Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.
I blinked my eyes open, seeing both Harry and Hermione leaning over me. "You alright?" Hermione asked fretfully.
"Ow, yeah." I mumbled, slowly pushing myself into a sitting position. "Where are we?"
"Safe place. C'mon, let's get into the tent." Harry said, helping me up. I gently placed a hand on my stomach, feeling little kicks. They were unhappy with me, but at least I knew they were both alive and well.
"So," Ron started immediately, showing that I had missed a bit of their conversation, "that Peverell bloke who's buried in Godric's Hollow, you don't know anything about him, then?"
"No, I looked him up after I saw the mark on his grave; if he'd been anyone famous or done anything important, I'm sure he'd be in one of our books. The only place I've managed to find the name 'Peverell' is Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy. I borrowed it from Kreacher. It lists the pure-blood families that are now extinct in the male line. Apparently the Peverells were one of the earliest families to vanish."
"Extinct in the male line?" Ron asked.
"It means the name's died out. . . centuries ago, in the case of the Peverells. They could still have descendants, though, they'd just be called something different."
"Marvolo Gaunt!" Harry suddenly shouted.
"What?" I asked.
"Sorry?" Ron and Hermione asked together.
"Marvolo Gaunt! You-Know-Who's grandfather! In the pensieve! With Dumbledore! Marvolo Gaunt said he was descended from the Peverells!"
I had forgotten about that and was impressed that Harry had.
"The ring, the ring that became the Horcrux, Marvolo Gaunt said it had the Peverell coat of arms on it! I saw him waving it in the bloke from the Ministry's face, he nearly shoved it up his nose!"
"the Peverell coat of arms? Could you see what it looked like?" Hermione asked sharply.
"Not really. There was something fancy on there, as far as I could see; maybe a few scratches. I only ever saw it really close up after it had been cracked open."
"Blimey. . . you reckon it was this sign again? the sign of the Hallows?" Ron asked.
"Why not? Marvolo Gaunt was an ignorant old git who lived like a pig, all he cared about was his ancestry. If that ring had been passed down through generations, he might not have know what it really was. There were no books in that house, and trust me, he wasn't the type to read fairy tales to his kids. He'd have loved to think the scratches on the stone were a coat of arms, because as far as he was concerned, having pure blood made you practically royal."
"Yes. . . and that's all very interesting, but Harry, if you're thinking what I think you're think-"
"Well, why not? Why not? It was a stone wasn't it? What if it was the Resurrection stone?" Harry asked.
"Blimey- but would it still work if Dumbledore broke-" Ron gasped.
"Work? Work?" Hermiones' voice was going up in octaves, making little pricks against my brain and I closed my eyes, laying on the cot. "Ron, it never worked! There's no such thing as a Resurrection Stone! Harry, you're trying to fit everything into the Hallows story-"
"Fit everything in? Hermione, it fits of its own accord! I know the sign of the Deathly Hallows was on that stone! Gaunt said he was descended from the Peverell's!"
"A minute ago you told us you never saw the mark on the stone properly!"
"Where d'you reckon the ring is now? What did Dumbledore do with it after he broke it open?" Ron asked frantically.
Harry didn't answer however. He was looking off into the distance, a faint look of concentration on his face. His black hair had fallen into his green eyes, boring holes into the tent wall.
"Harry?" Hermione asked after a few seconds.
Suddenly, Harry let out a dramatic gasp. "Dumbledore had my Cloak the night my parents died!"
I felt that twinge of sadness, whenever he called our parents 'his' or 'my'. I knew it was not his fault, I knew it was what he believed. And I knew that was my fault, because I had made sure it was that way.
His voice was shaking as he continued, "My mum told Sirius that Dumbledore borrowed the cloak! This is why! He wanted to examine it, because he thought it was the third Hallow! Ignotus Peverell is buried in Godric's Hollow. . .He's my ancestor! I'm descended from the third brother! It all makes sense!"
"Harry." Hermione tried again.
"Read it," Harry pushed a piece of parchment in Hermiones' hand. "Read it! Dumbledore had the Cloak, Hermione! Why else would he want it? He didn't need a Cloak, he could perform a Disillusionment Charm so powerful that he made himself completely invisible without one!"
"That's true." I murmured, frowning a little. I hadn't even thought of that.
I heard something clink, rolling on the ground and then Harry shouted so loud I winced, "IT'S IN HERE! He left me the ring- it's in the snitch!"
"You- you reckon?" Ron asked.
Harry looked between me, Ron, and Hermione. Ron looked taken aback and Hermione was obviously unbelieving. I hoped I mostly just looked like I was in pain, fingers pressed against my head like that would get rid of the headache.
"That's what he's after." Harry whispered. "You-Know-Who's after the Elder Wand."
I sat up, motioning to Hermione that I wanted the letter. Hermione handed it over without a word.
I unfolded the letter, taking in a deep breath as I saw Lily Potters' handwriting.
Dear Padfoot,
Thank you, thank you, for Harry's birthday present! It
was his favorite by far. One year old and already zooming
along on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself,
I'm enclosing a picture so you can see. You know it only
rises about two feet off the ground, but he nearly killed the
cat and he smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for
Christmas (no complaints there). Of course, James though it
was so funny, says he's going to be a great Quidditch player,
but we've had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure
we don't take our eyes off him when he gets going.
Lizzy just absolutely loves the Muggle dolls. I don't think
she's stopped playing with them ever since she got them. She's
so serious about making sure they're wearing appropriate attire
before bed and she doesn't dress herself until they're dressed
in day clothes. It's adorable. I would enclose a picture, but you
know she's camera shy.
We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old
Bathilda, who has always been sweet to us, and who dotes on
Harry and Lizzy. We were so sorry you couldn't come, but the
Order's got to come first, and they're not old enough to know
it's their birthday anyway! James is getting a bit frustrated
shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell- also,
Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance
of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him
up so much. Wormy was here last weekend, I though he
seemed down, but that was probably the news about the
McKinnons; I cried all evening when I heard.
Bathilda drops in most days, she's a fascinating old thing
with the most amazing stories about Dumbledore, I'm not
sure he'd be pleased if he knew! I don't know how much to
believe, actually, because it seems incredible that Dumbledore
The letter cut off, but I wasn't focused on that, especially since I knew how it finished. I had found the scrap of letter and half a picture in Severus' top drawer months ago. Despite me being camera shy, it was clear a picture had been snuck with me holding my mother's hand, a doll in my other hand. I knew it had originally connected to a photo of Harry riding along on a broom, our father diving after him, just a pair of legs.
The part I was focused on were the small tidbits about me. Muggle dolls. I had gotten muggle dolls and I liked to dress them, even at a year old. I knew which clothes should've gone on them and I dressed them like they were my children.
It took all of my willpower not to cry, especially knowing Hermione was looking at me, seeing as Harry was still lost in thought.
"I don't suppose you know what the last bit is supposed to say?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Oh." I looked up and said after a moment. "'because it seems incredible that Dumbledore could ever have been friends with Gellert Grindelwald. I think her mind's going, personally! Lots of love, Lily.'"
"You know," Hermione said quieter, "There's something that doesn't quite make sense."
"What?" I asked.
"Harry said he did have a sister, but that Barty Crouch Jr. said she died in April. But if she's celebrating her birthday in July. . . how could she have died in April?" Her eyes were holding mine and I just knew that she knew.
"Maybe she's still out there. Maybe she doesn't want people to know who she is." I answered. "Maybe she wants to reveal herself at the right time." I went silent and then said, "Or maybe she doesn't know who she is."
"This is it." Harry suddenly said, not having paid attention to a word we had said. Ron looked away from us slowly. Hermione and I stared at each other for a moment longer and I shook my head an inch. "This explains everything. The Deathly Hallows are real, and I've got one- maybe two- and You-Know-Who's chasing the third, but he doesn't realize. . . he just thinks it's a powerful wand-"
"Harry, I'm sorry, but I think you've got this wrong, all wrong."
"But don't you see? It all fits-"
"No, it doesn't. It doesn't, Harry, you're just getting carried away. Please, please just answer me this: If the Deathly Hallows really existed, and Dumbledore knew about them, knew that the person who possessed all three of them would be master of Death- Harry, why wouldn't he have told you? Why?"
"But you said it, Hermione! You've got to find out about them for yourself! It's a Quest!"
Hermione was going to hate herself for that one later probably. "But I only said that to try and persuade you to come to the Lovegoods'! I didn't really believe it!"
"Dumbledore usually let me find out stuff for myself. He let me try my strength, take risks. This feels like the kind of thing he'd do."
"Harry, this isn't a game, this isn't practice! This is the real thing, and Dumbledore left you very clear instructions: Find and destroy the Horcruxes! That symbol doesn't mean anything, forget the Deathly Hallows, we can't afford to get sidetracked- You don't believe in this, do you?"
I glanced up, finally handing the letter over to Harry.
"I dunno. . . I mean. . . bits of it sort of fit together," Ron said very awkwardly, looking like he wanted to placate both of them. "But when you look at the whole thing. . . I think we're supposed to get rid of Horcruxes, Harry. That's what Dumbledore told us to do. Maybe. . . maybe we should forget about this Hallows business."
"Thank you Ron, I'll take first watch." Hermione said, walking off.
Harry looked at me. "What about you?"
"I don't know Harry." I said softly, standing. "I know that's a rare answer from me but, I just don't know. I'd listen to Ron." I pulled him into a hug, letting out a sigh. "I'll see you later, I need to get back."
"Back to Snape?" Harry asked, a dangerous note in his voice.
"Back to my son." I said, my voice equally dangerous now. I squeezed his arm and stepped out of the tent without another word. I smiled at Hermione but made it clear I wasn't staying for a word, moving far away into the forest before closing my eyes and apparating.
I turned into my normal black cat form, padding through Hogsmeade before making my way up to the castle once more. Severus was laying on the bed with Remus, fast asleep until the door opened, his wand pointed at me until he saw who it was.
"You know you shouldn't relax so easily." I teased, taking my cloak off, laying it on the back of the chair, locking the door behind me. I sauntered over to the bed, climbing up awkwardly onto the piece of furniture, straddling Severus' lap. "What if I was a Death Eater."
"What if I was a Death Eater?" Severus asked lowly, nose skimming my neck.
"You are a Death Eater." I giggled, before pressing my lips to his. "I'm all yours sir. How do you want me to serve?" I was desperate to lose myself in him after the rough afternoon and the near miss with Hermione discovering I was his sister. Well, knowing, I suppose.
"Hmm, tempting." Severus rolled over, pinning me underneath him. "However, our son is in bed with us so I think we need to behave."
I kissed him again and then wiggled upwards. "That's not fun at all."
"You're a terrible influence." Severus groaned, before rolling out of bed to pick up Remus and lay him down in his crib, tapping it with his wand so that Remus could not hear certain noises that would be going on in the room. Severus crawled back up on the bed, hovering over me, before kissing down my neck. "Now then, I believe you said you were going to serve me?"
"Yes Sir." I replied coyly, letting my hands wander south on him, until they were undoing the buttons on his pants. He rolled off of me, landing on his back as I helped him lose his trousers and boxers. "You look delicious sir."
"You're such a tease." Severus moaned through gritted teeth as I licked up the underside of his shaft. His hand grabbed me by the hair, pulling me towards him. I went with it till I was straddling him, his cock rubbing against my folds.
Our breathing grew heavy as I sank down on him, riding him slowly, his hands moving to my hips, helping me ride him.
"Merlin, you feel amazing." Severus moaned out, fingers digging softly into my hips.
"My name is Elizabeth." I teased lightly, rolling so that we were both on our sides as we made love now. I captured his lips with mine, nipping at his bottom lip.
"My apologies." Severus teased and then gritted his teeth as he moaned lowly again. "Cum, Elizabeth."
It was instantaneous as I released, feeling him release inside of me at the same time. I sighed in content, relaxing into his arms.
We laid there for a moment before Severus slowly started to kiss my skin. Then he lightly murmured, "I'll go run the bath."
I hummed as he got up off the bed, watching him disappear butt naked into the bathroom, before he came back out to get me. I padded out to the bathroom, my legs shaking only a little bit and he helped me into the bath.
We took turns washing each other, soaking in the hot water until it cooled, before heading back out to bed. Severus climbed into bed, helping me up onto the raised furniture, before pulling me against him, cuddling me as the both of us drifted off to sleep.
Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).
Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.
"How do I look?" Trang asked nervously. I was standing in front of the body length mirror, putting the careful finishing touches to my hair. I had done my best to make it shine with Moroccan oil and had put it up in curlers six hours before the wedding. Now, they were hanging down in luscious curls, all flowing down my back.
My dress, I had designed myself through sketches and then had asked Madam Malkin if it was possible to make. I had chosen a dark green colour and I looked absolutely gorgeous in it.
I turned now, both to grab the pearl bobby pins for the finishing touch, and also to look at Trang. "You look gorgeous." I said sincerely.
Her long frame was wrapped in a tight fitting, red dress, that look rather traditional from Vietnam. There was also intricated, gold designs sewed all over the dress, with a tight fitted collar.
She had pulled her hair back into a simple ponytail, with some of it loose around her face. She had paired it with light makeup, besides the eyes which were dark and made them pop. She looked stunningly pretty.
"Oliver is going to have a field day." I continued, grinning. She blushed, looking down at the floor.
"Is the cake done?" Trang asked, changing the subject as she came over, taking the pearl bobby pins to help me with my hair. I'd always been hopeless at this sort of thing.
"Yes. I put the finishing touches to it today." You said with a bit of a smile. "I think it's a bit. . . different."
"Oh? Did you make it chocolate icing instead of vanilla?" Trang smirked.
"No, it's still a white cake and I still did roses." I answered. "But, well it is seven layers Trang. And so I did some not very traditional flavors for a couple of them. Like one is a softer sort of cake and its cookie dough flavored. And I might've baked some very small chocolate chip cookies to act as the leaves for the roses."
"It sounds delicious." Trang hummed. "Who cares if its not traditional, I just want to eat the whole thing myself now. Thanks, I'll be salivating the entire time."
"I'm sure Oliver can help you out." I jested and then yelped as she punched my arm. "Sorry!"
"Are we almost ready to go down?" Trang asked, her blush fading a little as she carefully finished the entire outfit off by adding some earrings.
"We are," I joked, "But Remus is another story."
I was waiting last minute to dress my baby boy up in his little tux since I knew he probably wasn't going to like the long sleeves in the beginnings of simmering August. But they were the only kind out there and I wanted him to look smart. I was going to take pictures of him and find a way to get them to Severus.
I hated that Severus was missing out on his sons 'firsts'. He hadn't spoken yet though, so maybe he would hold off on that until I went back to Hogwarts.
Remus was a little cranky as I picked him up from his crib. He was pouting, though he wasn't crying yet. He was whimpering in displeasure though. I decided to breast feed him and change his diaper.
I dressed him up in his smart suit, making sure the bow tie was straight. He had quieted down a little and I smiled. I wondered if it was okay if I let him lick some icing off of my finger. I would ask Mrs. Weasley. It was made of milk but it was also sweet.
Trang and I walked down the stairs to find that the most everyone was outside.
The first people I saw were Fred and George, standing with Ron and another red headed boy who was Harry in disguise. They were holding seating plans that they were using to help other people to their seats.
I saw Fred dart forwards to seat a group of Veela cousins. I smiled a little, knowing that years ago my jealousy would've spiked through the roof. Now, I was just hoping that he had a good time.
"Do you see Oliver?" Trang's voice was breathless. It would be the first time in seeing him in a while. I knew that she was nervous. I had never seen her show interest to a boy before so I knew this was a big deal for her.
I scanned the crowd, but didn't see the Quidditch player anywhere.
"No. But it's still early. It's still just mostly the family here." I said in comfort. If I was right about Oliver, he was rather serious about Trang. He would be here.
I did see Tonks and Dad approach Harry- or the boy that was Harry. Tonks spoke to Harry but Dad looked miserable and I frowned.
I knew I could've interfered. Told dad that the baby wasn't going to end up like him. But I also knew that Harry needed to be the one to put him in his place. It was necessary to the future.
"Trang!" A voice behind the two of us said. I didn't turn around right away because Oliver sounded like a strangled chicken and I really didn't want to laugh in his face.
After a second, I turned to see that the both of them were blushing crazily, holding hands and talking in soft tones. Oliver did look over and he smiled a little easier, "Hello Elizabeth. How are you?"
"Good, thanks." I smiled, though it was mostly a lie. "How are you? And Quidditch?"
"Oh it's been great!" Oliver relaxed completely, and smiled hugely at Trang. "I was actually just telling Trang that we've got a new Captain. I think we're going to make it at the top this year."
"Well, you are a superb Keeper." I said with an easy smile. "Anyways, Trang. I'll see the two of you inside. I'm going to say hi to dad."
I quickly left them by themselves and approached the tent as Hermione had just joined Ron and Harry.
". . . personally, she's rude to everyone." Ron was saying to Hermione.
"Talking about Muriel?" George asked as he and Fred exited the tent now. "Yeah, she's just told me my ears are lopsided." I giggled hard. "Old bat. I wish old Uncle Bilius was still with us, though; he was a right laugh at weddings."
"Wasn't he the one who saw a Grim and died twenty-four hours later?" Hermione asked.
"Well, yeah, he went a bit odd toward the end." George admitted.
"But before he went loopy he was the life and soul of the party. He used to down an entire bottle of firewhiskey, then run onto the dance floor, hoist up his robes, and start pulling bunches of flowers out of his-"
Harry roared with laughter and I smiled a little.
"Yes, he sounds a real charmer." Hermione said dryly while Ron added, "Never married, for some reason."
"You amaze me."
We were all laughing until a new, thickly accented voice said, "you look vunderful."
"Viktor!" Hermione shrieked, dropping her bag, which she scrambled to pick up while blushing. "I didn't know you were- goodness- it's lovely to see- how are you?"
I smirked.
"How come you're here?" Ron demanded.
"Ron!" I scolded while Krum replied, "Fleur invited me."
