Frigus . Sirius Black (Mortem BOOK 2)

chapter eighty-four

January 25th, 1981 - Order Safe House 

Collective Order meetings had long since become a thing of the past, the risk of a spy within their ranks was too high to have a lot of people meet up in one place. So, when Nephera got a patronus from Moody that morning informing her that a bunch of people were meeting up in a safe house, she had gotten suspicious, to say the least. 

Nephera's nerves were always on edge lately, her research was still going nowhere. No traces of any new horcruxes, although she had accepted that months ago, frankly, and none of her connections had heard anything about what her mother had been doing in Paris. Her best guess, judging by what she and Remus had found, was that her mother was there collecting more objects for Riddle to turn into Horcruxes. 

But even that didn't make sense. They had already found, and destroyed, two of them. Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, and Salazar Slytherin's locket. By Nephera's calculations, there should be at least one more, Helga Hufflepuff's cup, so that made three. It would be too risky to keep going, Horcruxes were already a tricky business, nasty and fickle spell, but doing it so many times, dividing your soul so many times, into smaller and smaller pieces each- 

Riddle was paranoid, surely, he was a narcissist, he thought he could pull it off, and he was a great wizard, he had the talent and ability to do so, but would he really risk himself like that? 

Before she could even continue to mull it over in her head, she had reached the home, unlocking the wards around it without much trouble. Nephera walked in, surprised to see only one familiar face, Moody. She assumed the rest were newer recruits, she had never seen any of them and they were definitely green considering the way one of them actually squeaked when she walked into the room. They all looked roughed up, very much so, the question was what did it have to do with her. She raised an eyebrow at the boy, who couldn't have been more than nineteen years old, turning to Moody, "What's the meaning of this?" she asked 

"Sit down, Nephera, there's news," 

"What happened?" her voice turned even harsher, alarm bells ringing in her head 

Moody opened his mouth to respond, with what, Nephera did not know, and perhaps Moody wasn't sure either, judging by the way he opened and closed it a few times, before more voices were heard from the back room, "I'm just saying," she recognised Remus's voice, "Given the circumstances, I'm not sure it's the best idea to have everyone here-" 

"Remus," she called out as he, Peter, and Dumbledore walked into the room 

Peter's eyes widened, "Too late," he muttered 

Nephera took a step forward, "Dumbledore. Tell me what the hell's going on. Why's Moody acting like he's just shat his pants, and what the fuck was Remus talking about? Who are all these people?" 

Remus cleared his throat, better she hear the news from him than Dumbledore, she figured, "There was an attack, while they were patrolling," he pointed to the group of new members, "There was- Nephera- It's-" 

The brunette could feel her blood pressure rising, for the first time in her life, she didn't know what the hell was going on, and she couldn't even begin to guess. All she knew was something was wrong, as though a massive shift had taken place in the universe, and the last time she felt that way- Well, the last time she felt that way, Ellie and Tony had died, "Where's Sirius?" she asked, he was supposed to be at work, she knew that, but- 

"Sirius is-" began Peter, "He's in the back room, but-" 

Nephera did not wait any longer, did not wait for him to finish whatever the hell he was about to say before she practically shoved the three of them out of the way as she ran down the narrow hallway, flinging herself inside the dimly lit room in the back, "Sirius?" she called out