AN HEIR AND A BRIDE

Anne's mind worked faster for a lie, but one look at Narcisa's empty hands had brought her the answer.

Arranged marriages were the nightmares of several pureblood children since they were thirteen or so, when the contracts and conversations began to become more than the talk of their parents and grandparent's past, but their actual futures.

By Narcisa's age, seventeen, she surely was already betrothed and publicly engaged, but she had no engagement ring, which meant she didn't appreciate her parents' chosen husband for her. That and the lie Anne told was the typical search for sympathy that pureblood women would give to a newly engaged or marriage (when there's no prior meeting between the groom and bride) girl in their family.

Wearing red and being younger were weapons; they pulled Narcisa's guards down and she had forgotten not only the green-wearing people could lie and beg for something that was not there.

"He was older than me. We are to be wed when I'm eighteen and he's much, much older than me," she added, watching Narcisa's eyes let the guards down. Anne allowed the image of the most disgusting person around that age to come to her mind; the thought of marrying Alastor Moody making her disgusted enough since she was so terrified of him. "I couldn't do that, so I ran and found Dumbledore. He agreed to help me and... here I am. I just thought my personal life should be kept private," she rolled her eyes. "Of course, you needed to go and make sure to be different from the others."

The Heir of the House of Black glared at Anne, eyebrows raising in surprise by Anne's way of joking around and somehow mock them in a very discreet way.

Narcisa was too deep into the character Anne was putting on to notice what the girl was truly doing, but Regulus could see she had something more behind her.

"How old is he?"

"Almost fifty or something," she said, not specifying at all.

"Oh, I couldn't," Narcisa mumbled.

"His name?" Regulus asked.

"Moody," Anne answered, no hesitation. She looked for a surname to add. "Moody Spergon," she completed.

A changed surname from Moody in Anne of Green Gables, the only books Aunt Petunia would allow her to read in the house. Those old books belonged to Lily, apparently, and Petunia did not care at all for – they were old and smelled bad, but it was enough for Anne to feel like she cared about something as much as her mother cared for those books; the ones that had 'Lily Evans' written in a very bad handwriting in the very corner of the first book only; she had been 9 when she had gotten the book as a birthday present.

She wondered if the Lily she knew now also liked Anne of Green Gables as much as she did.

The sound of footsteps made her look to the end of the corridor, where James Potter was walking by, talking to Hufflepuff girl that was giggling and fluttering her eyelashes to him. James, however, stopped talking and walking when he saw Anne standing near the two pure-bloods.

"Anne?" he called out. "Are you alright?"

She forced a smiled.

"Yes, James, thanks. Just having a pleasant little chat," she answered.

James didn't move even when the Hufflepuff girl tried to call for his attention, he just watched the girl crossing her arms and turn to Narcisa once more, still with a smile on her face.

"Do you need anything?" he asked.

"No, Miss Black and Mister Black were just welcoming me into Hogwarts," she lied quickly and smoothly. "Very polite of them, I say."

"Yes, very polite," James said, clearly interested and suspicious.

"Go on, James, I believe your friends is not finished with the conversation you two were having. I'll see you later," she said.

James hesitated as he glanced at the Hufflepuff girl that was moving beside him, clearly wanting to get away from there. He didn't blame her, she was a muggle-born that was being stared by Regulus Black, who clearly wanting her to disappear from that place by the disgust of his face.

"Do you want to come with us?" James asked.

"I believe our conversation isn't over just yet, Potter," said Regulus quickly.

"I didn't ask you, Black," he quickly answered.

Narcisa sighed.

Anne rolled her eyes. In a few second, they would whip their dicks out and take a measure... men were annoying.

"I'm fine, James. Go on. I'll see you in a bit," she promised.

"I'll save you a seat on the table for dinner," he said.

"You do that," she said, nodding at him.

James looked at the girl beside him and led her away, glancing over his shoulder at the small trio in silence in the middle of the corridor.