Harry shook his hand and then Krum turned to me and smiled. "Hello Elizabeth."
We hugged tightly and I offered to show him to his seat since we were sitting near each other.
"He is very cute." Krum offered, motioning to my baby.
"Thank you." I smiled a little.
Krum and I had kept in contact with each other ever since he'd left school in the fourth year. I felt that I knew him as much as I did with the Weasleys or Hermione or Harry. We kept up a steady stream of chatter until I told him I had to get to my seat.
I settled down next to Trang who was gaping at me. "You know Viktor Krum?"
"Oh." I blinked. "Did I forget to mention that we're penpals of like three years?"
"Yes!" Trang nearly shrieked. "He's a famous Quidditch player!"
"I'm a famous Quidditch player." I heard Oliver mutter quietly to himself which made Trang giggle and then drop the conversation.
Harry, Ron, Fred, and George settled around us as well. Harry next to me and Fred and George in front of us.
Bill and Charlie stood at the front- Charlie being Bills' best man. Both of them were wearing dress robes with white roses in their buttonholes. They both looked extremely handsome and Fred wolf-whistled, which encouraged the veela cousins to giggle.
The crowd fell silent as music swelled from what seemed to be the golden balloons that decorated the marquee.
I heard Hermione gasp and I turned to see that Monsieur Delacour and Fleur were walking down the aisle. Well, actually, Fleur seemed to be almost gliding. The dress was actually very simple. But that seemed to work for her best, as she seemed to be almost glowing, the way I imagined elves did in the Lord of the Rings with their long blond hair.
Ginny and Gabrielle were wearing dresses of gold, Fleur's light seemed to envelope them to make them shine as well. As Fleur reached Bill, his werewolf scars seemed to almost disappear.
"Ladies and gentlemen. We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls-"
"Yes, my tiara sets off the whole thing nicely. But I must say, Ginevra's dress is far too low cut." Aunt Muriel's' voice carried from the front row so that I couldn't hear the squeaky wizard that was performing Bill and Fleur's wedding.
Ginny, hearing her proper name, glanced around and winked at someone- probably Harry.
"Do you, William Arthur, take Fleur Isabelle to be your lawfully married wife?"
"I do."
Mrs. Weasley and Madame Delacour were sobbing into scraps of lace in the front row. I could hear Hagrid blowing his nose from the back of the tent, sounding a bit like an elephant. Trang had her hands pressed to her mouth, tears in her eyes while Oliver put an arm around her shoulder. Hermione too, had tears in her eyes. Meanwhile, I fought the urge to starting laughing.
"Do you, Fleur Isabelle, take William Arthur to be your lawfully married husband?"
"I do."
"Then I declare you bonded for life." The wizard waved his wand high over the heads of Bill and Fleur and a shower of silver stars fell upon them, spiraling around their now entwined figure as they kissed. Fred and George led a round of applause, the golden balloons bursting open so that birds of paradise and tiny golden bells flew and floated out of them, adding their songs and chimes to the din of hands clapping together.
"Ladies and gentlemen! If you would please stand up!"
I stood quickly, starting to rock Remus a little. The loud noises of the cheers and claps along with the explosion of the bells had woken him from his sleep and he was starting to fuss.
The wand was waved again. The seats we had been sitting on rose gracefully into the air as the canvas walls of the marquee vanished, so that they stood beneath a canopy supported by golden poles, with a glorious view of the sunlit orchard and surrounding countryside. Next, a pool of molten gold spread from the center of the tent to form a gleaming dance floor; the hovering chairs grouped themselves around small, white-clothed tables, which all floated gracefully back to earth around it, and the golden-jacketed band trooped toward a podium.
"Smooth." Ron said on the other side of Harry.
"We should go and congratulate them!" Hermione declared.
I stood up and moved away to see that Tonks and Dad had taken a table. Tonks was beaming but dad seemed to have a storm cloud over his head. He did brighten a little upon seeing me.
"Oh! You look gorgeous!" Tonks declared, hopping up, pulling me into a hug.
"Thank you." I said, hugging her back tightly. "As do you."
She was wearing dress robes of a pale pink colour. Her hair was blond and she looked gorgeous.
"Elizabeth."
I turned to see Charlie there, grinning, "Do want to dance?"
"Oh!" I said in surprise. "Sure."
"I'll take this little guy." Tonks said happily, pulling Remus out of my arms, cuddling him close. I smiled and then took Charlies' hand, letting him lead me onto the dance floor.
We spun around on the dance floor and I managed to forget most of my worries. I still had months before I would lose the people closest to me. And with Fawkes, I now had plans in the marking to save their lives. All of them.
Charlie and I danced through several different songs. I was half afraid that with the romantic atmosphere, he would try breaching the conversation of the two of us. It wasn't exactly a secret he liked me at this point and Mrs. Weasley had been rather encouraging of it. But I think he also knew that I wouldn't accept him and he was happy enough to simply have this.
Lee wanted to cut in after though, so I smiled at Charlie and went dancing with Lee. After two songs, Bill stepped in and danced with me while Charlie danced with Fleur.
"He's very interested in you, you know." Bill said suddenly, eyes flickering to Charlie.
"I know." I said softly. I guessed I was slightly wrong. He was just going to have his brother broach the conversation. "But I can't."
"I know." Bill said. "Your heart belongs to someone else."
"Yes. As stupid as it sounds." I smiled a little.
"No, it's not stupid." Bill said seriously. His blue eyes suddenly made me wary. They reminded me of Dumbledore's in a way, like they were looking through me to my very soul. "I may not have like Snape and Snape never liked any of us. But he had a soft spot for you and, well, he loves you Elizabeth. Regardless of his path he has chosen."
"Don't get to wise on me Bill." I joked to cover up my anxiety and feelings. "I still prefer being the wisest person you know."
Bill chuckled, letting the conversation die out thankfully. But it still left me unsettled as I went and took Remus back from Tonks.
He had fallen asleep contentedly and I sat down in one of the chairs to rest. I kicked off the thin stilettos heels that I had been wearing the entire time. They were killing my feet- but I hadn't expected to dance.
Viktor was in a terrible mood, eyeing Lunas' father with an extreme dislike. I knew what Krum though the small triangular sign on his chest stood for. But I also knew what Lunas' father thought it stood for.
Fred and George both wanted to take me for a spin on the dance floor, though they later sneaked off with some veela cousins after releasing me. I didn't mind. I was more preoccupied with letting Fred have as much fun as possible.
The red headed Harry was sitting at another table with Elphias Doge and Aunt Muriel. They seemed to be in a great argument while Harry seemed rather stunned and uncomfortable. I knew what the conversation was there and I had no ambition to join it.
Trang and Oliver seemed to have disappeared and I had my suspicions of where they'd disappeared off to. I had told Trang there would be problems later and she'd probably 'snuck off' with Oliver to keep him safe.
I figured I might as well do the same.
I got to my feet now, ready to head back to the Burrow. I wasn't sure where I would go, but I knew I had to go underground before I went back to Hogwarts.
As though my actions and thoughts prompted instant reaction, a glowing, silver Lynx patronus gracefully landed lightly in the middle of the dancers. Everyones' heads turned towards it and I stiffened.
My eyes immediately found Harry. It was a little early for this, Hermione had not yet reached him either.
I pushed aside my own safety, being the only person moving as I ran towards the red-headed disguise.
"The Ministry has fallen." Kingsley's slow, deep voice emitted from the Patronus. "Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."
I grabbed Harry's shoulder. "Time to go Harry."
Harry let me drag him by the hand while he fumbled, drawing his wand. Hermione was with us in seconds, her wand already drawn as well.
"Ron!" Hermione screamed as someone else screamed and then the crowd was panicking, scattering like cockroaches under a light. "Ron, where are you?"
Masked figures apparated around the tent. I drew my wand, switching Remus into my other wand. I saw Tonks and Dad raising their wands. I only heard Dad's confident voice shout, "Protego!"
Harry and Hermione got separated from me in the chaos. I was using the tall figures of the other people around me to hide. I needed to get away from here. Remus was starting to cry and Death Eaters heads' swiveled towards the sound.
Shit. They knew about Remus.
"ELIZABETH!" That was dads' voice shouting above the crowd. Trying to find me. I slipped towards him, before there was someone blocking me.
Hagrid grabbed my arm, dragging me away from the crowd towards my father. Spells bounced off his back as they usually did and I fired back as I ran with him.
"Elizabeth!" Dad's voice was relieved and he nearly shoved me towards Trang. "Take her to your parents house! Now!"
Tonks grabbed my arm and we disapparated on the spot.
I blinked, feeling slightly disoriented. Tonks was gone again in seconds, possibly back to The Burrow.
I stumbled up the stairs and knocked on the door.
Andromeda opened the door. "Elizabeth?"
"The Ministry has fallen." I repeated Kingsley's words as I hurried into the house, putting Remus down in the crib. I needed to grab something- all of my preparations were still at the Burrow. "They attacked the Burrow. All of the houses have lost their protection. I have to-"
The sounds of several people apparating sounded outside and all three of us turned silently towards the door. Pounding at the door proved that it was not someone friendly.
Andromeda opened the door with a flick of her wand while I pushed the crib into the room slightly so that it was hidden.
I didn't recognize any of the Death Eaters as they entered the house. I could only hope that meant none of them knew who I was too.
The next few minutes seemed to pass in some sort of hazy blur as I was half stuck in reality, half stuck in my visions. I remember that the others were screaming under the use of the Cruciatus Curse. I remember that I too was put under the curse.
I remember that they asked about Harry and the flight. Things became a little clearer after that. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were safe. I hoped Hermione had read the letter I left her about how she shouldn't use Voldemort's name since it was taboo.
I focused on them. I was on my knees, my body radiating in pain. I was stupidly aware of my dress and how I was afraid that it was going to tear.
"Well?" The Death Eater demanded, turning the wand back on Ted. Meanwhile, one of the Death Eaters had found Remus and had him in his arms. The Death Eater smirked viciously, turning the wand on Remus.
"I wasn't there!" I blurted out. "None of us were. I was just in charge of getting Mad- Eye Moody's body back. That was it! I wasn't with Harry! I don't know where he is!"
Lie, after lie, after lie. But Remus was the only thing I really had left of Severus. And he was the person I cared about more than myself. I couldn't bear the thought of my son even getting a paper cut or a small bruise on his knee. Torture? It would kill me.
"Please." I sobbed, holding my arms out for my baby.
Remus wasn't given back to me, but handed over to Andromeda who quickly sheltered my little boy.
"Take her." The Death Eater snarled.
I knew that if I fought, they would become more suspicious. Right now, none of them seemed to know that I was Elizabeth Kane. I couldn't risk Remus.
I struggled a little, making sure that my wand fell onto the floor and then I kicked it under the couch. I had had that wand for so many years, I wasn't going to let it get snapped.
I struggled a little more once we were actually out of the house and as I heard the sounds of more apparition, wanting to see who was here now.
"ELIZABETH!" Dad's voice bellowed in the air and with a gut wrenching swirl, my eyes met his, before I disappeared.
Warnings: Mentions of love making, 18+ readers only
Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.
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𝕿𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖞 things that Umbridge needed to take care of after Fred and George had left. For one thing, upstairs was a very large swamp that they had created themselves. Umbridge had tried to get rid of it with no success and neither Flitwick nor McGonagall seemed very eager to try it out themselves.
Then there were the broom shaped holes in Umbridge's office door. Filch had replaced the door and Harry's broom was moved down into a dungeon to be guarded by a security troll. Bloody waste of time in my opinion.
There were also rebellious students who seemed to be trying to out-do each other for the vacant position of trouble-makers-in-chief. A niffler was put in Umbridge's office. The office was ripped apart, looking for shiny things and when Umbridge entered the room, the niffler leapt upon her hand to get to her shiny rings.
There were also dungbombs and stink pellets dropped in the corridors and people were producing bubble-head charms on themselves before going out so that they didn't have to breathe in the foul air.
Filch was now always prowling the corridors with a whip in his hand. The Inquisitorial Squad was attempting to help him as nearly every student had turned into a troublemaker but weird things were starting to happen to them. For instance, I knew for a fact that Lee was the one who had given Pansy Parkinson (much to Hermione's delight) antlers so that she had to miss a whole day of classes.
I had my art pad out frequently now, drawing everything. I had done two drawings of Pany Parkinson and her antlers and had posted it on a wall in the Great Hall so that everyone who came down to breakfast the next morning laughed at it. Pansy was extremely angry, and attempted to set it on fire. I'd put an protective spell on it however and the spell rebounded, catching her robes on fire. Professor Snape gave me a legitimate detention for that one. And then he'd punished me and I had been unable to sit down without wincing for two days.
No regrets though.
And of course, there were the Skiving Snackboxes. They were only used during Umbridge's class of course. Us students told her that we had Umbridge-itis and I spent a half hour in her class, striding up the aisles of the desk, trying hard not to laugh and telling the students in my class about it.
"A very dangerous disease of course." I said, walking past Susan who had her face in her hands, laughing hysterically. I had to pause carefully in between sentences as I was close to bursting into laughter myself. "Umbridge-itis has four different symptoms: Fainting, vomiting, dangerously high fevers, and bloody noses. The best way to avoid these symptoms is to stay far away from an Umbridge. An Umbridge," I stated, now walking past Ernie, Justin, and Zacharias who had tears of laughter in their eyes. "Is something that looks like a midgit and only wears pink. Looks a bit like a human toad and has a false, sweet voice."
Needless to say, Umbridge was not as amused as the students and I got three weeks worth of detention. However, the story of what I'd said spread throughout the school and soon, everyone was telling her that they had Umbridge-itis. I was also awarded twenty points to Hufflepuff by Professor McGonagall for performing a simple vanishing spell.
But no one, and I mean no one, caused more trouble than Peeves. He upended tables, shattered vases, knocked over statues, burst out of blackboards, shut Mrs. Norris up in a suit of armor twice, juggled burning torches over heads of screaming students, toppled neatly stacked parchment out of windows, flooded the second floor by pulled the taps off the handles in the bathroom, dropped a bag of tarantulas in the Great Hall during breakfast and whenever he was bored, spent hours floating above Umbridge and blowing loud raspberries every time she spoke, making the kids collapse into giggles.
The staff did absolutely nothing to help her- except Filch. Harry, Susan, and I were standing in a corridor, watching peeves unscrew a crystal chandelier, and then watched as Professor McGonagall walked by. "It unscrews the other way." she muttered, walking on and the three of us looked at each other in amazement and laughed. Then we hit the floor as the chandelier crashed, sending bits of crystal, metal, and glass our way.
Of course, it wasn't all fun and games. Umbridge was finding anything to put me in detention for- though at this point, I was really starting to deserve it. I'd created fliers about Umbridge-itis, posting them on the boards and walls and had neat little stacks of brochures for people to read. She'd told Filch to whip me whenever he saw me, so I'd taken to avoiding him as much as possible. I did have a couple whip marks on my back though, when I didn't watch out carefully enough. I wasn't the only one either- Filch seemed especially vindictive towards the Gryffindors.
Severus was a bit enraged about me being so proactive against her. "You're going to get hurt." He said as we were laying in bed after we'd finished making love. "And I mean really hurt- not cutting words into your hand or whip marks. . ." his fingers traced over a fading scar. He'd done some magic so that they wouldn't be permanent.
"I'm going to be fine." I said, smiling up at him and then kissing his cheek. "Besides, this is fun."
He groaned but said nothing more on the subject, running his fingers absentmindedly up and down my thigh before he finally fell asleep.
There was one last Quidditch match coming up which was Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin. I asked Severus in a teasing voice about who he hoped would win. He made an incoherent noise and ran his lips over my breasts. I supposed it was answer enough.
The Slytherin and Hufflepuff tensions were high and I noticed that I seemed to have an extraordinary amount of homework for Defense Against the Dark Arts class and no homework for any other class- including potions.
The day of the Quidditch match, our nerves had reached a certain height. I was pacing back and forth, my firebolt standing up by the door.
"We're going to win this." I said in a small voice, looking at everyone. "We are the best team here. And. . . and we're going to do this, not to show Umbridge, but to honor Cedric's memory."
"This one's for Cedric." Malcolm said in a strong voice.
"For Cedric." We all said.
We all stood up, holding our brooms over our shoulder. We walked onto the pitch, all stony faced. I shook hands with a replacement Captain for Montague who was still in the hospital. He was crying to crush my fingers but I didn't react. I remained emotionless.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle and we all flew upwards. Draco was keeping on my tail and I was doing my best to ignore him. I kept my eyes open, scanning for the snitch as I continued to fly around. Heidi scored.
"Give it up Kane!" Draco hissed somewhere to my right. "You can't win this and you know it. Cedirc couldn't have won this either. . ."
So he was going to tell me about Cedric now, was he? I dove. Draco rushed after me and I kept my eyes determinedly on a spot on the pitch. Draco was concentrating on where I was looking, not realizing that I was actually feinting. At the very last second before I was going to crash, I pulled up neatly. Draco on the other hand, crashed, and I sped back up, grinning victoriously.
"And Kane uses Krum's signature move Wronski Feint against Slytherin's seeker. Nice play Elizabeth!" Lee shouted from the speakers box. He wasn't being as fun as before- mostly because Fred and George had left. I winked at him as I sped by.
I was high enough that I could see Harry, Hermione, and Ron with Hagrid by his hut, going into the forest. I dodged a bludger and took off south. We were up forty points. I saw the snitch on the other side of the pitch and I streaked towards it. Draco was back on his broom zooming after me.
Suddenly, one of the Slytherin Chasers slammed into me from the ride side and I slipped off the broom. I tightened my legs so that I was hanging fifty feet in the air by my legs. There were screams and gasps from the crowd as I let go with my legs, throwing a hand up to catch the broom and then pulled myself up and taking off again.
The snitch had been lost, Draco had been gloating to much to catch it. I was thankful for that of course. Malcolm took a bludger to the stomach at that moment and was out of the game. Heidi and Zacharias immediately started scoring goal after goal with a furious intensity that was unrivaled. Our beaters were fiercely knocking Slytherins off their brooms too.
