Saturday, 21 October 1922
10:30am
After weeks of stagnation and after even Nadežda hadn’t been able to pry anything new from Everleigh’s mind, Liliya had at last been allowed to write to the girl’s sister, looking for a new vantage point. It was the only option left, the only hope to get an insight into what Everleigh continued to refuse to reveal.
Nadežda had come to the same conclusion as her. The memory of Everleigh during dinner, the sparks of panic and the flashing face to Thayer all pointed in one direction.
Her father.
Unfortunately Bertram hadn’t been very forthcoming on the matter of his son-in-law, as her aunt had told her. A little sketchy even. Just furthering her suspicion that they were on the right track, however peskily slow their progress turned out to be.
Still, Nadežda refused to give up. They had a lead, fickle yet promising, enough to pursue this endeavour further. And what good publicity it would be, Liliya had eventually realised. Zdravkova’s Argentum Memoriae — curing the incurable.
With her at the centre point, a novice and yet better than even St. Mungo’s healers. It was just what their family needed to strengthen their reputation and establish their name as indelible. Liliya couldn’t deny the significant burst of motivation it gave her own efforts on the matter, finally understanding the purpose of what she’d initially labelled a waste of time, now promising something to claim for herself.
Something she would have done right.
All she needed to do was to find this next breakthrough, and Alice would be key. If she complied.
At least she had agreed to meet, it was as good a sign as any.
Liliya was already waiting, eyes trained on the approaching figure where she stood just outside the town limits, anchoring down the urge to bounce on her heels. Although Nadežda had allowed her to do this on her own, the restraint on her demeanour was in place. When Alice came close, Liliya smiled.
“Hi, Alice, thank you for meeting me,” she said lightly. “Ready to apparate?” Palm up, Liliya held out her hand for Alice to take. When she did, Hogsmeade disappeared with a swirl of autumn leaves and dust, replaced by Harewood House in its stead, bright in the reflecting sunlight.
Alice tucked the parchment Headmaster MacLean had given her in her pocketbook before leaving the castle. She’d had to get special permission to expand the bounds of her Hogsmead visit, and the only thing she had to do in return was get the parchment signed by the healer who had requested her presence.
The visit was not one that Alice was looking forward to, if she were honest. She didn’t know much, only that those that were caring for her sister had hit a wall and needed her knowledge to make more progress. It would be a stressful day, no doubt, and she didn’t think she was ready.
But it was inevitable. Alice wanted her sister back – needed her sister back – and if she held the key to help unlock whatever was inside of her, then she’d do whatever it took.
The familiar figure of Lilya waited for her at the edge of town. She’d known of her before the older girl graduated and felt at ease knowing that her sister was in her care.
“Hi, Alice, thank you for meeting me. Ready to apparate?”
She nodded slightly. She remained silent because she knew she’d be speaking plenty soon enough.
“Sure,” she responded, her eyes moving past the older girl to the town beyond. She’d looked forward to leaving Hogwarts for a day, to get a chance to visit the book shop and perhaps purchase Everleigh another new journal. But that would have to wait until the next Hogsmeade weekend.
This was likely to take all day. She sighed as the town disappeared and was replaced with a large estate.
The estate was quiet when they entered, footsteps echoing through the entrance hall where a house elf bowed deeply, accepting their coats. The portrait of the family’s founder Igor sat blessedly empty, its occupant currently in his other frame in Russia, sparing them his piercing stare. Those dark, sunken eyes never failed to send a shower down her spine. Liliya was glad she could save Alice that scrutinizing look.
Waving her on, Liliya led the way into a smaller sitting room, taking a seat on one of the couches and indicating for the other to do the same. It was one of the less ornamented rooms of the house, not as boastful, a little more comfortable. Warmer somehow, more homely. Better for this kind of meeting.
On the low table, the tea already prepared by one of the house elves began pouring on its own.
Liliya looked at Alice. “I’m going to get straight to the point so we don’t have to do this nonsensical small talk over tea thing.” She waved her hand at the clinking porcelain. Etiquette is what they called it. A waste of time is what she called it. They both knew what they were here for, why drag it out. Shaking her head a little she dismissed this pointless rule of high society.
