ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴏᴜʀᴛʜ ᴡᴀʟʟ | ᴍᴀʀᴀᴜᴅᴇʀꜱ ᴇʀᴀ

xxxvii. back

Callie opened her eyes.

She blinked. Once, Twice.

Fog covered her head but she knew where she was.

But that couldn't be...

Even with her head spinning, Callie raised her head and looked about. And it was either her eyes were tricking her or she really woke up in their house, in her room, on her bed. Scratch that. They actually woke up in her room.

She saw the Marauders and Regulus minus Peter when she looked around. They were all over her room as tired as she was. Maybe even more.

She got up, matching their groans as they woke up too.

"What happened?" James asked while massaging the back of his head that luckily hit on her study table—sarcasm intended.

That was the very right question to ask. What happened? One moment, they were about to die under the Killing Curse. The next, they woke up in a strange room with a wall full of books and things that resembled the Wizarding World one way or another. The question shouldn't be what but how did that happen?

Callie sat up, trying to think straight in exchange for a slight pound in her head.

"Where are we?" Remus looked around the small room. They somehow looked like a muggle's room but, there were weird things like that swivel chair that didn't look like it belong to the 70s.

"In my room."

"What?"

Regulus saw his brother and helped Sirius sit up. The Drink of Despair and Cruciatus Curse weren't the best combinations—he'd take note of that. But a brother's help sure did make things feel better—he'd also take note of that.

"Oh, god, Sirius!" She ran to and knelt to them. Her hand were frantic over the oldest Black brother as he leaned on the wall of her room. "How do you feel? Do you need more water?"

"I'm fine," he dismissed quickly. "Just tired."

Callie nodded. They all were tired.

With the Cruciatus Curse and other torture they underwent, of course, they'd be defeated physically. Especially James and Remus who both hadn't experienced such pain of a curse in their life. Sirius with the potion. And her, Callie with the wound in her forearm Bellatrix inflicted.

She looked down at it. Only then did it hurt again. It looked hideous. It made her want to throw up and cry. It wasn't just a spell that could be countered, it was a wound that would scar when it healed. She would be forever reminded of that one faithful day she chose to defy the worst witch.

But if that was the price she had to pray to keep these boys alive no matter where they were, then so be it. She walked to her drawer and grabbed a plastic box, her first aid kit. She put it on her bed as Remus and James got up and walked around.

She took the cotton and antiseptics, poured the liquid onto the cotton, and cleaned her wounds. With Bellatrix's deep handwriting, Callie gasped every time the cotton would hit her skin. Her wand penetrated deep layers of her skin.

The boys heard it, of course. And they wanted nothing more but to go back in time and stop Bellatrix from doing such a thing she considered art.

Regulus wanted to get up and help her. But he was also attending to Sirius. And Sirius saw he was conflicted. He pat his brother's back and tilted his head in Callie's direction, telling him he should help her instead. Hesitating, Regulus got up with one last nod from his brother. Remus and James sat in his place.

"Hey," Regulus' hushed voice called.

Callie looked up and followed him as he sat beside her. He took the cotton in her hand and gently held her injured forearm so that he wouldn't hurt her.