[on hold] 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐓&𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍 → 𝑓. 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

xv . promise

chapter fifteen
PROMISE

   REMUS BROUGHT Ruby to her room, before returning to the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley had somehow managed to comfort Ruby's sister Evaline to fall asleep, and was now staying with Ruby.

   "What the bloody hell happened?", Fred asked the second Remus stepped through the kitchen door. "How's she? Who did this?"

   "One after another", Remus said in a calm voice, looking more tired than ever. "Sirius, send Kreacher to contact Dumbledore. We have a problem. More than one. Ruby's in  might be in greater trouble than ever before."

   "So this baby is her —"

   "Sister, yes, George", Remus absentmindedly replied, as he sunk into a chair. "Ruby's father — Benjamin is seriously hurt, I don't know if he will make it." Those words dropped like a bomb and Fred all of a sudden felt strangely lightheaded. "His new wife turned out to be a Death Eater. Alecto. I found Benjamin in the garden shed, he had lost a lot of blood. Nova had taken him to the hospital, I assume she's still with him. I could do nothing but get Ruby and the baby out of there."

   Silence laid heavy over the room. A million words were racing through Fred's mind, but none of them made sense. Just a storm of letters, a hurricane of words.

   "If she attacked Ruby — what she probably did — she'll be aware of Ruby's immunity", Remus further explained. "That will mean, she's a target now. A target for Voldemort himself."

   The night passed, but the morning light couldn't chase away the demons luring in the shadows of Ruby's mind. Awakening, her heart felt weighings tons even in those otherwise blissful thirty seconds before she remembered what has happened yesterday. The far cry of a baby caused memories to drop like a bomb.

   When she stepped into the kitchen, she wasn't surprised to be greeted with silence. The infant's sounds being muffled through thick ceilings, three pairs of eyes had watching her every step.

   "How is he?" she asked, looking at the woman sitting closest to her.

   Nova Black cracked a smile. "He's okay. The healers are quite optimistic he will wake up in a bit. I was about to visit him, as soon as I finished breakfast."

   "You left him alone?" Ruby asked, her heart immediately starting to tumble.

   "Of course not, Tonks stayed the night at the hospital," Sirius reassured the Hufflepuff. "We've been thinking about waking you up, so you can join Nova, but Dumbledore and Mad-Eye don't think it's a good idea."

   "Right now, we only have guesses about what happened, and guesses aren't enough to guarantee for your safety," Moody, the owner of the third pair of eyes, said, then he added, "Did Alecto attack you?"

   "Mad-Eye!" Nova exclaimed. "I thought we agreed to give her some time —"

   "It's okay," Ruby said, her voice firmer than she thought it would be. "If you want to know if she found out about my immunity ... No. No, she didn't. Remus got me — got us out of there, before she could attack. She wanted to kill me and take the baby with her. Said that Evaline still had a chance ..."

   "She's upstairs with Molly," said Sirius, and somehow it caused a wave of release to wash over Ruby.

   "Where's Remus?" she then asked, only faintly remembering that he had brought her back to Grimmauld Place, before she fell unconstitutional.

   Nova smiled, but it was a more like a nervous grimace. "He's okay as well, if that's what's bothering you."

   "In fact, he's already out again, doing Order business," Sirius added, and like his sister's smile, his own didn't reach his eyes as well. The Black siblings were worried, and it was rattling on Ruby's bones as well, even if she didn't know what it was she needed to worry about.

   "He must be back in a bit," said Moody, his magical eye fixating Ruby, while the other one was checking the clock hanging over the kitchen counter.

   "Well, I better leave then, checking on Benjamin," Nova said, getting up with a sigh. Then she threw a glance at her brother. "You've got this?"

   "Of course," he replied, courtly nodding.

   With nobody speaking another word, Nova rushed out of the kitchen, and silence fell over the room.

   "At least I know now," said Sirius after some heavy weighing seconds had passed, the corners of his mouth twitching, "that your lousy taste in choosing a lover runs in the family."

   Ruby opened her mouth, first in surprise, then her own lips curved into a smile, as she replied, "Oh, I wouldn't say so. I mean, at least it's Fred dating the girl with the Dark Mark under her skin, not the other way round. Shouldn't we rather discuss my ability to manipulate good man to fall for my not so stunning appearance, just like my dear mum did?"

   Sirius scrunched his nose. "I wouldn't call your loverboy a good man. He barely is a man yet."

   Ruby cracked another smile, sinking into an empty chair, when Sirius reached over the table and covered her hand in his. Blinking, Ruby looked up at him, just to find his eyes brightened by a real smile this time.

   "Don't worry, Ruby," he said, the warmth of his touch so soothing on her cold fingers. "No matter what's under your skin, you're nothing like your mother. Not the tiniest bit. You've proven that. Or do you think your mother would have bat an eye to leave the baby to the hands of a cold-hearted bitch to save herself?"

   Ruby blinked away the burning sensation in her eyes.

   "Promise me," she then said, voice barely more than a whisper, "that you won't let me become anything like her; that if there'll come a day I'll get drunk on this power I have, that you'll stop me." She paused, swallowing. "No matter what it takes."

   Looking back up, marble grey eyes were burning into the bright blue depths of her own. Well aware, that also both of Moody's eyes were watching her, Ruby quickly stared back down at her hands, one of them still covered under Sirius'.

   "There's no need for a promise like that," Sirius finally replied. "You're nothing like them. Nothing like your mother. The only thing I promise you, is that I'll constantly remind you of that."

   When she returned to bed, Ruby could only hope that this promise was enough.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

You're so down to earth
and I'm up in the stars ....