Yesterday, after surviving Limbo on Level Nine, Abby had fallen asleep as soon as she'd reached her parent's house. She'd slept for a good sixteen hours, woken up once by her mother who was shaking her shoulders, afraid she'd been sleeping for too long. Leave her be, her father had said. Let her rest.

In the morning, she woke early, in her childhood bedroom. Her sister was curled up on the too small chair nearby, her blond hair fallen over her face. Abby had blond hair again, curly, tickling her face and neck. She stood on unsteady legs, about an inch taller. Her face when she yawned felt rounder, softer.

Inside her head, it was so quiet. Just her own thoughts falling over themselves, all bundled together in one room, not yet reaching out with tentative fingers around the door jamb to peek down the hall at the other rooms, which were open and full of sunlight.

Iona, Iona, Iona, a small voice kept persisting, hiding behind the curtain waiting to be found. Iona, the thought tugged at the black velvet curtain, palm pressed against the cold window pane, peering into the starless night outside.

No answer.

Abby glanced at her sleeping sister, her eyelids fluttering, her face pale. She reached out to tuck Aileen's hair around her ear. Did she feel alone too, without her pentral? Did her thoughts still huddle in one room, or had they filled the space in her mind?

Her sister had left her a note on the dresser in certain, spiky handwriting.

A-

I stopped by your flat to pick up a change of clothes for you - they're in the top drawer. I let your flatmate know you were well. I did not touch your suitcase nor the (towering) stack of presents. I assume you'd like to stop over yourself and say hello to Raine before our parents smother you with worry and attention.

Wake me if you need me.

-A

Since Iona's death and Abby's trip to limbo,[1] she had seen her sister, her parents, Sasha, and Virgil. They were some of the most important people in her life. But she had not seen Raine.

Abby blinked at the clothing folded neatly in the top drawer. Raine would leave for Russia soon, visiting her own family. Did Abby want to see Raine?

Raine! A little voice piped up in her head.

Her mind slowly skipped back, piecing the memories of the past few months together. Raine helping her decorate their flat, Raine visiting Abby's desk at the Ministry, Raine curling her feet up on the couch to make room for her. Raine in the kitchen with coffee and lemon macaroons, Raine welcoming her home with a party, Raine at her side the second Abby had fallen out of the fireplace and into the atrium in August.

Raine! Her thoughts connected. Not just her flatmate but one of her closest friends. Yes, she wanted to see her, if she hadn't already left.

---

Half an hour later...


Abby wore a pale blue dress and dark, thick leggings. She'd tied back her curls, letting the freckles show on her left jaw. Her eyes were brown like they'd always been, but her left eye had specks of blue that matched her dress.

She stepped into the floo with a fistful of powder, and announced the address of her flat.

The green flames roared. They took her to the fireplace in the place she called home.

"Raine!" Abby called out into the living room, the green floo powder settled on her shoulders, her curls, her pert nose. "Raine, it's Abby!"

Abby glanced around at the patterned couches, the floor pillows, the string lights and the green garlands brightening every corner of the flat. The rug felt strange and plush, the sweet vanilla in the air smelled familiar but not. She stood still, taking it all in.

1.	Two Innocent Stars

Raine Almasy was packing for Russia.

In her maroon sweater and black slacks, red hair tied back, she surveyed the disorder of her bedroom. It held her identity well: damask beige and gold curtains, fur sheepskins, a silky white bedspread of embroidered flowers. Elegant little things set against the contrast of a Gryffindor scarf slung over the bed board, stacks of Quidditch magazines, dusty old books, clumsily framed photographs of people she loved. A great trunk was propped open in a corner as clothes drifted out of her Gustavian wardrobe and folded themselves in.

Oh, she wasn't looking forward to going to Tyumen to visit the extended family, but there were things she needed to know and to discover. Things about aunt Ira and Feliks, that horrid little cottage she'd heard about.

            "Raine! Raine, it's Abby!"

The sound of her flatmate's voice cut through the air of concentration and Raine nearly dropped her wand. Abby was home! She abandoned her trunk, heading out into the living room right away. It had been weighing on her for ages: were they going to see each other after the exorcism? Was she going to finally see the old A--

"Abby!" Raine exclaimed, a nostalgic pang in her chest at the sight of blonde hair and brown eyes. "Oh my Godric, I was so worried I wouldn't see you before I left!" she hugged the other girl tightly, not minding the green floo powder.

Aileen had reassured her that the exorcism had worked and gone well but Raine didn't feel her anxiousness abate until this very moment. She pulled back to look at Abby in the face, and thought: not quite the same old Abby. That one eye wasn't all blue. But she was definitely all herself, from the top of her head to the tip of her stockinged toes.

