Frigus . Sirius Black (Mortem BOOK 2)

chapter sixty-eight

May 1st, 1980 - Lupin Cottage 

It was the night of the full moon, the first one after Gideon had died and Nephera had been taken, and none of the four boys were feeling up to it. They were all gathered in Lupin Cottage, Remus sleeping for a few hours before the moon fully rose in the sky. Nights like this were typically tense, everyone either napping to prepare for the night or downing coffee like it was the only thing keeping them alive, and it typically does. This night, though, none of the three remaining boys were doing anything other than sitting on the couches, staring at eachother. 

It had been about a week since they had seen Nephera, since Nephera had tried to attack them, meaning that she'd been missing for two weeks now. They hadn't talked about that day when they saw her, not really, all of them prefering to act as though it hadn't happened. That evening, though, when the presence of the brunette girl was so evident, they couldn't exactly ignore it any longer, "It's driving me crazy, not knowing," said Sirius, brekaing the tense silence that had settled in the room 

James shook his head, "Lily's working on breaking that spell, Pads, and she'll figure it out, I'm sure of it," 

James had always been the most optimistic of the group, but this time around, it was hard of him to remain that way. Not that he had any other choice, though, not with Sirius looking hopeless enough for the both of them. He had faith in Nephera, they all had, but there was something she'd said when they saw her... 

'You're only brave when you're driving a whip up my back,' 

Riddle had told her they had done it, Riddle had told her they were the ones behind all the scars on her body. Sirius knew enough about the girl to know how much she detested them, how much she hated the look of the marred gashes on her skin, and if she thought they were the ones to do it, "I don't think she'll be able to get through this, not this one," sighed the raven-haired boy 

"We'll help her through it, right, Wormy?" 

Peter nodded, though he did not say anything. Nephera was after them, Nephera Winchester, the one both Dumbledore and Voldemort were terrified of, was after them personally. They needed to break that spell, and they needed to break that spell soon, it was a matter of his own survival at this point. 

James sighed, between Sirius complete hopelessness, Remus falling into the spiral of 'everyone. love dies', and Peter not being much help at all, he was the one left carrying the weight of the group. He didn't mind it, these people were his family and he knew they'd do the same for him at a moment's notice, but all that in combination with Nephera's predicament, and Lily's pregnancy were all getting to be too much for the boy. 

Over at Malfoy manor, Nephera was having a bath in the bathroom adjoined to her room, although she could hardly relax like she was meant to. Her eyes kept flickering to the grand windows across from her, where the sun had started to go down, painting the sky in a beautiful mix or red, orange, and yellow. The stars were beginning to shine brighter the more the sun went down, it was a full moon that night- 

It was a full moon that night. 

Her mind got stuck on that point, as though she was supposed to be somewhere else, as though she was forgetting something. 

Too many questions, too few answers. 

It seemed to be developing into a pattern in the two weeks since she'd been obvliated. A question would pop into her head, and she would have no actual way of answering it. She supposed it was normal, what with almost the entirety of her memory being altered and all. Still, whenever she asked someone, be it Riddle, or her parents, or one of the other Sacred Twnety-Eight children, she wouldn't receive a straight answer most of the time. She remembered enough about herself to know that she was a private person, she had probably never talked to them about her private life, but still, they weren't able to answer one question?