“Anyway, we’ve been trying to get through Everleigh’s mind since the beginning of July and as you probably know, made little progress.” The tea cups floated over into their hands, milk and sugar miraculously added or ignored according to the drinker’s liking. Liliya took a tiny sip before continuing.
“It’s completely fractured, there seems to be no end and no beginning, everything just jumps and twists and flashes.” For a moment she wondered if Everleigh dreamed, and if so, were those as fractured as her waking moments? Should they try in pry into her head while she slept?
She stored the thought away for later.
“I have managed to get into the memory of that day in the Dark Tower,” Liliya moved on, keeping her tone level but casual. “I have watched it a million times but I can't find anything that indicates such a devastating collapse of the mind.” A small shake of her head.
“But after a long while, the memories that flared up began to show a pattern.” Setting her cup aside, Liliya pulled her wand forth, summoning a piece of parchment. It was a duplicate of one of Everleigh’s drawings, the one of the desk in the dark office, showing two words: Ravenstone Flightworks. She held it out to Alice.
“Does this ring any bells?” Liliya asked carefully, observing Alice’s reaction. “We have good reason to assume your father might have to do something with your sister’s state of mind. She seemed to be scared each time his face showed up in her head, avoiding it by flashing to another memory. One time it flashed to Thayer directly. Like a connection. We believe he might be the root cause of all of this.”
She let that sink in for a moment, silence stretching.
“Can you think of any reason why Everleigh would be scared of her father? Did he ever do anything to her?”
Alice followed behind Liliya, her eyes locked on the back of the girl’s head. As they got closer to their destination, she felt herself grow nervous. And fatigue began setting in just thinking about how stressful this conversation was going to be.
But Everleigh was worth it.
She was always worth it.
Once they reached the room, she spotted the teapot and cups. She sat down, crossing her legs at the ankles, her hands folded on her lap. The teapot immediately began pouring into a cup for her, but she didn’t want it.
The only tea Alice ever wanted to drink would be tea made by herself.
“I’m going to get straight to the point so we don’t have to do this nonsensical small talk over tea thing.”
Alice nodded slightly, but kept her eyes on the porcelain. She listened as the older girl began speaking and hesitated before plucking the teacup out of the air. She looked down at the liquid inside momentarily before setting it back on the table.
Tea time would never be the same.
“It’s completely fractured, there seems to be no end and no beginning, everything just jumps and twists and flashes.”
Alice sat still, finally looking at the eyes of the girl in front of her. She’d known her in school, a bit anyways. She’d been Tilly’s friend, and Benji’s, and that was about that.
Liliya mentioned the Dark Tower and Alice frowned. That is what started the downfall, but it wasn’t the cause of what was happening now. That was what she expected to hear. She could have told her that on her own.
“But after a long while, the memories that flared up began to show a pattern.”
Alice looked in the direction of the flicked wand and spotted the parchment that was floating to Liliya and then held out to her. She already knew it was one of her sister’s drawings before she even saw the contents. She took a breath, finally looking at it.
“Does this ring any bells? We have good reason to assume your father might have to do something with your sister’s state of mind. She seemed to be scared each time his face showed up in her head, avoiding it by flashing to another memory. One time it flashed to Thayer directly. Like a connection. We believe he might be the root cause of all of this.”
Alice let out her breath, her eyes skimming over the drawing. The dark office. The desk. The words.
“Can you think of any reason why Everleigh would be scared of her father? Did he ever do anything to her?”
She kept the parchment in her hands, her eyes still on the words. She hated speaking about this moment. Especially since she’d been one-hundred-percent convinced that her parents knew what was best.
Clearly they didn’t know jack shit.
“Last summer,” Alice began, paused, then shook her head. Had time really passed that quick? “I suppose it was August in 1921. We’d been at camp and Ever was doing a lot better, and was almost back to herself. Until we went back home.”
Alice finally set the parchment down on the table between them.
“Something woke me up and it was storming.” She could remember the sensation but only in bits and pieces. “I could hear my father yelling… he was really angry. And I knew it was Everleigh that he was yelling at. He called her a ‘stupid idiot girl’.”
Alice balled her hands into tight fists, her nails pressing into her palms.
