She had hoped that he would come for her, but it had been over three months now since the mark had first flared to its most painful and yet he had still not come for her.
But he would. She knew he would. She was his favourite, after all. She was his most loyal. She had gone to Azkaban in order to prove herself to him, to prove her loyalty to him and their cause. She knew that her idiot brother – in – law Lucius Malfoy could not say as much, nor could that coward Severus Snape.
There was no way her Lord could run his campaign without her by his side, she told herself. So why had he not come for her? And why was her mark more faded than last time? Was he further away from her now? Had something happened that had caused him to leave? To abandon her?
No, she would not think like that. Lord Voldemort had returned and this time he would be victorious, she was sure of it. And it would be she who would rule at his side, the High Lord and Lady who held dominion over all things.
Yes… Lord Voldemort would come for her and they would win… together…
Cecilia Greengrass walked down the hallway on the second floor of Greengrass Manor, intending to check in on her daughters before turning in for the night herself.
Gently she opened the door to the bedroom of her eldest daughter Daphne. As the light from the hallway filtered into the room it illuminated Daphne who was sound asleep in her bed, a book lying open on her bed side table.
Satisfies, Cecilia shut the door and checked on her other daughter, Astoria. Finding the younger girl to be asleep also, she turned to head up to the room she shared with her husband, only to pause as she heard a voice muttering to itself from a room a little further down the hall. She went to investigate.
Inside that room she found their guest, Pansy Parkinson, wide awake and sitting at the desk in the room. Balled up pieces of parchment, several broken quills and three empty inkpots littered the floor around her as the girl muttered to herself.
"Pansy?" asked Cecilia as she moved further into the room. "Is everything alright?"
Surprised at the woman's sudden appearance, Pansy turned around to face her. "Oh, hello Mrs Greengrass. I didn't hear you come in."
"I noticed," replied Cecilia, sitting herself down on the edge of the bed. "What's got you up at this late hour?"
Pansy ran a hand over her face in frustration before replying "I've been trying to write a letter to my Uncle to ask if he'll take me in. Don't get me wrong, you and Mr Greengrass have been gracious hosts and I sincerely thank you for it, but I don't want to impose upon you forever."
"Quite understandable," replied Cecilia. "So what seems to be giving you trouble?"
"Dad and my Uncle never got on and I barely even know that side of my family. It feels really weird to be writing to him like this, and I just can't find the right words."
"Pansy you are welcome to stay here for a long as you need. Astoria told us of how you got her out of the castle when Dumbledore made his move and for that you have my gratitude and that of my husband. However if you do want to go and live with your uncle and his family then we will do nothing to stop you. As for writing your letter, the only thing that I can really suggest is that you be completely truthful. Whether the letter is formal or informal ultimately does not matter, if you aren't truthful then it may very well come back to bite you one day. And then where will you be?"
Pansy nodded her head. "I understand. Thank you."
Cecilia smiled and got to her feet. "Don't stay up too late, ok?"
"Ok," agreed Pansy and watched as the older woman left.
Once the door had been shut, Pansy turned back to the desk in front of her.
"Be truthful…" she said to herself before pushing the piece of parchment that she had been writing on to one side and taking a new, blank sheet before picking up her quill, dabbing it into her ink pot and beginning to write.
This time the words just flowed out of her and onto the page with ease.
It was after midnight that the large black dog slunk out of his cave in the mountains and made his was down towards the village of Hogsmeade. He had planned on waiting a couple of days before heading back into the village for information but in the end his need for knowledge had outweighed his reservations about entering the village.
Every light in the village was out and even the Three Broomsticks had closed up for the night. He still stuck to the shadows of the houses though, only venturing into the middle of the street when he absolutely had to. The chance of getting caught was still too great.
His first stop was at the Post Office. He knew from his previous stay on the outskirts of the village that any copies of The Daily Prophet that were not sold in the Post Office were bundled up in string and left on the front step under charms that protected them from the weather, ready for a House Elf owned by the newspaper to pick up first thing in the morning.
Padfoot found the bundle for that day and used his teeth to bite through the string before taking the topmost copy into his mouth and letting it land on the floor.
Above him a cloud moved, allowing moonlight to illuminate the village below. By the light of that moon, Padfoot saw the headline on the front page of the newspaper and in his shock he reverted back to human form.
Sitting on the steps of the Post Office he held up the newspaper and stared at the front page.
EXPOSED: THE CULT OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE!
Beneath that banner headline were thirty or more photographs of various witches and wizards, all of whom Sirius knew to be either members of the Order of the Phoenix or a member of staff within Hogwarts Castle – Albus Dumbledore, Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Aberforth Dumbledore, Arthur Weasley, Molly Weasley, Bill Weasley, Mundungus Fletcher, Sturgis Podmore, Filius Flitwick, Severus Snape…
Sirius' stomach gave a lurch when he saw his own photograph added into the mix. If there was anything that was going to bang the final nail into the coffin of The Order it was his image mixed in with the rest of them on the front page of the national newspaper.
He opened the paper to the second page and was relieved to see that Albus had escaped and that Remus and Hagrid were still unaccounted for but apart from them, Sirius was the only other member of The Order of the Phoenix to not be in Ministry custody.
His eyes were just scanning the paper in an attempt to discover what had provoked the Ministry into taking this course of action when he heard a voice hiss "Stupefy!"
For a split second he saw a flash of red as the magic of the stunning spell raced through the air and slammed into his side, and then the world went black as he slumped over on the step of the Post Office.
Auror John Dawlish lowered his wand and turned to his partner Bertram Savage. "Get Bones here," he ordered "Now."
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