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The Bell Towers


Whispers filled the Great Hall. The rumor was that the news had come from somebody in the Slytherin house with a personal connection. Nervous glances kept being shot in the direction of the Gryffindor table, who seemed to be the only ones that had not yet heard.

Lily looked at Remus. “Why do they keep looking at us?”

Remus shook his head, “Dunno,” he answered.

Tears were falling at the Hufflepuff table, Ravenclaw seemed intent to lean their heads together and talk about whatever it was going on, while Slytherin was acting just the same as always - with the aside of Narcissa Black, whose stern face seemed worried and Severus, who stared at the empty tabletop, carefully not making eye contact with Lily.

The Ilvermorny students were absent.

Once all of the Hogwarts students had come into the Great Hall - James kept looking up and down the Gryffindor table, hoping that the sinking feeling in his gut was wrong and Derek would show up some place, summoned by McGonagall for this announcement, whatever it was - Dumbledore stood up and walked to the podium at the front of the room and raised his hands for silence. It fell nearly immediately. Several places at the staff table behind him were empty, including Hagrid’s, Professor Blythe’s, and Professor McGonagall’s… but Kettleburn sat in his spot, looking at Dumbledore with just as much curiosity as the Ravenclaws were.

“Well if Kettleburn’s alright, then who --?” Sirius asked quietly, stopping mid-sentence as Dumbledore cleared his throat to speak.

Dumbledore looked around the room. “It is with a heavy heart that I must stand here before you for the second time in one term and announce the death of a student of Hogwarts,” he said heavily.

Lily’s eyes widened as she looked around at the others and the only one who seemed to have also understood so quickly was James, who was shaking his head in denial.

“It is with an even heavier heart that I must report that it is yet another death in the same family.” Dumbledore’s eyes cast downward at the podium and he clutched the sides of it, the stress of his body clear in the way he held so tightly to the wood. He drew a deep breath, and looked about the room, making eye contact with several of the students. “Derek Bell was murdered last night by one of Lord Voldemort’s followers, while fighting on behalf of the Resistance against the Dark Lord.”

“NO!” Frank Longbottom yelled, the panic in his voice embodying the horror that ran through the entire of Gryffindor house. Lily - and most of the other girls at the table - began to cry. James closed his eyes and Sirius looked ‘round between Peter and Remus, unsure how to react, but the stoic, shocked expressions on their faces told him that they didn’t know, either.

Dumbledore paused, looking down and Sirius could’ve sworn he saw a tear fall from the headmaster’s eye. He allowed the house tables to have their reactions - though none other than Gryffindor seemed to be truly shocked. The rumors had spread far and fast enough through them that only the Gryffindors had remained in the dark entirely.

When Dumbledore continued talking, he spoke about Derek’s bravery, about the battle on the field and the love that had been shared between Derek and Professor Blythe, who would be leaving the school. He spoke of Bilius Weasley and how bravely he had faced the Dark Lord’s followers as well, and the abhorration that was the war. “Many of you do not realize just how terrible Lord Voldemort’s agenda is,” Dumbledore said, “Or how many lives he is willing to take to gain power. It does not matter to him if you are pureblood or muggleborn, the Dark Lord is a danger to you.”

Peter shivered.

“To remind us of all that Voldemort has torn asunder, of the fact that lives are not safe because the blood that sustains them is pure, the two towers leading out into the Herbology greenhouses, which stand sentinel over the castle, shall be officially henceforth named the Bell Towers… They will stand to remind us of Alice and Derek and the strength which each demonstrated, the loss that we have all together suffered, and the memory of two extraordinary students.”




Mr. Filch was seen later that day, hammering two golden plates to the sides of the towers. The students who saw him hanging them clustered about to see what they said. On the East tower, the plate was etched with bellflower and Alice’s name, beneath which it read:

May you always remain pure of heart, believing in yourself and in others, seeing the good in all people, and remember to accept those who are in need of your friendship.

The West tower’s plate bore the symbol of a nettle and Derek’s name, reading:

Protect those who need it, stand for that which you believe in - even if you take the first step alone, you shall find that there are a myriad others who shall join you in your strength.

Students stood in the courtyard around the Bell Towers late into the night. Magically conjured flowers and bottles of blue flame were left about the foot of them in memorium. Tinkets were left behind as well - Gryffindor house scarves and photographs and the like. A golden snitch fluttered about, tethered to the stone by a single silver thread.