”The second that I heard that, I ran to his office. We aren’t allowed in his office. It’s been a rule for as long as I can remember. And he…” She took a breath, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Right when I got in there, he was casting obliviate on her. I don’t know if she took the whole hit, I tried to get between them.”
One thing Alice knew for sure, she hadn’t gotten hit.
“She looked so… out of it. She giggled and… I got her out of there as soon as I could.” Alice frowned. Did she know about the other things that happened?
A flutter began to brush the walls of her stomach the longer Alice looked at the drawing. It clearly meant something to her. Their assumptions had to have been correct. Liliya waited with hopeful anticipation, metaphorically on the edge of her seat.
At first she thought Alice might hesitate to speak of whatever she knew, that family loyalty would get in the way like it so often did in their world. But as it turned out, Alice didn’t seem to have any qualms about throwing her own father under the bus at all. Ready to spill at least the necessary bits, much unlike her grandfather.
Liliya’s gaze dropped to Alice’s hands, balling into angry fists.
An irate, mistreated daughter, a worried sister however? A much easier lock to break. Hadn't even taken any effort. They should have done this much sooner, like she had wanted to, instead of spending weeks inside a dead-end, punching against walls that wouldn’t give. But Liliya buried that thought as soon as it broke forth.
Presenting new information to Nadežda would have to be enough.
“We aren’t allowed in his office,” Alice was saying. “It’s been a rule for as long as I can remember. And he… Right when I got in there, he was casting obliviate on her. I don’t know if she took the whole hit, I tried to get between them.”
Liliya’s eyes rounded, a flicker of excitement in her eyes.
Not just an Obliviate, but a potentially botched Obliviate. If Everleigh hadn’t taken the full hit, if the spell hadn’t been complete, it was likely that something in the girl’s mind had lived on. A fraction of what she should remember but what her father had meant to erase, not entirely though.
That’s what that fractioned memory was — the desk, the lighting, the documents. The opening door. She hadn’t been able to see the entire scene because it didn’t exist. Not in Everleigh’s head. Only that small fragment that Ravenstone hadn’t been able to erase. Because Alice had interfered.
Liliya’s mind raced at overspeed, connecting dots that hadn’t been there before, finding new questions that needed answering.
What had he tried to erase, what had Everleigh seen? Why had she been in there in the first place, if the office had always been off-limits? Was she just a rule-breaker, a nosy little girl who couldn't resist the forbidden? Or had something else drawn her in?
Alice had stopped talking but Liliya was still chasing puzzle pieces through her head. At last she broke free, looking back at the brunette.
“Was that the first time?”, she asked, a little too eager. “Has that happened before, do you know? The Obliviating I mean. Has he caught her in there before?”
“Was that the first time? Has that happened before, do you know? The Obliviating I mean. Has he caught her in there before?”
Alice frowned at the question. Not just the question, not really, but also at the excitement pouring off the older girl in waves. She understood it, could find the fascination in a puzzle being put together after hitting a wall for so long, but it didn’t mean she liked it.
She shook her head then. “Not that I ever witness, no,” she responded carefully. Everleigh was worth it. Talking about the personal matters that were typically kept tucked away would probably open the floodgates of memories.
“I only saw it the one time. But…” Alice couldn’t help but to pause. She straightened her back. Her hands were in her lap still, though she’d unfisted them now. They sat folded like she’d been taught was proper.
“There were other things.”
The drawing still sat on the table between them, her brown eyes looking down at it once more. Perhaps as a way to avoid eye contact. Because it was uncomfortable.
“During Easter break this past year, my sister and I were staying at the family home. I started noticing… gaps. Small ones at first…” she furrowed her brow at the memory. “ I was losing bits of time and I’d convinced myself it was stress.”
Her fists clenched again.
“It took me days to understand what was happening.”
When she first realization what was happening, she’d felt the betrayal like a sharp knife through her heart. And the rage had been more than she’d ever felt in her life.
“My mother and father,” she said, finally looking back at the girl. “They were putting something in our tea. Mine and Everleigh’s both. I don’t know what exactly, or really for how long before I noticed. Once I realized it I wrote to my grandfather and that is when he finally got us placed with him.”
