Chapter 56: Lonely Girl
I can remember the very first time I cried
How I wiped my eyes and buried the pain inside
All of my memories - good and bad - that's past
Didn't even take the time to realize
Avia woke up on the dewy grass,
no wand, and no hope.
Her normally shiny and clean
blonde hair was strewn all over, with bits of twig entangled. Her clothes were ripped and ragged, probably
ruined from the werewolf episode of the night before. Where am I? What
happened last night? Lily took me out of the castle, and then the moon came
out…oh no. I could be anywhere.
Usually encaged, Avia never normally worried about where she would be when she woke up after her bouts with lycanthropy. But tonight was different.
There was a huge forest by
Voldemort’s castle, and she could literally be anywhere.
I guess I should start
walking, she thought morosely. Maybe I could get some sympathetic Muggle
to take me in for a bit.
*~*
Remus sobbed softly in
Divination the next day. The professor
and most of the class could hardly be bothered to notice. Where is she? Or first day as a married
couple, and we’re already separated.
Will I ever get to see her again?
Lily looked over at Remus
sympathetically. This is my entire fault, she thought guiltily. If only I’d been quicker about bargaining
with Voldemort, night would not have fallen.
Everything would have been okay. Is Voldemort going to try to follow up
on the “spy” bit? What will I say when
the time comes?
James looked over at Remus as
well. This is a disaster. If Voldemort has any idea what Avia gone has
done to us, he’ll strike now. We’re
pathetically weak.
Peter looked thoughtfully at
Lily. My Lord said he had a new spy
within our ranks. Lily is the only
logical choice; He abducted her, and then obviously let her go. She must have bargained with him. I hope he still needs me…she is much more
powerful than I am, and she could make me totally unnecessary. It may be time for drastic measures.
~*~
Avia crunched noisy gravel and
twigs under her feet as she approached the first sign of life in these woods
she had seen all day.
In a small clearing, there was a
little cottage with chimney spouting smoke.
Very “Snow White”, Avia
mused to herself. Who’s their
decorator anyway?
Avia nervously approached the door, and knocked twice with bated breath.
A small elderly woman opened the
door. The woman looked relatively
harmless, like the usual grandmother.
“Yes, dear?” the woman said
softly, opening the door a bit.
“Ma’am…I was wondering if you
might be kind enough to have some where for me to stay. I don’t care if it’s inside, but any
hospitality you could give me would be appreciated.”
“Outside…nonsense! Come on inside, dear.”
*~*
Avia woke up in a small room, in
a warm bed. The smell of soup cooking
invaded her nostrils, tempting her starving stomach.
“How are you doing?” the woman’s
quiet voice asked softly.
“Good, thank you for your
kindness,” Avia replied.
The woman smiled. “Think nothing of it, dear. It gets a bit lonely out here, it’s nice to
see someone else.”
“If you don’t mind me asking,
why do you live out here alone?”
“My husband was a woodcutter,
and we moved out here to start our new life together…he died of an…accident, a
few years ago.”
“I’m so sorry…ma’am.”
“Enough with the ‘ma’am’
nonsense. Call me Sarah.”
*~*
“How are the wedding plans
going, honey?” James asked Lily softly.
Though Lily missed Avia, she had
decided to try valiantly to keep pressing on with her usual activities.
The Farewell Ball had pulled off
without a hitch, Remus, dateless, had spent the whole time up in his dorm,
crying.
Emia had started clinging to
Sirius even more now that her twin was gone.
She felt this aching sensation inside for Avia, she missed her so
much. And yet, as she assured Remus and
all her friends, Avia was not dead.
Emia would feel it if she were, of that she was sure.
Anyway, back to Lily.
“Oh, pretty good. So we’ve set the date. December 12th. Our colors are blue and silver. I’ve gotten all the designs for the
bridesmaid dresses under control, including the maid of honor and matron of
honor dresses.”
“Matron? Who’s that?”
“Avia, of course.”
“B-but…honey…”
“Don’t say it. She’ll be back for our wedding. I have to hope she will.”
*~*
After Sarah had gone to bed,
Avia sat quietly in her room, staring at the walls. Am I ever going to see
my friends again? Sarah’s a Muggle…I
can’t tell her the truth…I just have to continue with my lie. I’m an abandoned orphan that needs work. Which really isn’t a lie, I suppose. I miss
Remus so much. I’m suppose to be a
newlywed…I should be on a honeymoon right now! Instead I have no idea whether
I’ll even see my husband again.
