Chapter 35: The Sacrifice
Calista ran, heading for the far side of the lake. She didn't know how very near she was to the site of Lucius' first attack on Lily, but she wouldn't have cared if she did. She had not lied to Remus; the Mudblood did not matter to her.
"Serene!" She heard Spike calling to her, but she did not want to deal with an interrogation tonight. She made a sharp right and veered away from the lakeshore. It was a shame Spike had anticipated this from her. He caught her and held her small, struggling form in his strong arms.
"Tell me everything," he demanded of her.
"Let me go!"
"Not until you talk to me!"
"No! Let me go, let me go!" She was screaming, beating at Spike with her fists but he was much, much stronger than her and she did no damage.
"You're part of all this, aren't you? Aren't you?" He was furious, grabbing her by her bleeding forearms. "You--" He felt something amid the blood seeping from her arm and he held her body against him with one arm, heedless of her struggles, while he wiped away the blood from her left forearm to reveal her gruesome, bleeding burn.
"You hag," he whispered. "You're not part of this; you're the cause of it all!"
Spike threw Calista from him in disgust and she fell to the ground in a heap, scraping the palms of her hands on the rocky ground. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Calista.
"Reach for your own and I'll hex you," he threatened. "You are going to tell me everything, slowly, so I don't miss anything. And don't lie to me, Serene, because if you do and I find you, it's all over."
"You mean I still have a chance?" she asked sarcastically. Spike smiled grimly at her.
"Depends on what you have to tell me."
There was a burst of red light and Spike was launched off of his feet and thrown to the ground several feet away. Calista looked up in surprise to see Severus Snape standing where Spike had been, wand aloft and a blazing fury in his eyes.
"You owe me big time," he muttered to Calista as he helped her to her feet.
"We'll discuss that later," she said coldly. She wrenched her hand out of his grasp and rubbed her aching arm. The mark was still bleeding profusely and she was beginning to get a bit dizzy.
"Here," Severus said softly. He pulled a black scarf out of his pocket and tied it tight around the brand.
"Thank you," Calista said softly.
"We'll talk later," Severus said shortly, "but we need to deal with him." he jerked his head in the direction of the motionless form of Spike.
"Memory Charm again?"
"Seems like a good idea, don't you think?"
Calista nodded as she and Severus walked over to Spike. Calista let out a gasp and grabbed Severus by the arm. Spike's head was lying on a large rock, blood seeping out from underneath his head. Severus knelt down quickly and put his hand very near the boy's mouth and nose.
"Damn," he whispered.
"Is he dead?" Calista suddenly felt amazingly calm.
"Yes," Severus said. He stood and wiped his hands on his robes. "I'm not sure what to do next," he admitted.
"I do." Severus turned to Calista in surprise. Her face was grim and determined, her eyes were calm, and when she spoke, her voice was even and assured.
"We have to bury him."
*********
The werewolf was raging throughout the house, ripping up everything in its path. It was in a terrible fury and hungry to boot. It saw the door Calista had not closed behind her on her hasty exit. It was about to exit and forage for food when a large, bear-like dog stepped in its path.
The wolf snarled and charged. Just before it made contact with the dog, it was lifted off of its feet by the antlers of a large stag, who threw the wolf into a wall. The door was kicked shut by the dog's back leg and now the wolf, the dog and the stag were trapped inside.
Spit drooled from the corner of the wolf's mouth as it snarled at the other two animals. They were backing it into a corner, and neither was easy prey. It saw a rat dart from the far wall and head into the hallway, but it could not get to the rat easily enough so it didn't try.
The air was suddenly filled with a new scent and it sniffed hungrily. Human. It looked at there and saw that there was a boy in the doorway, holding a stick of wood. The human inside the wolf recognized it as a wand, being held by his friend. A stream of light poured out of this wand and enveloped the wolf. It howled in protest, but there was more human scent in the air now. The other animals were gone and men stood in their places, holding wands of their own. More light flowed from their wands until it was completely cocooned in light.
It felt itself calming, relaxing and he found he wasn't hungry anymore, just sad. But his friends were here and Remus was glad of that. He was still bathed in bright blue light, and he realized he was seeing colors again.
Remus felt his claws retract and collapsed into a shuddering, naked, sweating mass on the dirty floor. Peter ran and grabbed a blanket that was covering an old armchair and tossed it over Remus as the light faded. It was smelly and the rough woolen material scratched his skin, but it covered him so he didn't complain. Remus was himself again.
Sirius, James and Peter were at his side in an instant. Sirius took his friend's hand and brushed his damp hair back from his forehead.
"Moony, are you all right?"
Remus found he could not speak, so he simply nodded. He was ashamed to realize tears were mixing with the sweat on his face, but it was too late to hide them now.
"What happened?" James asked cautiously. Remus shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't tell them, not yet. The grief was still too near, and he knew he'd change again if he talked about Calista. So he said nothing.
"It's going to be all right Moony," James said soothingly.
