𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓
murderer's been made

✦

         TICK-TOCK ON the clock, time was running out. The little noise, the little ticks as time moved irked Maia with the reminders that time was running out, that nothing was working, and that everything was about to go horribly wrong and she was going to lose all she cared about soon enough. The calendars turned from winter to spring so easily, as if it didn't have a care in the world, as if it didn't care that soon the world would be ending for Maia and that nothing was ever going to be the same. As if the world was laughing because she was going to become the one thing she didn't want to be, and she would such a golden girl to those who didn't know golden at all.

Time had not been nice to Maia, as her face became more sunken, and she became more isolated. As she had a fight with Calypso because her cousin was worried about her and that broke her heart, because she was dying and withering while Calypso was gleaming and glittering. High above the clouds, she was flying and soaring when the world was trying to break her, and all the while Maia was being beaten into the ground, allowing herself to be walked over.

She was a withering flower. No longer beautiful, no longer cared about, but she didn't want to be cared about. Because when she looked at Calypso, and saw the worry in her eyes, and the little anger when Maia snapped at her, she imagined how that anger would blossom into hatred when she learned that little Maia Amara was not-so perfect at all and instead of being their golden child, she was glittering and golden for those without any gold at all.

And she can imagine the tearful eyes of Nadia, wondering where she went wrong, and if this was all her fault. And she knew that if Remelda was still alive, she would cursing herself for not protecting Maia more from her parentage and their legacy, but she was not alive; she was dead and didn't have to curse herself. It was not Remelda's fault, it was not Nadia's fault, it was Maia's. Hers for existing, hers for living, and hers for not telling them when Alfred and Narcissa first approached her.

But she was so scared, so scared, and she didn't want anything to happen to them. She was a little girl back then, but she thought of herself as more grown more. Grown up too much and grown past the point of return, grown past the point where she could turn around and tell all, asking for protection and forgiveness.

She had made her choice, now she just had to live with it. The legacy of the Carrow family always found a way; and now it was tormenting her, claiming her as one of their own and torturing her. Exploiting her. Using her like a little puppet on strings.

She didn't even want to imagine Leo's reaction, when all was said in done. Her brother – her twin – looking back at the photos of when they were younger, when it was them against the world, and wondering where it all turned. When it went from playing tag in their grandpa's backyard to her being a murderer with a mark of darkness and death on her arm.

"Tonight's the night," Draco muttered into the silence, the void collapsing in on itself as she wiped the tears gathering in her eyes as she thought more of what was exactly going to happen now, "There's no turning back after this."

"You say that as if we can turn back now," Maia replied, though no mirth was found in her tone. Everything was heavy around them. The clock was ticking on and the golden jewels were glittering and mocking them, but the air had an incredible weight which could not be lifted.

Tonight was the night – officially. Tonight was the night that they forever sealed their fates, when that care Calypso had for Maia turned to hatred and everything in her life turned to ruin. They had their plan, and there would be no failure.

They would allow passage into Hogwarts for Death Eaters, and then they would kill Albus Dumbledore, just as Voldemort had told them to. They would be forever labeled Death Eaters, everyone would know their crime, and there would be no turning back. There was no time to reconsider the plan, no more time to waste pondering the what ifs and harboring their guilt.

Now it was time for action, now it was time for her world to crumble completely under the weight of her branded arm and its meaning. Maia Greene was not a golden girl for good, she was not a symbol of the right path, not an ally, she was a broken girl who would tear apart her soul for the protection of her family. She was gone. Amara Carrow – the valiant diamond – truly had taken her spot, and Maia Greene would never stand any more.

Draco looked at her, and he looked just as bad if not worse than her. He looked like he wanted to say something to her, maybe addressing her comment, maybe wanting to comfort her, but instead he just nodded. He looked just as torn up about what was in store as she was, and they found a solace in each other.

"I can take care of Dumbledore if you want to open up the gate and use the Vanishing Cabinet," he told her, as if this would be sparing her.

