Sky full of stars {Harry Potter Fanfiction}

37. The Shrieking Shack

I was lost for words. "You—You—"

"Have powers, yeah." Elijah stepped over his own carnage. With a click of his fingers, the flame disappeared. He kicked at the remains of a vase that had been knocked over in the chaos. "Whoopsie: I can never burn something without incident."

"I—I can't believe this." Mum collapsed into her chair. "I thought only Katherine's mother and I were held captive in that place—"

Elijah shrugged, and suddenly tiny flames were on the ends of his fingers. He began charring the wood he'd destroyed. Sasha gawped at him, her mouth open wide. "What? It's less mess."

"Quirrell said there was a child born without powers, that was then killed." It was very hard to get my mind around this. "But you—you're here."

Elijah swung himself onto Mum's desk. "Yup—oh shit." Fire still came from his fingers, and he'd begn to burn Mum's desk. He shook his hand and the flames disappeared. "They were going to kill me—but then my real Father gave me to Alecto, to keep me safe—to keep her out of Azkaban as well."

"Your—your real Father?" Sasha spluttered. "Who's he?"

Elijah screwed up his face in concentration. "Alecto did tell me once, after I nagged her... Hmm... He was a death eater, agh—I can't remember his name, I know he was in the paper this year for something naughty--"

"As fun as reliving Elijah's family history, we have a rat to catch." Remus said grimly. "Pettigrew's daughter can't stop us now."

Elijah's eyes widened. "You found her?"

I nodded. "She was on the map—her name is Evelyn. She can definitely turn invisible—and is powerful enough to lock a door an unlocking spell can't penetrate."

Elijah clapped his hands together. "Oh, brilliant! So, what—me, you and Kat get one power and she gets several? What a cheeky cow."

"Shut up!" Mum exclaimed, snatching the map from Sasha. "Look!"

We all huddled around the map. Our friends and Pettigrew had left Hagrid's hut. Pettigrew was running, Ron in pursuit and then from the edge of the map---

"Dad!" Sasha exclaimed. "Dad's seen him!"

We watched the map in horror as Pettigrew and Dad's names collided, and dispeared with Ron into the Whomping Willow. Harry and Hermione's names hovered by the tree for a moment, before their names dispeared as well.

"Why—why did their names disappear?" my head was spinning. This was too much.

"It's the end of the boundaries of the school," Mum exclaimed, pulling her coat on, and clutching her wand tightly. "There's a passageway underneath the tree---it leads to the Shrieking shack. It's where Remus went when—"

She paused, remembering Elijah was present. But instead, he smiled. "It's okay, Professor. I know that Lupin is a werewolf."

"You do?" we all exclaimed.

Elijah shrugged. "I was sorted into Ravenclaw you know. You all seem to forget that I'm actually the smartest person in this room."

"You almost set my desk alight." Mum pointed out.

Sasha took her own wand out of her pocket. "I hope you don't try and stop us from coming, Mum. We're in this together."

"Yeah!" I exclaimed, grabbing my own. I was practically tingling at the thought of adventure—who knew I enjoyed it that much?

Mum sighed wearily. "I know I couldn't stop you girls if I tried. Let's all go—yes, Elijah you too, you'll be useful—we have a rat to catch."

"Quickly as well." Remus said grimly. "Knowing Sirius, he'll say a lot of dramatically vague statements that will allude to him wanting to kill Harry, rather than being calm and explaining the rat is Peter."