XIX —— prelude to tragedy

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        IT'S THE FIRST SATURDAY of December when Fianna sneaks out from Hogsmeade to visit her big brother in London.

She knows, she knows — she really should've learned her lesson when she snuck out last time, and ended up on bedrest for a week. But, Fianna thinks that's one of the reasons why she was put into Gryffindor and not Slytherin: her stubbornness always prevails. Plus, Hope had given Remus Fee's advent calendar, to give to her, so she simply had to visit him.

Annoyingly, though, he's got to run an errand of some description before they can go for lunch (and she can exploit his wallet). She gives him a funny look when he says this, nervously saying she doesn't want to go anywhere near an Order meeting, but he tells her it isn't one...

... Which, of course, was a big fat lie.

Fianna glares at Remus, as they step into The Leaky Cauldron, the surprise location of his so-called errand. An errand, in Fianna's eyes, is picking up your favourite mascara when you run out, or sending your post via owl, or buying new ink for your quill. An errand is not an hour-long meeting.

"You're joking," she says.

"You can stay here, if you want," says Remus.

She looks around. Peter's behind the bar, visibly hungover and nursing a pint of beer. In the corner, there's two old, scary-looking men with glasses of Firewhiskey. Fianna catches their gaze, and he jolts, to scare her. She jumps.

"I can go upstairs," Fianna says hurriedly.

Remus walks over to Peter. "How're you feeling?"

"Padfoot promised he'd drop off a bacon bap for me on his way up," says Peter. "So I'm terrible right now, but the sweet, sweet taste of fried pig will sort me out." Then, he notices Fianna. "No. I'm not serving you today."

Fianna groans. "But that could've been the only thing to help me get through this—"

Remus gives her a panicked look, and Fianna realises there are two random people in the pub, who could let the Death Eaters know about their whereabouts. Fianna's eyes widen; thinking on her feet, she makes up a lie, in case the strangers nearby are listening.

"No offence — I just don't know if the function room here is right for the Christmas party," she says. Peter and Remus stare at her, confused. She gives them looks, as if to say, can you not see what I'm doing? "But I guess if we check it, we can tell Dad it's not right."

Remus finally seems to cotton on to what she's doing. He says, "Well... I think this would be great for a party," but Fianna cringes at how obviously fake he's being. He must've realised it too, because he quickly says, in his normal voice, "Let's just get this over with."

Peter motions towards the stairs, and they make their way up.

Before they step inside, Remus turns to his little sister, a frown on his face. She thinks, oh, here we go.

"You've gotten good at lying," he says.

"We're in the middle of a war," she says, uncomfortable.

The meeting itself is boring; Fianna has to swear she won't tell anyone where she's been, when Prewett's older sister Molly remembers who Fianna's dating. She slumps into a chair in the corner, only perking up when Sirius arrives, slipping her a lemon muffin before he sits down next to James.

Afterwards, Fianna makes her way to the two of them.

"I didn't get to say thank you earlier," she tells Sirius. "So... thanks for the muffin."

"No big deal," Sirius says with a wave of his hand. "Wanna know something cheesy?"

"What?" she says.

"Lemon muffins used to be Regulus' favourite," says Sirius.

Fianna groans. "Of course."

"I mean, I could be remembering incorrectly and his were actually something else, like blueberry or... rat droppings," says Sirius. "Something a Death Eater would like, y'know?"

"Damn," says James. "Reggie's catching strays."

Fianna snorts. "He seems like he'd like lemon."

"Yeah, because he's so sour," says Sirius.

"You're not normally this mean about him," says Fianna.

"Yeah, but I haven't seen you since that little prick got you Splinched," says Sirius. "And said that shit about Moony — Georgia told Prongs," he adds, when Fianna opens her mouth to ask how he knew about that. "Why you haven't broken up, I don't know..."

Fianna frowns. "He apologised to Remus."

"Yeah, Padfoot, you know that," says James.

Sirius cocks his head to the side, like a confused dog. "Since when?"

"I think you might've been drunk when he said..."

"Ah... OK, well, I take back that part," says Sirius. "I still don't approve."

Fianna gives a fake smile. "I don't think I asked."