She wanted to take him up on the offer, to stay behind, to not witness the death of Dumbledore, but that would mean the weight would lay upon him and him alone. But that was not fair – none of this was fair – but she would not allow him to carry this burden alone.

"No," Maia shook her head, "We've gotten this far together, so we'll stay together. I won't let you go through that alone."

He nodded at her again, and he looked a little relieved at her statement, so she tried not to show how much she regretted her decision already. She didn't want to witness another murder, she didn't want to be an accessory to another murder, but she would rather do that again than let him face Dumbledore alone.

They had gone this far together, and they would finish this together.

Draco went to the Vanishing Cabinet, placing in the apple that would be transported to the shop in Diagon Alley, the signal that they were ready, and closed it. They stared at each other, not moving, not going closer to one another, just staring at the other. It was still comforting.

Soon enough, Alfred was transported through. He grinned at them, and Maia could still see the scar on his face, and he laughed though it was not from mirth at all. "You two actually did it...can't believe that," he shook his head, stepping back to allow Bellatrix Lestrange through.

She looked around to where they were, seeing Draco and Maia, and let out her own cackle.

"Look at that! We're here!" she laughed again, knowing what their presence meant exactly for life of one Albus Dumbledore. Maia looked down, squeezing her eyes shut so that they didn't show her oncoming guilt for what would soon occur.

She looked up again at Alfred and Bellatrix, eyes fluttering away from the scar on his face and its meaning, which chilled her to the bone. "Draco and I will go ahead to find Dumbledore," she spoke with no quivering voice, but a strong one.

She had to remain strong because Draco was almost falling, because she was almost falling, and if they both fell there would be failure. And if there was failure, there was death. Theirs, or their family's, and neither could have that happen. And falling right in front of Alfred and Bellatrix...? No, she couldn't fall, couldn't fail, but had to continue. To go forth.

Alfred stared at her, as if peering into her soul, and stalked up towards her until he was encroaching on all of her personal space. He assessed her features suspiciously, leaning in to whisper, "Don't fail us now, valiant diamond." He spit out Demetri's nickname for her like it positively disgusted him, just as it disgusted her, but she didn't mention it. And she didn't say anything of how she feared the man before her, or how her fingers were trembling and she had to hold her hands together so that they wouldn't see.

"Failure was never an option," she whispered back to him, her small voice carrying to the others in the room. Failure meant death, and that was not acceptable to her. She would not fail, she would not be the reason her family was killed; she was their sacrificial lamb, and tonight she would be sacrificed.

Tonight, she was going to do whatever it took to save them. She would not fail now, for she was their valiant diamond, and her family's sacrificial lamb.

Maia looked away from him and to Draco, who looked fearful for her. She stepped aside from Alfred and went to Draco's side, the two of them walking closely as they left the Room of Requirement and the Death Eaters behind them.

Draco caught sight of her trembling hands and took one into his own to calm her. "I know," was all he said, nothing of comfort really, nothing of what was coming ahead, but the mutual understanding of their feelings – the mutual understanding that they both were terrified and that they both had no choice.

There was no turning back – not now, not before, and not after this. They had dug their own graves with this, and now it was time for them to lie in it.

They entered the Astronomy Tower, since Draco had been keeping track of Dumbledore and knew that he was always in there at this hour. They entered quietly, though they heard two voices mingled in the room, both drawing their wands ready to fire at any moment; it was time. Tick-tock on the clock, but time had run out, and now it was here; now was the time. Not in an hour, not tomorrow, but now.

Dumbledore was turned away from them, but slowly he twisted himself to see them. "Good evening, Draco. Maia. What brings you out on such a fine spring evening? Or is it summer?"

Maia's lip quivered, and she felt tears spring into her eyes already. He was so calm, so unalarmed by this, and for a moment she believed that he was at peace with their decision. That he knew, he was aware, and he had made his peace with dying. This was acceptance.

