Inheritance (02/02)
Inheritance (02/02)
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairings: Sirius Black/Dorcas Meadowes, James Potter/Lily Potter, Frank Longbottom/Alice Longbottom
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mentions of death, angst
Summary: The Orders numbers start to fall, and things grow tense each time they meet after a death or disappearance, each wondering who will be the next to go. The beginning of the end all starts with a mask.
Notes: Written for 100quills, prompt #035~Mask. Cut text comes from Three Doors Down Here Without You. Inspired by the fact that the Death Eater masks made by the WB for the movies and The Noble Collection are personalised and not just plain white.
When Gideon and Fabien go, people are shocked, and Molly rails at them as they do what she sees as invading her brothers' home. It's Dorcas that takes most of the abuse, letting Molly pound with her fists on her chests and sides as the redhead sobs, until she's shaking with the accusations as well as the blows.
Frank and Sirius try to pull her off of the blonde, the former shocked that Dorcas isn't fighting back, isn't defending herself. "That's enough." He says, but the damage is done.
Dorcas flees, blonde hair flying behind her, and the door slamming in her wake. Sirius curses and both he and James give chase, but it's too late--she's dissolved into the shadows.
~*~
It's your fault! The words assail Dorcas' mind, and she knows they're true. You were there! You stood there and let them kill my brothers, you bitch! She had been there, she had practically been helping, and she couldn't help but feel her resolve quail under that knowledge.
Desperately, almost, she goes to church, and falls to her knees in a pew, waiting for her turn at confession, hurriedly covering her hair with some scarf or other as she nearly bites through her lips.
~*~
Everyone waits when Dorcas goes missing, and no one wants to say what has to be said. the one time Remus tries, Sirius just throws him a dirty look, and leaves the room returning with a glass of gin and tonic--without the tonic. It's only when Moody reports her body found--dumped at the Ministry and maimed almost beyond recognition that Sirius heaves a sigh and lets them into her posh flat.
It's all very Cassie, light and airy, with big windows and secret hiding spots. Sirius sits in the bathroom and no one asks him anything, but he knows what they're thinking and it only makes him irate--he doesn't want their pity. It's Alice with the kind eyes and smooth hands that brings him something, something he had seen three times before.
A mask. Dorcas' Death Eater mask, a delicately formed thing that had was engraved with tiny, wispy feathers, perfect in their minuscule detail. He stares at the empty holes where her eyes had looked through so often, and whispered a thank you.
It's the mask that unravels so much, because the other Marauders catch him staring at it all too often, from where it stands on his fireplace, and the nagging doubts start, not just in everyone else's mind, but in Sirius' own. He meets with Regulus, secretly, but Remus finds out and tells Dumbledore. No one tells him that they know.
Lily starts as a door swings shut while she's feeding Harry and despite everything, a shiver runs down her back.
~*~
After the last battle Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron go through #12 Grimmauld Place, trying to make it habitable as they turn it into a place where they can work and live while trying to round up the last straggling Death Eaters. Sirius' room is the last that they go through, for the sake of sparing Harry the pain. Ginny screams as she opens a box that was stored under the bead, when she sees a silver face staring up at her.
it takes only a moment for everyone to be at her side, and timidly, Harry picks it up and turns it over. "It's a Death Eater mask." He said in shock. "Maybe it was a trophy of one he killed."
Hermione takes it and holds it up to her face. "It's a girl's Death Eater mask, there's no way this would fit on a man." It doesn't even fit her properly and she turns it over. "It must be from the first war, I've never seen this pattern before." She runs her fingers gently over the feathers on it.
"Whatever, Hermione, it's still a Death Eater's mask." Ron said, grabbing it from her. "I wouldn't worry about it," and with that,he threw it in the rubbish bin. "Sirius probably just kept it to gloat."
