"You are an Alinac....that means you have power, ambition and the capacity to change the world. But a name is only a name, Leila, unless you make it something."
Two young rivals are headed into a war they know will change them forever. The question...
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Remus felt sick to his stomach. He hadn't uttered a word in nearly a hour, as he sat on the sofa in the common room staring into the fire. He watched as the flames danced, scraping against the bricks threatening to encase them. The blend of orange and red melted as his eyes lost focus.
"Remus..." James started, coming to sit beside his friend. "We need to do something about this."
That was the part that Remus couldn't wrap his head around. How? How did she find this out? How much did she know? He ignored the soft comforting comments from his friends and focused on the fire. The fire was natural. It was science. It had a beginning and and end, a source and a fuel. He could conceptualise that. Not this.
"She's only got a few loose theories, there's no chance shell find out the whole truth." Peter supplied. "Why dont we ask her to stop?"
"And give her the chance to kill us for taking her diary?" Sirius snapped back, before taking a steadying breath. "Sorry mate...I just don't see how we can get out of this."
Sirius' mind was racing. He was torn between throwing something or running and locking himself away. Selfishly he was devastated to find no pages on his brother, but more importantly he was proud to have done something to help Remus - even if it put them in a worse situation.
The room went silent again. The ticking of the grandfather clock in the back corner the only sound. Each click ricochetting against the walls. Remus closed his eyes, and gathered his thoughts. Sirius came and sat on his opposite side, his scent gently brushing over Remus' nose.
"I've just have to sneak it back into her room or something." He said. James rested his hand on the shoulder of his best friend. The boy who had been troubled with too much at far too young of an age. He understood why Remus needed answers, but this wasn't just anyone they were talking about. This was Leila Alinac, as close to death incarnate as Hogwarts could get.
"No." James said, "I'll talk to her, see if I can leverage it. Hopefully she wont even remember what she was researching"
He ripped the page out from the book, his fingers flexing with barely controlled rage, and threw it into the fire place. Pocketing the book, he began to write a very important letter.
---
The letter arrived in the early hours of the next morning. Leila was sat staring at her breakfast as her friends chatted around her. She could think of eating. She couldn't think of anything else. Her fingers fought against the tremble as she tried to raise the spoon of porridge to her lips. She savoured the scalding burn as it went down her throat. The bags under her eyes looked withered and bruised as she stayed up all night, haunting the halls of Hogwarts like the spirit of a lost wizard.
There was no ignoring the repercussions this had. Without the safety blanket of her diary, she was vulnerable. Her flaws, her short-comings, her insecurities on display for everyone to see. Paranoia was like a blot in her vision. She always knew that the diary was never certain, after all she couldn't stop everyone from trying to stab her in the back. But it was a remedy, a calming potion. Without it, she felt manic.
The owls spread their wings and soared through the hall, she watched with an unnatural hunger as a letter fell to her spot; landing on the table in front of her. She tore into the envelope with an animalistic fury. Gripping the letter so hard it crackled at the edges as she read:
"I have it, 10 pm tonight, astronomy tower."
Her pulse quickened, as the blood swimming around her body grew thick with rage. Whoever sent her this, whoever dared to take something which was hers, they would pay. A smile was brought to Leila's lips for the first time in the past 10 hours as she imagined the myriad ways she would do it.
"You alright?" Meredith asked. Leila looked up at her.
"I will be, when 10 pm rolls around." Leila handed her best friend the note, and the pair continued to sit there in silence. While Leila still couldn't manage to bring any more food to her lips, she had enough to feed her for now. The feeling she will get once she finally gets her revenge starving off any lingering hunger.
The marron haired girl let out a laugh and dropped the letter onto the table. "Oh that poor boy."
---
The moon rose up into the sky casting a luminescent glow over the landscape. James stared out over the balcony of the astronomy tower, his mind entirely silent. His friends were waiting in an adjacent corridor to the entry staircase, under the invisibility cloak. He didn't underestimate Leila bringing backup.
James knew she had arrived before he saw her. A familiar tingling in his blood picking up at the threat of her proximity. Her white hair looked even more haunting in the cover of the moonlight, cutting a terrifying figure as she stepped into the space. Silence.
No one moved. No one spoke. The air was menacingly tense, as Leila pieced the puzzle together in her mind. Of course it had to be him. She should have known better. The fury coiling in her gut like a Gordian knot, pushed her chin up higher. Her posture elongating, as the mask slipped over her eyes. James' throat bobbed at the sight, his swallow audible.
"I'm guessing you have some honourable reason for taking my belongings Potter...although I must admit it was rather snakey of you." She spoke, the epitome of regality. As the words left her mouth, her head tilted every so slightly to the right. She prowled towards him, her anger begging to get its claws into him.
"Well if you have the right to know our secrets do we not have the right to yours?" He replied, begging his pulse to calm. He needed to mimic her; act regal, poised, refined. He pulled the book out of his pocket and her eyes tracked his movements like a predator.
"Well then, I guess audentes fortuna juvat." She whispered, her fingers toying with her wand. "You've had your fun. I'd like that book back now."
She walked towards him as lithe as a snake, trying to retain her eagerness to grab the treasure from his palm. He stood perfectly still, the crescent moon lingering in the sky behind his figure. His dark hair glinting brightly in its glow. Just as she neared close, however, he held it back behind him and smiled.
"Not so fast, Alinac." His voice was barely a whisper, tearing through the lack of distance between them. "I have some questions, first."
Her teeth were grinding to dust in her mouth. She itched to grab her wand and hex him to oblivion but more than that his confidence interested her. He was not the typical blindly bold Gryffindor she stereotyped his housemates to be. What's the harm in playing with him a little bit?
"You get three questions." She smiled, not backing away an inch. She watched the amber flames in his eyes dance with her acceptance.