The boys were on their way back to Gryffindor tower after visiting the towers so that James could leave the snitch, crossing over the viaduct overlooking the grounds, when a voice called out, “Sirius!”

Sirius looked up. “Andromeda!” he said in surprise, hurrying to greet his cousin - the only one he liked. With her was the wizard who James had seen helping Flitwick move the body - Derek’s body - to the hospital wing that morning. Sirius, however, seemed to know who he was. “Ted, how are you?”

“As well as to be expected, in the circumstances,” he answered.

“Who’s this?” Sirius asked, noticing that Ted held a small bundle - a baby, whose round face stuck out from the folds, tiny fingers clutching the swaddling cloth.

“This,” replied Ted, “Is Nymphadora.” He lowered the bundle for Sirius to see more clearly and the other boys clustered about, eager to see the baby as well. She had dark hair that curled about her face and long lashes. As they watched, she yawned and stretched her tiny arms and blinked up at them with wide brown eyes… and poof! her hair turned a brilliant shade of pink.

Sirius and the boys jumped in surprise.

“The healers at St. Mungo’s say she’s a metamorphmangus,” explained Andromeda in an adoring tone.

“One moment it’ll be brown, the next pink, the next blue, orange, red… you never know!” Ted said with a little chuckle.

“That’s really cool,” said James.

“Wish I could do that,” said Peter.

“She’s lovely,” said Remus.

Sirius nodded, “She’s brilliant.” He looked up at Andromeda and Ted, “I’m very happy for you lot. I know the rest of the family’s been awful to you --”

“Positively horrid,” agreed Andromeda. “I saw Narcissa just now downstairs and she wouldn’t even say hello to me or look at the baby.”

“Her loss,” Sirius said. “I’m proud you’re my cousin.”

Andromeda smiled and bent low to give Sirius a hug, “I’m proud that you’re my cousin also, Sirius. At least one person in this family’s got the right idea… I do hope that you’re able to talk to Regulus and make him see the truth, too, before it’s too late.”

Sirius sighed, “I don’t know about Regulus… it’s hard to say… he’s very much influenced by Mother and Father and… last time I was at the house, he wouldn’t really speak to me much.”

“Don’t give up on him,” Andromeda said, “You two were so close when you were younger. I remember when you two would be staying at our house and you’d be fighting in the yard, both threatening to hex one another, and neither daring to do it…” she smiled, “He always ran to you first when he would fall and scrape his knee or if he was afraid about something…”

Sirius nodded, a sudden memory of his brother crawling into his bed in the night, crying over a nightmare or a thunderstorm. He thought of the frightened look in Regulus’s eyes when he’d pegged him to the stair back on holiday, the day he’d left Number 12 Grimmauld Place to go to the Potter’s. He’d been just as blind to the truth as Regulus was before Hogwarts, he thought - and he’d given up on Regulus so quickly… abandoning him to the horrors of Number 12 without a second thought. Guilt filled him up. “I won’t give up on him,” he promised.

Ted looked at a watch he could only just see around the bundle of Nymphadora and he said, “We need to go and pay our respects and get back to Hogsmeade to the inn. I’d rather not travel after dark.”

“It was lovely seeing you, Sirius… and your friends,” Andromeda said, smiling at them, “You lot take care of yourselves, and be careful travelling home.”

“Thanks, Andromeda,” Sirius said, giving her one more hug before they went on across the viaduct toward the Herbology courtyard and the Bell Towers.

The boys made their way on to the Great Hall for dinner, where most everyone was somber and quiet, the banners overhead black and dark against the pink and orange of the charmed ceiling, reflecting the sky as it was outdoors.

“There was a notice about the tournament,” said Frank Longbottom as James and the others arrived, sitting down across from him. “They aren’t postponing it.”

“What?!” James sounded shocked, “But why? How can they expect us lot to go out there and play without a captain?!”

“They’ve named Quentin Vane captain,” Frank said. “It’s all on the noticeboard.”

“But we’re short a chaser!” James exclaimed.

“They’ve added one - it’s Geoffrey Kinder, from Ravenclaw,” supported Andy Woodhouse, who was seated on the other side of Frank. “Vane called him on account of he knows how he flies more than he does Lily - she was Derek’s reserve.”

Sirius shook his head, “Blimey…”

James shook his head, “We can’t play without Derek. It’s just wrong. The touney was too important to him…”

Remus spoke up, his voice quiet, “Perhaps that’s precisely why you should play.”

“Come again?” James asked in surprise, looking to Remus in surprise.