Starin' at the cracks in the
walls
Cause I'm waiting for it all to come to an end
Still I curl up right under the bed
Cause it’s takin' over my head
all over again
Sarah stumbled down the stairs
in her nightdress. “Did you need
something, dear?”
“Oh, no thank you, Sarah, you’ve
done more than enough already.”
*~*
Is life good to you or is it bad?
I can't tell anymore
Do you even know what you have?
Avia sighed as she shoveled the dirt outside the cottage. She was started the beginnings of a garden for Sarah. Avia was beginning to like life here. Sarah was a very nice woman, and a kind companion. Anything was better than being alone.
Sarah fed and boarded Avia in exchange for Avia’s doing chores that Sarah was no longer able to do. Though the cottage had looked abandoned and rather decrepit when Avie first arrived, it was steadily looking better and better.
Avia was thankful that she had met someone unaffiliated with the magical world…Voldemort was surely on the lookout for her, so it was very good to be held up in a house that he wouldn’t see as worthy to search.
*~*
Lyin' awake watchin'
the sunlight
How the birds will sing as I count the rings
around my eyes
Constantly pushing the world I know aside
I don't even feel the pain, I don't even want to try
Will I ever see her again? Remus’ depressing thoughts continued to echo in his head. It was now September. Summer had flown by, and so had their final days at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had told them he would keep in touch (Remus got the distinct impression James and Lily had conveyed the idea for the Order of the Phoenix), and James and Lily had both made very impressive speeches on the importance of sticking together to fight the growing evil during the graduation ceremony. Most of the Marauders and Lily would be starting Auror training very soon, and Remus would be back to Hogwarts to learn even more about DADA and the teaching of it. Even more than in her presence, Remus was determined to make Avia’s suggestion a reality. He missed her so much. He wanted her to see that nothing had changed whenever she came back into his life. He wanted it to be like his love had never left.
*~*
The wedding plans were well underway as the Auror training began. The first day, Lily, James, Sirius and Peter all showed up at the Ministry of Magic. Proceeding to the Auror Floor, they saw many familiar faces from their class as the elevator doors clicked open. In the center of the crowd, standing on a small stool, so he could see over the crowd, was the famed Auror Alastor Moody.
“Today you start the beginning of a career. You must be committed, you must be dedicated, and you must always believe that good can prevail. To be an Auror is one of the most difficult careers to undertake. You will all be tested, you will be tried, and many of you will fail. We will be very lucky if even half of you survive the training. Most of you will not make it, especially through my training. But those of you that do…I can make you the most trained duelists in the world. You will be able to look great evil wizards like Grindelwald in the face, and laugh, because you will undoubtedly have the upper hand. Many of you have heard of the brewing dark wizard Voldemort…he is looking to be the greatest threat to the magical world in history. We need Aurors now more than ever, but many of you will die for the cause. If you believe that to do the just is worth death, I invite you to proceed to our first training.”
A few people left, and Peter looked slightly green, but Sirius and James refused to let him leave.
Lily strode confidently into the next room to begin their training, and the boys followed.
“Mad-Eye” continued, saying, “Here are your textbooks, this is how we will begin. You will study the curses and countercurses Monday through Thursday, and Fridays will be spent on practical examinations and dueling. Everyday. Nine to six. Constant vigilance.”
*~*
Emia took a deep breath as she strode across the threshold to St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
A Healer? Professor McGonagall has asked, somewhat shocked, a year ago during her conference.
Yes, she had replied. I want to help people.
Professor McGonagall had assigned her Advanced Potions and she had excelled.
Emia was thrilled to be here today.
*~*
Remus walked sulkily back into the castle he thought he had escaped forever. He had been there but five minutes when a figure he certainly had not wanted to see strode through the doors. Severus Snape.
“What are you here for?” Snape asked with a sneer.
“To train for the DADA position,” Remus said evenly. “And you?”
“The same, actually,” Snape said menacingly.
“Oh, well, may the best man win,” Remus said with a grin.
*~*
I'm lookin' for a way
to become
The person that I dreamt of when I was sixteen
Oh, nothin' is ever enough
Ooh, baby, it ain't enough for what it may seem
While the others were embarking on their careers, Avia continued to help Sarah in the small cottage in the woods. Avia soon felt at peace here, sure, she missed her friends, but Sarah made her feel at home, and she was safe. Avia felt a pang of longing. She would never get her graduation certificate from Hogwarts…she never really knew what she wanted to be…her conference with Professor McGonagall had been a total dead end. Avia had just shrugged about different careers. She had no desire to teach, be a Healer, or be an Auror, what all of her friends were doing. She really did not want to sink to Muggle relations, and working for Gringott’s sounded downright dangerous. Avia had planned to go to the “University of the Undecided”, as it were.