Narcisa watched James walking away, arms crossed and eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"You make friends quickly," she commented.

"They're very open," she explained. "I barely did anything and I think I was adopted as a mascot," she joked.

Regulus rolled his eyes.

"If you're friends with James Potter, surely you are friends with Sirius Black," he said, clearly disgusted by it.

"No, actually, I'm not. I don't think he really enjoys my company very much," she explained. "Seems to always be having a mental conversation with the others about me with looks, thinking he's discreet. I'm only friends with James and, maybe, Remus."

Narcisa nodded. She knew very well that her cousin was a lot of things, but discreet was never a word used to describe him. Obnoxious, perhaps, was better.

"At least we have something in common, then," Regulus said.

In any other situation, Anne would have laughed and made another joke about Sirius not wanting her around, but there was clear bitterness behind the blank expression in Regulus' eyes and she wondered if he was upset that Sirius had run away.

During her first life, Sirius made it look like Regulus had been excited and happy that Sirius was gone and he could step up to be the Heir, but now she was looking at the young boy and seeing nothing but tiredness and hurt while he mentioned that his brother didn't like him. She wondered then if Regulus had loved his brother more than his brother had loved him and he just didn't know how to show it.

There was a moment that her mind tried to put herself in Regulus' place and Harry in Sirius'. Her heart clenched and she looked down at her shoes, trying to ignore the nausea the thought hit her with. No. Harry wouldn't leave her behind like that; he would drag her with him even if she didn't want, he'd make sure she was safe after all the screaming and kicking. While that, Sirius just left Regulus without a second thought, as impulsive as he always was. She touched the bracelet he gave her hidden under the sleeves as a comfort.

The memory of Harry's body and the thought that she would never be his sister again made her heart skip a beat. The memory brought back the noises of battle, the smell of burning flesh and she screams – oh, the screams...

"Miss Sage?" Narcisa quickly said. "Are you feeling unwell? You look dreadfully pale."

Regulus watched Anne as she swayed, standing and moving back and forth slowly. She was trying to keep standing, but her eyes were fluttering shut.

"Sage?" Regulus called.

"Regulus, hold her!" Narcisa exclaimed right in the moment Anne's knees stopped working.

Anne fell forward, only not hitting her head on the wall because Regulus had been quick to hold her and slowly put her to the ground, laying her on her back.

She was death-like pale, lips without colour and her limbs trembled as she stared ahead, eyes not responding when Regulus leaned into her front and tried to call for her attention. Anne just lied there and didn't move besides the trembling for a whole minute, eyes fluttering shut and then slowly coming back to herself.

"Sage?" Narcisa called, also on her knees beside her on the ground.

Anne blinked.

Her head was hurting now and her ears were ringing enough for her to take a deep breath to try and hear better.

"Sage?" Regulus called.

The male voice made her look around, unable to remember who would be the man beside her, since that voice was not Harry's or Remus' adult's voice, not even Sirius' adult voice. No, that was... not as familiar.

"What happened?" she asked once she realized she was on the ground.

"You fainted," Narcisa answered, making Anne look at her. "Are you feeling unwell? Do you think you can get up?"

Anne looked around, pulling her skirt down just a bit when she noticed how much of her legs were showing, however, she felt a bit better when she saw that Regulus didn't look away from her face as he read her.

"I think so," she agreed.

Regulus was quick to put her arm around his shoulders and slowly sit her down and then pull her up. He didn't seem to mind when she leaned against him as she tried to take a breath and make sure she wouldn't pass out once more.

"We'll take you to the Hospital Wing," Narcisa announced.

"No, no. I'm fine," Anne dismissed. "It's just... bad memories. It happens sometimes. It makes my blood pressure drop a bit. I ended up skipping lunch and --"

"A bit? You looked like Death, woman!" Regulus said, cutting her off and slowly letting her go.

She took a step back away from him.

"I'm fine," she promised. "It's gone now. It passed."