I dodged another bludger and then caught sight of the snitch. It was almost like fate, darting in front of Umbridge's effing nose. (Not literally, just close by the teacher's stand).
Draco was on the other side of the field and I zoomed towards the teacher stands, grinning. Umbridge fell back in fear, perhaps thinking I was attacking her, and I grabbed the snitch, holding it up triumphantly.
Lee was laughing at Umbridge and I grabbed the microphone and shouted into it, "That- was for Cedric!" And then I raced back to the ground where the other Hufflepuff team members flew down to meet me and we were all hugging. I was so joyful that I couldn't stop smiling. We were all smiling and half of us were crying too. We'd won the Cup! Hufflepuff hadn't won the cup in forever since Slytherin had had it nearly nine years in a row until Gryffindor had won two years ago.
The other Hufflepuffs were streaming out onto the Quidditch grounds, jumping and down in excitement. We were pushed up to where Professor Umbridge was waiting with the Quidditch Cup. She looked so pissed at having to give me the Quidditch Cup. It was trembling in her hands and I held out my hand for it.
She gritted her teeth and then Professor Sprout took it from her hands and handed it to me. "I'm glad such a worthy team got the Cup Miss Kane." She was beaming, looking extremely happy. I grinned back. Professor Umbridge looked like she had eaten a lemon. Severus looked quite proud too, hiding it in his eyes where only I could see it.
We headed back to the castle as a team. I saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione standing by the doors. They smiled as I passed by, waving the Quidditch Cup up.
Back in the Hufflepuff Common room, we threw a party with food, drinks, and dancing. It was very much like the party that Gryffindor had thrown when they'd won the cup.
We had a picture of Cedric on a desk with candles around him like an altar. This win was for Cedric. Around one in the morning everyone went to bed. I stayed up a little later, looking at Cedric's photo and picked it up in my hands.
His smiling face grinned back at me and winked. I smiled weakly. "I miss you." I said, tears coming to my eyes. "A lot." I guess I was wishing the photo would talk back- sometimes they did. But Cedric's photo wasn't charmed that way and he just beamed up at me and then gave me a thumbs up.
I put the photo back down on the table and pulled out some parchment.
We won the Quidditch Cup Dad. Guess I'm not a bad Captain after all. I think Cedric would be proud- the win was for him.
I didn't write anything else. I turned into a cat, picking the note up in my mouth and headed out so that I could go spend the night with Severus.
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𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖓𝖊𝖝𝖙 𝖒𝖔𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I went outside to study.
"We have a lot to tell you." Ron said as we sat down.
"I already know." I said, taking out my Transfiguration book. "Hagrid brought back his baby brother Grawp and wants us to teach him English."
"Pretty much." Hermione said.
"Bloody hell." I muttered. "Do you know how dangerous that is? I swear this more dangerous than Norbert or Aragog."
"He hasn't been sacked yet." Ron pointed out.
"But he will be." I muttered and then sighed, "I suppose we'll have to, won't we?"
"We did promise." Hermione said reluctantly.
I sighed. "Well, we'll deal with it when the time comes then" and I opened up my Transfiguration book and started to read.
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"𝕳𝖔𝖜 𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖞 𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖘 d'you think you're doing a day?" Ernie demanded me as I entered the common room a few days later.
I looked at him amused. "About six or seven."
"I'm doing eight." Ernie said, puffing out his chest and I rolled my eyes. "Eight or nine. I'm getting an hour in before breakfast every day. Eight's my average. I can do ten on a good weekend day. I did nine and-"
"Ernie." I said, amused. "You know you're going to do fine, right? Calm down."
"You don't seem stressed at all!" Susan said grumpily from a chair near the unlit fireplace.
"Of course I'm stressed." I said shrugging my shoulders. "I just don't show it." Right, more like I got all my stress out at night with Severus.
"I'm going to fail!" Hannah said hysterically, her eyes glazed over, staring blankly at the potions textbook in front of her.
"Calm down Hannah." I said, smiling. "You're going to do fine, just keep your head and don't freak out, alright?"
"Eliza!" Rose called from across the common room and I left the others to go to her.
"What's up Rose?" I asked, sitting down with her and her first-year friends.
"Will you help me with my lessons?" She asked, her tiny hands holding our her textbook.
"Of course!" I said brightly, taking the book from her and testing her on the different terms, definitions, and incantations. I also helped her with practicals, practicing the spells of my own first-year exams which had consisted of dancing pineapples and pretty snuffboxes.
I was also still trying to get Harry to close his mind for Occlumency but he was not improving. I was starting to get nervous. If I didn't get him to close his mind then what could happen? I knew what could happen- Harry could get lured somewhere.
I had to confiscate multiple different products that were being sold by the older students to the fifth-years before they were bought. I knew a majority of them were fake and some of them were dangerous. For example, dragon claw would boost your brain, but having to much exposure to the item could actually make you stupider than you really were.
During Herbology, Professor Sprout had the Hufflepuffs stay back and handed out exam schedules and details of the procedures.
"As you can see, your O.W.L.s are spread over two successive weeks. You will sit the theory exams in the mornings and the practice in the afternoons. Your practical Astronomy examination will, of course, take place at night. Now," She said, looking around the greenhouse, "I must warn you that the most stringent Anti-Cheating Charms have been applied to your examination papers. Auto-Answer Quills are banned from the examination hall, as are Remembrall's, Detachable Cribbing Cuffs, and Self-Correcting Ink. Every year, I am afraid to say, seems to harbor at least one student who thinks that he or she can get around the Wizarding Examinations Authority's rules. I can only hope that will not be anybody in Hufflepuff. Our new- headmistress- has asked the Heads of House to tell their students that cheating will be punished most severely- because, of course, your examination results will reflect upon the- headmistress's- new takeover at the school. . . However, instead of potentially risking your futures to destroy her career, it would be better advised to do your best."
Ernie shot his hand up into the air and Professor Sprout called on him, "When should we expect our results?"
"Some time in July." I answered without thinking and then blushed and said, "Sorry Professor!" The class laughed.
"It's quite fine Miss Kane. Yes, some time in July your exam results will come out Mr. Macmillan."
All houses would be taking the tests together instead of separately. Of course, times would vary once it got to the elective classes. But for every student, the written Charms exam was on Monday.
At Dinner, Hermione kept diving into her bag to check another fact in a book instead of eating.
"You really ought to eat Hermione or you're not going to be able to sleep tonight." Ron said, sticking another piece of steak into his mouth. I took a sip of pumpkin juice and then Hermione sat up and dropped her fork on her plate.
"Oh, my goodness. Is that them? Is that the examiners?" Hermione asked, so faint with anxiety she wasn't even Englishing properly.
"Are those the examiners?" I corrected her but while Harry chuckled, Hermione completely ignored me. Improper grammar annoyed the crap out of me.
"Shall we go and have a closer look?" Ron asked. We got up from our seats and hastened towards the entrance hall and we slowed down to walk behind the examiners.
"Journey was fine, journey was fine!" The little witch standing next to Umbridge was shouting. I supposed she was deaf. "Now, I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately!" And she peered around the hall excitedly. "No idea where he is, I suppose?"
"None at all." Umbridge said, shooting an ugly look at us but didn't bother saying anything. I supposed she wouldn't even insult a werewolf brat in front of the testing instructors. "But I daresay the Ministry of Magic will track him down soon enough. . ."
"I doubt it!" The tiny witch shouted, drawing looks from passing students. "not if Dumbledore doesn't want to be found! I should know. . . Examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did N.E.W.T.s. . . Did things with a wand I'd never seen before. . ."
So she was like one hundred and fifty years old then. Cause Dumbledore was like one hundred and twenty years (I would assume). Then I tried to think logically about how old he actually was and couldn't come up with a number. Yes, he had to be 113 cause he was born in 1881, so he was at least over 100. . . Good lord! Then how old was McGonagall? 75 years old?
I was reeling with these facts. Holy Crap, my Professors were so old. . . but you had to admire her. After all, McGonagall certainly didn't look 75 and she definitely didn't act like it either. Then again, Dumbledore didn't act like he was 113 either.
I spent Sunday night in Severus' room, reading my Charms book while he played absentmindedly with my hair and occasionally kissing me. When I finally laid the Charms book aside, he asked, "What did you look so shocked about when you came in?"
"I just realized today that Dumbledore is about 113 years old and Professor McGonagall is 75 years old." I said honestly, laying the book on his side table. "It just took me back a bit."
"I'm old too." Severus said softly and I thought I heard a note of sadness in his voice and I propped myself up on my elbows to look at him questioningly.
"No you're not." I argued. "You're nowhere near 75!"
"I'm in my thirties." He whispered. "That's double your age."
I gritted my teeth. "Don't play the pity game Severus. I love you and you're the one I want to spend the rest of my life with."
"Even if I die twenty years before you?" Severus asked and I realized that this conversation was going to more serious than I'd expected.
I sat up, letting the blankets fall from my naked body, extremely angry now. "You're regretting your decision, aren't you?"
"No!" He said quickly, sitting up too and I quickly looked away from his abs and just stared down. "I don't, Elizabeth. I'm sorry. I just don't want you to regret marrying someone as old as me."
"I don't regret a damn thing!" I said angrily.
Severus appraised me for a second and then I was so angry that I pushed him down on the bed and kissed him fiercely. There was an energy in me that I'd never felt before. I moved my lips down to his throat and bit, a bit harder than I meant to and he gasped.
He rolled over, slamming me down onto the bed and slid in so roughly that I gasped too. I dug my nails into his back as he moved faster and faster. I kept my mouth closed tight so that I didn't shriek. I wasn't in pain either, it felt so good. We were both breathing extremely hard, and small sounds escaped both our mouths. This. . . this was perfection.
His hands clutched at my body, his lips and teeth caressing my skin. My fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer to me. His hand traveled downwards, circling my clit, speeding up his hard, solid thrusts as I came over and over again.
There was something that I happened near the end too that had never happened before. It was nearly the highest point of our time together. His teeth bit me on the breast when it happened, it seemed like a jerk reaction. I wasn't entirely sure what had happened as I gasped, staring up at him.
He grinned, wiping away liquid from his chest. "Well I must've done really good to make you squirt love."
I blushed. "I- is that a good thing?"
Severus chuckled, pulling me close to his chest now that we were both cleaned up. He wrapped the blanket around my shoulders. "Of course love. It's a natural reaction."
With the reassurance that my body hadn't done anything wrong, I snuggled into him tightly and fell fast asleep.
When I woke up, I distracted myself by my nerves by observing the hickey on my breast now. "Sorry." Severus muttered sleepily, coming up behind me and observing us in the mirror. "You caught me by surprise."
I turned and saw he had one on his neck too and I touched it, "I meant that one." He grinned, kissing me on the lips. I saw the nail marks on his back then and I winced, "I didn't mean to do that though." I said, lightly touching the bruises. "Sorry."
"Don't worry, they'll be easy to cover up, this however-" he touched the hickey on his neck. "-that'll be a bit harder."
"Sorry." I repeated, not feeling all that sorry.
"You just need to learn to control yourself. You're just like a little kitten." he said mildly. I threw his shirt at him and pointed to the hickey on my breast.
"You're one to talk!"
He grinned, sweeping me into his arms to kiss my neck.
It was already eight-thirty and the exams started at nine-thirty and I needed to get up to the Great Hall for breakfast but Severus wasn't very keen to let me go. "It's to early, just stay here until your exams start." He mumbled, wrestling me back into bed.
I laughed as he kissed me repeatedly. "Sev, I need to eat!" And so he reluctantly let me up. I kissed him on the cheek and hurried up the stairs and into the Great Hall to eat.
I sat down at the Hufflepuff table and scarfed down a quick breakfast and then waited for the test to start. My heart was pounding and my nerves were being stretched thin. Oh I was going to fail. . . I was going to fail!
My heart settled down a bit once the exam started and I saw that the questions were a bit easier than I had thought they would be. I zoomed through them, knowing that I'd answered every single one of them correctly.
In the afternoon was the practical's for Charms where I made an eggcup do cartwheels and then levitated a wine glass. I had to perform the Color-change charm on a rat, trying to turn it orange, and then use the Growth Charm on a plant. Unfortunately, I think my rat was more golden than orange but it still looked orange enough I was sure I'd get most of my points.
I went to the library after that to study for Transfiguration. I figured that if all the tests- both written and practical- were like this I was going to get 'Outstandings' on everything. . . except Astronomy. That ticked me off. So I threw my Transfiguration book back in my bag and pulled out the Astronomy book.
I went back to the common room at nine, still studying Astronomy. The next day, the Transfiguration test went just easily as Charms. I was vanished my owl perfectly during practical's.
Then Herbology was on Wednesday and I planted the Fanged Geranium perfectly. Well, there was a smile nip on my ear but other than that, it couldn't have gone better.
Of course, I thought everything was going perfectly but I knew that I was probably going to fail everything if I thought like that. So, most of the time, I just doubted myself and tried to figure out all the things that I'd done wrong.
On Thursday, we had Defense Against the Dark Arts which I was sure went well. The most pleasing incident was doing all the jinxes, hexes, and counterspells perfectly in front of Umbitches nose. As expected, the fifth-years that hadn't been part of D.A. had a much harder time performing their spells. Some of them couldn't perform them at all, throwing panicked looks at Umbridge who was overseeing everything.
There was just the faintest of smiles on her lips when they did that. It made me want to accidentally miss the object in front of me and hex her instead.
I heard later that Harry got bonus points for producing a patronus. I was a bit disappointed that I hadn't had the chance to get bonus points but I figured it was no good crying over spilled milk. I focused even harder on Astronomy.
On Friday, Hermione and I went to Ancient Runes which I found was much more difficult than the other exams and immediately regretted not studying beforehand.
"How were the runes?" Ron asked as we came in through the Gryffindor portrait. Hermione wanted me to test her for Arithmancy.
"I mistranslated 'ehwaz'. It means 'partnership,' not 'defense', I mixed it up with 'eihwaz.' Hermione said. I was a bit surprised, I knew I hadn't missed that question at least. It had been one of the easier questions. Of course, the spellings were so similar for some of the runes that you had to re-read the questions a couple of times.
"Ah, well, that's only one mistake, isn't it, you'll still get-" Ron started stupidly.
"Oh shut up, it could be the one mistake that makes the difference between a pass and a fail. And what's more, someone's put another niffler in Umbridge's office, I don't know how they got it through that new window, but we just walked past there and Umbridge is shrieking her head off- by the sound of it, it tried to take a chunk out of her leg-"
"Good!" Harry and Ron said together but I shook my head.
"It is not good! She thinks it's Hagrid doing it, remember? And we do not want Hagrid chucked out!" Hermione said heatedly.
Harry looked out the window and then said, "He's teaching at the moment, she can't blame him."
"Oh, you're so naïve sometimes, Harry, you really think Umbridge will wait for proof?" Hermione said and seeming to forget that I was there to test her, she swept off for the girls' dormitory. I shook my head standing up.
"Such a lovely, sweet-tempered girl." Ron said fondly, pushing his queen forward on the chess board.
Potions was Monday and I studied for the exam Saturday and Sunday in Severus' room. I didn't leave the room except to eat and go to the bathroom. Of course, Severus was quite happy with this and helped me study between having some fun of his own. Sometimes he acted like such a teenager.
Of course, his mood when he was teaching or in the presence of Gryffindors and his mood when he was with me was so different that I always had to take a moment and wonder if he was being controlled. He was always so cold in class, emotionless, almost cruel. . . and with me. . . well it was a totally different side that no one had ever seen. I doubted anyone had seen how sweet, loving, and kind he could be when he wanted to. Only I had ever seen that side of him. . . and perhaps, at one point, mum had seen it too.
The exam on Monday for Potions went well. The written exam was a bit difficult, but the brewing process was at a good difficulty level for our class.
Tuesday was Care of Magical Creatures and I was determined to do well just to show Professor Umbridge that Hagrid was a good teacher. Of course, I wondered why Hagrid even put up with being a teacher. Third-year, Draco had ruined his class with Buckbeak. Fourth-year, Rita Skeeter had written horrible stories about him, and now this year Umbridge was extremely close to sacking him.
The Care of Magical Creatures exam went well. First was to find the knarl hidden among hedgehogs. The trick was to use milk because knarls would spit furiously, thinking you were trying to give them poison. Then you had to handle a Bowtruckle correctly, then clean and care for a fire-crab without getting burned, and lastly provided a selection of food that would be given to a sick unicorn to help it get better. I privately thought it was the easiest exam I had taken. Well no, Third-year Care of Magical Creatures exam was the easiest one.
The Astronomy sitting exam was Wednesday morning. My studying all week for it had certainly paid off because for what felt like the first time, I knew the answers to the questions.
Divination was in the afternoon. I was supposed to look in the crystal ball, tell a prediction by tea leaves, and then read the palm of the examiner.
My crystal ball and tea-leaves went smoothly. For the crystal ball, I said that I was foreseeing Kingsley Shacklebolt becoming Minister of Magic in three years. For the tea leaves, I said that Professor Umbridge would be taken by a herd of Centaurs. For the palm reading, I had a bit of difficulty because I didn't really see anything about the future with my examiner and finished off saying that they were going to die in about twenty-four years.
I was starting to think I should drop the subject. I knew Ron and Harry were going to. I froze on the stairs however, and Ernie and Susan stopped walking, looking back at me curiously. "What'd you see?" Ernie asked quickly.
I was watching Hagrid being attacked tonight and Professor McGonagall trying to help him out. "Oh dear." I whispered.
"What is it?" Susan asked urgently.
"Umbridge is going to go after Hagrid tonight during our Astronomy exam." I whispered. "They're not going to sack him, they're going to try and arrest him."
"They can't do that!" Ernie said indignantly.
"Well they're going to." I said breathlessly. "I need. . . I need to figure out how to stop it, excuse me." I rushed past them, leaving them on the stairs and hurrying to Professor McGonagall's office.
