1 November 1981

It was during stressful times that Celeste Rhodes would make tea to calm down.

This was something she found was most useful during her studying days at Hogwarts when no other remedies seemed to work. It had been a lifesaver, especially during the nights she stayed up late to prepare for exams.

But tonight was different, as she was almost done with her third cup of tea, and she remained anxious.

"Celeste?" Ember Cresswell softly spoke up from across the table. "Do you need some more tea?"

"I don't think any more tea is going to help, Em," Celeste replied, shaking her head. "We can't unsee what just happened tonight, and we surely can't change it, either." She was having a hard time getting the images of the curse going off, along with the sound of the Muggles screaming before they perished.

"Yes, it's heartbreaking," Ember stated.

Celeste leaned back in her chair, a lump forming in her throat. "None of it should've happened. How could any of us let it happen?"

"Look, none of us knew things would escalate like this," Ember said.

"But we should've been more careful, especially Cordelia."

"You're right about that." There was a pause, followed by a sigh. "Still, she knew the risks, and so did Peter."

Guilt began to rise inside Celeste when she stood up from the table and headed towards the sink. It took every fiber of her being to not vomit right then and there. The last thing she wanted was for things to go down like they did, for their friends, James and Lily, to be murdered, to be taken away from their only child. Then, with Sirius getting involved, it only made things a lot worse. Grief and anger were not to be mixed, and tonight was living proof of that.

"We all knew the risks when we joined the Order," Celeste mumbled.

After a moment of not saying anything else, the silence was broken by the sound of the back door opening up. Celeste and Ember were greeted with an exhausted Philibert Turner and Dianne Longbottom as they shuffled in the kitchen.

"What happened?" Ember questioned with much concern in her voice.

Philibert sucked in a breath as he sat down, his hands trembling. "He...he was..."

"The Ministry arrested him," Dianne answered when Philibert couldn't get the words out due to his shaken up state. "They took him in immediately."

"And what about Lia? Was she there?" Celeste asked.

Dianne shook her head, sitting next to Philibert. "No. She must've ran off before anyone else saw her."

Celeste began to fix two mugs of tea for her friends. "What was left of Peter?"

"Not much," Dianne said. "Just a finger."

Celeste's stomach began to turn. "Merlin, do any of you really think that Sirius would--"

"No," Philibert cut her off, shaking his head in disbelief. "No, there's no way he would've done this."

"Philibert, we all saw the state he was in tonight," Ember spoke up. "And the way Peter was yelling about how he betrayed the Potters--"

"Then there was the explosion," Dianne added. "Those poor Muggles, all twelve of them."

When Celeste was bringing her friends their mugs of tea, she could hear Philibert mumbling in French. She reclaimed her seat, the tension around the table only increasing. The four were left with one question:

"So, what do we do now?" Ember asked.

Before anyone could speak up, the back door opened up once more, to which everyone was surprised to see their fifth friend standing there.

"Lia," Celeste said. "What are you--"

"Does anyone else know you all are here?" Cordelia Malfoy quickly inquired, almost as if she was in a panic.

Confused, the others looked at each other and shook their heads.

"No. I don't even think the neighbors saw us. We all came through the back door," Ember responded.

"What's going on?" Celeste asked.

Cordelia took a deep breath. "I just spoke with Dumbledore, and I told him everything."

"What do you mean by, 'everything?'" Philibert spoke up, raising his eyebrows.

"About Peter and I, about what Peter wanted to do before..." she trailed off, her breath becoming shaky. "Before Sirius did what he did."

Her reply was enough to send Philibert over the edge as he shot up from his seat. "You really can't believe that Sirius would do that to James and Lily or those Muggles."

"Philibert, we were all there," Cordelia protested. "I know Sirius meant a lot to you, but we have to admit that this war has changed a lot of people, including us."

"This isn't something Sirius would do!" Philibert's voice got louder. "He would never..." When he realized how worked up he was getting, he began to take deep breaths before things got more escalated.

Celeste placed her hand on top of his. "Calme-toi."

Philibert glanced over at Celeste's calm expression, to which he gripped her hand for a brief moment before looking back at Cordelia. "What did Dumbledore have to say about all of it?"

Cordelia opened her mouth to speak, though it took a few seconds for the words to come out. "He told me since we all knew Sirius it meant we had to be more careful, especially since we were all there and luckily, no one from the Ministry saw us." She paused, and just by the sadness on her face, it was obvious that what she was about to say next was something no one wanted to hear. "Which is why I think we all should go our separate ways and into hiding."

The four gave Cordelia a stupefied expression.

"What, and cut off all contact with each other?" Dianne spoke up, followed by a scoff. "You're mad, Lia."

"Maybe I'm not. I mean, has anyone heard from Remus recently?" Cordelia pointed out. When no one answered, she kept going. "It's not ideal, I know, but if anyone finds out we were there--"

"--the Ministry would surely question us," Dianne finished. "They may even think we were a part of the murders."

"Exactly. I think it's time we start thinking about ourselves and our safety."

It was something Celeste never thought would happen. She wanted to think it was cowardly, that running away was everyone's easy way out. Then again, maybe it was the only way to ensure they were all safe, and if that meant parting ways, then that was what they had to do. Maybe it would be for the best in the end.

"So the Runaways are actually going to live up to their name. I mean, that is what we're doing, right? Running away?" Philibert broke the silence almost in a bitter tone.

"It sounds like it when you put it that way," Cordelia said. "But unless we want the Ministry on our arse about this whole thing--"

"Yes, we get it, Lia," Ember spoke up. "It's for the best."

Celeste and Dianne looked at each other, and reluctantly agreed with the others.

None of them wanted to have their last words to each other be some kind of goodbye. So, one by one, Celeste's friends left her house without saying another word, leaving her alone at the table with an aching feeling in her chest.

She really hoped this wouldn't be the last time she'd see her best friends. She didn't know if her heart could take it. Once she heard the last crack of her friends Disapparating from outside, Celeste finally stood up from her seat and started to clean up the kitchen, thinking of where she would go. As she was cleaning the mugs, she noticed one of them had the Eiffel Tower painted on the front, to which she gave herself a minute to admire the tower, as well as reminisce about the short time she spent in France as a child, even if she hardly remembered it.

France, she thought. That sounds lovely.

~~~~~~~

A/N: TRANSLATION:

Calme-toi = Calm down.

Well, here is the prologue! What did y'all think? What did y'all think about the characters? Another shoutout to my besties for the characters because I love them so much already!

Comment, vote, more to come soon!

-A