Keep Breathing ♢ James Potter

24 | No Way Out

Chapter 24

"So, Voldemort has chosen Draco Malfoy for a mission."

"I know it sounds mad," said Harry as he tried to explain to Remus about his suspicion of Draco being a death eater. So far, Remus  wasn't having any of it."

"Has it occurred to you, Harry, that Snape was simply pretending to offer Draco help, so he could find out what he was after?" Remus tried to reason with the boy, not believing that Voldemort would rely on a 16-year-old boy for the work of a death eater.

  "That's not what it sounded like,' Harry agued back.

"Perhaps Harry's right, Remus," interjected Tonks who was sitting beside Remus. "I mean to make an unbreakable vow..."

"It comes down to whether or not you trust Dumbledore's judgment. Dumbledore trusts Snape, therefore, I do."

"Dumbledore can make mistakes, he said so himself."

"You're blinded by hatred!"

"I'm not!" Harry defended himself.

"Yes, you are."

It was true that Harry was blinded by hatred, but he wouldn't admit it to himself. His gut told him that he can never trust Snape. Whatever Snape was doing, it wasn't what Dumbledore and Remus thought it was.

Harry's distrust towards the man reminded Remus of how Marauder's acted towards Severus during their time at Hogwarts. It took time before the boys matured and grew past their hatred for Snape. But even then, their hatred for the 'slimy git' wasn't fully gone.

"People are disappearing, Harry, daily." Remus sighed. "We can only place our trust in a hand full of people. If we start fighting amongst ourselves, we are doomed."

The conversation about Draco ended there as soon as Ginny joined the group and found herself sliding into the seat next to Harry. It wasn't until later that Harry decided to confront Remus again, but now to address a different question.

"Remus-" Harry tried to say before being quickly interrupted by the older gentlemen.

"Harry, if you have come back to try to convince me more about Draco, I must insist you put it to rest."

"No, it is not about that." Upon seeing Remus's lifted eyebrow, Harry continued. "I promise"

He sat down next to the man, who has been his only father figure since not only was his real father gone, but his godfather as well.

"Before returned to Hogwarts from Christmas break last year, Sirius and I talked back in Grimmauld Place..." Harry hesitated before continuing. "He told me he had a sister, a twin. Her name was Astrid."

Harry watched Remus carefully, looking for any reaction from Remus. After noticing the blank look on Remus's face, he continued. "Sirius said that she knew my father and that he believed they had a close friendship of some sort. Did you know her? Do you know if they were friends? My father and Astrid."

Remus had a small hint of something lingering in his eyes, but Harry couldn't tell what it was as he heard words fall out of Remus's mouth.

"I was well acquainted with Astrid Black. She was Prefect of the Slytherin house during her time at Hogwarts, so I had worked alongside her a few nights patrolling the corridors. Plus, she was a master at Defense Against the Dark Arts." Remus paused before continuing. "I'm not sure if they knew each other well enough during Hogwarts to be considered friends, but I do remember them being partners for DADA during our 6th year."

Remus continued. "Sirius didn't like the idea of his best mate who was practically brother having to work alongside his future-death eater sister. His words, not mine. But Sirius never complained nor never suspected that they may have been friends until their 7th year."

"What happened 7th year?" questioned Harry,  furrowing his eyebrows.

"Some rumors went around during 7th year that Voldemort was started to recruit students in Hogwarts," explained Remus. "When Sirius heard, he was furious. He believed without a shadow of a doubt that his siblings were probably first in line to get their dark marks from the Dark Lord."

"One night, Sirius happened to be checking the Marauder's Map and noticed that James and Astrid had been in the Astronomy Tower in the middle of the night, Sirius ended up going insane once your father came back to the dorm. A nasty fight broke out in the dorm that night. James insisted that Astrid being there at the same time was a coincidence, but Sirius didn't trust her. After that, Astrid was a sensitive topic, and no one was allowed to mention her name to either of them."

"Why was Sirius so angry that they were in the Astronomy tower?" questioned Harry.

"Well Harry, these were dark times for Hogwarts. More muggleborns and muggles were dying. Voldemort was recruiting more and more students from inside Hogwarts to expand his army. Sirius was suspicious about both of his siblings being death eaters at the time. So, once he noticed that Astrid had coincidentally been at the Astronomy tower that same night was James, Sirius believed that she was probably there to try and recruit James as a Death Eater."

Harry went silent as he listened to Remus explain Sirius's caution towards his sister. The young boy couldn't help but feel confused. When Sirius told Harry about Astrid, his eyes were filled with sorrow and love for the sister he lost. He no longer hated her for her role in the war. What changed?

"But Remus" interrupted Harry. "Sirius didn't seem like he hated Astrid when he told me about her. He seemed to have regretted the past between them. But from what you're telling me, it sounds like he hated her. What happened? Why didn't he hate her after her death?"

Remus shuffled in his seat as he tried to find the best way to explain such a difficult situation to the boy. "Well, Sirius never got confirmation that Astrid ever became a death eater. But he did find out that his younger brother, Regulus, had gotten marked as a death eater during our 7th year. Coincidentally the day Astrid died, Regulus was also announced dead. Although his body wasn't found, reporters said that Regulus had been killed by Death Eaters. He had probably wanted out and had tried to get out of Voldemort's inner circle. But once you're marked, there is no way out. So, the coincidence that Regulus had died by death eaters while trying to run away the same day that Astrid died made Sirius believe that-"

"That the reason why Astrid died was to help Regulus escape from the death eaters." Harry completed Remus's sentence, seeing where it was leading up to.

"Sirius no longer hated Astrid because he believed that she may have been died trying to save their little brother. Sirius blamed himself for not getting his siblings out sooner, but the damage was done. No one can bring back the dead."

Harry sat at the couch, watching as Remus patted his shoulder before walking off to find Tonks. Now Harry knew that not only did Astrid die, but a potential reason why both Astrid and Regulus had died so young. As he fiddled with his fingers, all that Harry could think about was wanting to finish reading that diary and finally found out what happened between Astrid and his father.