I quickly recounted what I'd seen and said, "You really shouldn't go and save him, you'll get hurt!"
Professor McGonagall's face was stony. "I'm forewarned now Miss Kane. Just do well on your Astronomy exam, okay? I'd like you to get a perfect set of O.W.L.s."
I had no choice but to leave her office, feeling horrible. I did as she had instructed however and pulled out my astronomy book and compared it to a practice exam. My mind felt terribly numb and I took a quick nap in the Hufflepuff common room before dinner.
I headed up to the Astronomy tower with a sinking stomach and heavy feet. Ernie and Susan were walking with me, saying nothing, just watching my face. I got a telescope between Ernie and Hermione.
My hands were shaking as Professor Marchbanks started the exam. I looked through the telescope and quickly wrote down what I saw, drawing, and trying to keep in mind the things that Firenze, Sinistra, and Trelawney had taught me.
I was two-thirds of the way done when I looked down, writing a note on my parchment and saw Umbridge strolling across the ground, about five or six people following after her. I quickly looked through the telescope again, trying to ignore her. I saw Ernie give me the swiftest of looks and I shook my head slightly. Eighty percent done. Come on. . .
I heard the distant noise of a fist hammering on a door and my stomach lurched. Oh Merlin's beard. . . I could hear Fang barking like mad.
I pressed my eye to the telescope again, marking the position of Venus and labeling it on the map.
There, my map was done. I quickly doubled checked everything and then heard a distant roar from far away that rang all the way up to the Astronomy tower. I flinched. No, this constellation was drawn wrong. I shakily erased the little bit and then redid it.
"Try and concentrate, now, boys and girls." Professor Tofty said softly. I noticed Hermione was still staring down at Hagrid's cabin. "Ahem- twenty minutes to go." Hermione jerked back to her star chart.
There was a BANG from the grounds and people muttered "Ouch!" as they ducked out from underneath their telescopes.
Hagrid's door had burst open now and there were red lights shooting towards him, they were trying to stun him.
"No!" Hermione and I cried together. I had the strangest urge to jump off the Astronomy tower the way that I had when Professor Quirrell had cornered me in my first-year and go and help Hagrid.
"My dears! This is an examination!" Professor Tofty said in a strangled voice but no one was looking at their charts anymore.
The voices were carrying all the way up to the Astronomy tower, "Be reasonable, Hagrid!"
"Reasonable be damned, yeh won' take me like this, Dawlish!" Hagrid shouted. I wondered if Kingsley was down there and I'd made up my mind.
There were screams as I jumped from the Astronomy tower. I had my wand out, my face set in grim determination. I waved my wand, stopping my fall and then landed on my feet and raced towards Hagrid's cabin. I saw light behind me and knew that Professor McGonagall had exited the castle.
"How dare you!" Professor McGonagall shouted, not seeing me to her left. "How dare you! Leave him alone! Alone, I say! On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such an attack!" Her wand was out, and blocked the stuns that were sent her way. But it was four different people and she stumbled back.
My wand was out and I sent stunning spells towards them with as much force as I could muster. I did notice that Kingsley was in the back, blending in nicely with the background. I pretended not to notice him. Why was everyone I loved turning out not to be the people I thought they were? Lupin was a coward, Kingsley was a monster, Sirius was a jerk, James was inconsiderate, and Lily had hated James.
And then, Professor McGonagall noticed me and was distracted enough that four stunning spells hit her. I felt horrible but continued to send my spells towards them.
"You're going to be expelled Kane!" Umbridge shouted at me. I noticed Kingsley was hesitating.
"COWARDS! RUDDY COWARDS! HAVE SOME O' THAT- AN' THAT-"
I was a bit surprised as Hagrid collapsed two of the attackers. Hagrid slung Fang's stunned body over his shoulders and hurried into the forest. Kingsley waved his wand and everyone collapsed except me and him. He hurried over to where I was standing and pushed me out of sight of the Astronomy Tower.
"What the hell are you doing down here?" He asked. I'd never seen Kingsley angry before. His accent mixed in with his words.
"Why the hell did you attack him?" I asked furiously. "You're supposed to be a good person!"
"I have a part to play, Elizabeth. I'm going to erase their memories. They need to forget that you were here. Your dad-"
"Yeah well my dad's never exactly who he's says he is either. Guess I should get used to the people I love being the people they aren't." I shoved his arm away and hurried over to where Professor McGonagall was. Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick were hurrying out of the castle now, Professor Sprout was emerging from the greenhouses.
"Get inside Miss Kane." Professor Flitwick said, for once his squeaky voice wasn't very cheerful. I stormed over to the Astronomy tower and used a propulsion charm to propel myself up, grabbing the edge of the tower and pulling myself up.
Parvati and Lavender were in tears, worried about Professor McGonagall. The Hufflepuffs were staring at me with shock. The examiners rebuked me for the crazy stunt that I had done. Remembering that Kingsley was going to erase the others memories down below, I performed the swiftest memory charm on the two examiners, removing only the scene of me jumping from the Astronomy tower. . . hopefully.
We all trooped down the stairs. Hermione was shaking with rage, though it was nothing compared to my anger. "That evil woman! Trying to sneak up on Hagrid in the dead of night!"
"She clearly wanted to avoid another scene like Trelawney's." Ernie said, squeezing into our group.
"Hagrid did well, didn't he?" Ron asked though he looked alarmed. "How come all the spells bounced off him?"
"His giant blood." I muttered.
"Poor Professor McGonagall. . ." Hermione said. "Four stunners straight in the chest and she's not exactly young, is she?"
I shook my head. "She'll be lucky if she's still alive by tomorrow morning."
"Dreadful, dreadful, well, I'm off to bed. . . 'Night, all. . . Elizabeth, aren't you coming?" Ernie asked pompously.
"I'll be back in a minute." I promised and hurried with Hermione, Harry, and Ron to the Gryffindor common room. Hermione's eyes were full of tears and I felt like crying myself.
We found that the commotion had awoken many people in the common room and now most of the group was up. Seamus and Dean had arrived ahead of us and had recounted the story in detail so there were many eyes on me and Lee said, "I heard you pulled some ninja warrior stunts Elizabeth?"
I smiled grimly and dropped it immediately.
"Why sack Hagrid now?" Angelina asked. "It's not like Trelawney, he's been teaching much better than usual this year!"
"Umbridge hates part-humans." Hermione said bitterly, sitting down in an arm chair. "She was always going to try and get Hagrid out. Look at Elizabeth- her father's a werewolf and Umbridge has been trying to take everything from her."
I wished people would stop always bringing me up.
"And she thought Hagrid was putting nifflers in her office." Katie piped up.
"Oh blimey." Lee said. "It's me's been putting the nifflers in her office, Fred and George left me a couple, I've been levitating them in through her window..."
"She'd have sacked him anyway, he was too close to Dumbledore." Dean pointed out.
"That's true." Harry said, sinking into an armchair.
"I just hope Professor McGonagall's all right." Lavender said tearfully. Everyones eyes flickered over to me.
"They carried her back up to the castle, we watched through the dormitory window." Colin said. "She didn't look very well. . ."
Everyones eyes were still on me and I sighed and closed my eyes. There, they were transporting her to St. Mungo's. . . she'd stay there all term. . . come back with a cane in hand. . . I opened my eyes, "She'll live. They're going to transport her to St. Mungo's in the morning. Madam Pomfrey says it's lucky she's not dead. She'll be back before the end of the year is out though. Oooh I hope Umbridge gets punished for this!"
Not likely though if everyone was like Kingsley.
I knew that it would be four in the morning before the common room cleared but I left anyways, hurrying to Professor Snape's bedroom. He was sitting up at his desk, doing something and slammed it down when he came in. "Oh, it's just you."
"I can come back." I mumbled sleepily. To be honest, I believed that if I went back to the Hufflepuff dorm I would probably fall asleep there.
"No." Severus said, standing up and coming over to turn off the light. "Come on sleepy head."
I lay there for a few moments, feeling absolutely horrible. Tears leaked out of my eyes and spilled over my cheeks. I shifted my head so that the tears wouldn't drop onto Severus' chest because I knew then he'd know I was crying.
"She's going to be okay." Severus said suddenly and I realized that he knew I was crying.
"I know." I said thickly. "I. . . I said some really horrible things to Kingsley though. . ."
"Yes, he pulled me aside and told me." Severus said lightly. "I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to though when you say your dad isn't who you thought he was."
I was silent for a moment and then said, "Nearly everyone I love. . . none of them are who I thought they were. Dad, Lupin- he's a coward. Kinsley's a monster. James was arrogant. Mum was decent but she hated James. . . it wasn't the romantic, love at first sight I thought it was. And Sirius is a jerk too."
Severus didn't speak for so long I nearly fell asleep and then he said so softly I barely caught his words, "You're wrong, you know."
"About what?" I asked, feeling snappish.
"Kingsley isn't a monster. He has a role to play. He can't just go against the Minister, he'd lose his job. I mean. . . what do you think I'm doing Elizabeth? I have to play two sides as well! And your dad, Lupin, I mean, he's not a coward. I don't even know where you got that idea-"
"He said it himself." I muttered. "Harry and I snuck into Umbridge's office. Harry wanted to speak to Sirius about James after he saw the -er- memory. He said he never believed he would feel sorry for you- he's not exactly proud of his -our- dad anymore. But Lupin. . . he said that he never had the guts to stand up to them and tell them to lay off you. And I saw it in the memory too. . . he did nothing, just like a coward." I finished this off extremely bitter.
"You know." Severus said lightly. "You're judging Remus, Sirius, James, and Lily all based on what you saw when they- we- were teenagers. Your dad isn't a coward, Lily really did... she really did love James. And James became less arrogant -towards others anyways- when he got older. I'd say Sirius is still a bit of a jerk, but that's a biased opinion."
I laughed weakly and said, "You're right, I know that I just. . ."
Severus kissed me and said, "Get some sleep. You have exams in the morning."
I squirmed until I was warm enough and comfortable enough, my head resting in the crook of his arm and I fell asleep quickly.
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𝕳𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖞 𝖔𝖋 𝕸𝖆𝖌𝖎𝖈 was to be taken the next afternoon and I slept in so that I could be refreshed enough for the test. It was being held just slightly later than the other exams so that we could get an adequate amount of sleep since we'd had our practical astronomy last night. So instead of being held at nine-thirty, it was held at two o'clock. But I still had Magical Theory at one o'clock, whic I hadn't studied for as I had been to preoccupied with Astronomy.
A lot of the students looked tired when I went in for lunch around 12:17. I'd pretty much woken up 10 minutes before 12 o'clock- alone in the room because Severus had been teaching a second-year potions class.
I sat down at the Hufflepuff table and Susan, Ernie, and some of the other Hufflepuffs asked me what was going to happen to Professor McGonagall. I told them what I'd foreseen and told them to keep quiet about it.
I went into the Magical Theory classroom for the exam with about maybe thirty something other students. The exam went smoothly, though I wasn't as sure about my answers as I had been with my other exams.
Then we came back to the Great Hall for the exam around two and settled into our seats. I took the exam and worked through the questions methodically. A lot of them were about the goblin rebellions that Professor Binns had taught about. Of course, dates and names were hard to get straight and I had a horrible memory for dates, so I worked much slower on this exam.
There were also much easier questions surrounding the statue of secrecy and also the confederation of warlocks and many other questions that I knew. I answered the questions about the Werewolf registration act with ease, a bit of a smirk on my face.
I finished writing up the last question and set the exam aside. And then, a vision popped into my head. I kept my mouth shut so that I didn't gasp as I watched Voldemort somewhere in the Ministry of magic, torturing Sirius. My hand clenched around my desk. If I was seeing this. . .
I shook my head and looked back at Harry and saw that he had fallen to the floor and he was starting to writhe, clutching his scar.
"Professor Marchbanks!" I called and pointed to where Harry lay. Professor Tofty quickly hurried over while Professor Marchbanks continued to survey us, though her eyes jumped nervously to where Harry lay. Professor Tofty led Harry out of the room and I looked at where Hermione was sitting.
I quickly turned back around and looked into the vision more. Was Sirius there? But how? Kreacher maybe? No. . . we were going to arrive at the Ministry. . . it was going to be a trap. I felt strangely relieved. And then. . . the Order would show up to save us. . . and. . . Sirius would die!
I felt my heart sink. Harry had seen the same thing. Would he listen to me if I told him it was a trap? If I told him that Sirius wasn't actually there? But how could I prove it? I'd told Harry and Ron and Hermione visions before and they didn't believe me. They didn't believe me about Professor Quirrell. . . though granted they didn't know about my visions then. But they wouldn't believe me in our third-year that Sirius was innocent or that he wasn't after Harry and they had known about my visions then!
I barely noticed when Professor Marchbanks dismissed us until Hermione was practically pulling me out of my seat. I blinked and jumped up with the others and left with them.
We hurried up the marble staircase where we saw Harry flying down the staircase towards us. "Come with me, I've got to tell you something. . ." Harry said quickly and I shook my head but followed him along the first-floor corridor until we found an empty room.
"Voldemort's got Sirius." Harry said.
"No he doesn't." I said softly. "Harry-"
"Yes he does!" Harry snapped at me.
"No he doesn't!" I argued, heat rising to my cheeks. "I saw what's going to happen! Voldemort is taking advantage of your connection. He showed you a false memory. He created the memory for you! When we get to London- but we're not- it'll be a trap. You are the only one who can get what Voldemort wants. We'll get there, there will be no Sirius, the Order will come to save us and then, that's when Sirius finally gets there and Bellatrix Lestrange kills him. So yes, Sirius will die, but only if we go to London."
Harry was shaking his head. "You don't understand!"
"Oh?" I asked, raising my eyebrow. "And what don't I understand?"
"Sirius wasn't the only person there!" Harry said.
I frowned. "No, it was only Voldemort and Sirius."
Harry shook his head and then said, "Elizabeth, he's got Trang too."
Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).
Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.
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"𝕻𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖊, 𝕴 𝖆𝖒 begging you." I said desperately, Uncle Moody and I the only people in the small room at the Burrow. He didn't listen to me, continuing to repack the sacks that he would be taking to Harry's house tonight.
The night that my uncle would die.
"Kane, enough." Uncle Moody said gruffly, making sure that the pairs of clothes and glasses were all there. "I'll be fine."
"What part of, 'Voldemort kills you in the air while you're on a broomstick and you fall to your death' don't you understand?" I asked bitingly. "And why won't you let me tell the others? They should know that you're going to let yourself be killed!"
Mad-eye finally stopped, glaring at me with both eyes, before allowing his magical one to rotate around the house. Once he had confirmed that no one was listening in, he said, "Kane, this future of yours that plays out. It relies on them having no idea Death Eaters are in the sky. You won't be there, and I'll be the only one on alert. Or are you doubting my skill?"
"Of course not!" I protested as he started duplicating Hedwig's cage with stuffed snowy owls inside of it. "And make that seven, not six!"
Uncle Moody sighed but duplicated another cage so that there were seven instead of the original six that I had seen before, "And why did I do that?"
"Because Harry's owl Hedwig also dies tonight!" I snapped angrily, trying to get him to see it. "But Trang and I are going to take the owl to safety separately. And you are going to send someone else in your place!"
"And if I send someone else in my place than that person will die, and the others will wonder why I did so." Uncle Moody growled. "I love you, Elizabeth, but I will not back down from this fight."
A baby crying interrupted the air, and I closed my eyes, knowing I had to go and get my son. Uncle Moody clapped my shoulder, squeezing tightly, before stomping out of the room. Taking a deep breath so I didn't cry, I headed from the room.
Taking the staircase, I found that Trang already had Remus on her hip, trying to shush him softly. She looked up when the door opened and handed him off to me easily. "He just woke up."
"Thanks." I said softly, looking out the window. Bill and Dad were talking out in the garden, everyone getting ready for the last preparations. "You ready?"
"Sure." Trang nodded solemnly. Out of everyone else who was in the Order, only Trang and Uncle Moody knew what was happening tonight. Trang, because she kept all my secrets with her life. And Uncle Moody because I was trying to change his future.
"Are you?" She countered.
"He won't listen to me." I whispered softly, rocking back and forth. Remus had quieted down and was falling asleep again, but I didn't want to put him down. "He's repeating what Cedric told me. What Sirius told me. He knows the future, he'll be fine. I know he won't. But what can I do?"
Trang nodded, sitting down on the bed. "What you've done every other time Elizabeth. Pray."
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𝕴𝖙 𝖙𝖔𝖔𝖐 𝕳𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖞 only a few seconds to run out his backdoor, Hermione wrapping her arms under him first as we arrived at his house. The skies seemed clear enough for the arrival at the very least, but I knew it was just a ruse and my stomach was turning in my stomach.
"Change of plan." Uncle Moody grunted suddenly, "Let's get undercover before we talk you through it."
Harry pulled me into a side hug as I stepped into the kitchen and then Trang. I took refuge at the kitchen table, sitting on the edge of it with Trang coming to stand next to me.
Ron, Hermione, Bill, Fred, George, Mr. Weasley, Uncle Moody, Tonks, Dad, Fleur, Kingsley, Hagrid, and Mundungus all managed to fit into the small kitchen of the Dursley household.
"Kingsley, I thought you were looking after the Muggle Prime Minister?" Harry asked.
"He can get along without me for one night. You're more important." Kingsley answered in that slow, deep voice of his that I loved.
"Harry, guess what?" Tonks asked, perched on top of the washing machine. I smiled as she flaunted her hot pink rhinestone ring.
"You got married?" Harry asked.
"I'm sorry you couldn't be there, Harry, it was very quiet." Dad apologized sincerely.
"That's brilliant, congrat-"
"All right, all right, we'll have time for a cozy catch-up later!" Uncle Moody barked and I flinched. "As Dedalus probably told you, we had to abandon Plan A. Pius Thicknesse has gone over, which gives us a big problem. He's made it an imprisonable offense to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Portkey here, or Apparate in or out. All done in the name of your protection, to prevent You-Know-Who getting in at you. Absolutely pointless, seeing as your mother's charm does that already. What he's really done is to stop you getting out of here safely."
