The Girl Who Saw Tomorrow II » Harry Potter

2.45 | Twin Tales

"Here!" yells Remus, wand aloft and pointing at the last remaining Death Eater whose mask had fallen off.

"Wait! Wait!" shouts the boy, hands raised in surrender. "It's me- it's Max!"

Remus narrowed his eyes at the boy as Sirius hurried over to his side.

"Who introduced you to us?" demands Sirius.

"What-"

"Who introduced you to us?!"

Though confused, he shook his head and tried to remember. "Dumbledore," says he. "Dumbledore introduced me as his far-off relative."

Sirius nodded at Remus, both of them lowering their wands and helping Max up to his feet.

"Sorry about that, Max," says Remus apologetically. "We had to make sure you weren't an imposter."

"I should be the one to apologise, Lupin... I had no choice but to come along with them," says Max, sighing. He thanked Sirius as he summoned his wand from where it had disappeared in the fields.

"Why did they attack?" asks Remus.

"To send a warning," mutters Max, looking at his feet in shame. "They knew Harry would be here. I tried to talk them out of it, but most of them were pretty drunk. They said they'd come here, catch everyone off-guard... Before I could do anything-"

"Sirius...?"

Markus looked up, his heart stopping.

In midst of trying to do some damage control and feeling extremely awful to be fighting against the Order, he had taken a bad hit to the head and fainted.

However, none of that mattered.

In that moment, the world stilled.

All that remained was Maggie...

She stood frozen in the middle of the garden, her wide eyes on him.

"Are you all right, Margie?" asks Sirius, pausing when she held up a hand to stop him.

"...Who's- Who is that?"

"Ah, yes, this is Maximus Smith," Sirius tells her, gesturing at him. "Don't worry, he's a part of the Order. He came here to warn us, but was a little late. Max, this is Margaret Xenakis, one of the best witches of her age. Have you two met before?"

Markus's breaths were shaky and short, eyes blurred with tears as his hands trembled at his sides. All the anger and the bitterness that had poisoned him, kept him away from his sister, his twin - it all seemed to evaporate so suddenly that he felt torturously empty. All he could do was hold Margaret's gaze, prisoner to his own panic, waiting for her to either poke him in his cage or set him free.

"Margie, what's wrong?" Sirius asks again.

She blinked at his voice, staggering back a few steps. This broke the spell and momentarily Markus could breathe again.

"Maggie..."

Margaret cut him off with a rapid shake of her head.

He was not here.

This was not happening.

This was not happening.

Surely, it must be another vision. Surely, a spell hit her and it was boggling her mind. Surely, this must be someone else.

"Who are you?" she managed to ask.

He hesitated. A flash of pain crossed his face, quick as lightening, and he looked down.