"You're all you again!" she said out loud, hands still on her friend's shoulders, looking at her searchingly. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"

Raine stepped out of her room, dressed in a shade of Gryffindor, her face hopeful.

Abby stood near the fireplace another moment, waiting for her heart to catch up to her mind.

When she'd woken on Level Nine yesterday, she had seen Sasha and Virgil and the Unspeakables right away. It was as if Virgil had never left. He'd followed her where no one else had, and she'd recognized him almost instantly. Sasha too, had held her hand, kept her anchored. She'd seen Aileen a minute later, and her sister had kept a comforting arm around her the whole time as they'd gone home.

She hadn't expected her parents to look like strangers to her. The memories that came to her first were childhood ones, standing in her childhood home.

Looking at Raine, she remembered the spices and smoke of the Cairo market. Youthful birthday parties. Cheering in the stands during the Tetrawizard tournament.

But she was also the Raine of the past few months as she closed the distance in the flat they shared. Past and present together.

Her hug was fierce and woke Abby out of her stillness. Abby hugged her back, squeezing her eyes shut at the sight of her fiery, curly hair. Raine's hair was a much brighter shade of red than Iona's, but with a pang, she missed the simple similarity.

"I'm good," Abby laughed her bubbly laugh as they parted. In that very moment she was good! Raine had broken through the fog with her liveliness and her steady hands on her shoulders.

All you. All you again. As the words sank in, Raine studied her and Abby studied her back. All Raine. Raine was here.

Abby was here, but...

"I just wanted to see you before you left on your trip. As I'm returning from mine," she raised her eyebrows teasingly. "From Lim-bo," she drawled out. "I've got you beat, I've won the bet, Raine. You can admit it now."

What bet? No one knew.

She patted Raine's shoulders. "Pay up in coffee? Lots of sugar."

Her favorite kind.

Even Abby's laughter, which always made it seem her chest wasn't enough to contain it all, sounded different. It wasn't the same as the girl who had gotten lost with Raine in the marketplaces of Cairo but it wasn't the version of her inhabited by a pentral either. This was something altogether new, and it gave her both a pang of joy and sadness. Like she was saying goodbye and hello at the same time.

            "From Lim-bo,...I've got you beat, I've won the bet, Raine. You can admit it now."

Had there been a bet? It was Raine's turn to laugh, and she raised her hands as if though in surrender. "I'm no sore loser, I concede defeat and I will pay the heavy price of it," she replied smartly. "Come on then. I got a new roast, and some new sugar. Coconut nectar, very fancy in muggle circles I hear."

Every now and then, the redhead fell into line with the goings-on of her mother's muggle world. Raine had never considered it a handicap - her mother was a rich muggle, much in the way Sasha's family were rich muggles, and in that realm money might as well be magic. You could get away with just about anything and the entire world was for sale.

Leading them into their narrow kitchen, Raine took down a Moka pot from the cupboards and chatted while she opened a sealed canister of freshly ground coffee. "So. Limbo?" she glanced at Abby with unabashed curiousity, and her smile brought levity to the serious weight of their conversation. "What was it like? Can you talk about it or did Morgenthau swear you to secrecry?"

Secrets were so boring when you weren't in on them.

"Mm, I love the taste of hipster trendiness."

Abby followed Raine into the kitchen, appreciating her relaxed demeanor. Though her parents had resisted asking her a million questions, she felt their concern in every look and action, and she needed to know that she felt okay before she could reassure anyone else of that.

"The only thing Morgenthau said was not to talk to the press about it," she shrugged, completely fine with that. Someday in the future, maybe she'd want to share her experiences at the lakehouse and with the pentral, but that was the furthest thing from her mind after yesterday.

"I took an accidental journey to Limbo," Abby glanced at Raine with a ghost of a smile, wondering if that was as bizarre to hear as it was for her to say. "A misstep. A little oopsy-daisy through the veil."

It hadn't gone smoothly, and she wanted Raine to know before Abby started describing it. Raine was tough, but she'd battled her own horrors, and spent these past few months helping Abby battle hers.

Still, Raine was one of the few she'd feel comfortable confiding in about the strangest adventure of her life. She could and would talk about it to Sasha, or Virgil, or Aileen, who had all been there in some sense, but they were familiar with the nature of Level Nine. Raine stood outside of it.

"I'll tell you what I remember, if you want to hear it," Abby offered hopefully.

As the coffee brewed, Abby went in search of the coffee mugs. The second cabinet she opened held the mugs. Abby picked two randomly, paying little mind to the fact that she never used the one with the clunky round handle, and Raine liked the tiny cups, or was it the large cups?

Abby set the mugs on the counter and waited for the coffee to finish.