"Who else is here? I heard you talking," Draco asked him, and neither lowered their wands. They couldn't back out now – this was no time for failure.

"I often talk aloud to myself. I find it extraordinarily useful. That which sounds same at a whisper can seem utterly mad when said for all the world to hear. Haven't been whispering to yourself, have you, Draco?" Dumbledore spoke nonsense.

Draco gave him a wary look, and Maia shut her eyes for a moment. Dumbledore took this all into account when he said, "You two are not assassins."

"How do you know what we are? You don't know anything about us!" Maia practically screamed at him, torn already. Dumbledore didn't know her, didn't know her past, her legacy, and now her future. She was born to do this – she was born to kill him, to be a witness to the crime, he didn't know her.

"We've done things that would shock you," Draco added in agreement to her, unable to say anything to comfort her now with Dumbledore's watching eyes.

"Like cursing Katie Bell and hoping she would, in turn, bear a cursed necklace to me? Like replacing a bottle of mead with one laced with poison," Dumbledore brought out their old attempts to assassinate him, "Forgive me, but these are attempts so feeble I cannot help but question if your heart has been really in them. I'm curious. When Voldemort gave you this task, when he asked you two to kill me, was it in a whisper?"

She hated the way he said Voldemort's name, she hated the mention of that bastard's name. She hated what he was making them do, and she hated how Dumbledore was almost mocking them. Mocking what had tormented them for an entire year, what would torment them forever. This was no laughing later.

"We don't have a choice," Maia whispered, her lip quivering more. There was no choice, there was never a choice, but her whisper was drowned out by Draco's yelling.

"He trusts us! We were chosen!" and then he lifted up the sleeve of his left arm to show Dumbledore the cursed brand they both had chained upon their skin.

"Then I shall make it easy for you," Dumbledore raised his wand slowly, not like a man who was about to instantly hex them, but still out of reflex Draco roared: "Expelliarumus!"

The wand flies from Dumbledore's hand, hitting the ground, and all three of them watch it roll. Maia let out a little gasp at the action, because now that he didn't have a wand, Dumbledore couldn't defend himself, and it meant truly they had no defense if they failed. They had to do this now.

"Well done, Draco. But I warn the both of you. Killing is not nearly as easy," he spoke gravely to them, but with an ease that made her feel as though he understood, and he did not harbor any hatred for them and what they had to do. Acceptance.

The sky roared angrily, growing dark, which Dumbledore took notice to. "You two are not alone, are you? There are others. How?"

"There's a Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement," Maia mentioned, because there was no use to lying to a man who was about to be dead.

Dumbledore looked almost surprised by what she had said. "That cabinet has been broken for years."

"We've been mending it."

"Ingenious," he complimented them – he, their victim, was complimenting the people who were sent to kill him, "Let me guess. It has a sister. A twin."

"In Borgin and Burkes. They form –"

"A passage, yes. Very good," Dumbledore complimented them again, "I once know a boy years ago who made all the wrong choices. Let me help you. Both of you."

"You can't help us," Maia shook her head, though a year ago she thought that he could have. If only, when Alfred and Narcissa had first seen her, she had said something. Maybe then, she wouldn't be here, but Draco still would. Even if she wasn't here, this would still be happening. Nothing could have stopped this event from occurring – it was fate.

"I don't want your help!" Draco yelled at him, "Don't you see! I have to do it! I have it!" then, in a whisper, "We've got to kill you or he'll kill us."

The valiant diamond found dead in the Astronomy tower next to a boy with sunken features much like her own...no, that could not happen. She would not allow that to happen.

"Say that again, Draco, but aloud this time," Dumbledore told him, as if saying it louder would do anything but make them seem even more weak.

It was then that darkness began to swarm into the tower. People dressed in black, ready for a killing, formed around them. She saw Demetri, Alfred, Bellatrix, and Fenrir Greyback, along with some others. She shuddered more. It was now – it had to happen now.