Remus shrugged, “It’s just that Derek wouldn’t have wanted it cancelled, would he? He would’ve said to go on and play without him if he were here… because it was important to him.”

“Yeah,” agreed Peter, nodding, “I wouldn’t want it being called on account of me, if I were Derek, either.”

“But --” James looked helplessly at Sirius, “But what if we lose? We’ve never even had a practice under Quentin Vane… Never played with Geoffrey Kinder… What if the balance of the whole team’s thrown off? What if I can’t catch the snitch?”

Frank answered, “Well, Quentin was there for all the practices under Derek, wasn’t he? And he was always the reserve captain, so I’m sure he and Derek had talks about it… and Kinder is very good. He was trained under Gwenog Jones, and she’s pro now.”

“Just think how much you could honor Derek’s memory by winning the tourney for him,” said Peter.

“Yeah!” exclaimed Andy, “Derek will for sure be watching down from wherever he is, cheering you lot on. He’d want nothing more than to see you lot beat Ilvermorny for him!”

James nodded numbly. He had never felt more anxious in all of his life.




James shook Sirius awake in the dead of the night. “I can’t do it,” he hissed.

“Can’t do what?” Sirius asked, rubbing his eyes to focus on his panic-stricken friend.

“The tourney,” whispered James desperately, “I can’t do it. I can’t play. I’m too scared.”

Sirius sat up and looked James over. He was already wearing his quidditch robes, despite it being no more than three in the morning, by the clock on their nightstand. “C’mon, let’s go downstairs so we don’t wake Peter and Remus.”

The two of them snuck down the stairs, hesitating by the seventh year dorm room for a moment, and then on to the common room, to the chair by the fire. Sirius made James sit and, remembering how it had comforted him when James had made him tea after a nightmare the year before, Sirius set to work on preparing a kettle by the fire.

“There’s too much pressure and I’m sick,” James lamented, “I’m terrified I won’t be able to catch the snitch and we’ll lose and dishonor Derek and it’ll be my fault entirely and the entire school will hate me and - and Derek will hate me for all eternity for messing up and --”

Sirius held up a hand, “Slow down,” he said. “First of all, you’re brilliant at catching the snitch. You’ve been practicing like a mad dog and yeah you’ve been nervous but that’s normal for such a big game, especially with all the pressure from the other houses and everything on you to do well. But Derek believed in you or else he wouldn’t have named you seeker when Alex Tinnamin left, would he?”

James said, “Well, maybe he just --”

“James!” Sirius said, “Of course Derek believed in you. You told me about that talk he had with you. He told you he believed in you. So you need to believe in yourself for him now.”

James hung his head.

“And as for losing and all that,” Sirius said, “I don’t think it would be a dishonor to Derek if you lost. The honor is in the playing. Play with the integrity that he taught you lot to have on the field. You play for Derek, you don’t win for him. He won’t hate you for losing if you play it with all your might. And if you happen to win, then that’s a wonderful bonus, isn’t it?”

James nodded.

Sirius turned and fetched some cups from a shelf in the corner in order to pour the tea. When it was ready, he handed the cup to James, who sipped his cup with a sigh, comforted by the warmth and spice of the tea.

“James?”

“Yes?”

Sirius held his cup in his palms, “I actually wanted to talk to you, too, before term was over… I think I need to go back to Grimmauld Place for the summer.”

James lowered his cup. “Why?”

“Because of Regulus,” Sirius answered. “I need to… to take care of him. I need to make sure he knows how evil the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who are.”

James looked worried, “But what about you? What about your parents?”

Sirius shrugged. “I dunno. But I can’t just leave Regulus there at their mercy, being told all the wrong things. They’ll teach him horrible things, James, and -” Sirius took a deep breath, “James, my father’s who killed the Bells - Alice and their parents… They’re murderers. I can’t let Regulus go that way. He’s too good at heart. I’d lost my vision for that before, but that stuff Andromeda said today -- it reminded me. I can’t lose Regulus to them.”

“What about the Draught of Change? What about becoming Animagi?” James asked.

“I’ll still come to do all that, of course,” Sirius said, “But I’ve got to go back to be there for my brother, too. It’s important he knows that things don’t have to be like they are at Grimmauld Place, that there’s bright stuff in the world. Maybe if I talk to him this summer he’ll be sorted Gryffindor next term when he comes to Hogwarts.”

James nodded slowly, holding his cup, and, not for the first time, he realized just how brave his best mate was.