Personally, I thought it was stupid. Why didn't Uncle Moody and Harry just walk a quarter of a mile to the public library or something and apparate from there?
"Second problem: You're underage, which means you've still got the Trace on you."
I zoned out after that. I had seen this conversation beforehand, and I thought it was stupid. I was more focused now on the route I would be taking with Trang.
"No!" Harry said loudly enough to jar me from my thoughts. "No way!"
"I told them you'd take it like this." Hermione said complacently.
"If you think I'm going to let six people risk their lives-!"
"-because its the first time for all of us." Ron said sarcastically.
"This is different, pretending to be me-"
"Well, none of us really fancy it, Harry. Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever." Fred said in a horrified whisper. Trang and I giggled.
"You can't do it if I don't cooperate, you need me to give you some hair."
"Well, that's the plan scuppered." George rolled his eyes. "Obviously there's no chance of all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate."
"Yeah, fourteen of us against one bloke who's not allowed to use magic; we've got no chance," Fred said while I whispered, "Get him Trang! Sic!"
Trang giggled behind her hand and Harry glared, "Funny, really amusing."
"If it has to come to force, then it will." Uncle Moody growled dramatically. "Everyone here's overage, Potter, and they're all prepared to take the risk."
"Elizabeth's not." Harry said immediately, pointing at me like everyone didn't know who I was. "Our birthdays are on the same day."
"Trang and I aren't part of your rescue mission." I said in a bored voice. "We have a side job that has nothing to do with you guys. Real top-secret stuff."
Fred chuckled.
"Let's have no more arguments. Time's wearing on. I want a few of your hairs, boy, now." Uncle Moody growled.
"But this is mad, there's no need-"
"No need! With Voldemort out there and half the Ministry on his side? Potter, if we're lucky he'll have swallowed the fake bait and he'll be planning to ambush you on the thirtieth, but he'd be mad not to have a Death Eater or two keeping an eye out, it's what I'd do. They might not be able to get at you or this house while your mother's charm holds, but it's about to break and they know the rough position of the place. Our only chance is to use decoys. Even Voldemort can't split himself into seven."
Trang suddenly had a coughing fit and Dad handed her a glass of water which she took and ducked away with. I heard her start sniggering in the bathroom after that and it took everything in my power not to laugh as well. God, we were so immature during serious conversations.
"Good." Uncle Moody said and I watched the brown turn to gold. I nearly snorted.
"Ooh, you look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry." Hermione squealed in delight, setting Trang off again in laughter. "Oh, you know what I mean- Goyle's potion looked like bogies." Hermione tacked on defensively as Ron gave her a strange look.
"Right then, fake Potters line up over here, please." Uncle Moody said.
I was frustrated that Moody had still taken Mundungus, when Mundungus was clearly the whole reason that Uncle Moody died. But I supposed there wasn't really anyone else to take his place. Most of the other people pretending to be Harry were all of the kids anyways. I supposed Trang could've, but I needed her.
"We're one short." Dad said, as Mundungus never joined Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Fleur in the line.
"Here." Hagrid said, lifting Mundungus up with what felt like three fingers and plopping him down next to Fleur.
"I've toldjer, I'd sooner be a protector." Mundungus complained.
"Shut it. As I've already told you, you spineless worm, any Death Eater we run into will be aiming to capture Potter, not kill him. Dumbledore always said Voldemort would want to finish Potter in person. It'll be the protectors who have got the most to worry about, the Death Eaters'll want to kill them."
My stomach turned. While knowing right now that it should only be Uncle Moody who would potentially die- besides Hedwig- I didn't know if anything would change. After all, it was clear to everyone that Uncle Moody and I had some sort of tension between the two of us. And it was probably strange that we wanted to take Hedwig on a separate journey.
I wondered if it would change anything. If I had to worry about Dad or Tonks or Kingsley. If I had to worry about George losing more than an ear. Or worry about Fred now instead of in the future at the Battle of Hogwarts.
I took a deep breath, once again trying to find where we were in the conversation. I noticed the others were all taking the drinks now.
It was disconcerting, watching.
Fred and George turned to each other and said, "Wow- We're identical!"
I was eased once again as I laughed.
"I dunno, though, I think I'm still better-looking." Fred said.
As the others got ready, I tugged at Harry's arm. "Where's Hedwig? Trang and I need her."
Harry went ahead and got her, and I nodded, "Uncle Moody has a stuffed one for you. What I want you to do is act like you really have Hedwig. Whatever you would do if it was truly Hedwig in the cage, do it."
Harry looked a little nervous, but I knew I had to tell him. If he didn't duck for the cage because he figured it was just a stuffed animal, he would be hit by a killing spell.
"Good." Uncle Moody said, once everything was set and ready to go. "The pairs will be as follows: Mundungus will be traveling with me, by broom-"
"Why'm I with you?"
"Because you're the one that needs watching." Uncle Moody growled while I felt my stomach sink once again. Uncle Moody didn't even look at me as he continued, "Arthur and Fred-"
"I'm George." The Harry that Uncle Moody was pointing at said, "Can't you even tell us apart when we're Harry?"
I covered my mouth with my hand as Uncle Moody sighed, "Sorry, George-"
"I'm only yanking your wand. I'm Fred really-"
"Enough messing around! The other one- George or Fred or whoever you are- you're with Remus. Miss Delacour-"
"I'm taking Fleur on a thestral. She's not that fond of brooms." Bill said. Trang might've cracked a rib from how hard she was laughing at the sappy face Fleur- as Harry- made at Bill.
"Miss Granger with Kingsley, again by thestral-"
"Which leaves you and me, Ron!" Tonks said excitedly.
"An' you're with me, Harry. That all righ'? We'll be on the bike, brooms an' thestrals can't take me weight, see. Not a lot o' room on the seat with me on it, though, so you'll be in the sidecar."
"That's great." Harry lied.
"We think the Death Eaters will expect you to be on a broom." Uncle Moody informed the dispassionate Harry, "Snape's had plenty of time to tell them everything about you he's never mentioned before, so if we do run into any Death Eaters, we're betting they'll choose one of the Potters who look at home on a broomstick. All right then. I make it three minutes until we're supposed to leave. No point locking the back door, it won't keep the Death Eaters out when they come looking. . . come on. . "
Uncle Moody waited as everyone filed out of the kitchen. Dad gave Trang and I a smile as he exited until it was just Trang and me.
Uncle Moody looked at me as tears started to pile up in my eyes. "Kane. . . just remember. I'm forewarned. But I can't sit this one out. Too much is at stake for that boy. And I know you'd die for him just the same as I."
"I know." I whispered.
Uncle Moody stomped over, and I hugged him. I knew it would be the last time. He would go out the way that he wanted to go out.
Uncle Moody then clapped Trang on the shoulder, "You're a good kid. Both of you."
Then he stomped out of the kitchen and Trang, and I sat in silence, watching the rest of them take off into the sky.
Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.
"The small girl stares with wide brown eyes at each person who comes to observer her. A dark cloud of frizzy hair surrounds her head, stray leaves hiding within it. She holds a door knocker the way a smaller child might handle a rattle or a toy. Tightly. Protectively.
"She has been placed in an armchair in one of the galleries, as though she is herself a piece of art. Her feet do not touch the ground. Her head has been examined and some concern has been raised over injury, though she is not bleeding. A bruise blooms near her temple, a greenish hue spreading over light brown skin. It does not seem to bother her. She is given a plate of tiny cakes and eats them in small, serious bites.
"She is asked her name. She appears not to understand the question. There is some debate over how translations might work for someone so young (few recall the last time there was a child in this place) but she understands other inquiries: She nods when asked if she is thirsty or hungry. She smiles when someone brings her an old stuff toy, a rabbit with thinning fur and floppy ears. Only when the rabbit is presented does she relinquish the door knocker, clutching the bunny with equal intensity.
"She does not recall her name, her age, anything about her family. When asked how she got there she holds up the door knocker with a pitying look in her large eyes, as the answer is terribly obvious and the people peering down at her are not very observant.
"Everything about her is analyzed, from the make of her shoes to her accent as they begin to coerce single words or phrases, but she speaks rarely, and all anyone can agree on is that there are hints of Australia or possibly New Zealand, though some insist the slight accent on her English is South African. There are a number of old doors left uncatalogued in each country. The girl does not give reliable geographical information. She remembers people and fairies and dragons with equal clarity. Large buildings and small buildings and forests and fields. She describes bodies of water of indiscernible size that could be lakes or oceans or bathtubs. Nothing to point clearly toward her origin.
"Throughout the investigations it remains unspoken truth that she cannot easily be returned to wherever she has fallen from if her door no longer exists.
"There is talk of sending her back through another door, but no one in the dwindling population of residents volunteers for such a mission, and the girl appears happy enough. Does not complain. Does not ask to go home. Does not cry for her parents, wherever they might be.
"She is given a room where everything is too big for her. Clothes that fit reasonably well are found and one of the knitting groups provides her with sweaters and socks spun from colorful yarn. Her shoes are cleaned and remain her only pair until she outgrows them, the rubber soles worn through to holes then patched and worn through again.
"They call her the girl or the child or the foundling, though the more semantic-minded residents point out that she was not abandoned, not as far as anyone knows, so the term foundling is inaccurate.
"Eventually she is called Eleanor, and some say afterward she was named for the queen of Aquitaine, and others claim the choice was inspired by Jane Austen, and still others say she once responded to the request for her name with "Ellie" or "Allira" or something like that. (In truth, the person who suggested the name plucked it from a novel by Shirley Jackson but neglected to clarify due to the unfortunate fate of that other fictional Eleanor.)
"'Does she have a name yet?' the Keeper asks, not looking up from his desk, his pen continuing to move across the page.
"'They've taken to calling her Eleanor.' The painter informs him.
"The Keeper puts down his pen and sighs.
"'Eleanor,' he repeats, putting the emphasis on the latter syllables, turning the name into another sigh. He picks up his pen and resumes his writing all without so much as a glance at the painter.
"The painter does not pry. She thinks perhaps the name has a particular meaning to him. She has only known him a short amount of time. She decides to stay uninvolved in the matter, herself.
"This Harbor upon the Starless Sea absorbs the girl who fell through the remains of a door the way the forest floor consumed the door: She becomes part of the scenery. Sometimes noticed. Mostly ignored. Left to her own devices.
"No one takes responsibility. Everyone assumes someone else will do it, and so no one does. They are all preoccupied with their own work, their own intimate dramas. They observe and question and even participate but not for long. Not for more than moment, here and there, scattered through a childhood like fallen leaves.
"On that first day, in the chair but before the bunny, Elanor answers only a single question aloud when asked what she was doing out on her own.
"'Exploring', she says.
"She thinks she is doing a very good job of it."
I'm relieved to see that Remus is fast asleep by the time the story ends. I wasn't a huge fan of the end of it, seeing how the girl had to learn to live by herself, even as a child. That none of the adults around her want to take any responsibility. It felt wrong, frankly.
"The stories connected." Severus' voice jolts me a little, keeping me from my thoughts. I looked up at him to see that he's looking at me through the reflection in the mirror as he fixes his tie. I smile a little, seeing him in the muggle tuxedo. He looks dashing in it.
There is a knock at the door then. Seven, then two, then three. Trang is here.
I open the door to see her, with a backpack on her shoulders. "Hi." She smiles. As she takes Remus from my arms, she coos at him in a baby like voice.
It's winter vacation already and Trang didn't go back for the holidays. Severus and I are going to be using her as a babysitter tonight as we go out.
"Thanks for doing this Trang." I murmured, going over to the mirror as Severus left it, so that I can fix my hair and apply a bit more makeup.
"Of course." Trang said, "Besides, I miss my little godson."
I smiled at that, dabbing blush against my cheeks while Severus grabs a muggle winter coat, tapping it to become a wizarding cloak so if someone sees him leaving tonight, no one will look twice at him.
My own dress in a dark midnight blue with silvery sparkles. Severus bought it for me for tonight. I admired myself in a mirror for a moment before Severus came over, putting his hands on my waist, his voice whispering in my ear, "You look good enough to eat. Maybe we can skip dinner."
"And that's my cue to leave." Trang muttered, breaking the spell. She hoisted Remus up in his arms, leaving the room to the room across from this one- a sort of unused guest room. I think she had a good idea that Severus and I were going to come back and need some alone time.
Severus rolled his eyes, pecking my cheek. "Ready to go?"
I nodded, swallowing my nerves, turning into my silky black cat form, hopping into his traveling clock pocket and tucked my head down.
I didn't look out his pocket the entire time and he never broke stride so I didn't know if he had seen anyone or not. I tucked down even more as I felt chilly wind fly just a little over my ears. Severus' hand dipped into the pocket, his hand against my side, stroking it a little as he walked now.
He walked for twenty more minutes- taking a different route so that he was unseen by any of the Hogsmeade villagers- and also to avoid the charm that was placed on the village.
He lifted me out of his pocket and put me on the ground so that I could become human again. I took his hand in mine, taking charge of apparating this time, and we appeared on the back porch of my old home.
I opened the door cautiously, ready to flee at a noise or movement. But there was nothing except what dad and I had left there, covered in a layer of dust.
"It's a nice house." Severus hummed suddenly, looking at a picture of me on the wall. Dad was hugging me from behind as he sat in a leaf pile that I had jumped in. It had been one of the rare days Mad-eye had stayed over. He'd taken the picture of us.
I felt a lump in my throat start to grow and so I looked away. "Yeah."
Severus squeezed my hand as I opened the front door and we left the house, walking up the street. We headed into town, seeing that it was fairly empty and I led the way to a brightly lit Chinese restaurant called Panda Inn.
It was actually packed, which I was slightly surprised about, it being Christmas Eve and all. We took seats near the back, the two of us sitting across from each other in the booth.
The restaurant looked adorable, with lots of red Chinese lanterns hung about the room. Dark trimming lined the room, with soft music playing from the speakers in the back. I could smell the chicken cooking in the back of the restaurant. The lights were dim, mostly using light from candles on the table.
"Elizabeth!" A slightly older male voice said excitedly. I looked up to see mine and Trangs' favorite server, Danny standing there. He'd grown his block hair out to be floppy around the ears and was wearing dark green glasses. We'd both had something of a crush on him growing up, though he regarded as us playful friends.
"Hi Danny." I said with a small smile. "How are you?"
Severus was sitting a bit stiffly now, eyeing Danny with an equal mix of distrust and jealousy.
"Great. Whose this gentleman?" Danny inquired, looking over at Severus.
"This is a friend of mine, Nicholas." I lied. We figured it was best if we didn't use Severus' real name.
"Nice to meet you Nicholas." Danny said easily with a huge grin. "Alright, what can I get for the two of you or do you need a minute to look over the menu?"
"Um, perhaps a minute. It's his first time." I replied easily. "But I'll get a glass of white milk and a water."
"And for you sir?" Danny asked.
"Just a water." Severus replied uncertainly.
"I'll be right back with those drinks." He walked off, leaving the two of us alone for the time being.
I smiled happily as I looked over the menu. For once, it felt like a normal night. Severus and I were out on a date while Trang babysat Remus. This was how our life should be. Could be. If I could just keep him alive.
But I vowed I wouldn't think of anything like that tonight. I really just wanted to have a good night.
"Okay so what do you usually get." Severus said, looking at the menu.
"Orange chicken with fried rice. I used to get Lo Mein, but I don't really like the vegetables in them so I just stick with the fried rice. I don't think you'd like the orange chicken though since it's super sweet."
In the end, I order double orange chicken with fried rice while Severus got half white rice, half lo mein with half Beijing Beef and half Black Pepper Angus Steak.
We tried making mundane talk, but it was very hard. Severus didn't know much muggle conversation so I supplied most if it while he listened, a small smile breaking out on his face as he did so.
We shared a small chocolate dessert before bundling up for the cold again and walking outside. We continued to walk down the street, gloved hand in gloved hand. I was content, hugging his arm as we walked. He looked down at me with such love in his eyes I thought I was going to burst.
It started to snow, small flakes of white drifting down to rest in our hair. He stroked a finger across my cheek, before we came to a stop, a small flow of people heading inside of a building.
I looked up, seeing that it was the church, the midnight service about to start. I looked up at Severus, a question on my lips, which he kissed away. He led me to the wide double doors and we walked into the cathedral.
I had loved coming here as a kid. Dad hadn't been super religious, but he had wanted to introduce me to the church. I had done lots of Sunday School here and had continued coming every once in a while to sit in 'adult church'. I had never missed a Christmas Eve sermon however, until I had started at Hogwarts.
We sat in the back near the stained glass window that showed Noah's ark breaching dry land. A rainbow in the background, standing firmly as a sign of Gods' peace. Doves flew above the brown boat, olive leaves in their beaks. Two by two, stained glass giraffes, zebras, elephants, and lions exited the ark.
Severus put his arm around me as the sermon started. I had always loved listening to the stories of the birth of Jesus. They seemed so magical somehow. Miraculous.
Candles were passed out so that we could sing Silent Night. Being in the back and on the end of the pew, my candle was the first one lit. Severus leaned his over so that we could touch them and I felt something like hope spark inside of me as his was lit too.
Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace
I suddenly felt the empowering knowledge that he was going to survive. He was going to live. I watched as he touched flames with the woman next to him, an older woman who couldn't stand. He had stooped over, gently cupped the back of her candle holder so that her flame would light. She gave him a soft smile before turning to her husband. Someone as good as him couldn't die.
Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia,
Christ the Savior is born!
Christ the Savior is born
Severus did not sing, instead listened to me sing. I had never been a great singer- not in my mind at least- but my voice seemed to have an affinity to Christmas songs.
Silent night, holy night!
Son of God love's pure light.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth
Severus pulled me close to his side, his arm tight around my waist as he rested his chin on the top of my head. "I love you Elizabeth."
I looked up at him, a single tear trailing down my cheek as I sang, not answering, but he knew anyways.
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Silent Night. . .
