𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗜𝗜𝗜 ━━ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗛 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘
106. dusk to dawn on frontlines 

( song for the chapter:
which witch — florence & the machine )

MAY, 1980

          𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗘𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗦𝗠𝗢𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚. She lit up a cigarette as she waited for Voldemort and the other Death Eaters' arrival. It is a miracle that Voldemort did not figure out a traitor lies amongst them after so much of the information had leaked. He must have really low expectations from these people if he believes they failed so many times due to sheer bad luck.

      She was thinking about Evan. A part of her thought this would get better, that she would muster the strength to just forget about it all because she had better family, better friends. But those friends disliked her before, that was the hard truth. Those friends were not there during her sleepless nights — granted, she did not seek assistance from them, but it was Evan who held her hand, muttering assuring words to her. Always defended her, always liked her, no matter what or who she was.

      Scarlet Bridget could never get over Evan Rosier's betrayal.

      When Riddle entered, she continued to smoke. A billow of smoke leaving her crimson lips and hanging in the air in a foggy manner. The Dark Lord regarded her with a chill distaste, not fond of cigarette smells despite being brought up in Muggle areas. To this day, she never really knew how to greet him. Surely, and this is a known-fact to Riddle and everybody else, Scarlet Bridget does not kneel, so what else was she supposed to do? Say good evening?

"Do you never wonder..." it seems like Riddle is keen on cutting through the silence, "of my past. Of all connections I share with your family?"

"It is none of my business," Scarlet may have been the only person alive in England to truly not poke her nose in others. Well, she did sneak about Tom Riddle's history but that does not count. "Does Rodolphus not try to figure out the answer?" She asked, "He manages to keep an eye out for everything. Always on the sharpest edge."

"He does not do anything I don't ask him to." It must fill him up with pride knowing he has such honourable, no-doubt powerful men in the palms of his hands.

"He is your right-hand man after all." The girl said, exhaling another huff of smoke.

"And yet you sit on my right." Mused the dark lord.

      Truthfully, it had not been intentional. She just came in and sat on the closest seat she could find so she could start smoking. Often, she would come along inside and find Rodolphus, Bellatrix and Lucius arguing over the seats near Voldemort. It was fucking ridiculous.

"I hope..." Voldemort creepily said, "you found out interesting matters when you investigated my history without my permission."

      Shit, shit, you fool, Scarlet, shit. You're fuckin' dead.

"My lord—" She was cut off, and her mind was rotting and cursing itself for not being more considerate of her dead ends. How could he possibly know about this?

"It is no worries, Scarlet, don't you concern yourself," he said in an assuring manner. Scarlet hated that tone. "As long as you show me."

"Show you?" There was no turning back, and as he drew his wand, she did not even bother to take out hers.

"What you learnt. After all, too much information for one young girl is never well."

      It would have hurt less if Scarlet wouldn't have been a good Occlumens. Voldemort went straight into her head, tearing his way through, trying to find information about his stupid past. there was nothing astonishingly special about his story anyway, Scarlet lacked ideas about what truly he was trying to gain from tormenting her into showing him her memories — which of course, she was never going to give into.

      Sparse and cold, Scarlet felt her hands clutching onto her chair, avoiding a throat-tearing scream to tear through her thorax. Her chin was covered in dried blood from when he first dug into the flesh of her mind. 

"It would hurt less if you stop resisting," he seethed, annoyance and anger evident in his irises as he keeps his eyes trained on her, "you're lucky given who you are, or else, I would kill you right here — maybe in front of everybody else, make an example out of you."

"Example?" She arched a brow, that Bridget arrogance showing.

"To show that even the most powerful is no match to the Dark Lord."

Scarlet tried not to cringe every time he referred to himself as almighty, and she put on her innocent face, "I am only loyal to you, my lord, which is why I will tell you you need to demonstrate your status to them."

Riddle squinted his bloodshot red eyes, "Elaborate."

