Purple Rain.

Chapter Twelve.

(Y/n) made it quite the point not to talk to any of the adults in the household (with the exception of Regulus— though, the adults went out of their way to keep (Y/n) and Regulus separated— and she found it extremely difficult to ignore Remus). She stopped turning up to the Order's meetings and locked herself in her shared room whenever they would try to come and get her. The kids, ever the saints, were working double-time to find the wands that belong to Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. They were making quite the progress but the more they emptied out the trunk and the more stuff that piled up, (Y/n) was starting to get nervous over the lack of wands.

"This is getting ridiculous!" Fred exclaimed as George took his arm out from the trunk, looking quite grim. 

"We've reached the end," George said slowly.

"What?" Ginny cried. "But we haven't found the wands!"

"Maybe they're in one of the boxes?" Harry suggested half-heartedly.

"Unless they're wrapped in some clothes, I doubt it," Hermione said. The kids sat in silence and (Y/n) rose to her feet and peered into the empty void that was her mother's trunk. 

"Toss me that flashlight, won't you?" (Y/n) asked.

"Just use your wand," George said.

"No way. I'm not risking getting in trouble this early to Sirius' trial," (Y/n) said.

"There are so many people in this household," George said. "A lot of which are of age. They won't necessarily know you did it." Ginny, Ron, and Harry looked at one another.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Hermione exclaimed. "If you have a flashlight, use it." She tossed it at (Y/n), who caught it and stepped one of her legs into the trunk, nodded at the others, and soon disappeared. The others were unable to see (Y/n) or her light, for the darkness seemed to absorb the light.

"Did we miss anything?" Ron asked.

"I think— I think there's a latch down here," (Y/n) called back. She held the flashlight in her mouth and felt around for a second before tugging on the handle she was previously looking at. It was locked. "Hey, someone come down here and give me a hand!" A moment later, she yelped as a hand blindly reached out and touched her head. "Who's that?"

"Ginny," said Ginny, crouching down. 

"Hold this," (Y/n) said, pushing the flashlight into Ginny's hand. Ginny shone it down on the floor as (Y/n) reached up and searched for the necklace that held her mother's key. She took it off her neck and tested it on the door, coming up empty-handed. "Do we have any keys up there?" she asked.

"A lot," Hermione answered. "I've been gathering them on a keychain."

"Bring it down here," (Y/n) requested. She and Ginny waited a moment with Ginny flashing around the flashlight in search of whoever came down.

"Here," Harry said. (Y/n) accepted the ring of keys and started testing them. It took a good few moments before (Y/n) had landed on the right key. She looked at Ginny and Harry as she held onto the latch.

"Open it!" Ginny exclaimed impatiently. (Y/n) obliged and they peered into the second layer of the trunk where a dim light shone from the end of a seemingly long tunnel. "Is there a ladder?" Ginny asked, peering down the dark abyss. She brought the flashlight closer and sure enough, there was.

"So... What are we going to do?" Harry asked.

"I'll go down there and check things out," (Y/n) said.

"I'll go too," Ginny said.

"No. It could be dangerous," (Y/n) said firmly. "I didn't ever get to know all about my mother and I don't know what could be down there... Cover for me if someone comes in, all right?"