"It happened before?" Narcisa asked.

"Yes," Anne simply said.

It did happen before, on the parlour of Malfoy Manor in the moment Greyback ripped her jeans in half and laughed at her childish knickers, completely forgetting she was a child for a second; once he remembered, then he was even happier. He didn't touch her because Draco Malfoy insisted that she needed to be dragged to the dungeons with the rest – either he wished to have saved her or not, she certainly was grateful to him. She passed out in his arms as soon as Greyback walked out of the room. She woke up in the dungeons with Harry freaking out and Ron trying to break out while Hermione screamed her lungs out, being under the same torture Anne had already gone through.

It also happened when she would spend too long without food. Apparently starving for several months during the summers and years before Hogwarts wasn't enough to make her body get used to not having a lot of food. Hermione had said that maybe she had a very fast metabolism and had even given a name to an illness; Anne couldn't remember what was called and she surely didn't ask Aunt Petunia, after all she had not been brought to a doctor unless for life-or-death situations.

Narcisa didn't press on it, neither did Regulus.

Regulus looked around.

"It's getting late, we should go to the Great Hall," he said.

"What time is it?" Narcisa asked.

"Supper time," Regulus said as if it was obvious.

Narcisa glared at him, but that made him smile a bit.

"Let's go," Narcisa said, watching Anne walking as if she was scared that she would pass out once more. "I'm hungry."

Anne walked a few steps in front of Narcisa and Regulus as the cousins talked amongst themselves. The girl was mostly focused on how to make sure her wobbly knees were walking in the right way.

She stopped, unable to keep walking and leaned against the wall. Narcisa stopped too, turning to her.

"Sage?" she called out.

"Go on," she said, trying to take a deep breath. "I'll be there in a second."

Narcisa hesitated, clearly wanting to wait with her until she was ready to go to dinner in the Great Hall, but Regulus didn't seem too worried. He just watched her for a moment and then nodded, understanding that she wanted to be alone.

"Come on," Regulus said to Narcisa.

"But she –"

"Come on," Regulus insisted.

Narcisa nodded and started walking with Regulus towards the Great Hall, though she looked back to make sure Anne was alright.

As soon as she was alone, Anne sat down on the ground.

Still shaking, she brought her knees to her chest and took a deep breath. She knew she had to stop thinking about her past and start dealing with the future – she had to find the Horcruxes that Voldemort had already created and she needed to destroy them before things got too bad. Besides, she needed to make sure James and Lily would get together so Harry could be born in 1980; she owed Harry that much, a happy childhood.

It was 1976, there wasn't much she could do while she was still in school, but she had given Dumbledore all information she could and made sure to let him know that she would have opinions on his decisions. Soon enough, the Order of the Phoenix would be more important inside the war and then she would be guided inside, according to Dumbledore. In there, she'd have more power. She just had to hold on until summer, because for now the Orders consisted on Dumbledore himself and a few alumni.

Slowly, calming down and gathering her thoughts, she got up from the ground and sighed. She turned the little silver bracelet on her wrist again, putting it back inside the sleeve.

Footsteps made her look up from the ground as she was still leaning against the wall.

James Potter had wide eyes fixed on her, wand in hand and quick steps towards her. She froze when she saw his flared nose and trembling limbs. He was angry with her by the way he was marching towards her.

And he had the Marauders Map on his left hand.

"James?" she mumbled.

"Anne Sage my arse!" he exclaimed loudly. "Who the fuck are you to me, Anne Potter?"

Anne just couldn't move, and she couldn't talk.

Her finally calming heart went back to thumping against her ribcage, breath escaping her lungs. She tried to speak, but her mouth and throat were dry. How could she explain anything to him? How could he ever forgive her for lying to him? She couldn't lose her father once more, especially not like that.

"Mister Potter, I believe you met, finally, Miss Potter," said a voice. Dumbledore was walking from the corner of the corridor. "Why don't we take this conversation to my office?"