"All of your trusted men know of your real name, they know of your family and other matters because they love to talk at pureblood events," Scarlet shared, hoping to regain his trust, earn herself some sort of power so he would leave her alone, "illustrate to them that even for a man with that past, you supressed them in terms of influence. In terms of power."

He looked as though he understood, as though a light bulb appeared in his head and he found the way she talked amusing. 

      Just when she weighted out her pros and cons about showing Voldemort her memories and learnings — only because the story does not bring much effects and there is no harm in him knowing of her knowledge, especially due to an innocent giant black dog next to her when she spoke to that old man from Voldemort's village — she was interrupted. 

      The door snapped open and Voldemort took his hands off her temples, and a numbing ache prickled through Scarlet's mind from his invasion. Lucius Malfoy stood at the door, dumbfounded, glancing between a raging Riddle and Scarlet's chin covered in blood, forehead shining from sweat.

"My lord," Lucius blurted out, eyes still lingered between the two of them. A foggy look took over his grey ones once his eyes laid upon the blood tickling down her face, "No."

"Take a seat, Lucius." Riddle stated with no interest. He treated his previous conversation with Scarlet as though it did not take place.

"Scarlet, get out of here." Lucius ordered, storming in.

"Lucius, are you on any weird potions?" Scarlet rolled her eyes, she pushed the end of her cigarette against Lucius' expensive, mahogany table out of pure cousin-like spite and pettiness and watched the flame burn out. "Sit down."

      Lucius stormed in rather furiously, grabbed a hold onto Scarlet's arm and made her stand up. He shot her a deadly glare, shoving her behind him.

"She's family, my lord." Said Lucius and received a deadly glare from the dark lord. "I know she can be a hasty, nosy cockroach but she's like my sister. She is my sister."

"He knows that, doofus." Scarlet hissed in a whisper to Lucius. He paid no mind or attention towards her and his eyes trained on Voldemort's amused expression. Scarlet was increasingly afraid that evening, by the look on the dark lord's face... he was not happy about the protest or whatever-so Lucius was up to.

"I can't allow you," Malfoy shook his head, "she's family." He said the words as though it should ring an alarming bell in Voldemort's mind and yet he showed no indication.

      Voldemort turned slowly to Scarlet, and gestured towards the door, Lucius let out a sigh of relief. Before she made her way out of the door, she turned around to see Lucius anxiously leaning on the back of the chair, hands clutching it tightly.

"When I requested for you to keep my family safe, that included Scarlet," Lucius spoke bravely. Scarlet raised a brow in shock, his cousin has always been a paranoid git with only power and influence; he was never courageous. "She's family, my lord. I can't—I want her to be safe, from the war, from you—"

      Scarlet cringed then, and Riddle kept staring at Lucius with a rigid, neutral expression. Lucius, just shut up and get out of there.

"She is safe, Lucius," Riddle drawls. "She is the safest girl in the country as of now. You mustn't worry about Scarlet, she will be safe."

After a small pause, Lucius spoke again, "I was hoping... I would be able to stay out of the next few missions—just to take care of my child and Narcissa. I will re-join the forces in a few months' time."

      Riddle looked hesitant. Lucius had been one of his most trusted soldiers and he helped a lot given his reputable position at Ministry. After all, nobody wants to rely on Rodolphus Lestrange of all people, not even the dark lord himself.

"Very well," Voldemort spoke much to Scarlet's surprise, "an heir to the Malfoy Line is rather important, I agree. I suppose you will not be joining our mission by Diagon Alley"

"No, my lord, I apologise but Narcissa is not feeling very well—"

      Lucius' pretentious voice faded away, and a ringing echo split Scarlet's mind. Diagon Alley, Diagon Alley. They had not discussed the mission at a meeting — it must be destructible. Sudden. To catch these innocent citizens by surprise and leave them bleeding on the ground. 

