And There Were Always Two... - oc x r. lupin & oc x s. black

- 36 -

Ashley walked into the Great Hall for her seventh year, breathing in the scent of it. It felt like ages ago that she'd come in for the first time, hiding behind Mavis as they'd been called up to be sorted.

Mavis.

She looked at Remus, who was just a few steps behind her. Why had Mavis said all those things? And why couldn't she just apologise? Sure, it would take time for them to take her back, but at least it would mean she'd have a sister again.

Remus placed a hand on her shoulder and led her towards the Gryffindor table, as if gently pulling her away from the memories.

"Can't believe it's our last year," James sighed. "Man, I gotta pull some hellish pranks this year if I want to be remembered."

"And win the quidditch cup," Sirius added.

"And study," Remus added.

"Not the last one," Ashley grumbled. "You're such a killjoy."

Remus just shook his head.

He didn't seem to be all in at the moment. His eyes kept glancing towards the door or out the window, as if he was expecting someone.

And he was.

Because, at the moment, he was quite aware that Mavis had never made it onto the Hogwarts Express. Sure, the platform had been crowded. But the clicking of her heels against the hall floor had been absent. Remus had checked, there was no one in that lonely little compartment at the back of the train where she always sat now. And he knew why.

Mavis was now walking down Diagonal alley. The sun had long sunk beneath the tops of the buildings. She had whispered "point me", and was now following her wand to the place Dumbledore had sent her.

Borgin and Burkes. The same store she had met the werewolf, the beginning of the domino effect that had led her back here. She would have smiled bitterly as she stepped over the threshold, except for the shards of glass scattered everywhere at the scene. Shelves were smashed and merchandise had been flung around carelessly, most of it broken.

The wand returned to her hand, gripped tightly in her skeletal fingers.

A figure dashed behind her. They disappeared behind a bookcase before Mavis had time to turn around.

"Faex," she swore, and then flicked her wand, muttering, "lumos."

Her wand blazed, but it didn't reveal much.

The figure dashed again, but this time she was ready.

"Flipendo!" she yelled, the cloaked figure was pushed against the wall.

They shot a nonverbal back at her, which she blocked. Sparks flew in the air. Clashing light and grunts of pain, until Mavis stood victorious over the limp figure. He was a man of around thirty years of age, blond and most likely a Malfoy spawn. She kicked him with her heel.

He was dead.

She shrugged and disapparated.

Meanwhile, the feast in the Great Hall was already over. The Marauders and Ashley made their way to the dorms.

"Remus?" Ashley asked, shifting from foot to foot at the base of the dormitory staircase.

He hummed in response.

"I'm gonna spend the night with Lily and the girls," she told him.

"Really? You're not joining us?"

"I'm not in the mood for babysitting," she joked. "Good night!"
"Good night," he echoed, and went up the stairs.

Ashley watched until he disappeared, then turned and walked out of the common room. She spent the night in her secret nook, something she still did once in a while. She stared at the Whomping Willow until the thought of Mavis floated into her mind. Then she cried herself to sleep, like always.

Remus didn't know.

"Oi! What took you so long, Moony?" James called, somehow hanging from the ceiling from his feet.

"What the fuck happened here?" Remus said, stumbling back.

James, as aforementioned, was hanging from the ceiling. His glasses slipped off his face, and his hair was messed up more than usual. Sirius was holding out his wand, apparently keeping James in the position with a spell. Peter was lying on the ground beneath James and feeding him pumpkin pasties.

"Well, one," Sirius said, rather sassily. "We're testing if you can wingardium leviosa just one's feet and not the rest of their body as well. Second, we're testing if you can eat upside down or do you need gravity to eat."

Remus whispered beneath his breath something about them being idiots.

"Obviously you've neither read spells nor anatomy theory," he muttered. "Give me your wand, Sirius."

"No."

"Padfoot, you annoying child, give me your wand."

"No."

Remus sighed.

"Then look over there," he told him in the most bored voice and pointed out the window.

Sirius fell for it and Remus snatched his wand right out of his hand. Quickly, he magicked it away, somewhere Sirius wouldn't be able to find it.

James came crashing down on Peter, who yelped.

"Scourgify," and the smashed pumpkin pasties instantly disappeared from the carpet of their dorm and Peter's clothes.

"You'll pay for this," James said, rolling off Peter.

"Sorry, Wormtail," Remus said offhandedly.

"Where's Ashley?" Sirius asked, pouting on his bed.

"Went back to the dorms with Lily."

"Ah! The betrayal!" James said dramatically collapsing onto his bed.

Remus let out an exasperated sigh.

"To bed now, everyone," Remus said. "You are not going to be late to your first classes tomorrow."

"Yes, mother," both James and Sirius chorused.

Peter just squeaked and obeyed.

They all walked towards the bathroom.

"Well... technically, I have a free period tomorrow first thing," Sirius said, turning around.

"I don't care at this point."

Everyone obeyed.