"Everything's ok mate," Sirius said. Peter remained strangely silent, but Remus was still very glad he was here. He needed all his friends with him now. They didn't have to know what was happening, they just had to be here.
He was so tired all of a sudden. He just wanted to go to sleep now, here on the floor, he didn't care. His limbs were so heavy, the world so blurry. Sirius and James helped him to his feet, keeping the blanket around him and Peter held his wand aloft, tip lit to lead the way, as Sirius and James carried Remus back to the castle.
*********
The hole was deep, at least five feet, maybe more. They didn't dare dig any deeper or they would hit water. Severus was surprised they had gotten as deep as they had, considering how close they were to the lake.
Severus grabbed Spike's head, Calista his legs and they threw him unceremoniously into his makeshift grave. His limp body landed with a thud and Calista and Severus stood there a moment, appraising thebody.
"You look like you're going to be sick," Calista commented without looking at Severus. She felt slightly queasy herself but held it in nicely. "You should be used to this by now. You killed your own sacrifice and took care of the body. The only reason they ever found Sara was because I didn't get back there in time." When Severus didn't comment, she turned to him.
"Right?" she pressed.
"I never killed anyone. The Master came up with the initiation idea after I had joined. You and Peter are the only ones who've done it so far."
There was complete silence from Calista and maybe that was why he didn't see the attack coming. She launched herself at him, screaming obscenities at the top of her lungs, her nails scratching and clawing at his face. They fell over, with Calista on top flailing and swinging at him. He felt her nails dig into his face very near his eyes and he realized she was actually trying to scratch his eyes out. He somehow grabbed hold of her wrists and forced them away from his face.
"Now is not the time for this," he yelled.
Calista drew back and spit in his face and tried to get at him, but he had her hands in a firm grasp now and she was weak from the loss of blood.
"We can kill each other later," he panted, "but we have to take care of this first!"
Calista stopped and glared at him, her eyes like daggers, but she got off of him and backed away. Severus stood cautiously and tried to regain his breath.
"We have to fill the grave," she said shortly. She turned away from him and picked up her wand. Severus heaved a sigh of relief that she wasn't going to attack him again.
"I heard that," she said.
"I heard that," he mimicked under his breath.
"I heard that too."
"Knock it off," he said roughly as he went to her side, holding his own wand.
They had magically filled the grave with dirt, covering Spike with five feet of earth. They had just started to place large rocks over the grave when Severus stopped.
"I heard something," he said.
"Now he gets a conscience," Calista muttered, heaving a large rock in her small hands.
"Use your wand, twit," he said irritably, "and I really heard something. Listen!"
Calista dropped her rock and stood quietly. There were screams . . . screams coming from under the ground . . . where they had buried Spike.
"I thought you said he was dead!" Calista whirled on Severus, who jumped backward, hands up to protect his face.
"He wasn't breathing," Severus said defensively.
"That doesn't mean dead, you idiot!"
Calista balled her hands into fists, raised her face to the sky and let out an earth shattering scream of frustration.
"We have to get him out," Severus said quickly. He lifted his wand and pointed it at the grave, intending to magically un-dig the grave. Calista's hand on his wrist stopped him.
"Why?"
"WHAT?!?!" He stared at Calista, aghast. She can't be serious. Calista looked at Severus and in that long, cold moment, there positions were changed forever.
"Consider this your sacrifice."
Severus stared at her, disbelieving. She's not doing this. Calista, he had thought, was not a malicious person. Twisted, yes, devious certainly, but evil? He had told Lucius she'd had the potential for great things with the Master but in two seconds she had surpassed even Lucius' expectations. She's not doing this, he thought again. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he came to the realization that she most certainly was doing this to him, and it was all his fault.
"He's alive," Severus insisted.
Calista turned from him and conjured large rocks to cover the grave, further muffling Spike's screams for help issuing from the ground. She turned back to Severus with a malevolent smile on her face.
"Not for long."
********
~Coast of Ireland~
Sirius, now in human form, was almost to the top of the very tall cliffs that lined the Irish shore. Just a bit farther now, he told himself. Finally, he reached the top and pulled himself onto the grassy earth, completely exhausted. He laid there, his limbs aching, gasping for breath. Laughter bubbled over his lips and he rolled over to observe the night sky for the first time in twelve years.
It was more wonderful than he had remembered. Glittering stars dotted the heavens and the moon was almost full, its bright glow lighting the field in which he lay. Sirius hugged himself joyfully and laughed and laughed, taking a precious moment to revel in his freedom. The air was sweet with the smell only those who have been imprisoned can appreciate. The air was cool on his face, the grass soft under him. He was a bit chilled in his still- damp clothes, but he didn't care. He'd been much colder in Azkaban.
He stood on his bare feet and slowly stretched out his limbs as far as he could. His spine crackled; it was not used to this much movement. Sirius laughed again and flung his arms out, spinning in circles like a child.
Free at last . . . free at last. And now to Harry . . .