I stirred, feeling the slightly chilly air in the room.
Holy Night. . .
I blinked my eyes open, noting Severus was laying next to me, still wearing his dress pants and shirt, though he'd tossed the jacket and bowtie off. I was still in my dress and stockings, tucked warmly under the bed.
Silent Night. . .
I sat up slowly, groaning. We had crashed when we'd come home, Severus apparating us straight up to our room after we'd exited the church. Being headmaster, he'd always been able to do this, we just hadn't wanted to before.
I slowly slip from the bed, reaching behind me to pull the zipper down, when a larger hand takes mine, moving it away. Severus unzips the dress for me, kissing down my back as he does so.
"Should've done this last night." His thick, sleepy filled voice murmurs sexily in my ear. "You look ravishing."
I let out the softest of whimpers, the sleepiness gone from my foggy mind, replaced by a buzzing feeling of adrenaline and lust. His hands cup my arse as the dress falls down the rest of my body.
His hand slips under me, two fingers sliding easily into my cunt, while a third rubs circles at my clit.
My legs shake and I know they're not going to hold me up. Severus' hand withdraws and he pulls me back onto the bed. I sink into the pillows, looking up at him as he crawls over me, hovering. I smile as he snaps his fingers, discarding the rest of his clothes.
I go to remove the white stockings, but he stops me, smirking. I blush darkly as he takes my stocking-clad legs, moving one over his shoulder and he lowers his mouth to my pussy. I arch slightly on the bed, trying my hardest not to move as pleasure radiates through me.
"S-Se- Severus." I pant out as he adds three thick fingers inside of me. I arch again, this time writhing slightly until he uses one large hand, holding my hips down firmly. I pant, cunt clenching tightly around his fingers.
"Gonna- need to-"
"Cum." Severus demands.
I cry out his name, back arched as I cum on his fingers. He watches with heavy, lust lidded eyes, slowly retracting his fingers.
"Severus." I beg without actually begging, but he answers me anyways, lifting my hips so that he can slide into me, hovering over me.
I sighed in content, closing my eyes, letting the euphoria wash over me. It's such a wonderful feeling, especially as his lips capture mine, his teeth lightly digging into my bottom lip.
"I love you." Severus whispered, his thrusts hard and slow. He bottomed out with each one, sending an intense wave of pleasure from my toes to my head. I simply hang onto his shoulders, nails digging into the flesh there, riding the waves out. "Cum." He commands, feeling that I'm close and the dam breaks, my liquids gushing all over his prick.
He rides out my wave now, thrusting more quickly, building up another wave. I open my eyes because I want to see him as he lets go.
"Elizabeth." He whispers and I cry out, feeling the second wave cresting.
"SEVERUS!" I shout, unable to stop myself, even if Voldemort himself was out in the office. My vision becomes hazy, dotted in black and white as I slump back against the bedsheets.
"Merlin I love you." I mumble, as Severus stills himself, having released inside of me. My eyes flutter open, blinking away the gray that danced in front of my vision.
"Jealous." Severus teased. "Say my name too Elizabeth."
I giggled, curling up against him. "I love you the most Severus, don't worry."
"Good." Severus said plainly, kissing the top of my head. "Now how about a bath before Trang wakes up and brings Remus here for a feeding?"
I rolled over and race to the bathroom door, "I get to choose the temperature!"
"NO!" Severus shouts, running after me and I giggle as we spend the rest of the morning playfully.
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It's Remus' first Christmas, and it's our first Christmas as a family. Severus got a camera from somewhere and we take pictures, marking our memories. I already have an album- a gift from Trang- and I put the pictures in there, labelling them on the back.
I feel a little sad as I put it together though, looking over to watch Severus fly Remus above his head. It feels like what Hagrid did for Harry. I shake my head. No, we would be different. Remus would have a different future from Harry and me. Remus, at the very least, would have a mom.
"Say hi to mommy." Severus coos, sitting down next to me, bouncing Remus in his arms. He grins at me. I love how infectious his smile is, as I smile back, blushing red.
"Hi sweetheart." I coo back, taking Remus into my arms. "Are you liking your first Christmas, hmm?"
I had gotten presents from dad as well. Three new Stephen King books that I couldn't wait to read. They hadn't come with a note, but I knew they were from him anyways.
Severus had also given me a present, which turned out to be jewelry. It was much like the set he'd given me last year for my birthday, but this set was bright in its colours. Red and purple patterned.
"It was my mothers." Severus murmured quietly as I had looked at him, stroking my cheek with the back of his finger. "One day, we'll pass it down to our first daughter. Perhaps when she gets married."
Despite not knowing the gender of the two children inside of me, Severus was certain at least one was a girl. I liked the odds, though I wasn't certain.
It felt to much like a good-bye present though so I thanked him and put it up on the dresser, before curling up in his arms, watching Remus play with his new stuffed animals: which mostly consisted of him laying on his stomach, waving it up and down.
That night, we had a small Christmas dinner with half a ham.
Then we spent the rest of the night in each others arms, looking out the window at the stars until we fell asleep on the couch in each others' embrace.
Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).
Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.
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"𝕬𝖗𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖆𝖑𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙?" Harry asked as we hurried up the sloping lawn. He was under the invisibility cloak, but I was not as I would turn into a cat once we stepped over the threshold.
"The way your parents died. . ." I said, nearly choking on my words, "Was the way my parents died. When the dementors. . . I just. . . I can hear my mum screaming for my dad. They weren't prepared for the attack. Dad was hiding me in the basement. Said he loved me and everything was going to be okay, ya know?"
Tears were still falling down my face and I wiped them away.
"I'm sorry." Harry said, reaching out and taking my hand. He said nothing else and he didn't have to say anything else.
I cleared my throat and said more solidly. "Dumbledore's back. You can either take the long route back to the Gryffindor Tower and hear it from Nearly Headless Nick, or you can just go straight to his office."
"Thanks Elizabeth." Harry said and I turned into a cat and bounded up the marble steps to make my way towards Severus' office.
I turned human, opening the door. Severus was already in bed and I quickly undressed and slid into bed next to him. He was sound asleep.
I hadn't cried myself out yet and I did so now, quietly so I did not wake Severus.
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𝕾𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖚𝖘 𝖜𝖆𝖘 𝖚𝖕 when I woke up.
"Rough night?" He asked softly, crossing the room as I sat up to take my face in his hands and press his lips to mine.
"A bit." I said softly after we broke apart. I climbed out of the bed and put on school clothes and then started switching books out of the bag like I always did. "I'll see you after school." I said, slinging the bookbag over my shoulders, and wincing- Hagrid's arm might've left a bruise- pulled the door open.
"Wait." Severus said and I paused in the doorway. "Are you alright?"
I smiled at him but felt that if I didn't leave soon I'd start crying again. "Yeah, Sev. I'm alright." I shut the door behind me.
I headed to Charms because I was cutting very close to late and had no time to grab breakfast. I took my place with the Hufflepuffs and eavesdropped on the Harry's conversation with Hermione and Ron.
How Slughorn had told Tom Riddle about Horcruxes. How Tom had asked about the idea of splitting the soul into seven pieces. The six possible horcruxes- two definite ones and four less definite. And of course, there was more talk about the prophecy and how Harry was going to kill Voldemort and then there was a slight surprise: Dumbledore was going to let Harry come with him to destroy a horcrux.
"Wow. Wow. You're actually going to go with Dumbledore. . . and try and destroy. . . wow." Ron said, waving his wand in small circles absentmindedly.
"Ron, you're making it snow." Hermione said, reaching out and grabbing his wrist to redirect the wand from the ceiling.
I watched as Lavender Brown glared at Hermione with puffy red eyes. Hermione might've noticed too because she let go of Ron's arm very quickly.
"Oh yeah." Ron said, looking around them as the white flakes settled on their shoulders. "Sorry. . . looks like we've all got horrible dandruff now. . ." He brushed some snow off Hermione's shoulder and Lavender burst into tears. Ron turned his back on her.
I supposed they'd split up last night.
"Ah." I heard Harry reply to something that Ron had said, "Well- you don't mind it's over, do you?"
"No." Ron said, "It was pretty bad while she was yelling, but at least I didn't have to finish it."
"Coward." Hermione and I said together.
"Well, it was a bad night for romance all around. Ginny and Dean split up too, Harry." Hermione continued, smirking.
"How come?" Harry asked with to straight of a face to be innocent.
"Oh, something really silly. . . she said he was always trying to help her through the portrait hole, like she couldn't climb in herself. . . but they've been a bit rocky for ages." Hermione said with a simple shrug and a knowing smile.
I grinned too, taking a sneak peak at Dean from across the room. He also looked unhappy, though he didn't show any signs of crying like Lavender.
"Of course, this puts you in a bit of a dilemma, doesn't it?" Hermione asked.
"What d'you mean?" Harry asked in a quick voice.
"The Quidditch team." Hermione said, her smile growing bigger all of the time. "If Ginny and Dean aren't speaking. . ."
"Oh-oh yeah." Harry said. He almost sounded relieved. Hermione and I met each others eyes and quickly looked away, both of us grinning.
"Flitwick." Ron muttered under his breath.
"Now, now boys. A little less talk, a little more action. . . Let me see you try. . ." Professor Flitwick said. Hermione and I had already turned our vinegar into wine though I personally preferred the smell of the vinegar to the smell of the wine. I also preferred the taste but I wasn't sure if that was baby hormones or because I liked sour foods.
Susan, Ernie, and I ducked as Harry's vinegar turned to ice and Ron's flask exploded. Glass shards flew over our heads. Somewhere to my right I heard Ernie curse.
"Yes. . . for homework." Professor Flitwick said, emerging from under the table and pulling shards of glass out of his hat. "practice."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were going to go up to the Gryffindor Tower and I let them go, heading outside to sit under a nice tree instead because I had a free period. I would've liked to have gone to the Room of Requirement and entered the art studio, but I had promised myself I would only go in there on the weekends. So now instead, I worked on drawings outside.
Ever since I had done the Professor portrait fiasco, the influx of drawing requests had skyrocketed to the point that I had to keep a log for each person and what they wanted. Prices came after.
Dad's birthday came and though I knew it was probably better if I didn't, I created a drawing for him, and sent it off with Sadie along with some chocolate from Honeydukes.
The Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor Quidditch match was the most exciting talk in the school. If Gryffindor won, they won the Championship. If Gryffindor lost by only a little bit, then Hufflepuff would play Ravenclaw for the final match. I wasn't sure which outcome I wanted yet.
There became loud chants and songs from both the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, making fun of opposing players. This created either people who enjoyed the attention, or people who had to dash off to the loo to puke. But I much preferred this to Slytherin v. Gryffindor matches where you often had to carry a shield around to keep from being hit with wayward spells.
In my personal life, the large teacher portrait was nearly done. I had a few more teachers to draw in and Susan was helping me figure out what sort of scenery could be drawn behind them but other than that, it was nearly done. Oh, and we had to get the students signatures too.
Along with art problems, I was having difficulty with the stupid Runes homework and I wondered why I hadn't dropped the subject yet. Everything else was easy. Runes used to be easy, and now it was getting more difficult and I was frustrated easily.
But Severus and I were having lots of fun besides that. I kept toying with the idea of amusement parks over the summer. I wondered what his reaction would be or how he'd react on a roller coaster. It was an amusing idea and I kept thinking about it often.
The Felix Felicis potion was approaching finished, our child was going to be born completely healthy according to Madam Pomfrey, and to top it all off, I knew perfectly well that Harry and Ginny were going to kiss soon.
At the same time, I was trying to figure out whether or not to stop Harry from using the Sectumsempra curse on Draco. If he did use it, he wouldn't be able to use his potions book for the rest of the school year. But if he didn't use it, would that change the outcome of the Quidditch match and therefore, change the outcome of whether or not Ginny and Harry were going to kiss?
I still hadn't made up my mind for the time, when Harry was walking down to the bathroom to see why Draco was in there with Moaning Myrtle.
But I couldn't just do nothing and so, trying to push away the knowledge that I was breaking a promise I'd made with Trang, I hurried down to the bathroom, my wand in my pocket.
I heard shouting in the bathroom by the time I got to the door. It was Moaning Myrtle's voice shouting, "No! No! Stop it! Stop STOP!"
I wrenched the door open, grabbing Harry's arm to push him aside without thinking and blocking a hex from Draco.
"Stop both of you. Protego!" A shield popped up between the two of them.
Draco's next spell rebounded, hit himself, and he dropped. "Crap." I muttered, quickly reversing the spell for the shield and hurried over to where he was.
"Draco?" I asked uncertainly. There was watering dripping on the floor everywhere, a sink had been broken. "Dr-" He made a sudden movement.
I flew backwards, crashing into a stall. Pain shot through my back and I felt like I was hanging on something.
"Elizabeth!" Harry shouted. I was momentarily dazed, trying to figure out what had happened. I heard Draco shout, "Crucio!" But there were no screams, so maybe the spell hadn't hit Harry.
"SECTUMSEMPRA!" Harry shouted.
I would've shouted no if it had been possible but I felt like I couldn't move. There were spots dancing in front of my vision and the pain in my back was growing. Or was it fading?
Then I heard Harry said, "No- No- I didn't-" I heard the sound of knees hitting tile. My head felt kind've fuzzy. I tried opening my eyes but my lids were heavy.
"MURDER! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM! MURDER!"
I heard the door bang open. There were fast footsteps slapping against the wet floor. There was a strange buzzing noise in my ears. I didn't pass out, though the pain was great enough that I would've welcome it. There were strange things poking into my back, splintered wood around my body. I think they were wood chunks anyways... maybe?
There were heavy hands. There was sobbing and wailing. There was a snappish voice. There were uncomfortable jolting movements. And then eventually there was a soft bed, hectic voices, smooth bandages, loud noises, and something smooth like honey dropping down my throat. Only then, did I fall asleep.
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𝕴 𝖜𝖔𝖐𝖊 𝖚𝖕 in the hospital wing though at this point, I wasn't surprised that I was here.
I would've sat up by my waist didn't seem to want to bend and I closed my eyes in horror, assuming the worst: I'd been paralyzed again.
"Hey." a soft voice said and I turned my head and saw Severus sitting in a wooden chair next to me.
"Hi." I barely whispered.
"You're going to be fine." He said, taking my hand in his. "Madam Pomfrey gave you something to immobilize you. She said you shouldn't move but she didn't trust you to stay still on your own." Relief flooded through my veins, "The baby's fine too." More relief.
"What. . . what happened?" I croaked out.
Severus's hand tightened on mine. "I don't know exactly. I didn't get there until afterwards. But according to Potter, you flew back into the stall when Malfoy hexed you. The stall broke and some of the wood pierced your spine. You would've been paralyzed again if Madam Pomfrey hadn't gotten to you so quickly."
I would've shivered if I could've moved. "But the baby. . ."
"Baby is completely, totally, 100 percent fine." Severus said, rubbing circles on the back of my hand though I couldn't feel it.
"Good." I whispered. "Draco. . . used Cruciatus curse. . ."
Severus' face was hard. "I had to punish Potter-"
"I know." I whispered, "Even Professor McGonagall. . . agree. Every. . . Saturday till. . .break. . ."
"Yes, yes." Severus said quickly, probably to keep me from talking, "And you don't have to talk, alright?"
"Why does my throat. . . hurt?"
Severus was hesitant as he answered, "Madam Pomfrey found some wood shards in your throat, very small, but they created scratches inside. I don't know how you managed to swallow them but it was probably an accident. Or it could've been when Malfoy hexed you, perhaps he got you in the throat. A number of things." He paused and then said, "You're lucky you didn't die, Elizabeth."
Yes, lucky. That was something, wasn't it? But Draco could've died. And from the outside point of view, the fight wasn't supposed to be that dangerous. It hadn't been dangerous when I'd foreseen it.
"Wasn't supposed to be dangerous." I muttered. "I put up shield charm. Draco's spell bounced, hit him. I was going to help him, went over to him. Thought he was unconscious. That's when he hit me with spell."
Severus hand tightened on my own. Feeling was starting to flow back into my body and it wasn't a very comfortable feeling.
Madam Pomfrey came bustling over, a bottle of something in her hands. "Drink up, drink up." She said.
The liquid was tipped down my throat and I coughed and sputtered at the peppery taste. "Do you want an unhealthy baby?" She scolded me. "Drink up."
I drank obediently, eyes streaming from tears. Merlin's beard that stuff was awful!
"Where is Draco?" I asked, my throat feeling much better. The hospital wing was empty. I wondered what time it was.
"You've been in here for two days." Madam Pomfrey said. "Mr. Malfoy was discharged a day ago."
"Crap." I muttered, closing my eyes. "School work."
"It's fine." Severus said. "Miss Granger brought your work in for you every day." He pointed to a stack of parchment on the bedside table. "You can work on it when you feel better."
"I can work on it now." I said, reaching over and taking the first thing off the stack. It was about seventy-seven pages long on the correct way to translate runes that are found on ancient sites from the specific year of 900 BC. "On second thought, this can wait." I muttered, tossing it onto Severus' lap and picking up the next thing.
Severus read the title of the papers I'd thrown into his lap and smirked, "Yes, I can see why you wouldn't want to start with that."
I flew through the simple things: Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration, and Potions. There was nothing from Hagrid for Care of Magical Creatures and as Runes was my only other class, that was the last homework part I had to do.
I looked down glumly at the thick article that I had finally picked up. Severus had fallen into a doze, his head hanging down, giving the impression that he might be praying.
I threw the article aside. Stupid Ancient Runes.
I picked up the log and art pad and started on my drawings, working on specialty cases first before moving to the more mundane cases, working down the list in a methodic process.
Severus woke up near midnight and looked over my shoulder as I traced out abs on a naked Blaise Zabini.
"What are you drawing?" Severus asked, sounding repulsed. I looked over at him and grinned and pushed the log towards him. He traced his finger down and then snorted, "Pansy Parkinson ordered this?"
