24.
Mystery Madness, Pt 4
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"Indeed it wasn't," said a voice from the door. A voice of an imposter. She stood around the doorway with Asmodeus Keres and two people in black hoods. "Hello darlings, I believe you've finally figured it out."
The girl smiled and waved her wand over her head. The short hair and blue eyes of Jordan Cain grew and shifted into the long brown hair and green eyes of Rhea Cain that set her apart form her twin.
It took Avalon and Regulus a few moments to register what was going on, and it took that few moments for Keres to get out his wand and get theirs.
"Took them long enough," he said putting their wands in his back pocket, his voice was exactly the same as it was when Avalon had heard it in the forest. Rhea snapped her fingers and pointed to her former students. The two people in the black hoods came towards them. Avalon grabbed Regulus's hand who seemed to be frozen in pace and yanked him towards the other exit.
"Leaving so soon?" Asked Rhea, she waved her wand just as they reached the archway and two trophy cases smashed together blocking their only escape. The hooded people caught up and grabbed them both taking their hands apart and pulling them closer to their evil Professor.
"Keres go check we have a clear exit, get rid of anyone who intervenes," said Rhea not taking her eyes off the struggling teenagers, well teenager, Regulus was still frozen solid.
"Clear," said Keres when he entered back into the room, Rhea smiled and ushered for the hooded people to follow her - unfortunately they took Avalon and Regulus with them.
"Why are we going this way?" Asked Avalon as she struggled to get out of the hooded mans tight grip.
"Because I want to take you where it all started and I can't apperate on Hogwarts grounds sweetie," said Rhea Cain, she clicked her fingers, "loosen your grip, you're hurting the poor girl."
Avalon felt the tight hold on her arm loosen. She looked over at Regulus who still looked a statue, he was so tense in fact, he was practically being dragged along.
"So much for Dumbledore knowing what's going on around the castle," she mumbled, Rhea laughed.
"Dumbledores not here lovely. I couldn't get rid of him, so I went higher and tried the Minster. He's off dealing with that." Said Rhea with a sigh. "Granted I'll have to find a way to off the old geezer soon, otherwise I'll be in a lot of trouble - life lesson children never make a promise you can't keep, but that's a task for later on. Oh look we're out of the gate. Now, you grab his hand and you grab my hand." She looked over at Keres and he nodded. The man holding Avalon grabbed onto Rhea's hand and Avalon felt the tight squeeze in her stomach that she hated so much.
When they landed the first thing she heard was slow running water. She couldn't see anything because she had her eyes shut trying to feel less dizzy.
"Bring them over here," she heard Rhea say and suddenly she was being dragged. She opened her eyes and was looking into a narrow Canal in the middle of nowhere.
"It leads to a town just up the road," explained Rhea, "we used to live there when I was a child. Me and my mother used to feed the ducks that passed by. It was my favourite place in the world to be. Then one morning I woke up and she wasn't there. My father said she was out grocery shopping, but she didn't come back that day, or the day after that, or the day after that, or three weeks after that. Then we had local Muggle officers knock on our door saying she was never coming back. That they found her snagged on a branch down the Canal."
"That's tragic and all, but what are we doing here?" Asked Avalon rolling her eyes.
"You are a brave one aren't you Ava? That's what your friends call you? Ava." Mused Rhea with a smile, "you remind me of me."
"First off you're not my friend. Secondly I don't see it, if I was was going to try and kill Dumbledore, poison wouldn't be my first option."
"My mother meant everything to me. She was the only one that believed I could be just as successful as Jordan. Then she died and left me. My father spent most of his time in the office after that, leaving me and Jordan to fend for ourselves. The little time he did spend at home was with Jordan, his precious little Jordan. The smart one, the talented one, his favourite, the one that was just like him. Do you want to take it form here Keres?"
"Then I was betrayed by my best friend," said the old man bitterly. "I had been friends with Atlas since we were eleven-"
"I love how villains just monologue their entire life story it makes getting kidnapped slightly interesting," said Avalon making everyone look at her in annoyance, "sorry, continue on."
"We did everything together, we were sorted into the same Hogwarts house, we joined all the clubs together and we even worked together once we left. We later joined the Dark Lord together. Everything we did, we did with each other."
"We get it you were friends, moving on," said Avalon impatiently.