Not to talk to the press! All department heads were the same. One eye on the work and another on the public.

Raine was about to say as much as she watched the Moka pot boil over and fill with coffee, when Abby dropped something of a bomb on the conversation. The redhead turned to stare at her friend, "Limbo!" she repeated the word, unable to keep the slight tenor of horror from her voice. They'd let the squib slip into limbo? How did that even happen? That wasn't an oopsy daisy!

Not wanting to discourage the conversation from progressing, she quickly took the coffee pot off the stove and tried not to look utterly indignant on Abby's behalf.

She knew not to expect a lot from Mysteries but it was upsetting to hear that they were careless enough to let someone's soul get pulled into Limbo just like that. Raine opened the Moka lid and peered in to check that it was full before bringing the pot over to the mugs - Abby had taken out the ones they didn't usually use.

Was that a Limbo side-effect or just Abby being distracted?

            "I'll tell you what I remember, if you want to hear it."

"I do," Raine replied, pouring the coffee. "Whatever you're comfortable telling me is fine," she picked up the mugs and nodded towards the door. "Living room? Or do you want to watch my wardrobe pack itself?"

Abby raised her eyebrows. Raine hadn't realized she'd been serious earlier. It must have been the way she'd said Lim-bo! Abby read her quick movements with the coffeemaker as frustration, and that was just fine. If Raine were more angry than sad on her behalf, she'd be alright. Abby could tell her.

Adding sugar to her coffee, she followed Raine out of the kitchen.

"I totally want to watch your clothes pack themselves and offer comments and compliments on your outfits," she chirped, her voice just the slightest bit off-key, an echo of her usual enthusiasm.

She picked a seat on Raine's bed, and cradled her mug of coffee in her hands.

Abby had told Raine on the night before the exorcism that Virgil had offered to be there with her in the Death Chamber. She hadn't told her about the danger he'd face, as at the time she hadn't sorted it out in her head yet, but she had mentioned that Virgil had stopped by Level Two and it had meant a lot to her.

So Abby started with a summary, explaining that Virgil had been there to help Iona pass on, Sasha had been there for support, and Aileen had been right outside the doors of the chamber. Feeling very Shakespearean and doomed, she'd laid back in front of the archway as Virgil had taken the drought and winded the red yarn around his wrist, and the Unspeakables had brought forth the bright light to draw out her pentral.

"Then basically my soul got tangled with hers and hop-skip-jumped after her through the veil."

Her eyes widened a bit as she raised her cup to sip at her coffee.

"I can only imagine their faces back in the chamber," she smiled nervously. It wasn't funny but still! Pants-shitting horrifying, as Pratt would say!

She cradled her mug in both hands, glancing first at Abby as the other girl found a seat on the bed, and then at the trunk that was allowing her many frocks to be folded into its stomach. Her mind was still playing on Limbo - if the trip had been intentional, she would have been less indignant. But an accidental trip was really alarming; she wanted to have more faith in nine.

The redhead perched herself on her dressing table stool and faced Abby, while the clothes floated overhead with cheerful ease... 'tis the season.

            "...basically my soul got tangled...hop-skip-jumped...through the veil."

Was it as easy as that? Listening to the squib talk, she had kept a fairly calm and thoughtful expression. After all, Abby hadn't been alone in the Death Chamber. Sasha had gone with her, and even Virgil was better than no company at all. "I can only imagine their faces back in the chamber," her flatmate remarked - Raine mirrored her smile, which was a bit more anxious in light of all this information.

"I bet Sasha fairly jumped out of his skin," she tried to play along with lighthearted humour despite the little wrinkle between her fiery eyebrows. "So you just got pulled into Limbo with the pentral and Carstairs? Did it hurt...?" Raine was cautious not to push for too much detail. Still, she was very curious.

To go to Limbo, that was like almost dying wasn't it? One step away from the other side. Where her sister was, where Ira was now. Forbidden in the chiefest sense. "At least I know your story has a happy ending," she added and sipped some of the hipster coffee. "You're here."

Did it hurt.

She stilled, her hands around the coffee mug. Raine's outfits and shoes tumbled out of the wardrobe and into the trunk and Abby barely noticed.

Abby shot Raine a distracted smile. Yes, she was here. She was grateful, she was here, she tried to be grateful to be here. Her story had a happy ending. She was grateful to be telling it to Raine, who was listening so well without getting upset.

"It was... cold," she sipped at her warm coffee. She had felt colder than she'd ever been, as if the numb chill in her hands that the pentral's presence sometimes brought had been a mere prelude to the piercing chill behind the veil.

After the freezing cold and darkness, the voices had come. The murmurs she'd heard in the death chamber had become the voices of ghosts guiding her to Limbo. She hadn't mentioned the ghosts to anyone yet, though Virgil must have glimpsed them later.