      Scarlet's feet dragged her away, and she was sending Patronus left and right to Dumbledore and her friends. Her friends. Sirius. Sirius was there, for the love of Salazar, Sirius and James were there.

      THANKFULLY, WHEN SCARLET ARRIVED AT DIAGON ALLEY, there was a lot of Aurors surrounding the area, that of course, along with many Death Eaters coursing through dark shadows, dense and captivating. Anti-Apparition wards were all around the area, and when Scarlet failed to Apparate, she decided to turn into her Animagus to fly to this place, and reform back to her body a few meters away from the alley.

      Her heeled shoes glided around the ground, pushing past the array of colours of hexes and spells, and screaming and fighting of all attackers and fighters. Right around the corner, a little child was on the ground, his back against the wall as he cried. He could not have been more than three.

      Get out of here, Scarlet. You need to find Sirius and James.

      But there was a child in harm's way and Scarlet could not help herself. Her feet dragged her forward. The child was wrapped around in a white scarf, and she picked the crying boy up in her arms and shielded him from the blazing green light circling around. The white blanket was loosely hung around her face so she would be unrecognisable.

      Once she was out of sight, into another alleyway, a woman tugged at her with a loud cry. Scarlet flinched, wrapping her hand around the boy more carefully and pointing her wand.

"Oh, my boy, you saved my boy," the woman cried loudly, taking her kid away from Scarlet's gloved hands. The woman then held Scarlet's hand and thanked her repeatedly, touched her arm and her finger unknowingly grazed the concealed death mark on her forearm. Scarlet felt ashamed.

      "Thank Merlin," the woman said, "Merlin bless you, kid, if you ever need anything—"

"Can I take the scarf?" Scarlet asked suddenly, already taking her up on the offer, "It's a strange ask but I need it, please."

"Of course, anything, love, anything," she hastily unwrapped her son from the bright white scarf and handed it to Scarlet who wrapped it around her head, and mouth. "Thank you, thank you, sweetheart. Bless you!" The woman yelled out the last part because Scarlet was running away, going through the crowd.

"Get out of the way, get out of my way!" Scarlet hit everybody's shoulders along the way, and her loud voice caused the attention of people to divert. When they laid their eyes on her, it was easier to pass because some Aurors who recognised her made way for her. Sometimes, her last name played a major benefit.

      When she had gotten into the inner circle, Death Eaters were surrounding the area and throwing curses left and right. Scarlet wrapped the scarf around her head more tightly, covering her mouth and moving to James and Sirius who duelled on the other end.

"Get lost, kid!" One of the Aurors yelled at Sirius, and Scarlet pushed past the Auror and got to the two boys. Her wand clutched in her hand, she continued to help them fight. 

Red, green, blue shot around, multitude of colours lighting up the place.

A crimson, blazing light was shot at Sirius, and Scarlet got in the way. It shot right through her chest like a dagger.

"Jesus—Blondie, what the hell!" Sirius caught her before she crippled to the ground in dizziness. It stopped hurting the moment it hit, perhaps, the curse was not strong enough. She shoved his hand away and threw a spell at another attacker behind Sirius. 

      James got in the way and cast a protection charm when a Death Eater tried to curse Scarlet. "Bridget, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she muttered a reply before the trio started to attack again. On the battlefield, Sirius and James were incomparable. It was no doubt Dumbledore chooses them for countless missions.

"Is there a way you can put a stop to this?" Sirius suddenly asked, hand clutching her waist as eyes searched for answers with desperation. 

Silently, Scarlet's eyes trailed over to the trio of Death Eaters on the other end, she recognised only two of them to be Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange. "I can try." Scarlet muttered before moving away.

"Where are you goi—" Sirius cut himself off as Scarlet slithered away quicker than a snake, and cursed beneath his breath.

"What the fuck—why'd you let her go!" James shouted at her, astonishment evident in his eyes.

