Clover Hawkings and the Triwizard Tournament

20. Tempebras Opacus

"Tempebras Opacus. On September-" Artemis's voice shook. The paper in her hands trembled. She cleared her throat and began again. "On September twenty-first, 1987, a great tragedy occurred when Charlotte Azazel and Regulus Black were lost forever." 

She looks up. "That was his name- Regulus Black!" 

"Keep reading," I said through teeth. There's a throbbing pain growing in my chest and head, like a combination of heartburn and that extremely unpleasant feel when you try to wake up a limb that's fallen asleep. Little, cold needles. 

Artemis frowns but continues. 'They came outta nowhere,' says Muggle Mr. Kvonisky, an elderly resident of the neighborhood where one of the incidents took place. 'The women- she was just standing 'ere, and then suddenly- whoosh! Fell to the floor. Fella who did it took off, too!' (Mr. Kvonisky's memory is currently being wiped)'

'Unfortunately, this sober tale is true. Charlotte "Charlie" Azazel, well known for her dedicated service to the Dark Lord, was found murdered in her home.'

'Just a few years previous to this most tragic event, her husband, Victor, died heroically in a top-secret mission. Charlie Elizabeth Azazel, of the maiden name Willow, was the first of her family to join the cause, adding onto the ancient and respected families like the Azazels, Malfoys, and Blacks. Unfortunately, Victor and Charlie were the last of the Azazel bloodline, having no children of their own. In the Azazels, we have lost the last of a great family today.' 

"Hold up!" Artemis exclaims. "Clover, what's this Azazel thing? Your aunt's last name is Willow-"

"-Her maiden name. She changed it back after her husband died." 

"-Yeah, but that doesn't explain your mom's. Her name was Charlie, right?" Artemis continued when I nodded. "Why did she give you a name that's not her maiden name, or married name, or her middle name?" 

"Oh-well." The needles were growing in intensity. "Frankly...I-I don't know." Hawkings. I had always assumed it was my father's name. Come to think of it, Cass never told me that was his family name. But she had never corrected me in assuming it was. Oh, my. 

"Well. Maybe they changed it. To protect you." 

The latest flashback starts tickling my mind ...."You'll have to change her last name, to something that has no resemblance to me." Charlie's stern voice said as she crammed food into a bag. "She must never know, Cass. Or they will come for her. Do you understand?"

"Oh," I almost sob. They did. My mother changed- no, gave up- part of her connection to me... To save me. And here I was, screwing it all up.

"Hey.." Artemis took my hand and held it tight. "I'm not going to tell you everything will be okay. It might not, because sometimes life simply isn't okay. But the okay- it's worth fighting for. Look at me," she whispered, and had to repeat the command two times until I looked into her eyes. Green and shining, just like the first time I made her cry, all those eons ago on the Hogwarts Express. "Clover, you are worth fighting for." 

The needles cold touch is fading. Something in my chest is unraveling. Yet for once, it's not my mental stability, but a knot, pulled tight by years of pain. It's not gone, and I don't know what I'd do with the strings if it did, but loosened. Loosened, I decided, is a good step. 

Old newspapers are a good step. I look at back to Artemis, who's staring intently into my eyes, as if she is wondering what goes on behind them. She isn't running. She isn't running after all.

 "Thank you. And, um,  the article?"

"Oh, yeah." she scans the rest of the paper. "The rest of it is about this Regulus Back dude, how his high-and-mighty parents Walburga-" she snickers- "and Orion can't find him. And how it's so, so, horrible and devastating and they didn't do it at all." 

"That's it?"

"That's it," Artemis confirmed. "Wait- there's something tiny at the bottom."

"What does it say?"

"Tempebras Opscus, rendezvous opposite le-lz- do you know what that word is?"

I peer over her shoulder. "Lezaza."

Artemis wrinkles her nose. "Is that French? Le zaza? It's not anything I know."

"Nah....It's 'Azazel'."

"Pretty sure it's 'Le zaza, Clov."

"It's Azazel backwards," I clarify. "Cass alway thought it would come in handy for me to be able to read backwards."

"Hun. Okay, so they wanted to meet opposite your mom's house. Across the street?"

"Mom's house, my house, Cass's house...but yeah. They probably wanted to get me."

The realization sinks into my gut like a bucket of cold water.

"Wow," Artemis says softly.

"Yeah."

There's a long beat of silence in which I gather the courage to break it. "I can't believe that we discovered my mother had a co-conspirator, that Hawkings isn't my real last name, the Death Eaters had a secret magazine, the real reason we moved to another continent after Mom died, a) before eight in the morning, and b) while Cass doesn't even know that I know about all the stuff she didn't want me to know." I exhale loudly. To continue my little "good steps" thing going on, I should probably talk to Cass. Not about this this, but maybe pressure her into revealing the fake last name thing? It'd be a good place to start.

"It's quite a- hold up, it's eight? In the morning?" Artemis's eyes widened. "As in ten minutes away from first block while I am in the Hospital Wing, fifteen minutes away from Transfiguration, that kind of eight o'clock?"

"That kind of eight," I confirmed, while Artemis shoved the newspaper in her bag and scrambled off the bed.

"Bye!" She yelled over her shoulder as she sprinted away, leaving me alone and wishing more than anything I was running alongside her.