"I will chop your tongue off if you interrupt me one more time," Snapped Keres, Avalon shut her mouth, not wanting to deal with James in a situation where he could talk and she had nothing to tell him to shut up with. "Then my son married a Muggleborn and they had a son. Hydra was always different - he was always questioning things he shouldn't of and he crossed paths with Atlas, or as many people referred to him as the Captain. He had a knack for bending people to his will, it was similar to the Imperius Curse but on a larger scale. Atlas could have hundreds of people in his control at the same time, he could make an army out of strangers. He was the Captain and they were his oars.
"The hooded people on the train," said Avalon. Rhea smiled.
"It was an art I practiced myself," smirked Rhea, "but that's for later."
"Hydra began collecting evidence on what he was doing. Information on the random disappearances of everyday witches and wizards. On the people murdering their brothers, sisters, best friends, anyone that disagreed with The Dark Lords motives and then waking up the next day not remembering anything. On how the same people were being taken into St Mungo's with psychosis. He had almost collected everything there was to collect when Atlas had caught him sneaking into his house. I didn't know what he was doing because I had cut all contact with him after he had married that filth, but I didn't want him dead, he was my son. Atlas however had other plans, and the next thing I knew I woke up one morning covered in blood with no memory of how it got there. Then I was arrested for my sons murder."
"Hang on before this goes any further," said Avalon, "I'm not going to sit here and pretend you didn't leave me to almost die."
"You remember that?" he asked surprised, "I would have thought Dumbledore would have been on my case a lot sooner then."
"He doesn't know about it, it wasn't until I saw your face in a pensive and your voice in that forest that I remembered it. My memory swapped it with the memory of you in the St Mungo's. I saw you, being dragged up the hallway shouting about how you wanted your Captain."
"My mind was shattered for a long time after that," said Keres, "and when I gained it back no one would believe me, especially with a Dark Mark on my arm. I left you there because at that stage all I saw was a blood traitor, you weren't Rhea's little project yet."
"Project?" She asked.
"Moving on, Luckily for me Rhea here had some influence that got me out of Askaban."
"Well the Minister had some influence, I merely persuaded him to use it," said Rhea looking at her nails, "I do which my sister took better care of her nails, I had to let mine chip and peel to pass as her."
"What happened to your sister?" Asked Avalon hoping her friends would realise she was missing soon. Maybe James who was leaving the Hospital Wing that afternoon would notice his baby sister wasn't around. She looked over at Regulus for a moment, he seemed to be hyperventilating. It was subtle however, because she wouldn't have been able to notice it if she wasn't watching his chest go up and down extremely fast.
"So while Keres here was in jail and I was still hanging onto the small relationship I had left with my father. I came across a letter he had been sent by one of his old school friends - Tom riddle. You may know him as Lord Voldemort."
"Gross!" Exclaimed Avalon, "I thought he was cute."
"What?"
"Nothing, carry on."
"I found out that my father had killed my mother because she disagreed with the Dark Lord's plan. The worst part is that Jordan had known about it the entire time. To say I was mad would be an understatement. So, I decided then and there that I would get rid of him. Hence I walked into the kitchen that night and while his back was turned I killed him.
"With my next task I decided I needed some help if I didn't want to get caught, so I borrowed all of my fathers notes and learnt how to do what he did. Then I went to see Keres and he said he'd help me get revenge on my sister if I got him out. Later on using my fathers little trick, I made the Minister release him and we've had a sparkling partnership ever since.
"Then I poisoned Jordan, I slipped it into her morning coffee. She was always so predictable."
"And you continuing to poison people even though it fails isn't?" Asked Avalon, Rhea didn't laugh at her joke, not that she was expecting her to.
"I use poison because it's extremely hard to track back to its owner," she said, "unfortunately it is also very hard to get the measurements right when you make it, and it's not like an ex convict or a reporter for the Daily Prophet could just walk into a shop and ask for a murder weapon now is it? Anyway I slipped it into her coffee and bam she was almost dead, and she would have been if it wasn't for that stupid intern that found her in time."
"I thought you were worried when she was hurt, you said so yourself," said Avalon, Rhea laughed.
"No I was just throwing you clues so you would figure it out faster, we were on a schedule you know. Buts that's okay dears you were just in time."
"Why did you want us to figure it out?"
