Saving the Blacks

Chapter 41

Rabastan

"Carina!" I shout, begging her not to give up. I am so close, she just needs to hold on a little longer. Before I can even begin to crawl to my wand she is gone, and my world comes crumbling down. I let her down. I don't know how long I just lay there before I hear the sound of crunching glass and turn to see Rodolphus and Bellatrix coming in.

"Where are the kids?" Bellatrix asks as her voice cracks.

"Through the floo. She dropped her wand to save Sirius." I say unable to stop the tears. What good am I to her if I can't even protect her.

"We will find her." Rodolphus says, coming over and helping me up. I clench my jaw at the pain but refuse to cry out. Bellatrix hands me both our wands and I hold them tightly as we slowly make our way to the floo.

We arrive back at Grimmauld place and my father rushes over to help me make it to where a healer is waiting. It is like I am in a pensive, watching myself with no way to change anything happening around me. I try to hold onto the feel of the bond. As long as it is there then she is still alive, and I will do whatever it takes to find her. I don't feel her in pain and figure they have knocked her out. Thankfully it doesn't take long for me to be healed and while she suggests I stay in bed; I refuse to miss anything.

Being questioned by aurors goes by in a blur. The longer I sit here the antsier I become. I just need to be doing something. As the aurors are finishing up with Rodolphus and Bellatrix's interview I catch Regulus slip out of the room as Sirius distracts the adults. I follow him, the last thing we need is him attempting to run off and find her. I make it halfway down the hall when I hear soft sobbing. Opening the door, I see him curled on a bed, tears pouring down his cheeks.

"We are going to find her." I attempt to assure. Part of me says go get Walburga, I have no experience dealing with crying children, but I don't want to leave him alone. He is far too young to witness what he did.

"It's my fault." He cries and I walk over, unable to just stand there.

"No, no one blames you. Carina doesn't blame you."

"But I should have known. I can feel magic, and I didn't warn her." It hits me that he would know just how dangerous they were. I hold out my hand, not wanting to touch him if he didn't want me to. He holds his hands out to me and I take a seat on the bed as I pull him into my lap.

"You did what you were told. She would never forgive herself if you were hurt just to warn her."

"But they are going to hurt her." What did I say to that? I didn't want to lie to him, he wouldn't believe me anyways if I tried to play this off. I try to think about what Carina would do to calm him down. She seems to always know what to say to make the situation better.

"You remember we have a bond, right?" I ask and he nods. "I can feel her, I know she is alive."

He lifts his head and stares at me, as if searching for the lie.

"So, like when Aria came over scared for Sirius?" He asks and I give him a small smile.

"Yeah, right now she isn't in pain. I will do whatever it takes to bring her home. You aren't losing her and before you know it, she will be home and tell you herself that you did great for following her directions even when it was hard." There is nothing in this world that would stop me from searching for her.

"What if the bond goes quiet?"

"Then we get revenge." Just the thought has pain hitting me, but I refuse to tell him that. He needs to believe we are strong enough to find her.

"Please bring her home, I miss her." He says and I pull him into a hug.

"I promise." I whisper as he lays his head on my chest.

Walburga

All I can think about is what they will do to her as Andromeda explains what happened. She risked so much to save us, and I feel like we let her down. She is gone to protect the children. She is a talented fighter but was willing to drop her wand to protect them. I will spare no expense to find her. Those who thought it was a good idea to take one of ours will soon learn why most didn't survive when you crossed a Black. We attempted to do this politically but no more. I look at the others and know they are all thinking the same. They had declared war and we refused to lose.

When the aurors leave I realize Regulus is gone. Panic hits me, how had I not kept an eye on him. I knew he wasn't doing well with her gone.

"Orion, have you seen Regulus?" I ask, attempting to get control over my already frayed nerves. He shakes his head and looks around.

"Sirius do you know where Regulus went?" An overwhelming need to find him hits me. What if he got out of the manor? He won't understand how dangerous it is.

"He wanted to lay down." Sirius whispers. Orion calls for an elf and it doesn't take long for an elf to lead me down the hall to one of the guest rooms. I slowly open the door and see Regulus asleep in Rabastan's arms. He looks at me but doesn't release him.

"Would you like me to take him?" I whisper, not wanting to wake him.

"I got him. He just got overwhelmed." He says and I nod. I had been so worried about Carina I hadn't thought about how this would truly affect my children. Sirius and Aria slip past me and say nothing as they climb into the bed. Rabastan wraps an arm around Sirius as Aria holds his hand. I give him a small nod and step out of the room. I can only imagine what Rabastan is going through with her gone and if comforting the children helps, I won't stop him.

I make it back to where everyone is, and Orion looks at me.

"Rabastan has him."

"We cannot go out there blind. We need a plan of action." Lord Black announces, and we all turn to him.

"Money is the quickest way to get people to talk. We offer a reward to anyone who brings us information." Lord Lestrange suggests.

"I will spread the word. Money and protection if someone can bring her home safely." Lord Black says.

"I will talk to the women's group. Most know more than their husbands will admit. I might be able to get one of them to slip up." I offer, anything to help.

"We can start reaching out to the kids we know. They might have overheard something." Bellatrix adds and Rodolphus nods in agreement.

"Protection from a royal line will go a long way to help loosen lips. We have ways to get them out of the country if need be." Lord Winters says, and everyone breaks off to start spreading the word. This has to work. We have no idea where she could be and just need a place to start.