James starts laughing, just as Remus reappears. He's shaking his head, and says, "Man... Moody's just been saying that he's going caving over Christmas."

Sirius scoffs. "Aye, I hope so too."

"You're thinking about dogging, mate," James says.

There's a pause, the three boys realising they've fucked up. Fianna pretends she doesn't know why they're panicking — that she doesn't know that Sirius and Remus are, most likely, going out... Although the thought of her brother having sex with anyone makes her feel sick.

"What's caving, then?" Sirius says back.

"Going into caves..." Fianna says, raising an eyebrow.

Sirius puts his hands up, defensive. "Right. Caving could very well be a term for something similar to dogging — and I have ideas, believe me, but I'm not going to disclose them in front of you, Fianna."

"Woah," says James. "Not the full name."

Remus groans. "I just thought it was weird that Moody's spending his Christmas looking at different caves in New Zealand, but you—" he points to Sirius, "—had to make it sexual."

Sirius blows Remus a kiss, trying to brush it off as a joke. Remus looks annoyed, whilst James shakes his head, but Fianna's mind is still on the realisation that Moody likes caves.

"Does that mean... Moody's gone to, like, caves in the UK?"

Remus shrugs. "Probably. Why?"

Fianna mumbles an excuse, before she darts across the room, just catching Mad-Eye Moody before he leaves. Maybe he can help with the cave problem, if he's got a better idea of caves than Crouch — maybe her and Regulus' problem is solved. If they know where the Horcrux is, that's halfway towards destroying it, right?

Mad-Eye Moody looks down at her. He's got a fake eye, strapped to his face with a dirty leather strap. His top lip is constantly curled, and he stinks of cigars. Fianna gulps.

"Hi," she says to him.

"You're Lupin's sister," he says.

"That's me," she says.

"The one going out with a Death Eater," he says.

Fianna looks around awkwardly. "... Allegedly."

Moody snorts. "Move out of my way—"

"I just needed to ask you for a recommendation!" says Fianna.

He raises his eyebrow, the one above the OK eye. She continues:

"I really want to get into caving, and my brother said you're going on a trip for it, over Christmas?" she says. "I was wondering... if there's any ones in the UK you know about, that I should avoid?"

"Recommendations for places to avoid?" says Moody.

"Yeah..." Fianna realises how stupid that sounds. "I just... figured with you being an Auror and all, you'd have a good idea of any dangerous ones I should steer clear of."

Moody considers it for a moment, and then nods.

"That makes perfect sense," he says. "Of course, any caver knows the fundamentals — check the weather beforehand, or any recent earth movements in the area." Fianna nods, pretending she knows this. "There's three in the UK I wouldn't recommend. One called Dracula's cave, in Devon, because vampires live there."

"Makes sense," she says.

"But they can be easily sorted with a Stunning spell, should you run into them," he says, waving his hand like that's a common occurrence. Maybe for him it is, she thinks. But, quickly she realises that if Moody doesn't see the vampires as that threatening, Voldemort would think the same.

"Next, there's one just outside Bakewell — no vampires, but a nasty poltergeist..."

Also not Horcrux-worthy, Fianna thinks.

"Then, the worst one — there's one not far off Loch Ness, that's known to muggles as an entrance to hell. No one's left it alive... But, there's rumours that Inferi live in the lake inside."

Fianna's eyes light up. "A lake... in the cave?"

That's what was in Kreacher's drawings, she thinks.

"Apparently," says Moody. He must've noticed her inspired expression, because he adds, "No one's left it alive, so don't get any bright ideas."

"Oh, Inferi sound super-scary, I won't go there," says Fianna. "Thanks!"

Moody gives her a funny look, but trudges out of the room, a lit cigar already hanging between his lips. She finds her way back to her brother and his friends, her spirits high.

"I've never seen someone that happy after speaking to Moody," says James.

"I've just realised," Fianna tells Remus. "I have loads of homework to do. Do you think we could get lunch quickly, then I can go back to school?"

Remus looks confused, but he gives up, and shrugs. "Sure," he says. He turns to his friends, and says, "I'll see you later."

The two boys mumble goodbyes to him, as Fianna hurriedly walks out of the room.

