Stolen Years: The Flower Reborn as a Tree

Chapter 5: The Aftermath

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office discussing summer plans with Minerva when a doe patronus dashed into his office and stood in front of him, Felicis' voice eminating from within a second later.
"Albus, we're under attack. Mother gave away our position to death eaters. The wards have fallen and I have no doubt that she has been captured. I don't know why, but I feel compelled to reach out towards...Black, for help. If I don't make it, tell Severus that I'm sorry and that I love him."
Albus and Minerva immediately jumped into action, both rushing out of Hogwarts to the closest point they could apparate to the cottage.
"Apparate outside of the cottage wards. While it's likely that they have fallen, it's best not to take the risk," Albus said to Minerva. She curtly nodded in response before both of them apparated with a loud pop.

Albus and Minerva arrived in front of the cottage. Everything appeared to be fine, but they remained on high alert. With their wands drawn, Albus and Minerva crept into the cottage. Furniture was overturn and the house was in disarray, the closest door to the kitchen was demolished into multiple shards. The two cleared the cottage before heading to the backyard where two figures could be seen be seen on the ground by the sessile tree, one figure was surrounded by a transparent magenta dome.
Wands still drawn, Albus and Minerva cautiously made their way towards the two figures. The closer they got, the more damage to the grass their was. Patches of the field were trampled and scorched, droplets of blood led towards larger pools and splatters. Minerva let out a horrified gasp as they drew close enough to the figures to identify them.
The motionless body of Malorie lay face down in the grass, her tight fitting clothes in tatters. Across from Malorie, beside the tree was Felicis. She laid motionless on her back within a transparent magenta dome.
"Felicis!" Minerva cried out and rushed towards her goddaughter, Albus following her. Albus studied the dome beside Minerva. She turned to Albus with watery eyes and furrowed brows, "This dome is teeming with dark magic. The only dark spell I can think of is the one used in that string of attacks in the sixties. Are you familiar with any other dark magic that has similar results?"
"I don't,"Albus solemnly replied, "Your assessment is more than likely correct."
"But that doesn't make any sense, Albus. There has been no reported uses of that curse since all witnesses to and victims of the curse were murdered throughout nineteen-sixty-nine. Why would the perpetrators go through so much trouble to stay free and rid any additional knowledge of the curse being discovered just to go and use that curse on Felicis?" Minerva said.
"I'm wondering the same thing," Albus replied. "Felicis assumed her attackers were Death Eaters because Malorie revealed their location to them, but they would've left behind the Dark Mark afterwards."
Albus turned his attention over to the lifeless body of Malorie, "Malorie's final memory might be able to provide us with answers."
Minerva watched uneasily as Albus walked over to Malorie and turned Malorie over onto her back.
"Merlin," Minerva softly said with horror.
It was obvious the woman was dead just by studying her for a few seconds, but the state of Malorie's body was not what Minerva had expected. Bindings that no longer held her had dug into her skin, leaving behind  multiple rope burns that were hard to differentiate from the darkening red marks of bruises that were in the first stage of formation. Her arms and chest were deformed, broken bones creating irregular shapes in her anatomy. But it was injuries to Malorie's face that caused the most discomfort. Albus had to pause for a few seconds to make sure the body was actually Malorie due to her face being unidentifiable. Swarms of ants and other bugs covered her swollen, dirt stained face. Congealed blood from barely visible cuts was smeared across her face, mixed in with clumps of dirt and bits of foliage. Her nose was broken and incredibly swollen, a small trickle of blood leaked from her right nostril.
"It's her, right?" Minerva asked.
"It is," Albus replied as he placed his wand against Malorie's temple, nothing happening. "And whoever did this took her final memory as well."
Albus rose to his feet and glanced over at the patch of smoking dirt rimmed with sorched grass with a frown. "It would seem we will need to retrieve Mister Black after all," Albus said.
"Absolutely not, we are dragging him into this," Minerva replied.
"We don't have much of a choice if Felicis' intuition told her that Sirius is needed to assist in this."
"We are not risking the life of a student on the newfound abilities of Felicis that have had yet to make an appearance more than twice. And nonetheless a student who nearly killed our goddaughter," Minerva retorted.
"Felicis told us mutliple times for the past few week that she thought her intuition was warning her that something bad was going to happen. We both dismissed it and told her that it probably wasn't her intuition and that she was just uneasy about her current situation. From what Felicis had told me the day she left Hogwarts and from what we have seen today, it's safe to say that Felicis' intuiton has a high success rate when it comes to detecting danger. Her intuition is showing to be protecting her, it's more than likely that Mister Black is who we need to help her," Albus said.
Minerva pondered Albus words with a frown and furrowed brows, after a few seconds she let out a defeated sigh. "If there's a chance he can help her, then I suppose we should try. But if he can't, we'll send him back to the Potters and tell them of what has happened."
"Of course," Albus replied. "I'll stay here and protect Felicis while you go retrieve him."