"Yes. . ." I said slowly, lifting the artpad so that I could blow shavings away and not smear the paper. "You'd be surprised how many times people want naked drawings of other people. I've even gotten offers of people who want to be used as muses. To be honest," I continued, ignoring Severus jerk reaction of a scowl, "-it's gotten to be redundant."
"Is that why you have a specialty list?" Severus asked, looking back at the log.
"Yes. . .that, is for people who don't order drawings of other people. Those are people who want mythical creatures or normal creatures or landscapes or anything that isn't a naked person." I carefully retracted the finished drawing for Pansy from the art pad and moved it to a safe spot on a chair so that nothing would smudge it or ruin it.
"You should draw me something." Severus said carelessly.
"Really?" I asked, starting on a couple portrait for Trang and Oliver. It had to start with a black metal bench in a park. . .
"Yes." Severus said, flipping the log closed, and placed it next to my knee.
"Anything in particular?" I asked curiously, tracing out the outline for a sidewalk.
"No." Severus said with a small smile. "Surprise me."
"What day is it tomorrow?" I asked.
"Saturday." Severus said.
"Good to know." I muttered.
Severus stood. "I'll check back in on you in a few hours, okay?"
"In the morning." I clarified, "Get some sleep."
"I will." he kissed my cheek and left the hospital wing.
A drawing for Severus? Many different ideas clouded my head as I worked steadily on Trang and Oliver's picture. But when I finally settled on something, I pushed it into the 'later' bin of my head and continued to work my way down the list of people.
I fell asleep sometime around three in the morning.
I could hear the commentary of the game the next day, but I blocked most of it out, not very interested in the outcome anymore.
Now that the game was here and would be over soon, it meant that very soon, Severus was going to have to kill Dumbledore.
So I worked quickly on the portrait for Severus. When I was discharged after the game, I hurried to the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, all my pictures in separated folders for their owners. I knocked and heard Severus say enter.
I entered, noticing that there were many things different with the room. It looked gloomier, more depressing than before. There were cobwebbed boxes sitting in the corner of the room. Severus had put up new containers of slimy things in jars that he had previously had in the dungeon.
I set the folders down on the desk, moving through them quickly and found the one I'd labelled with Severus name on it. I picked it out, moving all the folders together again and handed it over to him.
"You finished it already?" He asked, taking the folder from me.
I didn't answer, waiting for his reaction as he pulled out not one, but four sheets out of the folder. He spread them out.
The youngest was a baby girl, almost newborn, eyes closed but adorable nonetheless. Then there was the little girl version, anywhere between four and eight. She had the black hair I was imagining, the blue eyes, the red lips (though not colored, the drawing was left up to the imagination). There was a teenager version and also an adult version.
Severus said nothing. He simply stood, embracing me for a long time.
🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎
𝕲𝖗𝖞𝖋𝖋𝖎𝖓𝖉𝖔𝖗 𝖍𝖆𝖉 𝖜𝖔𝖓, meaning they had won the Cup (a slight disappointment). Also, there was quite the gossip about Ginny and Harry (not that I minded). It was great gossip and I enjoyed it immensely. I particularly enjoyed overhearing people who were stunned that Harry hadn't asked me out. (No, I sincerely found this funny, no sarcasm).
There were also rumors about Ginny and Harry sleeping together and what Harry might have tattooed on his abs or his back or his buttocks or his dick. Ginny couldn't actually answer as she didn't know, but her responses were quite colorful.
I had finished the teachers portrait and had left it in the art studio. Hermione was going to enlargen it with a spell this upcoming Saturday. Then I'd have people sign it in groups. Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins.
I had a hard time figuring out how I was going to get the Slytherins to sign though. The other houses would be easy. I could certainly get my own house to sign and Gryffindor would certainly join in with Harry and Hermione's persuasion. Trang could get the Ravenclaws on board, perhaps with some help from Luna even. But we had no on the inside for Slytherin and it was no secret that I didn't get along with Slytherins.
But I mean, did we really even need Slytherin signatures? Severus wasn't going to care if his house students signed or not. We could just have red, blue, and gold (yellow wasn't a good color to write with) signatures. Who needed green? Yet it might unify us, even if only for a moment.
The Felix Felicis potion had a few weeks left before completion.
The baby was kicking, strong and healthy. She had actually cracked a rib, something that had scared Severus more than it had scared me. I'd heard babies cracked ribs sometimes. Apparently, Severus had never heard that.
I had finally come up with a few solid names for our baby girl. Many involved versions where 'Lily' was either the first or second name. The other names varied. Many variations included Trang. Trang Lily. Lily Trang. Of course, there were other names. Eileen, after Severus' mother. Hope, after Dad's mother. Personally, I found the names Seraphina, Remi, and Kisa attractive.
Severus on the other hand, was quite sure that the baby was a boy and wanted me to come up with baby boy names but I wouldn't. It was a girl, I could feel it.
"You'd think people had better things to gossip about." Ginny said from the Gryffindor common room floor, leaning against Harry's legs and reading the Daily Prophet. "Three dementor attacks in a week, and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if it's true you've got a Hippogriff tattooed across your chest."
Ron, Hermione, Trang, and I roared with laughter. Ron and Hermione were sitting on the couch across from Harry's chair. Trang was sitting in an arm chair perpendicular to the two couches and I was sitting on a wooden stool in front of a small art easel, working on the Professors' drawing.
I'd snuck the art easel out of the Room of Requirement and had jinxed it to fit in my pocket. It was an pocket easel. Was it sneaking if it technically belonged to you?
"What did you tell her?" Harry asked, ignoring us.
"I told her it's a Hungarian Horntail, much more macho." Ginny said.
I snorted.
"Thanks, and what did you tell her Ron's got?" Harry asked, smiling.
"A Pygmy Puff, but I didn't say where."
Hermione, Trang, and I laughed while Ron scowled.
"Watch it." Ron said. "Just because I've given you my permission doesn't mean I can't withdraw it-"
"Your permission. Since when did you give me permission to do anything? Anyway, you said yourself you'd rather it was Harry than Michael or Dean." Ginny scoffed, glaring over the edge of the newspaper.
Ron said grudgingly, "Yeah, I would and just as long as you don't start snogging each other in public-"
"You filthy hypocrite! What about you and Lavender, thrashing around like a pair of eels all over the place?" Ginny demanded angrily.
"She has a point." I said lightly, putting the finishing details to Firenze's character.
"I don't see you with anyone." Ron snarked.
I smirked, "Because I don't let you see me with anyone."
This spiked Ron, Hermione, and Ginny's curiosity.
"You're seeing someone?" Ron asked with obvious surprise.
I rolled my eyes, setting the brush down, observing the drawing, "Of course I am."
"Fred?" Ron asked suspiciously.
"No, we're just friends." I said, picking up the pencil to fix a few details to Professor Burbage's person.
"Does he even go to this school?" Ginny asked.
"Of course he does." I said lightly.
"Why didn't you bring him to Slughorn's party then?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, he was there." I said with a smirk, "but we didn't go together. We're keeping it a secret."
"But why?" Hermione questioned, "Surely, you don't think we're going to judge you or anything?"
"Oh!" Ron shouted, pointing a finger, "It's a Slytherin, isn't it?"
I said nothing, fixing my eyes determinedly on Uncle Moody's character, adding microscopic details to the carved wooden leg and his magical eye.
"Oho! It is a Slytherin!" Ron said gleefully. "It's probably Zabini."
"He did kiss me once." I admitted, "But I'm not dating him."
"A Slytherin kissed you?" Hermione asked in amazement. Both Harry and Trang were determinedly keeping their mouths shut and looking in different directions of each other or me.
I looked up, smirking. "Sometimes, I think you guys forget that I'm not a Gryffindor and therefore have no serious animosity with a majority of the Slytherins."
"Except you know, the ones whose parents would love to hand you over to Voldemort." Harry finally interjected to which Ron and Trang laughed.
"Which, though we may want to object, isn't a majority of the Slytherins." I said lightly. "But we weren't talking about me, we were talking about how Ron finds he has to give you and Ginny permission to be in love."
And that started a whole new conversation that got the others off of who I was dating.
However, this didn't deter Ron. For some reason, he was quite determined to get to the bottom of whoever I was dating. Harry and Trang kept their mouths shut while Hermione and Ginny were the type of people who, though curious, believed I had a right to my own privacy.
The time came so that the fifth years were studying for O.W.L.s and the seventh years were studying N.E.W.T.s and the first through fourth years were getting ready to take their own exams. Sixth-years on the other hand, didn't have to take any exams. N.E.W.T.s covered years six and seven.
Trang and I wrote up a schedule so that we could get the four houses to sign the drawing. We had sent a letter to each house head, telling them where to show up on what day at what time and asking them to please participate.
I was quite pleased with how the drawing came out. I had finally gotten the drawing to where the Professors were grouped together but that everyone could see whatever item was in their hands or whatever animals were sitting upon their shoulders.
Dumbledore was in the middle, Fawkes on his shoulder, his arms behind his back.
Professor McGonagall had a cat upon her shoulders.
Severus had a potion bottle in his hands.
Professor Sprout was holding a plant- specifically a mandrake (any herbologist could see by the leaves).
Professor Flitwick had his wand in his hands, standing upon a couple of cushions so that he was just tall enough to reach Professor McGonagall's shoulder.
Professor Burbage still had the rotary telephone.
Firenze had a bow and arrow, looking quite handsome, his long hair tossed down his back. Like I usually did, his muscles seemed to stand out more and more compared to the other Professors who wore long-sleeved robes or shirts to cover anything. But I'd always preferred Firenze looking muscular than anything else.
Madam Hooch was exactly the same as the first draft, leaning on a broom with the other fist on her hip, a whistle about her neck.
Professor Trelawney was holding a crystal ball in her hands. The crystal ball showed a hippogriff flying into the moon.
Professor Vector (arithmancy) was holding a thick book with a black cover and white words that read: A new theory of Numerology. It was tucked under her arm, angled just the right way so that the words could be seen.
Professor Babbling (runes) had both hands out, and runes were drawn above her hands as though they were floating there.
Professor Sinistra was on the very far side of the paper, leaning on a telescope that was pointed up to the ceiling. (With the background behind them, it was pointed through the window).
Madam Pince had a stack of library books in her arms, the titles facing outwards and could be read if one wanted to. Each title was actually one of Gilderoy Lockhart's books, if one looked closely enough.
Mr. Filch was standing close next to her, his arms in the position that they'd have been in if he'd been holding a baby. As it was, he was holding Mrs. Norris. I made him grumpier than he'd been in the funny drawings, but still kinder than real life.
Professor Slughorn was on the other far end by Professor Sprout, holding a large box of crystalized pineapple. Tucked in his breast pocket, just poking out, was a small bottle of Felix Felicis.
Professor Binns floated above the other teachers, a book on goblin rebellions wide open and his mouth was open as though he was still reading aloud.
Professor Hagrid was near Firenze, though much taller and larger. He had dead polecats in one hand and his other hand looked as though it was hovering on air. I knew however that it was really resting on a Thestral. (I didn't draw the thestral, it was only supposed to look like it was hovering on air. But anyone who knew or had listened to Hagrid's lesson knew it was a thestral).
Then Professor Kettleburn was also nearby, half his body made of up of replacements- looking worse than Uncle Moody- and half his body just that- his body. One arm was behind his back and the other hand was lifted up, one finger up as though he'd just gotten an idea. It was a bit funny, I thought but he was one of the only Professors not holding anything. I had never met him and so had no idea of what I should have him hold.
Professor Grubby-Plank also held nothing in her hands and was one of the only Professors not standing. She was kneeling instead, petting the head of a baby unicorn.
Madam Pomfrey held a bottle of Skele-grow in her hands and her wand was just poking out of her apron pocket.
Then of course, there were the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. I had changed Quirrell, back to wearing the purple turban, a nervous look on his face. He also had nothing in his hands. His hands were clasped together, nervously.
Professor Lockhart looked quite boastful in my drawing, his blond hair swept to the side. If it was colored, the robes would've been a bright, beautiful turquoise. On hand was on his hip, the other hanging down his side, his wand between his fingers. In the crook of his elbow was his book Wandering with Werewolves. Sitting on his shoulder was a blue pixie.
And then there was Dad- Professor Lupin. His hair (if colored) would've been completely red-brown. He looked less tired in this drawing, less ill. His robes were still a shabby brown. Under one arm was his Grindylow tank, a black cat by his feet, and his wand in his pocket.
Professor Moody stood, leaning on his walking stick. His normal eye was focused out, towards the students or whoever else was looking at the drawing. Meanwhile, his magical eye was focused towards Dolores Umbridge.
Dolores Umbridge was as far away from Hagrid and Firenze as possible, looking completely evil- the way that I'd planned it. She looked like a short fat toad. In her hand was a black quill that anyone in detention would've recognized. Her short wand was in her other hand.
That was that, the drawing was done. The Professors were almost all nearly smiling (exceptions being Severus, Uncle Moody, and Filch). It really had come out wonderfully- more wonderfully than I'd hoped.
The Hufflepuffs were the first to show up at the Room of Requirement. Susan was in the front, leading and everyone else lined up after her. Hermione had enlargened the drawing and we'd put sixteen tables together so that it could be signed with no trouble. It would stretch as tall as the ceiling in the Great Hall and as wide as the teachers table.
Gold/Orange signatures soon covered the drawing.
The Ravenclaws came the next week, brought in by Luna and Trang. They were quite excited, more excited than the Hufflepuffs, because none of them had known that this was coming. All the Hufflepuffs on the other hand had known.
Soon there were Gold and Blue signatures covering the page.
The Gryffindors came on a Friday night. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were leading along with many of the other other Sixth-year Gryffindors. The seventh-year Gryffindors seemed more hesitant until they saw the drawings.
I was quite happy to see so many signatures on the paper and so did Susan and the rest of my Hufflepuff friends. I had forgotten I had a baby inside of me. I hadn't forgotten that in two weeks, Dumbledore was going to die.
There was a week between the Gryffindors signing and the day the Slytherins were supposed to sign. On Wednesday night, June 18th, I was drawing in Severus' office when suddenly, there was a peculiar sensation and then there was the sound of water splattering on the floor.
"Oh." I muttered, a bit dazed.
Severus was out of his chair so fast that it slammed against the opposite wall. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, he'd scooped me up into his arms and was dashing out of the classroom.
Madam Pomfrey had prepared a table for us in her office in case there was a student who came in and needed her during my procedure.
"Trang." I gasped as I laid on the table. The spell was starting to wear away. "I need Trang here Sev."
Sev's face was pale and he simply nodded, his jaw tight, and he rushed from the room.
"Breathe." Madam Pomfrey advised in a calm voice but I could tell underneath the calm façade that she was silently freaking out too. Or perhaps nervous was the correct word. She'd never delivered a baby before.
The contractions were painful. I'd felt different variations of pain, but these were different. Of course, they weren't painful like being thrown into some splinters of wood, but they were still painful. Pain often led to screams, something I thought was exaggerated in movies: they weren't. Madam Pomfrey had soundproofed the room.
Severus came back with Trang on his heels.
"Oh Elizabeth!" Trang said and for some reason, she was quite happy. How ridiculous. I was in pain! How could she be happy? This baby was going to be the death of me!
I screamed through gritted teeth in pain. Severus' face paled more and Trang turned to him, "Sometimes the men wait outside."
Severus kind've nodded his head as in a daze and stumbled towards the door. His hand caught on the door, but seemed unable to open it, and then he took a chair near the bed, his face in his hands.
I clenched my fists tight as though that would take the pain of the contractions away. Trang sat by my side, holding my hand, her eyes shining with happiness. Madam Pomfrey was saying stuff, but it didn't really seem all that clear to me. I think it was something about breathing and relaxing.
I was sweating. It was extremely hot in here. I couldn't wait for the baby to be out of me, for the pain to lapse.
I wasn't sure how long it took. A few minutes? An hour? Several hours? A few weeks? But finally Madam Pomfrey announced that the head was crowning.
Severus' head popped up from his hands. There was an unusual expression of his face, quite like the one on his face when we'd first found out that I was going to have a baby. Joy? I think that's what I'd thought it was before. Jubilation?
"It's a boy." Madam Pomfrey announced.
"What?" I asked as she took the baby in her arms, taking him over to the wash table, wiping the blood away. All the pain was gone and all there was now was confusion. "A boy?"
"Yes." Madam Pomfrey said, turning around, the baby boy in her arms. She handed him to me and I took him clumsily into my arms, leaning him against my breast, and looking down at him.
"Remus Sirius Snape." I said out of nowhere.
"What?" Severus asked, looking down at the baby too. He'd gotten out of his seat at some point, though I couldn't remember what that was.
I looked up at him. "His name. It kind've popped out so it must be right. Remus Sirius Snape."
Severus just nodded and then I handed the child up to him and though he seemed surprised, he picked the child up and held him, and then smiled, a real, true, genuine, smile.
Both Trang and Madam Pomfrey kind've just stared. Though Trang had known that Severus could smile, it was probably quite a shock to Madam Pomfrey who had never seen this side to Sev.
There was a knock on the door and Madam Pomfrey hurried over. Trang threw a blanket over my legs.
Dumbledore entered the room, a smile on his face. "Congratulations Severus."
"Thank you." Severus murmured, looking at Dumbledore. A silent conversation seemed to pass between the two of them and then Dumbledore turned to me.
"What is his name?"
"Remus Sirius Snape." Severus said for me.
Dumbledore chuckled, "I'm surprised you didn't try to change the name Severus."
Severus shook his head. "It's his name."
"Poppy, Miss Nyguen, perhaps let us leave the two of them alone for some time." Dumbledore said with a smile. Trang stood, bending to kiss my cheek, touched Severus shoulder quickly before leaving the room. Madam Pomfrey left and Dumbledore followed after, closing the door gently behind him.
"How long was that?" I asked curiously.
Severus used the clock as a reference. "Three hours and seven minutes."
I held my hands out and Severus handed Remus back to me.
"Are you disappointed?" Severus asked, "I know you thought it was going to be a girl the entire time."