Their whole lunch, Fianna's antsy to get back to school as quickly as possible. She chomps through her tuna melt as such a speed that she almost burns her tongue; which doesn't make much difference, really, because she ends up having to watch Remus make his normal amble through eating his sandwich. Finally, he finishes, and Fianna gives it the polite ten minutes, before she tells him she has to go.

She takes her advent calendar, and a lemon muffin she bought, and Apparates back to Hogsmeade. Without a care about people seeing her reappear so openly, she briskly marches back up the winding road towards school, in search for Regulus.

The Marauder's Map tells her that he's in the dungeons, so she makes her way there, the gargoyles letting her through. She quickly checks the common room for him, but he isn't there; so, she walks straight ahead for his dorm room.

Fianna knocks on the door. After two knocks, it opens.

Regulus stares back at her.

"Why are you here?" he says.

"Are you alone?" she says.

Regulus frowns. "Yeah, why—?"

Fianna lets herself in.

Confused, Regulus closes the door behind her, after grabbing a nearby sock and hanging it on the doorknob. Fianna watches him do so, and she frowns.

"Um" says Fianna.

"I didn't think you were here for that," he says. "Just figured it'll keep Crouch out."

"Ah," she says, nodding. "OK... so my brother made me go to an Order meeting earlier, and afterwards, I was talking to Mad-Eye Moody, who likes caves..."

She wiggles her eyebrows and shakes her hands. Regulus seems to get what she means, though, because he steps closer to her, relief washing over his face.

"You know where the Horcrux is?" he says.

"I know where the Horcrux is," she says with a nod.

Regulus smiles weakly, then he turns away, running his fingers through his hair. "I guess that means, the easy part is out of the way," he says.

Fianna nods. "We can go and destroy it once we're ready. We're almost there, Reg—"

"I'm still miles off, though," he says wearily. "I don't even know how to destroy a Horcrux..."

She frowns. "Well... we can figure that out."

"Yeah," he says. "We."

Fianna gives him a funny look, but decides to move past it. It will be a 'we,' whether he likes it or not, she thinks, as she sits down on his bed.

Regulus scoffs. "Make yourself comfortable...?"

She rolls her eyes. "I will," she says. "Are you still eating those mint leaves?"

"Yeah, why?" he says, sitting next to her.

She rests her chin on his shoulder. "Just wondered if I was at threat of finding one in my mouth if we kissed—"

He starts to laugh. "You're using me for my body, Lupin?"

"Just your mouth," she says, and then she cringes. She sits upright, whilst he covers his mouth, laughing more. "I didn't mean it like that—"

"I mean, I'm more than happy if you wanted me to—"

"Not right now!" she says, nudging his arm. Her cheeks have gone bright red.

"I know, not right now," he says. "And, anyway, I've been meaning to tell you, there's a reason I've been using the mint leaves. I've been using them to cover up the potion I've been taking."

Fianna frowns. "Which is...?"

"I'm trying to become an Animagus," he says.

"Copycat," she says.

Regulus rolls her eyes. "Well, you put the thought in my mind," he says. "I'm just thinking... if any of this goes sour, you've got a perfect way to escape undetected. I feel like it would be good for me, to have that too."

Fianna feels guilty for the copycat comment.

"You know, Romeo and Juliet said the same thing about running away," she says weakly. "And then they died."

"You're not going to die," he says.

"Then why do I feel like I am?" she says, her voice cracking.

Regulus shakes his head. "I won't let that happen to you."

"Because you're God now," she says with a scoff.

He pulls her into an embrace; her arms snake around his neck, their faces comfortably nestled against the other's shoulder. She feels him trace his finger along her back, and her heart melts, wishing she could stay like this forever.

But they can't — and they never will be able to.

Fianna remembers when her parents took her to see Romeo and Juliet at The Globe in London when she was little. Her beady, six-year-old eyes stared up at the dead Romeo and Juliet on stage, and she looked at them in horror, thinking how silly they were being for getting themselves into that mess. They could've survived, Juliet was stirring when Romeo stabbed himself!

And yet they both died.

And, as much as it terrifies Fianna, she wonders if she's walking into the same mess, too.

slightly shorter than usual but i hope you enjoyed!!