Paradox | T. Riddle ✔

~•4.2•~

Sirius was taken aback to see the distressed woman sitting in the parlor of his best friend's family house. She was no longer the beautiful and radiant Eleanor Troy he recalled from their school days, she had changed drastically.

He had come to Rem's place soon as he had received the message through the wolf Patronus he had sent. It was shocking for Sirius to know that his brother's fiance wanted to meet him but even more shocking for him was to see her in person.

She held an almost empty teacup in both her hands as if worried it would fall if she didn't hold it tightly. Her cherry pink lips were set together in a thin line and her marble green irises were clouded with worry, dark rings of fatigue outlining her eyes.

"Ellie?"

She looked up and those terror-stricken eyes connected with his stormy grey irises.

Seeing her as such hurt him. True, he might not be one of her closest friends but he knew her long enough to say that he cared for her. Besides she was Reg's fiance, the only member of the Black household who he still considered as family.

"Sirius," she placed the cup on the table in front of her and stood up gracefully, yet he noticed there was a tremor in her voice and she looked as if she had cried.

Out of instinct, he had stepped closer, concern increasing with every passing second, "what happened?"

She tried to speak up but her voice shook, "Reg... H-he... He is... Missing."

His face paled upon hearing that from her. He knew Regulus was a Death Eater and if he was missing then it was clear that Lord Voldemort himself had a huge part in his disappearance. Had he been captured by the Order, Sirius would have known.

"Sit down," he spoke in a gentle tone but his senses had jolted into a frenzy as well upon hearing about his brother, "and tell me everything."

Eleanor thought for a while about what she should tell Sirius. Should she only tell him about how Reg had disappeared, repeating what she knew from the past, or should she tell him about the entire time travel incident as well?

"I could give you more time, Ellie, but I feel like we'll be compromising Reg's safety if we delay it any further," that once, Sirius's voice was resolute as if he had decided to save his brother from Lord Voldemort no matter what the cost.

"For all I know, he might not be even..." But she couldn't complete the sentence and held her head in her hands, the throbbing in her temples getting unbearable.

Remus and Sirius exchanged a glance after which Sirius tentatively reached out to clasp her shoulder in a reassuring gesture, "nothing will come out of speculating."

"But it's not speculation, I know!" She almost erupted but controlled her outburst just in time. 

However, it had made both the marauders suspicious that there was much more that Ellie was hiding from them. "What do you know?"

"I know that he will kill Regulus if he hasn't done so already," she looked paranoid as she resumed, voice shaking violently, "just like he killed my family... He won't spare him. He won't..."

"But why? As much as I don't approve of it, Regulus is a Death Eater. He's on his side," Sirius remarked, eyes observing her reaction closely, "why would he kill one of his own men?"

"He may be a Death Eater but he was searching for a way to get rid of Voldemort," she let out the truth that made the blood freeze in the veins of the two young men standing in front of her, "and he found out that Reg was going to betray him. So he... He..."

An eerie silence engulfed them and neither of them knew how to resume the conversation. However, the silence was broken when Remus put forward the question that was bothering him, "even if it is as you're saying, how do you know?"

Sirius looked at him then back at Eleanor. Rem's question held a point; how could she know?

There wasn't a Dark Mark on her lower left arm, as they both could clearly see the plain white skin due to the frilled sleeves stopping at her elbows. There was no sign of an attempt to remove the mark either which showed she was not a Death Eater.

Then how could she know and say with conviction what Lord Voldemort was really up to?

"Let's take things one at a time," Sirius sighed and drew back, pondering over everything he had heard so far, "why was Regulus trying to get rid of Voldemort?"

Guilt engulfed her features and she looked down at her slightly trembling hands, "he was upset because of me. If I hadn't been with him at the time my family got wiped out, I would have been dead too. I couldn't get to ask Reg but I feel like he was doing all he could to stop Voldemort because of me."

Remus could understand why she was blaming herself and silently conveyed to Sirius that her reaction was genuine, she wasn't putting up an act. Sirius thought the same but was still being cautious.

The Order had almost been infiltrated by Death Eaters in disguise once before and they could not let it repeat. Eleanor might be genuine but there was still a lot that she was keeping from them.

And they couldn't take her to the Order until they were fully sure of where her loyalties lay and until she told them everything.

"Ellie, as much as I want to trust you, I can't," he replied solemnly, an apology written in his eyes, "at least not until you tell us the full truth. If you want us to trust you, you will have to do the same. Trust us enough to tell us the truth, without omitting anything."

"The truth is not something you would believe," she looked away, reconsidering her decision of trying to reach out to them.

Perhaps she would have to find another way to get rid of Voldemort.

"Try us," he remarked, voice steady and confident, "I want to help you and I want to save my brother. I will believe you, provided you give us the truth."

She thought for a while but then made her decision and from the small pouch she was carrying, she drew out the golden time turner, holding it up for them to see.

"A time-turner?" Rem's brow furrowed as he had already begun to connect the dots.

"I traveled back in time to kill Voldemort," she spoke up, her voice steadying a bit when she saw no judgment in their eyes, "and I succeeded. But in doing so, I created a paradox. I kept reliving that time loop and each time I would kill him, I would be taken back to the time I had come to when I first used this time turner. It wasn't until I stopped killing him that the paradox finally broke. I made a deal with him to spare Regulus and Esmeralda in exchange for his life. But he didn't keep his word."

Sirius was dumbfounded but Remus understood what she was talking about. He had read about the incidents time travelers had gotten into in the past and he could grasp the meaning of what she had told him.

He knew she wasn't lying.

"If you don't believe me and still can't trust me, I understand," she had risen from her seat, placing the time-turner back in the pouch, "thank you for the tea, Mister Lupin. I shall take my leave now."

"No, wait," Remus stopped her and she halted, a slight glimmer of hope in her heart that they might change their mind, "you gave us the truth and now it's our turn to help you out."

"Remus?" Sirius looked up, the shock slowly fading, "is this really true...?"

"She's telling the truth," he replied and then looked back at Eleanor, "we will take you to the Order, Miss Troy."

"Thank you," she breathed out in relief but couldn't overlook Sirius's silence.

Sirius did not object because he knew Remus never made haste in taking a decision. He must have thought the entire situation through much deeper than he could himself.

"Sirius," Eleanor turned towards him, "I will help the Order out in any way I can, provided that they help me to get rid of Voldemort and save Reg if he's still alive."

He took in a deep breath and nodded, "we shouldn't lose any second then. If Reg is alive, we should find him first. Rem, go to the headquarters and alert them, I will bring Ellie over when everything's sorted."

***