Her grandfather. He’d been her savior and now… she didn’t know what he was.
“I don’t know if it’s connected, but I... don’t think my father obliviated her only once.”
For a moment it seemed as though they’d hit the end of this new string of information, or at least the point at which even Alice drew a line. Liliya didn’t think she was lying when she said that one time had been the only that she’d witnessed Everleigh get obliviated. Ravenstone couldn’t be as careless as casting the spell right in the open for everyone to see, should he have done so before. In a way, it was astounding he hadn’t done the same to Alice right there and then. Wipe the slate clean. Whatever reason he'd had to let her go, she had no idea. Liliya wasn’t into speculation, and in any case, it was good he hadn’t.
As it turned out however, there was more still.
As Alice hesitated and then straightened, Liliya felt another beat of hopeful anticipation, brows raising slightly as her head tilted.
“There were other things.”
Liliya followed Alice’s gaze to the drawing, lifting back up when she began to speak. For all the composure the younger girl outwardly presented, Liliya could sense the rumbling anger beneath. Her fists were curling up again and the tenseness in her body was more than just proper posture.
Understandable. A father that tempered with his own daughters’ memories like that was despicable. Even her own memory-obsessed family handled secrets differently. If she were honest with herself, Liliya was sure she had probably been obliviated before. But she’d rather not think about that too much.
“I don’t know if it’s connected, but I... don’t think my father obliviated her only once.”
Liliya nodded, humming quietly. “I don’t think so either,” she murmured, eyes resting on her cup of tea for a moment. Someone who didn’t shy away from doing it even once, from spiking tea and god knew what else, sounded a whole lot like someone entirely too comfortable with meddling around in other people’s heads.
Not very skilfully either, it appeared.
Her fingers drummed against the back of her folded hand as she tried to solve this mystery.
Clearly Ravenstone had tried to cover something up, maybe illegal business dealings, but that wasn’t her concern. What she needed to figure out was how to fix the mess he’d made. She wouldn’t come to any conclusions right now however — there were so many things to think over. Her and Nadežda would have to discuss how to proceed with this new knowledge, what strategy to use, how to force Everleigh back to sanity. If they could.
With a click of her tongue, Liliya looked back at Alice. “This was helpful, thank you. I will have to talk to my aunt about everything and how to move on with Everleigh from here.” She sent a small smile across the table. “I hope we can find a new approach now that we know the root cause. Would you mind if I watched some of your memories in regards to your father? I promise I’ll be quick and have no interest in looking at anything other than that.”
It was questionable whether she’d find anything else through the eyes of Alice’s memories but it was always worth a try. You never knew what details time had erased from accessible memory but that the subconscious mind still stored. And at this point, anything would help.
“It’s just a way to look for more detail,” Liliya added, trying to sound reassuring. “It doesn’t hurt. It prickles a little. I think it would help to see Everleigh through someone else's eyes as well, in addition to her own.”
The question hung in the air a moment between them, silence weaving throughout the room.
Alice knew what a legilimens did, of course, she’d read about them in books. She’d been curious in the way she was curious about most things, though she’d refreshed her knowledge when her sister began her treatments. What she hadn’t considered, not seriously anyways, was what it would feel like to have one in her brain.
She moved through other people’s emotions every day. Constantly, involuntarily, the way other people breathed. It had taken her a while to figure out why she could pick up on the grief or anger or happiness that others felt, or the hum of excitement that could weave its way through a room.
But to be read?
The thought arrived quietly and sat there, and underneath her composed expression she felt something shift. It wasn’t panic. Something smaller and more unsettling. The recognition of her own interior, confused and borrowed and half-examined as it was, was still hers. It was the place no one else had ever been.
Liliya would see her father. That was the point. That was what mattered.
But she could see other things too. Things Alice hadn’t looked at herself yet. She pressed her palms flat against her skirt, no longer angry, but more… nervous than anything.
“Okay,” she said quietly. And then, because she needed to say something true before she agreed to this, she added, “I’ve never had anyone in my head before.”
It wasn’t a refusal. Just something honest, that told Liliya just how uncomfortable she was with the situation. And yet –
“For Everleigh. Go ahead.”
|
