed her eyes.
For a moment, nothing happened. The room was silent with anticipation as they both waited for the voices to come.
Then — there it was. A chill ran down her spine and goosebumps rose on her arms. Calypso squeezed her eyes shut tightly and listened until she heard her father's voice calling out to her. Her eyes opened, revealing only the whites and she stared, unseeing, at the ceiling.
'Calypso', Her father called out to her, his voice crystal clear as though he was whispering directly into her ear. And that terrified her. 'Leave.'
She rose to her feet, unable to control herself before she stepped forward into an abyss of darkness and disapparated from the room with a loud crack that alerted everyone downstairs and sent them running up the stairs.
Calypso blinked and found herself standing in front of Krane Manor. Minnie stood in front of the large doors, a wide grin on her wrinkly face.
"Mistress, you're back!" Minnie cried out and she took off running towards the girl. Calypso breathed out a sigh of relief as she looked up at the sight of the Manor she had spent the first half of her life in. As Minnie wrapped her tiny arms around Calypso's knees, Calypso was reminded of all the dark times she had spent in this place, afraid of her father, but, for the first time in a long time, Calypso was glad to be home.
She was exhausted. She was so tired of everything — the blood shed, the death, the war. She couldn't stand it all, but she remembered what the prophecy said.
She would lead her friends to victory.
And she had a feeling that this new gift would help her do just that.
Calypso marched inside Krane Manor, hand in hand with Minnie and greeted the rest of the house elves who lived in the home. She couldn't go back to Hogwarts, not until she knew exactly what this power was and what her grandmother and Voldemort did to make her like this.
Dozens of letters came before the knocks started, but no one came to the door to answer them. Calypso spent the rest of spring listening to the voices that spoke to her. Most of them were unfamiliar, apart from her father's and, surprisingly, her grandmother Astrea's, so Calypso assumed she was hearing the dead. The good thing was that she didn't hear her mother or Ophelia's voices in the mix meaning that they might still be alive somewhere, although Calypso wasn't sure how long that would last.
When she wasn't wasting hours away practicing her magic, Calypso was consumed with regret for disappearing on her friends once again but she knew it was for the best. Besides, how could she look into their faces knowing that they were going to die. How could she look at Sirius knowing that he was going to leave her too?
Minnie sobbed when Calypso told her she had to go back to school in order to take her end of the year exams. She knew she had a good idea on most of the material, even if she had missed the end of sixth year.
She had already written to Dumbledore and he appeared at Krane Manor to take her back to school when she was ready.
"What did you learn?" Dumbledore asked as they walked down the path that led to the village of Wiltshire.
"There's a witch I need to find, Dorcas already met with her when I was away. Her name is Sybill Trelawney. She is going to help me." Calypso said, wrapping her hand around Dumbledore's arm. "In fact, she already knows I'm coming."
There was a tugging sensation behind her navel and Calypso's feet lifted from the ground until they landed harshly on the floors of Dumbledore's office.
"Go to your friends, Calypso. You know where to find them." Dumbledore advised. Calypso nodded her head and offered Dumbledore one last smile before leaving his office. She stopped by the Ravenclaw common room and did her best to ignore the stares and whispers of her classmates as she passed by.
By the time she arrived to the great big tree by the lake that she found Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter sitting at, they looked as though they had already heard about her arrival from the lack of surprise that appeared on their faces when she walked up to them.
Awkwardly, Calypso stood in front of the first friends she had made when she arrived at Hogwarts. Remus had a sad and understanding look on his face that made Calypso regret not answering any of his letters. She knew Remus had the biggest heart out of all of them and not hearing from her probably scared him. Peter looked happiest to see her out of all of them since he stared up at her with a grin on his face; James looked like . . . James. He lounged against the base of the tree, watching his Snitch fly around him and pretending as though he hardly even noticed his friends return.
Then, there was Sirius.
He stared at the ground, deep and angry frown lines pulled between his brows, not that Calypso was that surprised. If she had been in his position and he suddenly disappeared without a word, she'd be pretty pissed too.
"I'm sorry," Calypso whispered, staring at her friends and remembering what those voices had told her. She wondered if this was how her mother felt when she dreamed about Calypso's death. The girl shuddered at the idea of having to live with knowing how her friends would die. At least the dead had spared her the gory details. "I needed time to . . . to be me again. I don't know what they did to me when they took me, but something changed. It's like they heightened the powers I got during my birthday and I wanted to figure it out before I came back. But, not writing wasn't fair to any of you and I'm sorry for that."
James stopped catching his snitch and jumped to his feet. He tucked the snitch into the pockets of his robes and strode right towards Calypso. She frowned, wondering what he was going to do before he surprised all of them by wrapping his arms around her and bringing her in for a hug.
"I'm just glad you're not dead." James squeezed before saying, "I've missed you, Talon."
Calypso let out a gasp of relief and threw her arms around James, grateful that he was always understanding and forgiving even when she didn't think she necessarily deserved it.