Hermione looks like she's about to protest, but then she sighs and gives in, wishing she still had people from the original Order she could ask about these things. Sometimes they were at such a disadvantage--but it was only a mask, after all.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairings: Sirius Black/Dorcas Meadowes, James Potter/Lily Potter, Frank Longbottom/Alice Longbottom
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mentions of death, angst
Summary: The Orders numbers start to fall, and things grow tense each time they meet after a death or disappearance, each wondering who will be the next to go. The beginning of the end all starts with a mask.
Notes: Written for 100quills, prompt #035~Mask. Cut text comes from Three Doors Down Here Without You. Inspired by the fact that the Death Eater masks made by the WB for the movies and The Noble Collection are personalised and not just plain white.
When Gideon and Fabien go, people are shocked, and Molly rails at them as they do what she sees as invading her brothers' home. It's Dorcas that takes most of the abuse, letting Molly pound with her fists on her chests and sides as the redhead sobs, until she's shaking with the accusations as well as the blows.
Frank and Sirius try to pull her off of the blonde, the former shocked that Dorcas isn't fighting back, isn't defending herself. "That's enough." He says, but the damage is done.
Dorcas flees, blonde hair flying behind her, and the door slamming in her wake. Sirius curses and both he and James give chase, but it's too late--she's dissolved into the shadows.
~*~
It's your fault! The words assail Dorcas' mind, and she knows they're true. You were there! You stood there and let them kill my brothers, you bitch! She had been there, she had practically been helping, and she couldn't help but feel her resolve quail under that knowledge.
Desperately, almost, she goes to church, and falls to her knees in a pew, waiting for her turn at confession, hurriedly covering her hair with some scarf or other as she nearly bites through her lips.
~*~
Everyone waits when Dorcas goes missing, and no one wants to say what has to be said. the one time Remus tries, Sirius just throws him a dirty look, and leaves the room returning with a glass of gin and tonic--without the tonic. It's only when Moody reports her body found--dumped at the Ministry and maimed almost beyond recognition that Sirius heaves a sigh and lets them into her posh flat.
It's all very Cassie, light and airy, with big windows and secret hiding spots. Sirius sits in the bathroom and no one asks him anything, but he knows what they're thinking and it only makes him irate--he doesn't want their pity. It's Alice with the kind eyes and smooth hands that brings him something, something he had seen three times before.
A mask. Dorcas' Death Eater mask, a delicately formed thing that had was engraved with tiny, wispy feathers, perfect in their minuscule detail. He stares at the empty holes where her eyes had looked through so often, and whispered a thank you.
It's the mask that unravels so much, because the other Marauders catch him staring at it all too often, from where it stands on his fireplace, and the nagging doubts start, not just in everyone else's mind, but in Sirius' own. He meets with Regulus, secretly, but Remus finds out and tells Dumbledore. No one tells him that they know.
Lily starts as a door swings shut while she's feeding Harry and despite everything, a shiver runs down her back.
~*~
After the last battle Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron go through #12 Grimmauld Place, trying to make it habitable as they turn it into a place where they can work and live while trying to round up the last straggling Death Eaters. Sirius' room is the last that they go through, for the sake of sparing Harry the pain. Ginny screams as she opens a box that was stored under the bead, when she sees a silver face staring up at her.
it takes only a moment for everyone to be at her side, and timidly, Harry picks it up and turns it over. "It's a Death Eater mask." He said in shock. "Maybe it was a trophy of one he killed."
Hermione takes it and holds it up to her face. "It's a girl's Death Eater mask, there's no way this would fit on a man." It doesn't even fit her properly and she turns it over. "It must be from the first war, I've never seen this pattern before." She runs her fingers gently over the feathers on it.
"Whatever, Hermione, it's still a Death Eater's mask." Ron said, grabbing it from her. "I wouldn't worry about it," and with that,he threw it in the rubbish bin. "Sirius probably just kept it to gloat."
Hermione looks like she's about to protest, but then she sighs and gives in, wishing she still had people from the original Order she could ask about these things. Sometimes they were at such a disadvantage--but it was only a mask, after all.