Fire and Water

Concentrate People! This is where things start to go very wrong.





Chapter 20B



Remus and Krystal apparated to Hogwarts the next week. The grounds and halls were almost deserted; school holidays having emptied them. They made their way to Dumbledore’s office, laughing as they passed Filtch’s storage cupboard where Krystal had once left her torn knickers.



They were here to sign up for the Order of the Phoenix, the society Dumbledore headed to try and fight the dark wizard, Lord Voldemort. They were nervous, but determined to fight. Krystal came from a very old wizarding family, but Remus was a half blood, and a half breed, and the prejudice that Voldemort was spreading was hurting him.



They knocked on his office door and heard him call, ‘Enter.’ His office looked the same as they remembered it from six months ago. Dumbledore stood as they entered the room and walked around his desk to welcome them, shaking Remus’ hand and hugging Krystal.

‘It’s marvellous to see you both looking so well,’ he said. Remus smiled. Krystal might have looked wonderful, but he was a bit rough looking; the full moon was due the next night.



They took off their jackets and sat in the chairs he indicated and Remus didn’t beat around the bush.

‘We want to join the Order, Professor,’ he said, leaning forward. ‘We want to help you fight.’

Albus smiled gently, but Krystal saw the faint crease that appeared between his eyes.

‘You are sure about this?’ he asked, looking at Remus only.

‘This will be a very dangerous, difficult battle; one from which not everyone will emerge unscathed.’

Krystal felt Remus squeeze her hand, and she spoke,’ We’re sure, Albus.’



Dumbledore looked at Krystal, his eyes searching hers. ‘Wait outside please, Krystal,’ he said, turning back to Remus.

Confused, she and Remus looked at each other, but she stood and walked out the door, closing it quietly behind her.

She paced the small entry, as almost half an hour passed. Finally, Remus emerged and smiled at her.

‘Your turn,’ he said softly, kissing her quickly. She entered the room and sat down opposite her cousin, looking at him expectantly.

‘I am sorry, Krystal,’ he said, his voice low. ‘’I cannot allow you to join the Order at this time.’



She stared at him, frowning. ‘I don’t understand,’ she said, bewildered. ‘I thought you said we could join now?’

Albus stood up and began to pace, frustration in every step. ‘Your friends have all become members of the Order, Krystal. It is you I cannot allow to join.’

Krystal stood up as well, moving so she stood in his path.

‘Why?’ she asked, her voice hurt. Albus looked at her.



‘Krystal, do you remember the conversation we had in your Sixth Year about your gifts?’ he asked, startling her a little with his change of direction. She nodded and he took her arms, moving them to the chairs in front of his desk.

‘I told you then that there would be those you sought to use you; to corrupt you, to access your power. Lord Voldemort is one of those people.’



He stood again, seemingly unable to sit still. Krystal, on the other hand, was sitting as if carved from stone; for the first time in her life, perfectly still.

‘I have had some information given to me; information that I, after some investigation, consider reliable.’

He turned to look at her and she could see concern in his eyes.

‘He will come after you, Krystal. He knows who you are; he wants what you can provide him: power. Limitless power.’



Krystal narrowed her eyes, not understanding. ‘Limitless power?’ she repeated. ‘I don’t have limitless power, Albus…’

‘Yes, Krystal,’ he said gently. ‘If you choose to access it; to use it, you do.’ She felt a chill run through her body and she felt cold. ‘You have enormous reserves of magic inside you. You are capable of so much…’

He sighed, shaking his head. ‘You know the women in your family have been powerful. They have been some of the strongest witches in our history.’

Krystal nodded, having read this in her history books, recognising the names of her ancestors.

‘But none of them have had the strength that you have; the power that you could have,’ he said, sitting beside her when he saw her frown.

‘You know that you stopped a car with a shield charm when you were three years old. You probably don’t recall this, you were so young, but not only did you stop that car hitting you, but you sent it into the air and crashed it into the far wall of your garage.’



Krystal looked startled: that wasn’t what she remembered.

‘ We altered your memory, and we all played it down, made it seem like nothing unusual, but, Krystal, you should never have been able to do that. That’s how we knew you were strong,’ he said earnestly. ‘I believe you have the capability to be the most powerful witch in your family, and given that your family is one of the strongest in wizarding history, that makes you a force to be reckoned with.’