"Well now, look what we have here," Bellatrix positively cackled, "Dumbledore. Wandless and alone. Concerned in his own castle. Well done."

Maia and Draco gripped their wands tighter, and Maia clenched her jaw as to not have her lip quiver anymore. Not when they were here, not where they could see.

"Good evening, Bellatrix. I think introductions are in order," Dumbledore said calmly.

"Love to, Albus, but I'm afraid we're on a bit of a tight schedule," then Bellatrix turned to the two of them, whispering a commanding, "Do it."

She didn't want to, she wanted to pull her arm back, but instead she stayed still. Completely and utterly still. She couldn't move, couldn't think, so she stood still inside.

Draco took a step forward, gripping his wand tighter, as if making the first move. But his was so pale, so ghastly, and he couldn't.

"He doesn't have the stomach. Like his father. Let me finish him. In my own way," Greyback said, bearing his tear.

Bellatrix held him back angrily. "No! The Dark Lord was clear. The children are to do it. Go on, now, Maia and Draco. Now!"

Maia looked at Draco, but it was obvious that he could not do it. He was frozen solid, hand trembling too much, arm too stiff, and he could not do it. But she was a valiant diamond, and she would not fail. She had to save them. She had to.

So she moved forward them, stepping front of Draco and forcing his hand with his hand up to the ground. She stood completely in control, no part of her shaking or trembling. She was a valiant diamond in this moment.

Drawing her wand up, she pointed it to Dumbledore, who almost look surprised that she was doing this, and whispered, "Avada Kadavra."

It was not spoken powerfully like the other times she had heard it, but the spell was still produced, and Dumbledore flew out the window behind him. He was dead. Maia had killed him – no, Amara had killed him. Maia died when she produced the spell, because the spell wasn't only directed towards him, but that piece of humanity inside of her named Maia.

She could not be Maia Greene while almost being a murderer, and now the murderer had been made so Maia could not live, and in her place stood Amara.

The sacrifice had been made, she had killed Dumbledore, and now Maia was dead – Dumbledore was dead, and Amara was alive. The valiant diamond was alive, but her soul was torn apart, and now felt as dead as ever in her skin.

The panic rose inside her as she looked at her wand, realizing what she had done – she had killed him. She had killed him, dear God, she had killed him. Dumbledore was dead because of her, Dumbledore was killed by her wand, she had murdered him. She was a murderer. A true murderer. She had done the crime, she had killed him.

She lowered her hand, and soon she felt the cold hand of Demetri on her shoulder. "Well done, my valiant diamond."

✦

Leo was woken up by someone shaking at him viciously, unrelenting until he groaned and pushed at them to stop. He rubbed his eyes to throw away all grogginess he had, peering into the darkness and finding that his eyes had landed onto the sleeping figure of his sister. "Maia?" he asked, even more confused now because Maia couldn't really be here, because Maia was at Hogwarts and she couldn't leave, so she couldn't be here.

She let out a sob and Leo sat up even faster, "What –?"

"I've done something really bad, Leo," she cried, and he moved to hug her but she shoved him away, "You're not gonna like me when you find out."

"What are you talking about?' he asked her, but she didn't answer, "Maia, just talk to me. What's going on?"

She trembled in the darkness, holding her when she didn't permit him to touch her. "I'm so sorry, you have to believe me – I'm sorry. I didn't – I didn't have a chance. Please don't hate me."

"I could never hate you," he told her earnestly. He was so confused about what was happening, if this was real or a dream because Maia couldn't be here, she was at school, so how was she here?

Maia smiled at him. "That's what you say now. But you'll hate me when you find out. I'm sorry. I never meant for you to hate me. But I'll always love you, remember that."

He furrowed his eyebrows, reaching out for her again, but then she was gone. Like a ghost, she had vanished, and he was left alone – confused and with a feeling that something had completely altered in his life again, but even worse this time.