Screams

Eighteen

As the end of term approached, Calliope found herself worrying less about her OWL results, which would follow only weeks after the end of the term, and worrying even more about the daunting task that she had laid ahead of herself.

Peter Pettigrew's escape had cost many people many things. It had cost Lily and James Potter getting the justice that they deserved, it had cost their son being able to live with his Godfather, it had cost Sirius Black his freedom, and Remus Lupin his only living friend. Calliope wanted to give these people back the things that they deserved.

She knew that if she told anyone what her plan was- even Natalie- that they would try to discourage her from going through with it, and she had to go through with it, if not for herself, then for her father, as he had loved these men like brothers and wouldn't want to see any of them suffer.

The other thing that she knew was that she could find Pettigrew. Her time with the banshees had taught her many things. How to control and understand the whispers, that she could have visions of events that took place, that she could sense magical concealment and that if she put her mind to it, she could find anyone whom she wanted to find.

Her gut told her that Pettigrew had left the country. And she thought that she would be best off if she followed that.

The only thing that was holding her back was guilt. She felt incredibly guilty about leaving her grandfather. He had been through a lot in his life, and she knew that she was a continuing cause of stress for him. She was by no means an easy child to parent, and Elphias was doing it all on his own. Calliope was now realising just how much stress she had put him under, what with her silence, then being petrified and then disappearing for months with no explanation.

She hated to disappear on him again, but really she felt she had no choice. She had to stop Pettigrew, the entire wizarding world could depend on it because if Pettigrew managed to find whatever remained of Voldemort, the entire wizarding world would once again be at the mercy of the Dark Lord.

As the end of the year came on, Calliope asked Natalie if she would be able to borrow her broomstick for the summer, Natalie was happy to oblige as she wasn't a fan of flying, no matter how hard her parents tried to get her into it.

"Why do you even want it though?" Natalie asked as she handed her Comet 1000 over, "are you running off on some crazy Callie plan? Because I hate to break it to you Cal, but your plans often end up with me being alone during a school year."

"Don't worry, I'll be back before we start the school year, I promise," Calliope promised.

********

True to her instincts, Calliope left Hogwarts before the train did. She had never been fond of broomsticks, but as she was underage, unable to apparate and needed to travel far and fast, a broom was the quickest way for her to get where she needed to go.

Where exactly this was, Calliope still didn't know. She simply decided to follow her instincts, and fly where they took her. It felt like she flew forever. She stopped for rest and food in a few places, and each time she did this, it seemed that she was in a different country.

She had completely lost track of time before she located Pettigrew. She didn't even really see him, somehow she just knew that he was there, in the way that a person knows the footsteps of their family members.

She left Natalie's broom leaning up against a wall of a small pub, on the outskirts of an extensive forest, making a mental note to come back for it after she had confronted Pettigrew.

Calliope sucked in a breath as she looked at the dark forest ahead of her, she readied herself for a few moments, before plunging into the forest, without thinking about what else could be there other than Pettigrew.