She shook her head, her face showing her disbelief. He decided to try another tact.



‘When you are feeling the strongest of emotions - anger, pleasure - your eyes turn silver?’ he said, looking at her carefully.

Krystal thought about it: it was only when her feelings were strong that her eyes changed. When she was angry, and, she thought with a blush, Remus had told her that her eyes changed when she came.

‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘I thought that was just because I was really angry or happy. I mean, Remus’ eyes change colour when he….’



She stopped, biting her tongue. She’d been about to tell him how dark Remus’ eyes turned when he was aroused, but this man was like her grandfather.

‘Remus’ eyes would change only in one circumstance I expect,’ he said with a slight smile. ‘And that would be a physical response rather than magical I would think.’

‘God,’ she muttered, rubbing her forehead in embarrassment.



‘It is a sign of power; soul altering power,’ Albus said softly. ‘You’ve heard people say the eyes are the windows to the soul? Well, that is true. Your eyes show the changes in your heart and soul when you feel these things. Your power has the ability to alter you; to change who you innately are.’

Krystal ran her hands through her hair, not able to take this all in. ‘So, this magic is changing me?’ she asked.

‘Only if you let it,’ he replied with a frown. ‘Which brings me to my concerns in allowing you to join the Order. Everyone has both dark and light in them and while you are capable of feeling incredible pleasure, along with that comes the danger that you could sink into the deepest despair. You have a kind of darkness in you that comes along with powerful magic. Both the dark and light are strong, and, if you use it unwisely, the darkness will take you over; has taken you over.’



‘I’ve seen what happens to you when you hurt. You see sadness as a flaw, tears as a weakness,’ he said, his eyes unhappy. ‘You do not accept your pain; you push it away, cover it to avoid having to feel it until it explodes from you. I have seen you fight misery with anger, frigidity and self destruction, rather than accepting it, acknowledging it and fighting to overcome it.’

He could see fear beginning to take hold in her eyes. ‘I am afraid for you, Krystal, and for those you love,’ he continued, taking her hand. ’I fear that he will use those around you to get access to you. I fear that he will make it impossible for you to refuse him.’



He looked surprised as suddenly Krystal stood. ‘I would never join him, Albus. Do you really think I would? I know what he stands for. For God’s sake, Remus’ life is difficult enough without bigots like this around,’ she demanded, angry with him now.



He held up his hands and waited for her to calm down.

‘I fear that you may act without thought, Krystal,’ he replied. ‘That if he threatens you, threatens those you love, that you will react in order to avoid pain, just as you have done before. You do not make rational choices when you are this way; you do not ask for help - afraid of seeming weak. I cannot allow you to put the Order at risk.’

‘I won‘t let myself,’ she insisted. ’I’ll fight it harder…’ But he shook his head.



He stood to stand in front of her. ‘Allowing yourself to feel, and to overcome your pain and hurt takes strength of mind and character. If he seeks you, if he hunts you and those you love, I don’t believe you are emotionally strong enough to fight him; to fight the shadows that I know stir inside you. Not yet.’



Krystal stared at him in silence for a minute. ‘How does Lord Voldemort know all this about me?’ she asked. ‘I’ve always used my wand….’

‘Not always, Krystal,’ he said, shaking his head sadly. ‘Someone saw you disarm James Potter once without a wand, stopping him from embarrassing Severus Snape. They saw your eyes change.’

Krystal closed her eyes, recalling that day in Fifth Year. She didn’t think anyone had noticed that she’d been the one to disarm James. Her eyes opened when Albus continued.

‘This person mentioned it, quite innocently, to the wrong people, who recognised the signs of power,‘ he said, frustration in his voice. ‘And unfortunately, word reached Lord Voldemort. This is why your parents and I wanted you to avoid using your gifts here. We were afraid of something like this happening.‘

He looked at her and took a deep breath. ‘I believe he has been….studying you. You would be a powerful weapon, Krystal, if he could corrupt you, and it seems he thinks he can. And I believe it would be too easy for him to do so.’



She looked a little insulted, and stood, turning away from him and staring out the window to the grounds below with a frown.

‘You think he’ll come after my family?’ she finally said, her voice low.

‘I wouldn’t be surprised that, if you refuse his invitation, he would seek to use those closest to you to try and force your cooperation.’