~*~
Sirius Black was in the backyard of Potter Manor with his best friend, James Potter. They had just finished a one one on one game of quidditch. Walking through the manor, they came and abrupt stop as their Transfigurations professor entering the main sitting room through the fireplace.
"Professor?" James questioned in confusion. He and the rest of Marauders had not been on the best of terms with their head of house after she discovered the interactions that had been occuring between them and her goddaughter, Felicis Williams.
"Potter," Minerva replied, acknowledging the boy's presence as she briskly walked past him towards Sirius. She looked down at the boy she had been teaching for five years with a blank expression. "Dumbledore wishes to see you immediately, I will be taking you to him," she said, "Everything will be explained once we meet him."

Sirius studied Minerva, trying to find any hint of emotion that could help him figure out if he should be worried about her request. But he couldn't decipher anything and, before he could ask any questions, James came to his rescue.
"If you're taking Sirius, you're taking me too! Any punishment he's facing, I will face with him."
Minerva glanced over at him with a look of mild
irritation, "Potter, this is not up for discussion. As...noble as that is, Mister Black is not in any form of trouble. Or at least not any that I'm aware of at the moment. The Headmaster needs his assistance on an important matter."
"I can help as well," James replied..
"Thank you for the offer, but the answer is no. The Headmaster has specifically requested just for Mister Black's assistance," Minerva responded.
"But-" James interjected once more.
"But, nothing," Minerva sternly stated. "I will return with Mister Black later. You will stay here and wait."
With that, Minerva led Sirius out the front door.
James watched as Sirius linked his arm with Proffesor McGonnagal and apparated to Dumbledore with a loud pop.

~*~
Sirius felt his feet land upon soft ground and slowly opened his eyes, allowing himself a moment for the effects of the apparition to fade. In front of him lay a lush field of grass, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. Minerva gave the sleeve of his shirt of light, urgent tug and briskly lead him forward. Sirius' confusion quickly turned into realization as he felt the sensation of passing through multiple wards, revealing a small cottage that had previously been hidden.
Sirius paused and studied the cottage in confusion before turning towards Minerva. "Does Dumbledore live here during the summer?" He asked.
"No, he does not," Minerva replied.
"Then...why is he here?"
"We will tell you more when we get to Dumbledore.
He knows more of the pertinent information that you need."
Minerva led him around the back of the cottage, a few yards away stood a small white tent beside the singular tree closest to the cottage. Minerva paused for a moment as she caught sight of the small white tent before looking around the field with a perplexed look. Seeming to not have found what she was looking for, a slight frown fell upon Minerva's lips as she cautiously led Sirius towards the tent.
The closer they got, the greater Sirius' worry became.
Multiple patches of grass were flattened and torn. One large patch was burnt and spots of blood were splattered across the grass, the largest pool lay just beside the tent.
"What in Merlin's name happened here?" Sirius
Minerva glanced over at him for a moment, her eyes glassy, then pulled back a flap of the tent and motioned for him to enter.