"I didn't—LOOK OUT!" Sirius continued to duel in defence, watching a masked Death Eater about to attack James from the back.

When Scarlet reached Bellatrix, she went ahead and whispered in her ear, "call him."

Bellatrix furrowed her brows and hissed, "What are you doing here?" She asked, "you're not meant to be here, this is far too dangerous."

"She's right. Call him, they'll all run off in fear," Rodolphus Lestrange hissed, "we're out-numbered."

      Bellatrix pressed her wand against her dark mark, and seconds after minutes passed by and nothing changed. She groaned in frustration when the Dark Lord did not show, and continued to duel. With a roll of her eyes, Scarlet left the Death Eaters there and walked away to the corner.

      Scarlet pursed her lips and moved to the side, eyes scanning to find Moody and making sure Death Eaters did not catch sight of her conversing with the other side. When she found Alastor, he looked genuinely annoyed.

"Merlin, what the hell are you doing here, Bridget?" It was his way of telling her to fuck off. "Blythe! Get her out of here, will ya?" He pointed towards a random Auror.

"Get the Aurors out as soon as you can. I'm calling Voldemort here." Scarlet told him.

"Have you lost your mind, Bridget?" Moody scoffed. "'I'm calling Voldemort here'," he mocked with a peculiar tone and a shake of head, "You can't just call Voldemort, what the hell are you doing!" It sounded ridiculous and Scarlet knew it, but his tone still offended her.

"How else can you put a stop to this?" Scarlet shot back. "Look at what's happening, people are dying. Drop your arrogance and let me put an end to this."

Moody pinched the bridge of his nose, "Fine. Do it. I'll get everybody out of here."

"Make sure to get Sirius and Potter."

"Alright, alright, do what you have to do." Moody growled, stepping forward into chaos.

Scarlet nodded, "Get Potter and Sirius," she repeated again and turned away to the darkness nearby near the trees to press her wand to her death mark, watching the unique shape turn pitch-black and the snake starting to move.

      This time Voldemort answered.

      The moment she called for him, the air around them felt unnaturally still. It was as though they were suffocating within the area, somewhat oppressive within.

The Anti-Apparition wards coiled and snapped with a loud pop.

      A figure appeared down in the middle. Voldemort appeared in a black robe, his eyes burning red. He did not look all that different from others in terms of looks and height and clothes and yet managed to capture each and every one of their attention.

      Silence weighs upon them almost instantly.

      The flying curses, the barking orders, the screams of pain and all the loud noises halted. It was all gone. It all stopped. Everybody stood in silence and took Voldemort's appearance in. He rarely presented himself in public unless it was the last resort.

      Voldemort's blood-shot red eyes shot around the crowd, Scarlet had no doubt he was trying to search for her. When his eyes captured hers, he started to move instantly.

      One single move was all it took for curses and charms to fly around once again. Aurors screamed, Moody was barking orders for them to leave and most of them did until only a few Aurors surrounded them.

      When Voldemort tried to approach Scarlet from the other side of the yard, Aurors started to bravely attack despite Moody's orders. Scarlet had no doubt these foolish people were Gryffindors back in the days.

      Voldemort waves his right, wandless hand, and the curses go up and down, left and right, clashing against each other, smashing into Aurors instead, into buildings and the pavement or flying harmlessly into the sky in an explosion of colours and noise.

      With his left hand, he moves his wand in an elegant, unhurried arch.

      A mesh of curses shot in Scarlet's direction where she stood behind multiple Aurors. Uselessly, and ready to be injured, she squeezed her eyes shut, wand still hung in the air in her hand.

      Surprisingly, whilst about seven Aurors surrounding her dropped to the ground, Scarlet stood perfectly still. Completely unharmed.

      Voldemort averted his glance away from her. Scarlet then felt a grip on her arm and she instantly raised her wand in the boy's face.

