Miserable | The Marauders

28

Trying to Fix things

Jordan-Ella

We sat in Dumbledore's office waiting for him to return. My nails were digging into my skin, causing marks that were starting to bleed. Regulus and Barty stayed frozen and looked down at their feet as we sat on the couch. We thought we could have handled the truth that poured from their lips, but we almost passed out.

"I still don't believe it." Regulus croaked, fighting off the tears. "I knew deatheaters were people who did cruel things and sometimes were worse than their actions, but I never suspected our friends to do such things."

"And they had a choice." Evan piped up. "There was a choice in their hands. They were few to have a choice. Barty, Sterling, Snape, and Belle. They all had their choice. They choose to do this."

I closed my eyes tightly trying to fight the tears. "Why would they do such things? Why would they turn to such hatred. I thought I knew who my friends were. I never thought I would say that my best friend ordered my parents death."

Dumbledore's entrance cut the boys off from responding to me. He rushed to his desk and sat down. "I came as quickly as I could. Please, tell me what you know. What have they confessed."

Evan looked at Regulus and I. Neither of us were stable enough to speak, so he took the job from us. "As suspected Barty, Sterling, Severus, and Belle are all deatheaters. We were shown their marks just moments after they returned from their meeting with Tom. They were given orders to confess to us, but there was a price. They want us to be loyal in return."

"Merlin." Dumbledore whispered. He took a look at us three and his expression softened. "There's more. I can see the shock still on your faces."

I looked up and met the headmaster's eyes. "Theodore and Belle Nott put Severus Snape under the imperious curse. He made a spell for them and they used it to kill our parents. Another deatheater was at the school under a polyjuice potion pretending to be Belle as she killed our parents."

Regulus' lip quivered. "Sterling and Barty are being personally trained by Bellatrix and Tom. Sterling-" He paused. "Sterling is behind the most recent muggle and muggle-born killings."

"Has Mister Crouch done anything else, my boy?" Dumbledore asked.

Evan gripped my hand as I responded. "He has been ordered take us to Tom. If we do not meet with Tom by Christmas, Barty will have to kill the people we love. If that doesn't work, he will be forced to watch us die a slow and painful death. One even we can't escape."

"Oh my." Dumbledore muttered as he fell deeper into his chair. "This is far worse than I expected." He locked eyes with Evan and I. "I must ask something of you two that I wish I didn't have to. Your element curse might be needed in ways I wish to have escaped. You must dig deeper into the curse, but in order to do so you must-"

"Meet our grandmother." Evan finished for him.

Dumbledore only nodded to Evan's response and the room became silent.

------

3 days had passed since the confession from our friends and our confession to Dumbledore. There was a thick tension between us all. It was obvious that their confession to us didn't bring joy into our lives.

Lyra sat opposite of Sterling, instead of beside him. She wouldn't let him touch her. She stayed with me in my dorm, away from Belle, and Evan and Regulus crashed in James' and I common room. The Order was alerted of the confession yesterday, November 2nd.

Just across the table, the Gryffindors were celebrating. Sirius was finally eighteen and everyone was wishing him a happy birthday. There was smile on all of their faces. Seeing them happy just made me feel even more miserable on the inside. I started to miss the smile I had when I was around them.