"It's good to see you again, Cal." Peter hopped up, rushing over to join the hug. Remus rose to his feet, tossing his book aside and joined in, making Calypso smile. Maybe they wouldn't die for a really long time. Maybe they could still have the future they spent their entire lives preparing and hoping for. Death was always an intimidating thing, but it was terrifying to be acutely aware of the mortality of you and everyone that you cared about. But, all Calypso knew she could do was cherish this and them for as long as she was able to and do her best to fight her fate.
She turned to Sirius, hoping that she hadn't done irreparable damage to their relationship. She had been pretty reckless lately and it nearly cost her everything, but now it felt as though the fog was lifting and she could see the future so clearly now.
"Sirius?" Calypso whispered when the boys pulled away, afraid that he would tell her he was done with everything.
He shook his head and rose to his feet. Calypso could tell from the way that he was anxiously drumming his finger against the side of his leg that he was upset.
"You don't have to do everything alone, Calypso. You're not . . . you're not invincible and you don't have to always put yourself in danger. It's really a wonder that you weren't sorted into Gryffindor." Calypso cracked a small smile and stepped towards him. "You and I are partners and we are family. For the past six years, we've always been there for each other no matter what and nothing can ever change that, but you can't die, Cal. You can't leave me."
Calypso felt like she was on the brink of tears again as she was reminded of the fact that he would leave her one day. She threw her arms around him and felt wetness press against her cheek as Sirius held onto her like he didn't want to let go.
"I love you." Calypso said into his ear.
"I love you too."
Calypso was, surprisingly, more scared to face the girls than she was the boys. She knew she would find them in the library studying with Lily leading them and, sure enough, she was right. Calypso made her way to the back of the library where she could hear Lily's voice as she quizzed Alice and Karma on Care of Magical Creatures.
"This creature has red eyes, gold feathers, and are related to birds." Lily said as she held a flash card in front of her.
"Golden Snidget!" Alice cheered, waving her hands around excitedly as she laughed. She glanced up and noticed Calypso first, jumping in her chair. "Oh, Merlin, you scared me!"
Dorcas and Marlene, who had their backs to Calypso, turned around in their seats and Calypso watched Dorcas's eyebrows raise in shock at her sudden appearance.
"Calypso!" Pandora said excitedly, across from Dorcas. She jumped out of her chair and rushed to her friend, pulling her in for a quick hug. "Oh, I told them all you'd be coming back soon! We were talking about your return in Divination the other day and —"
"You couldn't write?" Dorcas asked, sliding out of her chair with her arms crossed over her chest. Lily stared at the soles of her boots. "Or say anything to let us know that you were alive and hadn't been taken again?"
"Dorcas, I —"
"Do you have any idea what that was like, Calypso? We searched day and night for you after they took you. Lily wrote letters to the Minister himself and had people looking for you; Pandora nearly blew up her house trying to create locator spells because we couldn't find you. Marlene's mum is about to run an article in the paper exposing Rhea for everything she's done —"
'No,' Astrea's voice echoed in the back of Calypso's head. Her tone was grim with warning and Calypso immediately knew that running that article would not be a good idea.
" — and then we finally do find you, you leave again. I mean, seriously, Cal —"
"Dorcas, I'm sorry, but did you mention something about Marlene's mum running an article on Rhea?" Calypso asked, glancing over at Marlene. Dorcas huffed, frustrated.
"Seriously, Cal?"
"I'm sorry, Dorcas, but you and I can talk in a second, this is an emergency. Marlene," Calypso turned to Marlene, looking suddenly anxious. "Is your mum writing an article about Rhea in the Prophet?"
"Yeah, I think she was supposed to submit it to her editor this morning." Marlene said, glancing at her girlfriend with a confused frown before turning to Calypso. "Cal, what's this about?"
'NO,' Astrea's voice shouted in Calypso's head. It echoed so loudly that it rattled her brain and made her stumble to the side, causing Lily to shoot out of her chair to catch her in case she fell.
"Whoa, Cal, are you all right?" Lily asked with a frown. Everyone stared at her, confused by her behavior.
"Marlene, you have to tell your mum that she can't publish that article. Something will happen if she publishes it." Calypso said in a foreboding tone.
"What do you mean? What's going to happen?" Marlene asked, frantically.
Then, all of the voices began chanting one word, repeating it loudly over and over again.
Death.
Calypso sent Marlene a grim look, hoping her expression conveyed how dire this situation was and it must've because the girl hopped to her feet and dashed out of the room.
"What is going on?" Lily asked frowning. "What did they do to you?"
"Rhea and Voldemort somehow found a way to strengthen the power I gained when I turned seventeen except I don't see visions anymore, there are voices. And I think they're helping me."
The girls exchanged blinks of surprise with one another and Calypso realized how crazy it all must've sounded to them. Most witches and wizards thought the Inner Eye and the Sight were the stirrings of crazy people, but Calypso had always grown up believing that some witches were given the ability to see things that others couldn't or hear things that weren't there. She'd seen it first hand with her mother when she would be talking and then suddenly staring off into space for what felt like hours on end, her eyes white as she saw things that they couldn't.