"NO—! MERLIN, BRIDGET!" James. It was James who yelled in her face, dragging her away by the waist before she could protest. "It's just me, you psycho!"

Sirius gripped her other hand, and she protested, "Let go! I have to help!"

"Shut up, we're leaving. Moody told us to fuck off." Sirius and James somehow managed to drag her further away. Then an invisible force hit them. James and Sirius landed against the wall with a thud, blood splattering over Potter's forehead; Scarlet crumbled to the ground like a pile of bricks and fell on her stomach.

      Her collarbone surely cracked as her shoulder hit something metallic, and she suppressed a gut-wrenching scream. Her shoulder landed on a metal and sent a sharp pain through her body.

Sirius picked her up in his arms, "Merlin. Blondie, hey, are you okay?" He ran his hands over her face, studying all her features in sudden concern. His lips trembled, and he was scared shitless. 

"Go, go," James chanted, tapping on Sirius's shoulder and wrapping an arm around Scarlet's back.

The girl had her hands around the two boy's, and soon enough, she shoved them away. "I'm just fine," she hissed. Her shoulder hurt, and her collarbone must be rotten by now but she had legs and she could walk just fine.

      She couldn't help but turn around. A thought occurred to her when she saw Aurors dropping dead every second. The way Voldemort deflected the spells, the way he defeated everything with a wave of his hand. They were going to lose the war. There was no way out. Not with Voldemort still alive.

      He ploughs through the Aurors that now surround him on all sides. Trained men and women, the wizarding world's elite forces, and they can't even land a hit on him; not on their own and not even together.

      He looked like a myth who rose from the ancient, historical deads.

"Hurry, hurry!" James panicked.

"We can Apparate now," Sirius heavily breathed out, hands on knees as he bent forward, his eyes looking over a pained Scarlet. "Can you Apparate, love?"

"Of course, I can."

      They were going to be okay. They were going to be safe. Another cruel voice rose above the encouraging on, seething in her ears like a sake, they're all going to lose the war.

          SIRIUS AND SCARLET APPARATE'D BACK TO THE BRIDGET'S HOUSE.

      Sirius landed in the kitchen with a dizzy feeling whilst Scarlet in the dining room, back against the wall and she heaved. Sirius smiled at her and she did not reciprocate it. A horrible realisation gnawed at his consciousness when his eyes landed on his fiancée.

      Sirius could see it in her eyes. Those cobalt eyes that used to glint with power. Life faded from those eyes. The war had eaten her alive until there was nothing but a shell of a person left. All because of a vendetta she held against Voldemort for ruining her life. All because she had the need to prove herself. Scarlet did not realise what he had done to her with those poisons was not the end of it; she still had so many more scores to settle.

      But revenge is a dirty game. Oeil pour oeil. Without realising, she was encapsulated by the idea of revenge until it really did take her humanity away. Scarlet's aim to defeat Voldemort was like selling your soul to the devil, only worse.

      It was that moment Scarlet realised there was so little of her true self left. The moment even Sirius Black's smile could not bring her back to life.

      The storms in her life cooled down after all these years. Sirius didn't want it to cool down.

Sirius licked his dry lips, his feet took a few tentative steps forward, very carefully. Slowly, he glanced at her clasped hands. Her body froze. There was no anxious fiddling with her rings or the tapping of her heels against the wooden floor, it was only her eyes that held emotions. Emotions of the life the girl could've gotten. Should've gotten. Only if...

The word felt dense against the tip of his tongue, "Blondie."

He could see the way she gulped, jaw clenching for a moment as she spoke. "I'm tired," a whimper left her throat. She was trying to be strong. She was really trying to be strong and just hold on. "I'm so tired, Sirius."

      She really was tired. Tired of life, and many mornings pass where she couldn't even lift a finger from bed. Utterly, miserably in need of rest. Not physical but mental. Free of burden, the war and hurt and more hurt. Even Dumbledore seemed to have more energy than her and he was ancient.

