The Godmother

16. the night is a terrible place

Elizabeth woke up the next day fresh with rage as though she'd showered in it the night before. She had a pissed off mood about her and wasn't planning on changing it.

She went down to the Great Hall to find out Dumbledore's word. Apparently Aurors with Dementors had done a sweep of Hogsmeade and Sirius wasn't found, however Dumbledore was forced to inform parents of the sighting and as result, roughly a hundred kids were being pulling from Hogwarts for the rest of the school year which was a fair few months.

Elizabeth gulped at the information and nodded. She hoped it wasn't any of the kids in her classes who were behind. They'd never catch up and be stuck behind in classes forever.

Classes were suspended for the kids who were being sent home, which involved mostly younger kids who'd failed to convince their parents that they were safe. Those kids had to pack up their belongings and were sent to a dozen awaiting carriages being drawn by Thestrals right outside the castle gates.

Classes that day were hard and tiring. Elizabeth failed to teach as kids failed to shut up and consequently Elizabeth simply sent them off with a thick log of homework. She ignored the groans and scoffs.

All she heard all day was 'fucking Potter- magnet to danger' and 'what if Black gets in?'. Dumb question: he was already in and had been for months.

Elizabeth set to avoid Remus. It wasn't a hard job since she stayed in her quarters most of the time anyway. On the odd occasion that she went for a walk around the castle or went to the Black Lake and sat on the edge of the water and read a book, she made sure to steer clear of Remus. He was someone she didn't want to cross.

With Remus gone and Sirius like a distant memory, Elizabeth didn't have anyone anymore. She didn't want to face Remus again. He'd kissed her against her will and it was frightening. She wondered whether Sirius really had recruited Remus to do such a thing? But she hadn't seen him in months, so his anxiety and paranoia would be undoubtedly and unshamefully heightened.

Elizabeth went back to marking tests and homework and teaching classes again, this time with a sense of melancholia and a dash of anger in her blood. Being lonely again drove away sleep and brought intrusive thoughts back like a hunter coming across a rangale of deer. Elizabeth teeter over-so-slightly towards the point of being depressed but fought against it by going outside and reading because Harry.

She couldn't loose herself when he needed her. The end of the year was approaching at the speed of a train and Elizabeth had to hold on tight otherwise she'd fall off onto the tracks. She took a shower once a day, went outside for atleast an hour a day and forced herself to eat three meals a day. A perfect regime, yet, something was missing.

She cycled through books like she was a child who'd been given a sack of lollies and told to 'go for it'. She breathed in the fresh air, nailing the depression to the back of her mind so that she could try and avoid even thinking about it. She just had to avoid it. Fight the loneliness. Be good for Harry. Save yourself for Harry. That is all you're here for. Elizabeth didn't know whether Dumbledore would be happy to flick the time-turner back another nine months for a re-do.

More fabricated Sirius sightings came out in the Daily Prophet without fail. Articles proposed that he was in Inverness, then he 'went' south to Aviemore then he was seen back up in Elgin and soon enough speculations began that he was taking a tour of the Scottish Highland, getting a taste of what he'd missed in Azkaban for all those years.

After two weeks of speculation, the big one hit the paper. The winner. The dipper. The headline to end them all. REGULUS BLACK SEEN IN KNOCKTURN ALLEY. Alongside it was a deeply contrasted moving picture that featured a young mans back entering a shop Elizabeth didn't recognise.