81 81: A cold but warm night

Blaise was in the bathroom for a long time, and they thought it best to leave him to it. Alaric decided to wave his wand, tidying up Theodore's eternally messy bed. Daphne and Tracey helped, collecting up the scattered books and half-finished essays. He would finish them, Alaric thought. He would do all of Theo's homework for the entire week if it helped at all. 

"I fucking hate his family," Tracey said suddenly as she shook out one of Theo's dirty potions parchment. 

"His dad's a nutter, that's clear," Alaric clicked his tongue. He began sorting through his friend's notes, smoothing out the parchments and trying to understand what was due when. 

The bathroom door clicked, and Blaise emerged in his pyjamas. 

"You hungry, mate?" Alaric asked, offering him a plate of sandwiches. Blaise nodded his head and sat on the carpeted floor. 

"Starving," He murmured, grabbing a ham sub. 

"It wasn't your fault," Daphne burst out. "I was watching; you couldn't have done anything,"

"I know," Blaise sighed. He then looked at Alaric with a steeled gaze. "I fucking hate his family,"

Even after everything that happened, the other three erupted in laughter.

__________

Detention with Snape was underwhelming. Alaric didn't know why, but he'd expected detention with his potions professor to involve more witnessing the effects of dangerous potions on animals and less scrubbing dirty cauldrons. But it was the latter he did the whole night. Fortunately or unfortunately, he did get the feeling there would be more to this punishment than cleaning without magic. 

"The hero of the hour!" Lysandra said, very theatrically. "Wish I could cast a patronus like that,"

As soon as Alaric left the potions classroom, he took to the nearest window and flew off in his raven form. He arrived at the Astronomy Tower a little past midnight and found his sister already waiting for him. She was leaning forward against the rail, and her legs were dangling on the ledge. 

"Hilarious," Alaric rolled his eyes. "Had any problem getting here?" 

"Kind of; Mrs Norris kept hissing at me on the sixth floor, " She said. "I wish I could fly," She finished wistfully. 

"That's on you," He chuckled and sat beside her. "You're the one that likes cats so much,"

The grey stone floor was warm to the touch. Alaric felt a surge of warmness spread along his back when he sat, blocking the cold Scottish wind from freezing him to the teeth. 

"They're cute..." Lysandra mumbled, letting her head rest on her arms against the bronze rail. 

Silence settled, and the twins stared awkwardly at the horizon. The light of the full moon illuminated the vastness of the Dark Forest before them, giving it an eerie and, in a way, peaceful look. It was like a painting — as if the artist had used shades of both unease and haunting beauty to create it. As terribly dangerous as it was, Alaric liked it. It had a unique charm. 

"Are you still mad at me?" Lysandra asked after taking in the view. 

Alaric met her gaze briefly, his expression guarded, before averting his eyes to the horizon again. He didn't know if he was ready to face her yet, after all. 

"Not really,"

"I've missed you, you know? A lot," Her voice held a tinge of vulnerability Alaric wasn't used to hear. 

Alaric remained silent, his fists clenched in an attempt to suppress the turbulent emotions swirling within him.

"I... I know I've been distant," Lysandra continued, her voice tinged with regret. She seemed to fiddle with her hands, looking for the right words. "I didn't mean to make you think I didn't care about you,"

"You've been busy with your friends," he muttered, the words escaping him before he could stop them. "That's no reason for me to do what I did," 

Lysandra scooted closer, her features softened by the pale moonlight filtering through the tower's openings. "I never meant to make you feel alone. But we both have our own lives now, our own friends,"

"Yeah, I know," Alaric muttered with a hint of bitterness in his voice. "I was stupid for expecting things to stay the same,"

She closed in again, her gaze imploring him to understand. "Our lives are changing, Al. We're not in Austria anymore, where we only had each other. But our bond—"

"Our bond?!" He interrupted in frustration. "It felt like you didn't care about it anymore,"

Lysandra's eyes turned glassy. They looked like crystal balls in the moonlight, reflecting her tears. "That's not true. I care about you more than anything,"

Once again, heavy silence settled between them. Lysandra reached for her wand, murmuring another warming charm to fend off the biting chill that had seeped through the first spell. A comforting warmth enveloped them again, easing the cold that had settled in their bones.

As the enchantment enveloped the twins, Lysandra glanced at her brother, a soft smile playing on her lips. "Remember when I was learning this spell? I couldn't get it right, so you would spend every moment outside tutoring hours to help me,"

Alaric nodded. The flicker of nostalgia softened his features. He was beginning to wonder if, all this time, he'd been mad not at his sister, but at himself. 

"And instead of heat, you kept shooting snow at me," He commented with a smile. "It feels like a lifetime ago,"

"We can still do that, you know?" She said, her voice filled with hope. "Find our way back to what matters,"

He turned to her, the weight of his stubbornness slowly dissipating. "I miss spending time with you, Lys,"

"Me too," she whispered a gentle sincerity in her voice.

The stone floor was again warm. Above them, the stars shined with a myriad of colours, silent witnesses to the moment between the two. 

After a while, Alaric spoke again. "Sorry for what I did in potions class,"

Lysandra looked at him from the corner of her eyes. "Glad you realised how much of a tosser you were,"

"Bah, forget I said anything," Alaric grumbled, looking away; mostly to hide the grin on his face. 

"I'm just messing with you," Lysandra laughed, poking him in the ribs. 