      In a moment like this, anyone would have said they did not recognise her anymore. That she was only the ghost of someone who had buried so many skeletons in her closet, her identity was practically ripped. But not for Sirius Black. Sirius always saw right through her, all the silver lining.

       After all, it doesn't really matter whether a storm has cooled down or not if a person already got lost in it. If a person had already accepted the loss.

      Then he saw her hands trembling as she took off her leather gloves, and a whimper left her crimson lips as she took off her coat. Her chin was covered in dried blood that Sirius assumed she got from the attack.

"Can you—uhm..." she sounded ashamed, and it broke Sirius's heart into a million pieces. "Can you heal me?"

Sirius stomped forward eagerly, quickly grabbing his wand and touching the skin over her collarbone. She hissed, and it made him flinch slightly.

"This might hurt," said Black as he studied it closely under the light, holding her shoulder softly. Her collarbone must have been broken, and she seemed too weak to heal it.

"I know, Sirius, just do it."

      Sirius leaned forward and using his other hand on the back of her head, pressed her face into his shoulder. She understood what he was suggesting and bit down on his strong shoulder through the white fabric of his shirt.

      As she felt the icy feeling of a healing spell wash over her collarbone, she bit down on his shoulder in uttermost affliction, his hand soothed the back of her neck in a comforting manner. She felt her shattered bone joining back together in an agonising manner.

      Despite her teeth tearing into his skin slightly, that pain felt nothing compared to the heart-wrenching scream that emitted from her throat. She was trying to hide her pain from him—he could notice it. You never have to hide from me, he desperately wanted to remind her.

      When she pulled away, she felt a lot better. Physically, at least. Non-verbally, she threw a Healing Charm over the wound on his shoulder by mustering all the strength she could. She did it so silently, he did not even realise.

Sirius saw the small smile tugging at her lips, "Are those candles I see?" She walked over to the living room like nothing happened—as though she was not attacked and they did not just have the worst evening.

"I—I set this up in the evening for our movie-night, it's Friday." It was way past midnight, so it was not Friday anymore. "We can just go to bed."

Scarlet quickly threw her heels aside and slumped over the couch. "Don't be silly, I never miss a movie night."

From his sight, he could see a genuine, tiny smile on her lips. It made him feel a whole lot better for being able to make her feel better. When Sirius fell onto the sofa and scooped her in his arms, she felt even better.

They were going to lose the war, they were going to lose—

"Is it horror?" She asked as he kissed the temple of her head.

"Of course not," he tried several buttons on the remote, trying to find the correct ones. He forgot everything Lily taught him about televisions. "Rom-com."

      Scarlet smiled lightly. The girl knew she would do anything to keep him and the mere thought of the extent of this vulnerability scared her relentlessly. Scarlet Bridget did not have what it takes to be loved and yet Sirius Black adored her anyway; the least she could to was ruin herself a million little times to see that smile sprout on his perfect lips and do whatever he wants her to be doing. 

      The least she could do was ensure they win the fucking war.

      She would do anything to prove that she is worthy of his love. That she is not pathological or a liar or a bad person in general. All she had to do was go above and beyond to demonstrate that she would never be on the dark side, all she had to do was crumble up her life whilst fighting in a ruthless war to show him that she is good. Except, she had blood on her hands and he knew it; she could not exactly read his mind to know what he truly thinks of his fiancée being a murderer. 

      Scarlet remembered a time when she knew everything. From reading a person's mind just by looking at the tick in their jaw to all the exams she sat, she knew everything back when she was sixteen. She could only sit and wonder how a woman can know everything at the age of sixteen but nothing at twenty. She did not feel smart or graceful or pretty anymore. She did not feel special. Maybe she really was just another piece in the bigger games.

𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑨 𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑺

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that you'd like to see, do let me know.
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received all the traction. the least I could
do is write according do your suggestions!

anyway, hope you liked this chapter!