Fear of the Thing Itself || DISCONTINUED

Chapter Seven: Familiar Faces

"Ivory?"

I woke with a start as someone shook me lightly, and quickly put my hands up to protect my head.

"It's alright, it's only me." The voice was soft, almost sad, and I cautiously opened my eyes. Remus was standing next to the bed, the sadness in his voice also evident in his face as I slowly lowered my hands again.

"Hi Remus," I said quietly, sitting up and looking around the room, trying to remember where I was.

Oh, right — the Order of the Phoenix headquarters.

"I know I said that I'd be back in ten minutes, but I wanted to let you sleep for as long as possible," he explained. "Some of the others are going to be leaving soon, though, so I really couldn't wait any longer."

I slowly got up, letting the soft blankets fall from around my shoulders and back onto the bed. As I did so, I instantly felt on edge again. It was almost like I was losing a protective shield — which, come to think about it, may have been true. After all, that had been my first sleep without having any of the nightmares about my sister in months, not counting the time I'd spent at St Mungo's, where they'd got me to take a Dreamless Sleep Potion each night.

"Come on," Remus said gently, and I was surprised that there wasn't even the slightest hint of demand in his voice. If anything, his words seemed like they were to reassure me, rather than the command I was used to hearing from others saying the same thing. So, with a last, longing glance towards the pile of blankets on my bed, I made sure my wand was still in my pocket, then followed him from the room.

"Remus?" I said quietly, as we were going down the second flight of stairs.

"What's wrong?"

"You know the bathroom that's joined to my bedroom?" He nodded, so I cautiously asked, "A-am I allowed to use it?"

"Of course!" He got to the bottom of the stairs, then turned to look at me. "It's your bathroom."

"Mine? B-but you already gave me the bedroom..." My confusion at this was obvious, and Remus gave me a sad look as we started to walk slowly along the hallway.

"Ivory, the way your parents treated you wasn't normal, or right," he said softly. "You've grown up without so many things that people take for granted... but it's not like that anymore. Not here."

I gave him a small smile, though I was still more than a little sceptical.

Stop it, I silently scolded myself. Stop being so ungrateful. You should be happy about all this. So stop looking for ways this could go wrong, and just be normal for once in your pathetic life!

"Here we are," Remus said, completely oblivious to the fact he'd just stopped me spiralling into one of my self-loathing episodes. Well, at least for now. "Are you ready?"

Forcing my attention back to what was about to happen, I took a deep breath, nodding my confirmation. Remus turned the handle of the door we had stopped by, and pushed it open. Everyone inside fell silent as they turned to look at me.

I was surprised to find that I already knew a few of them. Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, an ex-Auror, was stood in one corner, his magical eye that had earned him his nickname fixed on me, just as every other eye in the room was. He was the one who'd caught my mother shortly after my father's downfall, so I knew he almost certainly wouldn't trust me, especially at the beginning. A bald wizard, who I recognised as a thief whose picture had recently appeared in the Daily Prophet — Mundungus Fletcher, I believe his name was — was skulking in the shadows. Ron's parents were both stood nearby, and I could tell they were feeling somewhat uncomfortable — most likely because they were recalling our previous encounter at King's Cross Station. On the other side of the room, Sirius was talking to a girl with bright pink hair — a girl who I faintly recognised, though I couldn't recall ever seeing her before.

Having picked out these specific people, my eyes now swept across the whole room, taking everyone in — a woman with mousy brown hair, a wizard in a silver cloak and a matching pointed hat, a girl who looked like she must only just be out of school, a man with hair that was even messier than Harry's, a middle-aged witch with a sharp face, and—

My heart missed a beat as I noticed her. A girl with black hair, who was looking as shocked as I felt... a girl I thought I'd never see again...

No. Now you're just being stupid. Of course it's not her.

But her hair, and the way it fell into her eyes... the way the corner of her mouth was twitching from shock... the look on her face... it had to be her, it just had to!

She's dead, alright? I told myself firmly. Think about the last time you thought you saw her. The pain you put yourself through because you allowed yourself to listen to these childish fantasies that she'd somehow survived.

I forced myself to look away, and instead glanced over at Sirius, as the silence still hung uncomfortably in the air. It was obvious that nobody quite knew how to react to the daughter of the Dark Lord and his most faithful follower. Even Remus and Sirius were unsure of what to say, which was understandable — after all, they couldn't exactly just say 'this is Ivory Riddle. Her father is the one who caused this war and the deaths of so many people, and her mother is the one who's killed — or worse — many of your family and friends.'

The silence was finally broken by the girl with black hair, who had apparently now got over her initial shock of seeing me.

"Ariel!"

And with that one word, I knew I was right about the girl. I was right about who she was. I was right.

She'd survived.

***
A/N: Apologies for the slightly shorter chapter. I knew I wanted to end it how I did, and couldn't think of anything else to put in there to make it about 200 words longer 🤷🏻‍♀️

Aaaaand now I'mma go write some more. Or procrastinate. One of the two 🙃😂

~Charlie 🖤