"I woke up on a narrow, never-ending street, with houses on either side. Fog crept in around me. Iona had grown up there, in that neighborhood. It was her Limbo."

She collected her thoughts for a moment. She'd thought of Limbo everyday since then, holding onto her memory of it, but even the details that reminded her of reality, like the houses and the cobblestones, didn't feel real, or grounded in anything she had ever lived or dreamed.

It was much like sharing a mind with a pentral, except at least that had happened in her own reality.

"I felt sort of weightless. And lost. The red cord had disappeared and I didn't see anyone. I wasn't cold anymore, but the fog was rolling in on the street, and I knew time was slipping slowly. Everything I'm trying to tell you - the chill, the fog, even the street - it's not quite right, it doesn't describe it, but I don't have the words to describe it," she sighed at Raine. Could Raine imagine! Abby not having the words.

"The most important thing is, I found Virgil and Iona. Or they found me."

Abby set her coffee down on an end table and curled her knees in, still sitting on the bed. "The two of them, Raine," she shook her head. "Iona and Virgil. They were incredibly brave. Gryffindor-brave," she glanced at the stool that Raine perched on.

"They figured out what to do. Virgil gave me the cord, and Iona did something, she called on some kind of magic there-" The ghosts! "-to send me out. There was no hesitation. No question about it. They just decided."

Gratitude and grief caught in her throat as she bent her head a little. They'd been absolutely determined to save her.

"They did that for me."

They, the ghosts, and the very last ghost at the very end of the journey.

Cold.

Yes, she expected that. The dead were cold. Her sister had been. It felt terrible to just imagine that - to think of her twin being someplace cold and distant from warm places like this. Her bedroom, the smell of her peachy perfume mingled with their hot coffee. As she listened to Abby, Raine couldn't help wonder what her own limbo would look like, or Sanya's. She gently pushed that thought away.

It was too morbid. This was already a conversation that danced the line.

             "The two of them, Raine. Iona and Virgil. They were incredibly brave. Gryffindor-brave."

A look of incredulity crossed her face, much as she tried to stop it. Virgil? Brave? Iona she could kind of understand... maybe being trapped as a ghost or pentral or whatever is something that helps you to build courage, to do things with more patience. But Carstairs wasn't exactly brave, even if she respected Abby's opinion.

Raine's expression softened at her flatmate's last words and she glanced down into her coffee for a second. Of course they did that for Abby. Who wouldn't?

"They both care about you," she looked up, a cardigan passing between them to fold itself into the trunk. "And they put their brains together for you. You'd have done the same for them." The redhead raised her eyebrows to dare a contradiction before continuing. "It sounds like you kept your head though. That's no mean feat..."

She trailed off. If Abby weren't a squib, she would have been ace at something that needed a cool head. But probably not auror work. Too violent. "Do you feel like it changed you?" Raine asked, curiousity encroaching on sympathy. "Having Iona in you? And being in Limbo?"

Abby smiled vaguely and sipped her coffee, not about to contradict Raine when she raised her fiery eyebrows like that. Her confidence helped, though. Abby would like to think that she would do the same for Iona, Virgil, Sasha, Raine, the list went on.

It was just a little sad that others always had to help her.

"Do you feel like it changed you?" Raine asked, curiousity encroaching on sympathy. "Having Iona in you? And being in Limbo?"

"Sure," she said after a moment. How could it not?

She ran a hand through her blonde hair. She felt quieter over the past few days, matching the quiet spaces in her head. She felt less likely to laugh or cry, to smile or talk. She was relearning how to participate in normal conversations again, with just her and everyone else outside of her head. It was hard to know, so soon, which changes would last and which wouldn't.

And Limbo? Limbo. There was nothing like it. How was she to process and understand a whole world that she hadn't asked for, but delved into accidentally? She'd left her body. Who could say that? She'd left her body, tied to another soul, and come back to find herself changed. Alone.

"I'm me again," Abby assured Raine. "I look like myself, I am myself, but I don't know exactly who that is right now," she trailed off.

Who was she? She'd asked that same question when she'd fallen into a deep sleep in the death chamber. Who was she without Iona, and without the horrible house that had gotten into her bones? She'd burnt that house down and escaped into this world, the world with good people, but it was like she'd skipped a step, escaping with another soul. Living with another soul.

"There's something missing," Abby gestured to herself. "Like there's a piece that was her, that I'd gotten so used to, and depended on and resented because we had to share everything, and now that she's gone, I'm like... what is this?" She hugged her knees, glancing down. "Why is it so quiet?"

Quiet and empty, everything louder and brighter, she'd thought, returning to the flat today and glancing around with fresh eyes.