*~*
Sorry girl, tell a
tale for me
Cause I'm wondering how you really feel
Sitting on the window ledge in his new chambers in the teacher’s dorms of Hogwarts, Remus’ mind drifted to where it always did- Avia.
How was she doing?
What was she doing?
Where was she?
I wonder if I will ever see her again, he thought
with a sigh. Through the window, he could
the leaves turning brown, and falling from the trees. The wedding will be here soon, Remus thought sulkily. But will the matron of honor?
*~*
Lily glanced around the cluttered apartment. Emia, James, Lily and Sirius all lived here. Peter was still living with his grandmother, as she could not do many things for herself. Remus lived at the castle. Lily was currently trying to find her textbook so she could practice the Jelly-Legs Curse. “They may seem stupid,” Mad-Eye had said the day before in class, “but these silly curses have saved me in many duels, as few dark wizards think the countercurses are worth it to learn.”
“Now where is that bloody textbook?” Lily cried, getting
very frustrated. She could use one of
the boys’, but their books were so covered in food stains and dirt that they
were downright impossible to read. Convenient
for the guys, Lily thought sulkily, they never do homework anyway.
The boys were gone playing Quidditch, and Emia was doing her homework at a fellow trainee’s apartment, so Lily was all alone. There was nobody else here to tell her where her book might be, and nobody else to answer the doorbell, which had just rung.
“Who could that be?” Lily asked softly, walking to the door.
Looking through the peephole, she gasped. Voldemort was ringing her door? What was the likelihood that the Dark Lord rang doorbells? But then, if he thought she was his most valuable informant, he would undoubtedly be polite.
Thinking quickly, Lily unlocked the door and opened it a crack. “Yes?”
“Have you got any new information for me?” the voice hissed.
“Come in…I’ll tell you everything I know. But it better be quick, before my roommates get back.”
“In and out,” Voldemort hissed obediently.
*~*
“Emia is studying to be a Healer,” Lily continued.
“What of the twin? Where is she?”
“I…don’t know,” Lily said softly.
“Did you break her out?”
Lily was about to nod, before something made her change her mind. She shook her head.
“Of course not,” she continued in a haughty voice. “Your staff is obviously so inept that she escaped on her own. It is probably unwise to keep a werewolf guarded by your usual idiots.”
Lily knew she was taking a chance by insulting his followers, but something told her that Voldemort’s ultimate greed to find Avia would overcome any fondness he felt for the Death Eaters.
As usual, she was right. “Of course,” he hissed.
“They might have her for all you know,” she continued in the haughty tone.
“Yes…horrible followers…”
“Is that all?” Lily asked, trying to finish the seemingly endless meeting.
“Yes…yes…unless there was anything you would like to ask.”
“Actually, yes there is. Is there another follower you have among us?”
“Of course, Dear Lily. Of course. The Dark Lord can not just depend on one informant, now can he?”
*~*
I'm a lonely girl,
I'll tell a tale for you
Cause I'm just tryin' to make all my dreams come true
Avia smiled at Sarah as Sarah rolled out the dough. Avia washed her hands before using Sarah’s dough to form the crust of the pie.
“So how long do you want me to stay here?” Avia asked softly.
“As long as you like, my dear…as long as you like.”
“Do you like my living here?”
“It makes things a lot less lonely, and you are a wonderful help.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, now why don’t you slip that pie into the oven, and I’ll make us some tea.”
*~*
Do you even know what you are?
A rising dream or a fallen star?
Is life good to you or is it bad?
(“Lonely Girl”-Pink)
That night, Avia lay awake in her bed, looking at the ceiling.
She didn’t know how much longer she would be here. It was already late November.
Their wedding was supposed to be in December, she
said thoughtfully. I can’t risk leaving though…I have no reason to.
Soon she heard a thud upstairs.
She jumped out of bed and raced up the stairs, throwing open Sarah’s bedroom door, she found Sarah slumped on the ground, unmoving.
“Oh God!” Avia cried. Running over to her motionless form, Avia bent over and put her fingers on Sarah’s neck.
No heartbeat.
*~*