Screams

Twenty

Calliope stumbled backwards away from her own body, utterly shocked at what had just taken place.

"My-My Lord," Pettigrew stuttered, looking at You Know Who who was flexing Calliope's hands, balling them into fists and then flexing her fingers, "will it be sufficient?"

"It will be adequate," Voldemort said with a strange smile that Calliope hoped never to see on her own face again.

It was terrifying for Calliope to see all of this from another perspective, seeing her own body with someone else in it. What really scared her was when she looked down at herself and saw that her firm had become see-through, she could literally see the floor through her feet.

Steeling herself, Calliope ran headlong towards Voldemort, only to be flung backwards away from him by an invisible force.

"Is the girl fighting you My Lord?" Pettigrew asked.

"She has been subdued," Voldemort said quietly.

Calliope scrambled back to her feet and clenched her fists. She felt small and helpless, like the child that had been unable to prevent her father's death, all over again.

She realised now how arrogant she had been, there was no way that she would ever have been able to succeed at the task she had given herself. Pettigrew had run straight back to Voldemort, as she should have expected him too. And now she was left beyond vulnerable, and unable to do anything to stop what was happening. At that moment, Calliope felt true fear in a way that she had never felt it before. At that moment, Calliope wanted nothing more than to be at home with her Grandfather, safe, warm and as far away from Lord Voldemort as she could get, she wanted to be held in Elphias' arms and she his smile, she could almost see his smile in her mind-

-and then, all of a sudden, she was at home. She was no longer on in the cold Algerian forest, she was in her bedroom. Elphias was sat on her bed, staring into space. In his hands, he held a picture of Isaac Doge with his arms around a young Calliope.

With a pang, Calliope again realised how selfish she had been, not even thinking about the consequences of her running off to get revenge.

Elphias sniffed and wiped a tear away from his face.

"Grandpa it's okay," Calliope said, "I'm right here, I'm okay."

Elphias didn't seem to hear her, so Calliope stepped forwards and went put her hand on his shoulder. But her hand seemed to fade straight through his shoulder as if she were a ghost.

"Grandpa?" Calliope asked, her lip beginning to quiver as she held back tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes.

"Oh Calliope," Elphias sighed, for a moment Calliope thought that he might have heard her, but then Elphias set the picture back down on the bedside table and stood up, "one day I hope you will trust me enough to tell me everything." With that, Elphias set the photograph back on Calliope's bedside table and walked out of the room. He stopped in the doorway and cast a sad gaze around the room, before flicking the lights off and shutting the door.

Calliope stood there for a while longer. What was she supposed to do? Her body was being possessed by Lord Voldemort somewhere in Algeria, and she was merely a spirit now, with no way of letting anyone know that Voldemort was on the move.

The front door opened and closed, making Calliope jump as it disrupted the silence of the house. Curiously, Calliope made her way out of the room, walking straight through the closed bedroom door as if it were not there.

Downstairs in the living room sat Albus Dumbledore, with his hand resting on Elphias' shoulder.

"Please tell me that you have some news Albus," Elphias pleaded.

"I am sorry to say that I do not," Dumbledore said sadly, "Remus informed me that Calliope was aware of Peter Pettigrew and many of her father's Hogwarts experiences. Remus believes that Calliope decided to go after Pettigrew after he escaped."

"But she left weeks ago!" Elphias pressed, "there must be something else-anything!"

"The only reliable information that I can give you is that Calliope left the country on a borrowed broomstick as soon as Hogwarts finished for the summer, but of course you already know this," said Dumbledore, "I assure you Elphias that if I hear even a whisper of her whereabouts that I will come directly to you."

Calliope wanted to scream more than she had ever wanted to before. She wanted to cry at the top of her lungs that she was right there, that they had big things to worry about, that Voldemort was on the move. She wanted to hug her Grandfather, she wanted to see Natalie.

But she couldn't, all she could do was watch.