ATHENE {remus lupin}

SEVEN

Dumbledore and Sirius arrived at 12 Grimmauld Place half an hour after he initially left. When the headmaster saw Athene, he smiled. 

"Miss Malfoy, it's a pleasure to see you. How are you?"

Athene let out a sob at his normalcy. 

"Is it true Dumbledore, you told her about this place?" Sirius asked impatiently. 

Dumbledore nodded peacefully. "Indeed it is, Mr Black. You see, myself, and I dare say Mr Lupin also, could see that Miss Malfoy is not an evil witch. We both hoped, and knew that there was another path open to her, a path away from her father." Remus nodded slowly. He had never thought that Athene was evil when he taught her, deeply disturbed perhaps, but never evil. Then and again, in his own time at Hogwarts he never thought that Narcissa or Lucius were truly evil enough to murder, only that they were terrible people. If Athene wasn't a bad person, she wouldn't have done such horrible things. Perhaps he and Dumbledore weren't as good judges of characters as they thought.

"Why does that path still stand Dumbledore? She's killed people, she killed Ash-" Remus started, but stopped himself before he spoke the name.

Dumbledore looked at the two best friends and smiled before looking to Athene.

"Miss Malfoy, you look as if you have had a terribly long and tiring journey. Why don't you get yourself cleaned up whilst I talk to Mr Black and Mr Lupin here. Is there a bathroom she can use, Sirius?" Dumbledore asked kindly. 

Sirius nodded and gestured for Remus to show her. The man rolled his eyes and muttered "come on", to the bloodied woman. 

Athene followed him up the stairs silently. She passed a portrait which cooed as she stared at it.

"Ohhh, how lovely. A Malfoy girl. How beautiful. A proper pureblood lady."

Athene ignored it and stared straight ahead. 

"One of the downsides of living here," Remus said.

"And the others?" Athene asked.

"Other what?"

"Downsides."

"Death eaters showing up on your door." He said harshly. Athene didn't speak again and Remus found himself regretting his words. She's only young, he reminded himself. 

Athene showered and changed into some new clothes as quickly as she could. Her bag was enchanted which had meant that she had packed to stay months, however she was starting to think that she would not be so lucky. She was desperate to get downstairs and eavesdrop on the conversation happening. Before she exited the room she took a second to stare at herself in the mirror. The blood was gone and her face had regained a light blush since her arm had started to heal. In normal, muggle clothes, she almost looked ordinary.

"This is your house, Mr Black, if you don't want her here then we have no choice but to let her leave." Athene heard Dumbledore say.

"Why can't we just kill her?" Sirius hissed back.

"Mr Black, have some compassion please."

"She's a murderer Dumbledore! A murderer. She killed her best friend. Just because she was a muggle born. It's like Peter. Peter and Lily all over again."

Remus' heart twanged at that. He hadn't made that connection. 

"And what say you, Mr Lupin?"

Remus ran a hand through his hair. He honestly wasn't sure what he thought. There was a part of him that pitied Athene. She had been so intelligent and sure of herself at Hogwarts and now she was nothing and had nobody. He didn't want the girl to die, but at the same time, she didn't deserve to live. He thought of his best friends, James and Lily. James was so unpredictable that Remus honestly could not tell what his thoughts on the matter would be, but he knew exactly what Lily would want. Lily would want the girl to live. She would want Athene to have a second chance.

"I think she should be given shelter."

Sirius stared at him with his mouth hanging open. 

"Sirius. Her father tortured her. With the cruciatus curse. An unforgivable curse on his own daughter. Who knows what that does to a person. She's young, Sirius."

Athene rolled her eyes at that. She might have lost her spirit but she certainly wouldn't allow herself to be patronised.

"I can hear you, and I'm twenty. And I think I have seen and done worse things than you could imagine."

Dumbedore chuckled at that. 

"Indeed you have, Miss Malfoy. Do you feel any better? I must say you look it."

Athene nodded. "Yes. Thank you... Professor." 

Remus looked at her, now that she wasn't coated head to toe in blood she looked remarkably ordinary. In her muggle clothes she looked less like her mother and more like the eighteen year old girl he had tried to help in his time as a professor. She didn't look like somebody who could stare another soul in the eyes and kill them. But of course, as he would know, looks can be deceiving. There can be a monster hiding in everyone.

Sirius was thinking the same as his best friend. The girl looked so unsure of herself. In a way, she reminded him of himself at that age. Of course he had people surrounding him, he didn't suppose she did. She was staring silently at the table. Remus and Sirius were watching her while Dumbledore smiled and looked around idly.

Sirius huffed, knowing that everybody in the room was waiting on him to pass judgment on the matter. "Okay Malfoy, I'm not a monster and I don't want to send you to your death. First of all I want to hear about Ashley-"

"Padfoot," Remus interrupted. "Maybe that's not such a good-"

"This is my house, Moony. It's my Godson that she will be around."

Remus nodded. 

"I want to hear about how and why you felt so compelled to live the life which you had. If your answers satisfy me in any way then I will summon the rest of the order. This isn't just my home it's our headquarters, they deserve a say."

"That seems fair, don't you think, Miss Malfoy?" Dumbedore mused.

Athene nodded slowly. "I'll tell you everything you wish to hear Sirius. But I can't talk about Ashley, not yet. I'm sorry."

Sirius scoffed and tried to speak. "Sirius, she's working with us." Came the reasonable voice of Remus. He looked towards the blonde girl and nodded. 

"Whenever you're ready."