Alaric didn't realise just how much he missed talking with his sister like this. He'd been stupid. For something as frivolous as jealousy caused by his overprotective nature, he'd caused a rift between Lysandra and himself that he insisted on maintaining until a few days ago. But now, it was finally over.

Of course, while he'd been foolish, Alaric was glad his sister understood her own faults. In a way, he was relieved he wasn't the sole cause of everything. 

As they lay on the cool stone floor, their breaths formed small clouds on the night's air. After some more sibling banter, Lysandra reached for her pocket and extended her other arm.

"Give me your hand," She beckoned, showing him the muddy object she had. 

"Ew! Are you trying to propose to me?!" He said jokingly. Alaric had worn it on his finger too long to not be able to recognize his ring at a glance. 

"Oh, shut up," Lysandra rolled her eyes, dropping the ring in her brother's lap.

The first thing Alaric noticed was how dirty it was. No surprises there. He'd thrown it out of a window on a typical rainy day. And if there was one thing everyone knew about rainy days, was the mud that came with it. 

"Thanks," He said, now seriously. "Thought I'd lost it,"

"If you knew what it took to get it back, you would be kissing my shoes," Lysandra said, lying with her back on the floor, looking up at the night sky. 

Surely it wasn't that bad, Alaric thought. But only when Lysandra began with the story, did he understand how wrong he was. He would've liked to know how a cat had gotten a ring up his paw, and how he evaded his owner by nearly three weeks. Apparently, Crookshanks was a very athletic cat, and being half-Kneazel helped. And that was another thing: Alaric was right. Crookshanks was indeed a mixed breed. 

"So he's constantly after the rat?" Alaric asked, leaning back and using his good hand for support. 

"It's maddening. They can't be together in the same room without the cat trying to kill Ron's pet. I mean, there's that stereotype that cats hate rodents and all, but in this case... there has to be something more to it," Lysandra said in exasperation. Alaric could feel the annoyance oozing out of her voice. "In my dormitory, there's five of us, you see? Me, Hope, Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati. We've been taking turns at night making sure Crookshanks doesn't leave the room, but that little demon always comes up with something new!"

"Is that so?" Alaric said, somewhat distracted. He'd only paid attention to the first part of his sister's rant. '...something more to it' she had said.

"Well, that's about it anyway," Lysandra sighed. "What about you?"

"Hm? What about me?"

"What you've been up to?" She asked. "You do realise I've got no clue on what you've been doing for the past month, right?"

And so, Alaric told her everything. There was so much to be said that he didn't know where to begin, but in the end, he figured he should start with the map. It was still missing the Homonculus charm, but that was something that needed time to cast. 

"That means... you can see everyone?" Lysandra asked in awe.

"And anyone,"

"At any time?"

"At any place!"

"Oh, Merlin," She exclaimed. "That's just like what Mom's got back in her office in the castle! But on paper! It's—"

"Amazing? I know. Just like me," Alaric said with a smirk. "Sadly, I can't take full credit for it. You see, Fred and George found this other map..."

It seemed that Lysandra had an inkling of who the Marauders were. She mentioned she overheard a conversation once when she was over at the Potter's house, where James Potter mentioned someone named 'Moony' to his wife. 

"Well, we already know Sirius Black to be Padfoot," Alaric noted. "That means Mr Potter is either Prongs or Wormtail,"

"That's interesting and all, but why bother?" Lysandra asked, tilting her head. "It doesn't really help or change anything knowing who they are,"

"It's mostly about the mystery," Alaric said with a shrug. "Besides, Fred and George have been going on a rampage about honouring them or whatever. They've been digging up anything they can on these marauders,"

Alaric continued to summarise what he'd done the past month. Lysandra wasn't exactly happy about him facing a whole camp of Poachers by himself, but being confident in her brother's skills, she seemed much more interested in what Alaric had gotten from it.

"I don't believe you," Lysandra crossed her arms and stared pointedly at her brother. 

"Like I told you, she's in my suitcase," Alaric snorted. "I'll bring her tomorrow at breakfast,"

"Are you sure your eyes aren't seeing things?" Lysandra asked, still not believing. 

"My eyes have been seeing things I'm not supposed to since I was two, mind you, but in this case, no." He said. "I've done every test in the book to determine her nature, and they all point to the same thing,"

"You mean to tell me you have a real and breathing, fully transformed Maledictus locked up in your suitcase?" Lysandra asked with a chuckle.

"What?! She's not locked up!" Alaric exclaimed, offended. "I built her a really nice nest! Matter of fact, she has permission to fly around the suitcase whenever she wants to, as long as she keeps off my books and doesn't mess around with my projects,"

"She can't leave. Sounds like a prison to me," Lysandra shrugged. "Still, a Maldedictus..."

"I'll let you study her. Just make sure not to—"

"—harm her. Don't worry. The poor thing's only eight. I'll make sure to keep her comfortable," Lysandra assured her brother before sitting closer to him. 

She gently placed her head on his shoulder and looked up at the starry sky. "I've missed being with you like this. No one else in the world but you and your annoying loaf,"

"I didn't, really," Alaric sneered jokingly, "Was much better without you annoying my arse off,"

"Oh, piss off!" Lysandra laughed, pinching him in the arm. 

For both of them, it felt like the cloudy grey sky had cleared up for the sun for the first time in a month.

**********

A/N: Happy Christmas people!