✔️ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐎 → ℎ. 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦

07 | I N F O R M A T I O N

 pain shapes a woman
into a warrior.

  "WHOA, GIRL! I'M supposed to be the death of you, not the other way round! Forgot about that?"

   Fred had clutched a hand over his chest, as Ember emerged out of a pitch black cloud of fume. He was sitting by the kitchen table, the newspaper in his other hand, a damping mug standing in front of him.

   "Don't be such a sissy", Ember snorted, letting her eyes scan the room. Fred was alone. It was about three in the afternoon. Mr. Weasley had to be at work. Ginny had returned to Hogwarts. Maybe George was with Angelina. And Ron ... Ron was ... "Anyone else home?"

   "Mum's in the backyard", Fred replied, tilting his head. "What's up? Do you need someone special?"

   "Yeah", she said, "you to be exact."

   "I'm honoured, Emmie", Fred chuckled. "Happy to see you're finally over Ron."

   "Naah, don't." She lifted her hand to silence him. Hearing Ron's name felt like needles in her ear. Even though Remus had told her, the trio was alright, Ember was dying of worry every passing second, dying to just tell Remus to shut up and leave for Grimmauld Place. But she didn't. "No room for jokes now, I haven't got much time. Remus doesn't know I left. He'll freak out, if he notices."

   "So fire away, little Ember girl."

   Ember crossed the room, pulling the chair next to Fred aside to take the seat. Fred was watching her curious, an eyebrow cocked, his hands folded on the table plate. The corners of his mouth were lifted into a light smile. Ember was sure it wouldn't stay there for long.

   "When I arrived here some weeks ago", she said, almost stumbling over the speed of her own words, "you wanted Remus to tell me, what he found out. I therefore assume, you know what he found out."

   "And you agreed, that you shouldn't know about it, because of this link you have to You-Know-Who." Fred crossed his arms, exactly knowing where this was leading to. The expression on his face clearly told Ember that he wouldn't make it easy for her to get that information.

   "That was at a point my control was weak. I was unstable. Now I'm stronger. I'm ready for it, even though Remus doesn't want to believe it." The ginger remained silent, so Ember went on. "I found out some things myself. I wasn't born with this shadows. Someone planted them in me. Someone conjured them. They cursed me, just as Crouch had told me back then." She looked into his eyes. "You know who it was, do you?"

   "Emmie, don't ask me for this, I promised Remus not to tell you", Fred groaned. "He knows what he's doing, and if he doesn't think you're ready for it —"

   "I'm a ticking bomb, Fred!", Ember hissed, furrowing her eyebrows. "And I'm pretty useless in this state. I want to do something. Anything. But I can't, as long as I follow Dumbledore's advice and find the moron that did this to me. Maybe he can free me from this curse and I can finally join in this war as more than just a victim."

   "You aren't a victim —"

   "I'm under constant protection! I'm wasting Remus' time and energy, as he has to observe me all day long, while he should be with his wife and their unborn child. I'm nothing but a burden, and I want this to end!"

   "Let's for a second pretend, I would tell you", Fred said in a plain voice, but with the hint of a smile on his lips. "Do you think I would let you walk out of that door just like that, all on your own, hunting down this rat and probably get caught and have that pretty hazel eyes turned black again?"

   "I won't get cau— Wait, what have you just said?" Ember's eyes grew from slits to big round orbs.

   "What?"

    He obviously only asked this to get granted more time to think. Fred's skin grew pale, the smile dropped from his face.

   "You exactly know what", Ember spat. "A rat, you say?"

   "Call this person what you want, I don't know what you're aiming at — I could have called him anything!"

   Ember raised from the chair, her wand in her hand. "How about calling him by his name?", she whispered, her heart was racing, and it took her anything to keep her hands from shaking.

   "Emmie, don't — I didn't tell you anything, you can't just guess for a name and freak out", Fred got up as well, reaching out for her hand, but she pulled it away, taking a step back. "Please don't do something stupid ..."

   "Tell Remus, I'm sorry", Ember said, twirling around.

   "Ember, NO —"

   But Fred's yell remained only a faint echo in her ear, as darkness gulped her and brought her away. She couldn't return to Remus. He would never let her go. Hannah and Susan had returned to Hogwarts this morning, so she didn't need to tell them goodbye. No, all she now had to do was finding the rat. She needed to find Peter Pettigrew.

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