"I believe you." Lily said finally. Calypso looked at Lily, surprised, but the green eyed girl smiled warmly at her. "You had your reasons for doing what you did, even if you could've handled it better. I'm glad you're safe now. The Order missed you."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah, we usually head over to the Room of Requirement when we're done studying to practice dueling with the other members. Surprisingly, Benjy Fenwick has managed to outshine us all. You should drop by, it's actually kind of incredible."
Lily and the others left to go meet with the Order while Dorcas stood in front of Calypso, arms crossed over her chest.
"I'm sorry I hurt you, Dorcas." Calypso frowned sadly.
Dorcas let out a long sigh.
"I know you're going through a lot and that you're hurting, but with so many people randomly disappearing nowadays just . . . let us know that you're alive the next time you decide to go AWOL for a few months and I have to take care of that demon cat of yours."
"Heracles is wonderful," Calypso corrected Dorcas before smiling. The pair of them hugged. "Now, what's this I hear about Benjy Fenwick being a star dueler?"
"Think you can take him?" Dorcas snorted.
Calypso laughed.
"Absolutely."
Bets were made throughout the Order on who would win the deal and Calypso wasn't surprised that most people (including Dorcas) had placed bets for Benjy to win, but Calypso had learned something about the voices in her head in the time she'd spent with them so far.
One of the house elves had been washing the dishes and accidentally knocked down a glass when Calypso was passing by. In that moment, it had been like time slowed down infinitesimally but long enough for her to hear the voices tell her to grab it and instinctively her arm shot out. And, at the Tonks's, Calypso had felt scared and overwhelmed when talking to Dumbledore and wished she could just rest and then, suddenly, she was disapparating and back at Krane Manor. She wanted to test out if the voices could warn her when she was dueling to and help her instinctively know what to do.
Calypso twirled her wand in her hands as she stood across from Benjy, who had a shit-eating grin on his face.
"Ready to lose, Krane?"
Calypso merely smiled at him before Benjy suddenly threw his wand back and sent a spell flying at her. Without even thinking about what she was doing, Calypso emitted a shield charm from her wand that was so powerful it made a sound that rang through the room when it collided with Benjy's.
Benjy didn't waste any time in recovering and he launched spell after spell at Calypso with no remorse and holding nothing back, not that she had expected him to. But, it was like she was able to predict every move he would make before he would make it and find a way to dodge or block it before switching to the offensive side.
Everyone around them seemed to be holding their breath and watching intently to see who would win between the two of them. And Calypso had to admit that Benjy was good, possibly even good enough to take down Evan Rosier and Calypso knew how good Evan was. But, the voices in her head told her exactly when to dodge and to when to hit him with a spell — they were helping her.
Then, Calypso wordlessly pointed her wand at Benjy's chest and a great white flash of light blinded everyone for a split second before it hurtled itself at Benjy and knocked him to his feet with a groan of pain.
"Merlin, Krane," Benjy said while Sirius and James whooped and hollered, going around to the members of the Order with the pockets open.
"Pay up, Goldstein! She won fair and square!" Calypso heard James yell at her fellow Ravenclaw.
Calypso glanced around at the growing numbers of the Order. The size had practically doubled since she'd been gone and she could hardly believe the number of people from all of the houses who had gathered to join them.
Calypso sat for her end of the year exams over the course of the next week and boarded the Hogwarts Express at the end of the year with a small smile on her face as Heracles curled up into her lap and Sirius had his arm strung around her shoulder.
"I'm glad that year's done. It took forever, it felt like." James said with a sigh as he looked out on the rolling hills of Scotland as they sat in their usual compartment. Calypso had one book in her hand, although she hardly could pay attention to the history of monograms as she thought about how they were approaching their final year at Hogwarts. "Are you sure you don't want to come 'round mine for a few days at least, Cal? We're all going to be there and mum's been dying to see you."
"No can do, Prongs. Trelawney's already waiting for me at the local inn in Wiltshire."
"How long do you have to stay with her for?" Peter asked from beside James.
"As long as it takes, I suppose. I need to know what this is and she's one of the only people who can help me with that." Calypso smiled. "But, don't worry, I'll be sure to send you letters every single day."
"So she says." James said teasingly which earned him a swift kick in the shins. The compartment door opened and Calypso briefly glanced up when Remus appeared in the way. "There you are, Moony. Did you bring the chocolate toads like I asked you to?"
"Calypso," Remus's voice was grave enough that it made Calypso want to let out a long sigh. All she wanted, for once, was good news but from how pale Remus's face was, she could tell he had nothing good to deliver. "You might want to read this."
Remus handed Calypso a folded up copy of the Prophet. She glanced at him with a frown as she began to unfold it.
"It came out right before we left. An emergency issue, they say. Everyone on the train was talking about it."
Calypso held the Prophet in front of her so that James, Peter, and Sirius could see the headline that made her feel nauseous as her grandmother's voice cried out in frustration.
There, in big, bold letters was the headline:
RHEA KRANE AND HER INVOLVEMENT WITH HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED
BY A. MCKINNON