17 | S H E L L C O T T A G E

this will all blow over in time.

   THE UPCOMING HOURS at Shell Cottage felt like glue. The day passed slowly, and even slower passed the night. Ember failed to find anything to distract her running thoughts. Mostly they were circling around Ron's words, trying hard to figure out what gave him the impression that she, Ember, had feelings for someone else than him.

   But the more she allowed her thoughts to wander, the clearer got the fact that it indeed had been foreseeable that in the end it would be Hermione. It was like a slow building lovestory all along the way. But who was hers?

   This night she couldn't sleep, Ember spent on that very same spot she had been sitting with Harry not so long ago, listening to all those well hidden secrets he finally dared to uncover, and while she kept on staring into the starry night, worries and fears crept up beneath her shivering skin.

   She returned to the kitchen in the early morning hours. The lights were still out, it was quiet and peaceful, and so his voice almost gave her a heart attack.

   "Can't find any sleep, Emmie?", Remus said, leaned against the counter and staring at the sea, where the sun slowly began to rise.

   "What are you doing here?", Ember sharply asked, her mind racing.

   "I arrived late in the evening yesterday, having to inform Bill what's going on recently", Remus replied, smiling at her. "He agreed that I might stay a little bit longer to have a talk with you as well. We thought you were asleep."

   "Oh." Ember sunk in one of the chairs nearby the kitchen table. "No, I had been outside. Had to think about some stuff that's keeping me awake anyway. So I thought I could as well overthink with a view."

   "I see", he chugged and sat down as well. "You know I still feel the urge to tell you that running away and looking for Peter was —"

   "I know, I know", Ember muttered, running her fingers through her raven black hair. "Something snapped. I thought — I didn't want to be completely useless. I didn't want to be a burden."

   "You never were." He shifted in his seat, placing his elbows onto the table plate and leaned forward. "Have you found what you've been looking for?"

   Ember sighed, then shook her head. "No. Nothing at all." Her eyes fixated Remus' face. "Did you know he did an Unbreakable Vow?"

   Remus forehead wrinkled, but slowly he nodded. "It was Sirius, who talked your parents into that. He did the same for Harry." He made a pause. "Nobody could be fully trusted back then, not even you closest friends. Peter proved that."

   "But still they made him their secret keeper ..."

   "Because sometimes you just had to trust someone."

   Ember nodded, but didn't say a thing, and so the two of them fell silent for quite a while. The rising sun painted the semi dark kitchen in warm colours as they just quietly sat there.

   "Well, seems like I can't get out of this shadow thing", Ember finally broke the silence. "Peter refused to tell me, and now he's dead. But how on earth could he think this would keep me safe?"

   "I don't know, Emmie", Remus replied. "I really don't know. Erebokinesis is one of the mightiest gifts our kind could archive. As long it's under the owners control. I don't have to tell you what happens otherwise."

   "If it is that powerful, why doesn't everyone plant it?"

   "It's not that easy. And I have to admit I am still more than surprised that from all the people I know it was Peter conjuring that darkness in you." The sun stood high enough now to enlighten Remus' tired face. The grey strains of his hair reflected the warm light. "The soul of the host needs to be pure."

   "Like a child's ..."

   It wasn't a question, nevertheless, Remus nodded. "A young child. Innocent. Unprejudiced. A perfect place to root and grow." He sighed and took her hand. "Go to bed, Emmie. You need a few hours of sleep."

   But it was the moment Ember got to her feet, her hand sliding out of Remus' grip, that a excruciating pain shot through her forehead and she stumbled forward, getting a hold of the sink to steady her trembling body. The breath hitched in her throat, tiny white lights started exploding in front of her eyes and the sea outside the window became a blurry framed picture of dark blue and burning crimson.

   "Say it again!" murmured a cold voice. "Say it again!"

   "Wh—what?", Ember stammered, her voice almost fainting, as she frantically looked around to find the source of this words. But the only one her eyes found was Remus right next to her, who looked highly alarmed.

    "Impostors? What impostors? I thought Gringotts had ways of revealing impostors? Who were they?"

   The voice, though calm, seemed to explode in her ears. Remus lips were moving, but Ember knew it wasn't him speaking those threatening sounds.

   "And they took?", the voice rising, a terrible fear swinging within the words. "Tell me! What did they take?"

   Remus grabbed her shoulders, harshly shaking her, his lips moving faster, as if he was screaming at her, but no sound reached her ears; the kitchen door flew open and Bill rushed in, his face white; then Fleur, dressed in her pyjamas, looking flustered at Ember, before her eyes flickered to Remus. She said something Ember couldn't hear, and Remus cupped the young girl's face between his hands, his eyes filled with fear, as words that remained silent stumbled from his lips.

   Ember's throat was about to burst as her own mouth opened and a scream erupted from the depths of her lungs. It exploded in her ears, and Remus jerked back, hands leaving Ember's face, just for his arms to pull her in a tight hold, pressing her against his chest, as if this was the only way to stop the cry that hollowed through the early morning in this peaceful place.

   Remus held her tight, as she screamed on and on, not knowing what would happen if he didn't. He threw a desperate gaze at Bill, who looked just as helpless as Remus himself felt.

   Suddenly it stopped.

   Ember was shaking violently against Remus' chest.

   "Emmie!", he gasped, grabbing her shoulders to hold her an arm length away from himself, examining her paper white face. She was panting heavy, her eyes staring into Remus', drowning in anxiety. "Emmie, what is it?"

   She opened her mouth, her lips were moving, but no sound came out.

   "Again, love, again, I can't understand you." He watched her swallowing hard, before she pressed out one single word.

   "Hogwarts."

   Her knees buckled, giving in, her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and Remus once more closed his arms around her, so she wouldn't hit the ground.

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