"Not us my dear, you," she said, "at first when I over heard you talking about the dream you were having I was slightly nervous, I couldn't have you throwing off my mission when it was a life or death situation. So I got you that alarm clock as a gift so it would throw you off, but then I saw you looking at my failsafe letter. The one where it makes it sound as if Jordan was the one behind the plan, the one I made just in case it all went wrong and I could go back to being me to escape. Anyway I saw you looking at that and I decided to see how far you could get. Then I saw James playing Quidditch, and I marked James papers and I saw all the letters he got in the mail and how little you got. I listened as all the teachers gloated about how smart he was and if only he applied himself. I saw him as he strutted down the hallway with his Headboy badge and his Quidditch Captain badge and I realised how much alike we really are. Regulus sweetheart, you are an add on, but one we are willing to take considering who you work for."
"Who he works for?" She asked.
"You don't know?" Said Rhea her eyes getting wide in shock, "never mind it's a small inconvenience, it will still all pan out." Avalon was extremely confused at this point, Regulus didn't have a job. "So after that I started feeding you clues so you would figure it out. Letting you live in the forest when Keres was probably going to kill you, I saw you when you went to go save your brother and I whispered in ear that we had to leave. Walking passed you and your friends in Diagon Alley so you would find out about me - the actual me anyway. Giving you the letter that I sent to Jordan many years ago. Letting you break into my office so you would find the newspaper articles I conveniently put in a great hiding spot. I let you do all of those things so we could finally get to meet each other - the real me."
"Why would you want me to meet you, I'm a Potter, a blood traitor. I love my brother no matter how much of a show off he is. We have nothing in common!" Exclaimed Avalon, realising it was a trap all along and she walked into it like a hungry mouse.
"Aren't you sick of always being the second best. We could do great things Avalon Potter. You and me could take over. No more bowing down to people who underestimate us."
"There is nothing in the world that could make me want to join you."
Rhea's face turned from hopeful to angry in seconds. "This isn't how it's supposed to go Ava, you are supposed to be happy and say yes. You are supposed to join me and we are supposed to be a family."
"I have a family," said Avalon stoping down hard on her hooded capture's foot. He released her immediately and fell backwards after she punched him clean in the nose, just like Sirius had taught her.
Rhea pointed her wand at her and without warning she was dead still and unable to move. Rhea walked over to her and grabbed her paralysed body, dragging her over to the edge of the canal.
"I can't let you blabbering to everyone about what you've found out," she said pushing her further to the edge. "For what it's worth I'm sorry."
"Don't!" Yelled a voice she had been waiting to hear since they got here. Rhea dropped her and from the ground she could see what was happening. Regulus had finally let loose and had escaped from the guard that was now laying on the ground next to his friend.
What surprised Avalon the most was what he did next, he extended his arm and his wand flew back into his grip from Keres' pocket - wandless magic. He was fighting them both then, Rhea on his left and Keres on his right.
Avalon tried to will away the curse she had been placed under, but it wasn't working. She turned back to the fight just in time to see Rhea's feet right in front of her face. She was lifted up again only so see Regulus shoot down Keres who was now laying on the floor in ropes.
"Say hello to my mother for me," Rhea whispered into her ear before she was suddenly submerged in murky water.
It seemed like forever since she had taken a breath, and she thought she was a goner until she finally was able to move again. She felt someone grab onto her waist. Seconds later she was breathing again, on the surface of the canal. She looked over to the person who had saved her and then she saw it.
Suddenly it all made sense. The lack of contact they had had over Christmas, his pale complexion when they finally did see each other, all the times he said he was too busy spend time with her, why he always wore long sleeves even though it was hot. There on his wrist, no longer covered by his sleeve, was the Dark Mark. Rhea Cain was right, Regulus did work for someone, Voldemort.
"Ava."
"Don't," she said, but didn't have the chance to say anymore as multiple tiny pops could be heard in the distance. She looked up to see McGonagall, Dumbledore, her parents and Stormy.
"How did they know where we were?" She heard Rhea's voice say, she scrambled up from the floor to see their Ex-Professor tied to Keres.
"You're forgetting that we weren't the only ones that saw the clues you left," said Avalon, as Stormy ran ahead of all the adults and into Avalon's arms.
"I figured the Handwriting wasn't a coincidence," said Stormy with a smile on her face.
"Indeed it wasn't," replied Avalon, but her heart wasn't in it. It was broken into a trillion different pieces, and it hurt like nothing she'd ever felt before.