Krystal felt a surge of anger, and felt a little cold inside. ‘If I leave; go somewhere so he can‘t get to me, he’ll still come after them, won‘t he?’ she asked and he nodded.

‘I believe so,’ he said softly.

‘Then get them out of harm’s way,’ she demanded. He nodded again.

‘I will move your parents to a safe house tonight,’ he said, moving to stand behind her. ‘They will be hidden; protected.’



She nodded, her frown deepening. ‘What about Remus?’ she asked, still with her back to him.

‘Go home and stay there. It is a full moon tomorrow night,’ Albus said quietly. ‘I doubt even Lord Voldemort would attempt to take a werewolf in full transformation. He will be safe enough for now. And,’ he added, anticipating her next question. ‘Your friends are Order members. They will be told to move quickly if need be, I will see to that.’

Krystal took a deep breath and nodded again. Albus waited for the inevitable anger that he could already sense radiating from her.



‘Why didn’t you tell me all of this?’ she asked her voice cool as she finally turned from the window. ‘If you had told me years ago, if you had told me how important it was I learn to accept my fears; to try and overcome this, he wouldn’t be coming after me; he wouldn’t think he could corrupt me.’

Her voice was rising and so was her temper, her eyes lightening as her anger grew.



‘Why didn’t they tell me?’ she said angrily. ‘Why didn’t you warn me?’

‘We were trying to protect you, Krystal,’ he said, but she interrupted him.

‘And now my family are at risk because of me; Remus is at risk because of me. You should have told me. You should have had more faith in me.’



‘Yes,’ he said, his own voice rising to be heard over hers. ‘Yes, we should have. I convinced your parents to not say anything to you because I wanted you to grow up without fear; without this constantly over your head. I wanted you to have a normal childhood.’

He looked pained. ‘I care very much about you, Krystal. And I didn’t want to change who you were supposed to become.

‘And what if I’m supposed to become a monster? What if your caring turns me into one of them?’ she said, referring to the Death Eaters.



‘That is still your choice, Krystal,’ he said softly. ‘You do not have to let your shadows take you over; you can choose to fight them.’

‘But you don’t believe I can?’ she spat. ‘You won’t let me join the Order because you don’t think I can overcome them?’

‘I hope you can, Krystal,’ Albus said, his eyes filled with sorrow. ‘I fear for you if you cannot.’



Her nostrils flared as she tried to control her anger. Turning from him, she grabbed the jacket she’d removed earlier, and strode towards the door. She halted abruptly though, and turned back to him, moving swiftly to stand in front of him.

‘You will not tell Remus about this,’ she demanded.

When he hesitated, she raised her finger and pointed at him. ‘I mean it. Do not tell him.’

Her eyes widened when she saw him rise into the air and move towards the wall. She quickly lowered her hand, and he dropped to the ground, staring at her.

‘Promise me?’ she said, a plea now in her eyes. ‘I don’t want him to know that I can’t be trusted to join the Order.’

He nodded. ‘I promise,’ he said.

She nodded too, then began to turn, hesitating briefly again.



‘Who saw me?’ she asked, looking at him with a frown.

‘He did not mean to reveal you,’ Albus said hastily. ‘It was not deliberate.’

‘Who was it?’ she repeated.

‘Peter Pettigrew,’ he answered, seeing her surprise.

‘So, Peter told you that he told other people about it, and that Voldemort knew?’ she asked.

‘No,’ he said, suddenly looking reluctant. ‘When I questioned him about it, he admitted he asked someone about how you could have done that, but it wasn’t he who told me Voldemort’s plans. He doesn’t have access to the Dark Lord.’



‘Who told you then?’ she asked, suddenly a little hopeful. ‘Maybe they were trying to trick you; to get to you…’

‘No,’ he said, his tone certain now. ‘My informant has no cause to lie, and every reason not to have told me. He faces death if Lord Voldemort ever discovers he came to me.’ ‘He is a Death Eater?’ she said, incredulously. ‘You believe a Death Eater?’

‘I believe that he is telling the truth,’ Albus said. ‘I cannot tell you who it is, Krystal. It would mean certain death if he is found out, and I will not have his life on my conscience.’

She let out a little laugh. ‘You trust him, but couldn’t trust me?’ She shook her head. ‘Thanks, Albus,’ she said sarcastically. ‘Thanks a lot.’

Krystal walked to the door and opened it, slamming it hard behind her.