Hogsmead Village

'Here' she calls 'Hang on.' Pushing people out the way, she walks over to Mer and claps her hand on the other girls shoulder. 'What are you doing here?'

She jumped slightly with the contact, before forcing her shoulders to relax as she turned to face her.

'I... came back, to whatever's left of Hogwarts.' She spoke quietly, wrapping a lock of hair around her finger and twirling it anxiously. 'I've missed everybody, and the wizarding world has become my home.'

'How about you? Where've you been Kry?' Her unfocused gaze was tinged with sadness.

'Ive been around.' Krystal shrugs. 'Mostly with Chimmy though.' A pause. 'We had an inn...and crouch burnt it down.'

It was the first she'd heard of Joachim - and the inn - since Amaya had persuaded them all to leave for 'family bonding'.

"But what about Joachim?" Bryn had asked at the time, and the other Desouza sister had just rolled her shoulders in a shrug, brushing off the question as they packed their trunks to depart from Hogwarts.

'Burnt it down...? You guys are safe now, right? I know Crouch has been very charismatic lately, but he's not going to threaten either of you.' Meredia was aware that Crouch had bigger targets than her ex sister-in-law and her boyfriend.

'Did Chimmy get into trouble with him?'

if not, he's in trouble with May.

'Is anyone ever safe from crouch?'

'We were, for a while.' She mumbled, feeling guilty for eluding Crouch for so long. 'What i meant was: Are you a big target for him? He switches his attention faster than you turn off a muggle light'.

'I dont think so. I mean, he hasnt come after us since then.'

'Where are you and chimmy now?' she asked quietly, just in case there were people still after them. 'I've missed you.'

'here and there. building a new and better inn.'

'Then there's something i have to tell you.' She admitted, pursing her lips into a weak smile.

'Amaya said she had something to settle with Joachim. I don't know what happened, but she isn't happy, and i can't stop her. I don't even know if she'll bother.' 

we don't really stick together anymore.

'She wouldnt hurt him, would she?'

'This is Amaya..' she mumbled, almost under her breath. 'She can be heartless when she wants to be, if she wanted to hurt him, she definitely will, and could.'

OOC Joachim: D: But I'm delightful!

ooc

[Amaya's hands curl into fists, cricking her neck]
Fight me

Kry knew he could look after himself, but that didnt stop her going to her want, wanting to go and help him.

'I'm sure he'll be fine just... be careful? okay?' She spoke again, lips setting into a thin frown.

'I plan on being fine. Amaya wont touch him.'

'How can you be so sure?' Amaya wasn't capable with magic, but she wouldn't need it.

She had been away for far too long.

Days had turned to weeks and then into months, and half a year had passed her by before she had even thought of this place again.

She didn't mean to run. Not in the way she had; disappearing completely from the Wizarding World. She had meant to write to someone, and almost had, but pressing the quill onto the parchment had made her realise something.

She had no one to write to. They were better off thinking her dead. Better off not thinking of her at all, for when she was around, she caused nothing but anger and had nothing but arguments.

She had a brother she had fought with every day, because neither could see the other ones reasons- though she knew life would have been easier if she had just accepted him as who he was.

She had Death- though after the long months, she was not even sure who they were to each other anymore. 

And then there were the others. Artemis. Krystal. Others that had once been her friends and one after the other she had stabbed them in the back and hurt them.

She regretted everything. 

Though she knew none would want her apologies, or her excuses.

She had not planned to come back. She had travelled far and wide and she had changed. She was no longer the little girl who just wanted her brother back. She was no longer scared of what anyone could do to her. She was a grown woman who loved people on two sides of a war that would never end, and that would never change.

But she herself had. River Crouch had been buried long ago, under a charm that should never have broken. But from the ashes of the little girl, Riv had emerged. And that was who she was today.

The girl who would not fight for one side or the other. But fight to just...be. 
And that was why she had returned.

Becuase this was home, and she wanted to come back.

Something needed to happen.

Something needed to be in effect. 

He needed motion, worse than an addict needed his substance of choice. But nothing had come to him.

His lord, his master, his surrogate father and God was gone. Killed by a champion of order, a defender of all Crouch sought to reduce to ashes.

Even if Crouch rebuilt the Death Eaters tomorrow and rose his deceased master from the grasp of death, even if he killed death itself, it would be for not if their symbol of hope lived. Perhaps that should be their first priority... 

But if the Dark Lord couldn't do it, the greatest master of the dark arts this excuse for a world had the privilege to witness, it would be futile to try and outright battle him to the death. Even if he was just right across the street from him...

The dark arts felt... Weaker somehow, like an ebbing ripple in a pond. He did originally come to make The Boy Who Lived's moniker more accurate but seeing him across the street had shifted his resolve.

All his impulses begged him to attack, pleaded with him to annihilate the entire village if necessary to avenge his lord. But he thought better of it. If he could end the Dark Lord, was Crouch even in the same league as this paragon of light?

He forced his arms down, and his legs to move him past the bane of the Dark Arts and let him pass without incident...

Home.

A part of her wondered what that word even meant to her- Hogwarts had been home until it was tainted by darkness. Every home she had was destroyed- yet it was the castle were she still felt safest, even now.

That was the real reason she was in the quiet village. Because there were memories here, and it was one step nearer to going home.

But she didn't even know if she could walk back inside those walls, despite what she was telling herself.

The hairs on the back of her neck rose- there was no one watching her, but there was someone around, something her brain had picked up when her eyes had not. She looked around slowly, wondering what it was. Who it was.

The dark haired boy that everyone knew the name of slipped inside the Three Broomsticks. It wasn't him- but then she looked past him to see a face she knew as well as her own.

No. She wasn't ready. Not to face him, not yet. 
She turned around quickly, studying the shop window behind her as if it contained the elixir of life. He might just walk on straight by.

But who was she kidding, she had hair that stood out like fire in the snow, and he was her brother. He would know her.

It seemed fate had rewarded his patience, or rather punished him for it...

"Sibling..." His voice was a shaky symphony at best. It was unsure whether to hate her for her continued betrayals or relief to at last find something familiar in these dire  times...

'Crouch.' She whispered, turning around to look at him. She tried to smile, but wasn't sure if it worked- a history like theirs could not be swept aside with a smile and hug like others could.

"I trust this new horrid age is pleasing for you? Were not you the one who always wished for 'peace' and 'harmony'?" He mocked the words as they left his mouth, as though they left a vile taste in it.

She winced. 'Clearly its not so full of harmony if you can sound so disgusted at the idea. Or is it because you have to talk to me?'