"Like someone did to put Harry's name in the goblet?" Alabasandria snapped. Sirius gave a cursory glance over the crowd, but couldn't make anyone out against the mass of students. He'd seen Hermione a few minutes ago, where had the kids gone?
"Allie -" Sirius stumbled through the nickname. " - Alabasandria, let's go dance. We'll take a lap around, yeah? Don't get your knickers in a twist." He was sure Harry was fine, hopefully having a fun, normal night for once, but it wouldn't hurt to check.
She nodded, barely acknowledging him, and Sirius excused them both. Remus gave an awkward bow to Minerva and the two dancing couples took off to different sides of the room to check for the students.
Despite the fast-paced modern music, Sirius and Alabasandria moved in a stilted sort of waltz, with straight spines and darkened eyes focused on anywhere but the other person.
"Are you done throwing your hissy fit or are you still mad at me?" She said unprompted, voice low as they took a turn towards the tables of hors d'oeuvres.
Sirius rolled his eyes so hard that they hurt.
"Oh, of course! Forgive me for making a fuss of you mutilating a child's soul! How old was he, when he made it?" He asked in a tight voice.
"It was the third ritual he performed." She said curtly, looking up at him with violent eyes over the edge of her nose.
He blinked, thinking it over. His grip on her waist was strong enough to leave bruises.
"Christ and Merlin, what the fuck is wrong with you? How could you do that to a child, to my child?"
"Excuse me? He was my child before he was yours! I did it to protect him! I would do anything to protect him!" She growled low in his ear as they spun across the dance floor.
"You made a six-year-old split his soul! That is not protection! I can't believe I thought you were better than that!"
"What, you thought I had morals, did you? Idiot. How many times must I tell you to get over yourself? You, who forced your way into mine and Harry's life. You abandoned him to Dumbledore's care. You as good as left him with those filthy fucking muggles! You dare assert yourself as his father?"
She grabbed a fistful of his hair and tugged his face down to hers. Her unnatural eyes glittered brightly against the dark room, flashes of flame and shadow promising untold power and destruction. She whispered, low and gravelly. "The second ritual he had to do? Heal himself of their abuse. He was malnourished, he was beaten. Their torture lives in that ring, that is the part of his soul he gave up. I rescued him, I saved him. I forced him to do nothing! Do not demand your false morals on us." She shook him roughly, her voice rising with each shake, with each word. "Do not presume I give a fuck about your opinion or that it matters! You abandoned him! I am his mother, and I alone have done what I have had to do -"
Sirius closed his eyes and bowed his head, freeing himself from her grasp. Forcing his sudden urge for physical violence down, his hands clenched at his sides before they returned to their halted dancing.
"He is a child!" He whispered, spitting out each word. "There is nothing you can say to justify your actions and you know it."
"He is a necromancer!" She growled. "And you are being naive! He has not been a proper child since the day Voldemort split open his head and murdered his parents!"
Sirius laughed, mirthless and hollow. "And to think I thought you loved him."
They spun again, convenient timing for Sirius to miss the flash of shock and hurt that crossed her face. She ripped herself from his hold. They turned away from each other, refusing to show their matching expressions. Sirius let out a very shaky breath and forced himself to calm down, digging his nails into his palms. Scouting over the sea of bodies, he muttered in a forcibly calm voice, "I still don't see Harry, do you?"
"No." Her voice was as deadpan and emotionless as usual.
Alabasandria felt along the tendrils of her magic, but did not feel the familiar cloud of energy that signaled her son. She reached out with her shadows to scour the corners of the room.
"He's not here," she said.
"I don't see the other kids either…"
The shadows rolled across the partygoer's feet, searching each and every one of them for any sign of the children. Then she increased their search outward. Panic settled in her chest, and without thinking, she grabbed a fistful of his dress robes to steady herself. Along the edge of the castle grounds, there was a faint patch of wandlight glistening through the trees creating a great mass of shadow.
"They aren't in the castle! He's heading into the forest?!" Both of them were burdened with a wave of confusion and concern. They'd warned Harry… he wouldn't just wander off like that, would he? What was happening to their son?
At that moment, Minerva and Remus came over, followed by Viktor Krum. The pale nervousness racking their features left a pit of terror to burrow in the parent's stomachs.
"Harry is not feeling well. His friends believe he may have been poisoned!"
.....
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