Characters: Amarissa Cross and Sirius Black Location: Grimmald Place Date: Monday, August 25, 2001 Time: Early Morning Rating: PG
Amarissa had been having a difficult time falling asleep properly. There was the constant tug of exhaustion, strongly fortified by the fact that she still was feeling worn down by the after effects of the hexes that had lashed against her. The healing that had been done was effective, but that didn't stop her from feeling as though there was still a palpable layer of dark magic wrapped around her skin, making it feel a bit too raw in the places where the wounds had been the most severe. It also didn't help that her flesh was still a little pinker in some areas, visual proof of what had happened. She was forced to make a vain attempt at finding some semblance of sleep, but her mind almost wouldn't allow her to. There was too much to think about, too much to process and work out. Everything was changed now, not only in her work but also within her job. She knew that as soon as she related back the information that there were those that had returned her, a Death Eater no less, there would be some shift in responsibility. Perhaps they would ask her to stay longer. Or send someone else to help her. The idea of another Auror showing up to deal with this issue seemed to be nearly an invasion of her personal affairs. This was one of the Death Eaters that attacked her family - whenever her eyes were shut, she could see the imprint of the bracelet on the woman's wrist. And she could remember when her mother had first given the bracelet to Sofia. All the issues and emotions attached with them clawed at the back of Amarissa's head until she finally surrendered to the fact that she wasn't going to sleep. It was too much to just lie in the bed within the strange house she had been taken in by. And it was a strange house, there was no denial of that. There were things that seemed to linger around the corners, a lurking sensation that chased up her spine and made her feel younger than she was and certain that there was something under the bed or pressed against the door of the closet.
Which of course, was why Amarissa was sent moving from the room that she had been placed in to wander about the halls. It was almost a morbid sense of curiosity paired with boredom that sent her peeking into rooms that seemed to only have recently been cleaned up slightly. They all had an air of being full of dust and antiques, as though everything had sat still for a long time. Inevitably, she rounded into one of the more open rooms of the house. It was dimly lit, but compared to most rooms was relatively free of any sort of decoration or furniture. Frowning for a moment, it took Amarissa a moment to realize just what she was looking at - a large tapestry that covered every wall, precise stitching detailing out name after name, dates of birth and death, tiny tendrils connecting names in marriage and relations. Taking a step closer, she ran two fingers carefully over the fabric, starting to absorb the names that were detailed across it. It didn't take her long to find the section that was newest, where the names were familiar, had become household names to nearly everyone over the last few decades. Narcissa Malfoy. Bellatrix Lestrange. Sirius Black.
Amarissa couldn't help but blink a little in stunned surprise as she realized precisely what she was looking at - a tree that mapped out the expanse of the Black family line. The significance of this, the fact that she was being kept in a home that quite clearly had homed the Black family at one point wasn't lost on her. It seemed that there would have been few people who would have been interested in living in such a home and keeping these artifacts in the house. And she wasn't one to pass up the coincidences, not now, not after she had seen exactly was going on around them at the moment. It didn't help that as soon as she read the name just barely distinguishable underneath a large burn mark, the posters that had hung all around her office for the longest time were suddenly visible again.
The similarities in appearance were far too great to pass up either.
Oh hell. The potential of just what she was thinking just about made Amarissa's head spin. But there was only one clear cut way to make sure. As if one cue, she could hear the soft noise from the television come to life, tinkering images and sound into the house. Not one to shy away from what had to be done, Amarissa hastily left the room and headed for the kitchen. There was already evidence of some breakfast having been started. Nosing around the room a bit further, Amarissa collected together what she needed to make tea and put the kettle on the stove. Waiting made her nervous, as though she were going to be caught any moment. Biting down a bit on her lower lip, she toyed with the tiny vial that looked, for all the world, to just be a charm on one of her bracelets. It had been a lesson of one of her more paranoid teacher who carried around with him far more items than she. But carrying veritaserum had always proved more worthwhile than not.
She took down two cups from one of the shelves, and poured two cups of tea. Without waiting or thinking too much about what she was doing, she poured the contents of the vial into one of the cups watching as the liquid dissolved. Carefully nothing which cup it was, Amarissa started into the other room.