I looked down into Remus' face. He had a small dimple and lovely brown eyes. His hair was blond, a complete anomaly but I heard that babies hair darkened over time so blond probably wasn't his real color yet.
"No." I whispered. "Surprises are good."
Severus chuckled, kissing my cheek. "By the way, the Felix Felicis potion finished yesterday. I already bottled a few jars. I knew you were going to want them."
"Thank you." I said.
Severus held my hand tightly. A few hours later, Madam Pomfrey came back. She probably wanted her office back. Severus and I made our way back to his- our- room. There was a crib set up in the corner that hadn't been there before we'd left.
"Dumbledore." Severus said simply.
But I couldn't put Remus down. I sat on the bed, my head on Severus' shoulder, and held him.
"You are okay with it, right?" I asked quietly.
"With what?" Severus asked.
"His name." I said. "I didn't really think, it popped out, it felt right, but I didn't consult you first."
Severus rubbed my arm. "Yes, I'm quite okay with his name. You didn't name him James and I have no problems with Lupin anymore."
I kissed him and finally got up and put Remus in the crib, watching him for a moment.
Father, brother, husband, son.
I climbed into bed, snuggling greatly against Severus chest. His arms were tight around me, holding me in a shell of comfort. I fell asleep, the happiest I'd been in a long time.
Warnings: 18+ readers only, mentions of nudity, smut
Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.
🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎
𝖂𝖊 𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 in courtyard when the letter came. Hermione had been berating Harry about not concentrating on Slughorn and instead, concentrating on Malfoy. Meanwhile, Ron kept ducking behind Hermione as different girls came around the corner, always afraid that one of them would be Lavender.
"Harry Potter? I was asked to give you this." The girl said. She had straight black hair and pretty eyes. She handed a letter to Harry.
"Thanks. . ." Harry said, taking the small roll of parchment. When the girl had left he said, "Dumbledore said we wouldn't be having any more lessons until I got the memory!"
"It's not from Dumbledore." I said over Hermione's head.
"Look at this." Harry said to Hermione, handing her the letter.
I read over her shoulder:
Dear Harry, Ron, Elizabeth, and Hermione,
Aragog died last night. Harry, Ron, and Elizabeth, you met
him, and you know how special he was. Hermione, I know
you'd have liked him. It would mean a lot to me if you'd dip
down for the burial later this evening. I'm planning on doing
it round dusk, that was his favorite time of day. I know
you're not supposed to be out that late, but you can use the
cloak. Wouldn't ask, but I can't face it alone.
Hagrid.
"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Hermione said, passing it on to Ron who said, "He's mental! That thing told its mate to eat Harry, Eliza and me! Told them to help themselves! And now Hagrid expects us to go down there and cry over its horrible hairy body!"
"It's not just that." Hermione said. "He's asking us to leave the castle at night and he knows security's a million times tighter and how much trouble we'd be in if we were caught."
"We've been down to see him by night before." Harry pointed out.
"Yes, but for something like this?" Hermione asked skeptically. "We've risked a lot to help Hagrid out, but after all- Aragog's dead. If it were a question of saving him-"
"-I'd want to go even less. You didn't meet him, Hermione. Believe me, being dead will have improved him a lot." Ron said.
I privately agreed with Ron, though I hated the idea of Hagrid facing something terrible alone. Correction, something terrible for him alone. I could most definitely sneak down to see him.
"Harry!" Hermione said desperately, "You can't be thinking of going. It's such a pointless thing to get detention for!"
"Yeah, I know. I s'pose Hagrid'll have to bury Aragog without us."
"I'll go down." I said and the other three looked at me. I shrugged, "Look, I can turn into a cat. Cats are allowed past security, aren't they?"
"Ah. . ." Hermione said, looking worried.
"Nothing's going to happen Hermione." I said gently.
"Alright then." Ron said, "That sums that up."
Hermione turned to Harry. "Look, Potions will be almost empty this afternoon, with us all off doing our tests. . . Try and soften Slughorn up a bit then!"
"Fifty-seventh time lucky, you think?" Harry asked in a bitter voice.
"Lucky." Ron said. "Harry, that's it- get lucky!"
"What d'you mean?" Harry asked cautiously, knowing exactly what Ron meant.
Ron looked at him excitedly, "Use your lucky potion!"
Hermione looked at Ron in a new light, "Ron that's- that's it! Of course! Why didn't I think of it?"
"It'll work." I said confidently.
Harry looked at the three of us. "Felix Felicis? I dunno.. I was sort of saving it. . ."
"For what?" I asked, amused because I knew exactly who he was thinking about.
He didn't answer, having gone off into la la land and didn't come back until Hermione asked, "Harry? Are you still with us?"
"Wha-? Yeah, of course. Well. . . okay. If I can't get Slughorn to talk this afternoon, I'll take some Felix and have another go this evening."
"That's decided, then." Hermione said, getting to her feet and started to do pirouettes. I was quite jealous. Twycross hadn't gotten the Minister's approval for me to take the test early. "Destination. . . determination. . . deliberation. . ."
"Oh, stop that, I feel sick enough as it is- quick, hide me!" Ron cowered.
"It isn't Lavender." Hermione snapped.
"Cool. Blimey, they don't look happy, do they?"
I scoffed, "They're the Montgomery sisters, of course they aren't going to be looking happy! Didn't you hear about their brother?"
"I'm losing track of what's happening to everyone's relatives, to be honest." Ron said carelessly.
"Well, their brother was attacked by a werewolf. The rumor is that their mother refused to help the Death Eaters. Anyways, the boy was only five and he died in St. Mungo's, they couldn't save him." Hermione answered.
"He died?" Harry sounded shocked, "But surely werewolves don't kill, they just turn you into one of them?"
"It depends." I said sadly. "Sometimes they lose control. It's why dad always traveled so far during full moons. If he didn't turn me, he'd kill me, and I don't think he would've been able to keep living if he'd done either one."
"What was the werewolf's name?" Harry asked.
"Well, the rumor is that it was that Fenrir Greyback." Hermione said sadly.
"I knew it- the maniac who likes attacking kids, the one Lupin told me about!" Harry said angrily.
Hermione and I looked at him sadly. "Harry, you've got to get that memory. It's all about stopping Voldemort, isn't it? These dreadful things that are happening are all down to him. . ."
The bell rang, Ron jumping to his feet to join Hermione.
"You'll do fine." Harry said, getting to his feet as well. "Good luck."
"Hermione, you'll pass. Ron, you're going to leave half an eyebrow behind and they'll fail you if you're not careful. Remember the tips that'll keep you from splinching yourself." I said happily.
Harry and I headed to the potions dungeon and found that it was the two of us, Ernie, and Malfoy.
"All too young to Apparate just yet?" Slughorn asked, looking around, "Not turned seventeen yet?"
We all shook our heads.
"Ah well, as we're so few, we'll do something fun. I want you all to brew me up something amusing!"
"What do you mean, 'something amusing'?" Malfoy asked irritably.
"Oh, surprise me." Slughorn said.
I headed to the side room, pulling out a cauldron that already had ingredients in it. My Felix Felicis potion. I had started it with Severus after everyone had come back from break. I knew that we were going to need quite a bit.
But the potion needed work, only halfway done. Even with the headstart, the potion end time would be cutting close to the battle date.
Across from me, weird smells were emitting from Ernie's cauldron. It seemed he was trying to invent a potion. Draco didn't seem to be putting much work into his potion either, but Harry was working methodically on his. Occasionally, I caught brief smells of peppermint.
"Well, now, this looks absolutely wonderful," Slughorn said after an hour and a half of work, standing over Harry's potion. He clapped his hands together, staring down into Harry's cauldron. "Euphoria, I take it? And what's that I smell? Mmmm. . . you've added a sprig of peppermint, haven't you? Unorthodox, but what a stroke of inspiration, Harry, of course, that would tend to counterbalance the occasional side effects of excessive singing and nose-tweaking. . . I really don't know where you get these brain waves, my boy.. unless it's just your mother's genes coming out in you!"
"Oh. . . yeah, maybe." Harry said.
I had covered my nose discretely as the potion that Ernie had created was spewing horrid fumes.
The bell rang, Ernie and Draco left a once.
"Sir." Harry said but Slughorn was already leaving the dungeon. "Professor- Professor, don't you want to taste my po-?" Harry called desperately but the door closed.
I sighed, "No go Harry. But I'd certainly like to try some if you don't mind. You should try some too."
We both took a few sips and a familiar feeling flooded through me.
"Oh. My. God." Harry said, looking dazed. "That is amazing."
I picked up my cauldron and told Harry I'd see him later, and hurried up to Severus' office. Since class had let out, there were no students in the classroom and I passed through with no qualms.
I set the cauldron down in the corner. I noticed Severus had already labelled ingredients in different bottles and jars for me. I quickly finished adding the other ingredients and stirring. Severus came in a few minutes later.
"How was class?" He asked, taking a seat at his desk and picking up his quill.
"Wonderful. . ." I said, carefully counting the rotations as I stirred. Perfect, it had to be perfect.
There was a silence that contained scratching quills and momentary pauses where it was dipped in the pot of ink, bubbling from the cauldron, and soft breathing. But the potion Harry had made was making something weird happen to me.
I finally set everything aside. It was to sit and stew for about three and a half weeks and seven hours to the dot. I pulled out my potions calendar, marking the specific time. The good thing was my time-turner. If I didn't manage to get there the first time, I could most definitely get there the second time.
I stood up, getting ready to go down to dinner when Severus said unexpectedly, "It really was brilliant art, Elizabeth."
"Sorry?" I questioned.
Severus looked up momentarily, his black eyes boring into mine. "The portraits. They really were brilliant."
"You set yours on fire." I pointed out, my lips twitching to keep from smiling.
"Yes. . ." Severus said, turning back to his parchment. "You're going to ruin my image as a cold hearted person. People might actually think I'm soft."
I laughed, walking up behind him and hugging him from behind. "Your much softer than you let on." I kissed his cheek and then paused. Euphoria. I took the quill from his hand and turned the chair around, sitting on his lip, pressing my lips to his neck. He let out a small noise, perhaps a gasp, perhaps a moan, I wasn't sure.
Perhaps I shouldn't have taken the Euphoria potion because I seemed to have unlimited energy and didn't feel deterred by anything at all.
I slipped his robes from his shoulders, letting them fall. He pushed me off of him so that he could get out of the chair, and we stumbled through the door of the bedroom and onto the bed. I was on top of him, letting him slide into me easily. I moved with him quickly, my breasts bouncing carelessly and I barely noticed the pain. All I could think about was the enjoyment of him inside of me and my hands in his soft, silky hair. His hands reached up to cup my breasts, pulling me down slightly so his lips could kiss them. I buried my face in his neck.
He rolled over as I moaned softly, his hands clutching at my hips, moving gently now. Strange, usually we started slow and made our way up in speed. We seemed to be doing the opposite and it was lovely. He reached up with one hand to cover my breast, squeezing softly, while the other snaked around to the back of my head, bringing my head up to be closer to his.
Our lips reached the others skin at different spots, not necessarily each others lips. The small bursts of delightfulness was punctured with small bites of pain. But it was all lovely and in my current state, everything seemed heightened tenfold.
"What. . . what was that?" Severus asked, almost breathlessly as we laid there, the blankets curling around our legs, our clothes scattered on the floor.
"Harry gave me a potion of euphoria." I muttered, pent out of energy now that the effects of the potion had worn out. My cheek rested on his chest "I have no idea what just happened. . . I mean, I know what happened. . . I just don't know how it happened."
Severus chuckled, kissing my neck. I shivered slightly under his touch. Bloody hell.
"I should um- I should go down to dinner- yeah- dinner." I said, breathing normally again.
"As should I." Severus said. "Though I feel quite exhausted at the moment."
I too felt quite tired and would've liked to have laid there and fallen asleep. But I couldn't. So I giggled, moving away from the bed, and getting dressed again, before leaving the classroom to go down to dinner.
After dinner, I ducked into the bathroom and upon finding it empty, I turned into a cat and strode from the room.
I had to run from some Ravenclaw first-year girls who thought I was just a sweet little kitten, and after hiding on top of a suit of armor, finally made my way back to the entrance hall, and slipped out the door, sprinting across the lawn to get to Hagrid's house.
I transformed back outside the door- I didn't really want to face Fang as a cat.
"Yeh came!" Hagrid said, pulling me into a hug. He wasn't crying- at the moment- but his eyes were red and puffy.
"Harry'll be down soon." I said. "Ron and Hermione couldn't come though."
"Don' matter, don' matter." Hagrid said, sitting back down in a chair. I made a pot of tea and gave him a cup which he drank with trembling fingers. I waited, pacing the cabin, waiting for Harry. Fang followed me, looking for head scratches which I gave occasionally.
There was a knock on the door and Hagrid was up, opening the door. Harry stood there, his invisibility cloak held out in front of him.
"Yeh came." Hagrid repeated.
"Yeah-Ron and Hermione couldn't though, they're really sorry." Harry said smoothly. Perhaps it was my imagination, but there almost seemed a faint gold hue around Harry. But it was so slight that Hagrid had not noticed it. Perhaps it was my sight. I had noticed that my sight and hearing had changed slightly since becoming an Animagus (a side effect that wasn't mentioned anywhere in the books or manuscripts).
"Don'- don' matter. . . He'd've bin touched yeh're here, though, Harry. . ." Hagrid said with a loud sob. Harry patted his elbow gently.
"Where are we burying him? The Forest?" Harry asked.
"Blimey, no. The other spiders won' let me anywhere near their webs now! Aragog's gone. Turns out it was on'y on his orders they didn' eat me! Can yeh believe that, Harry?" Hagrid said while wiping his eyes on the bottom of his shirt.
"I think he mentioned something like that when we went to talk to him." I said casually, sitting down. Fang came over, setting his head on my knees and I grimaced at the slobber. I really had never been a dog person. And I liked the cute dogs, the little Pomeranians and huskies and retrievers and bichon frises and labs and beagles. Bulldogs, pitbulls, pugs, boarhounds, ugh.
I had gotten along with Fang in my second year, having lived in Hagrid's cabin for nearly two months because I figured living in Hagrid's cabin by myself was safer than staying in the castle with lots and lots of people. Fang could grow on you if you could get used to slobber.
"Never bin an are o' the forest I couldn' go before! It wasn' easy, gettin' Aragog's body out o' there, I can tell yeh- they usually eat their dead, see. . . But I wanted ter give 'im a nice burial. . . a proper send-off. . ." Hagrid said, not paying me any attention.
"I can't go near the centaurs anymore." I said randomly. What the hell were the side effects of the Euphoria potion?
"Professor Slughorn met me coming down here, Hagrid." Harry said, resuming the patting of the elbow.
"Not in trouble, are yeh?" Hagrid asked, so alarmed that Harry might be in trouble he stopped crying. "Yeh shouldn' be outta the castle in the evenin', I know it, it's my fault-"
"No, no, when he heard what I was doing he said he'd like to come and pay his last respects to Aragog too. He's gone to change into something more suitable, I think. . . and he said he'd bring some bottles so we can drink to Aragog's memory."
"Tha's- tha's righ' nice of him, that is, an' not turnin' yeh in either. I've never really had a lot ter do with Horace Slughorn before. . . Comin' ter see old Aragog off, though, eh? Well. . . he'd've liked that, Aragog would. . ." Hagrid muttered.
I snorted quietly and drank my tea. Then I sighed, putting my teacup down and pulled a piece of paper out of my back pocket. "Here, I drew this for you."
Hagrid took it in a shaking hand and unfolded it and started to sob. I quickly grabbed it from his hands so the charcoal wouldn't run.
"It's- it's beautiful." Hagrid sobbed and I put the drawing of Aragog up on his dresser so that he could see it. It was a horrible drawing- not because it was bad (if I may be so humble) but rather horrible in a gruesome way. The way I'd seen Aragog through my scared twelve-year old eyes. Strange, I felt so much older than sixteen now.
"Are we going to bury him here, Hagrid, in your garden?" Harry asked after a moment when Hagrid had stopped sobbing.
"Jus' beyond the pumpkin patch, I thought. I've already dug the- yeh know- grave. Jus' though we'd say a few nice things over him- happy memories, yeh know-"
There was a knock at the door and I stood, getting it and letting Professor Slughorn in. "Hagrid, so very sorry to hear of your loss."
"Tha's very nice of yeh. Thanks a lot. An' thanks fer not givin' Harry detention neither. . ." Hagrid said gruffly, all tears done and gone.
"Wouldn't have dreamed of it. Sad night, sad night. . . where is the poor creature?" Slughorn asked, his eyes roaming the cabin and settling on the drawing.
"Out here," Hagrid said, leaving the cabin. "Shall we- shall we do it, then?"
"Wonderful artwork Miss Kane." Professor Slughorn complimented, "You've got quite the eye for artistic beauty."
"Thank you Professor." I said quietly, briefly remembering that my drawing of him had him dressed in a pineapple suit, and I took up the rear of the party.
The moon was glistening on the grounds so that everything was in shadow. The moon rays mixed and intermingled with the light from Hagrid's windows just enough to make out the large boulder like shadow. There, before it, was a massive pit that was ten-feet-deep with a matching sized pile of dirt to go with it.
"Magnificent." Professor Slughorn said, striding to the front of the spider's face. I could only imagine it faking death and reaching out, snapping off a leg to feast on. I suddenly felt quite nauseous. I quickly put a hand on my stomach.
I could hear the tinkle of bottles and rolled my eyes. So the walrus had come for the Acromantula venom, was I surprised?
"It's not ev'ryone appreciates how beau'iful they are. I didn' know yeh were int'rested in creatures like Aragog, Horace."
"Interested? My dear Hagrid, I revere them." Slughorn said, taking a step back from the body. I could understand his point. It would be a horrible idea not to respect them. The same way you should revere Centaurs and Merpeople so they didn't kill you with a bow or a spear. There were a lot of rules to follow in the magical world. "Now. . . shall we proceed to the burial?"
Hagrid nodded and moved forward, pushing against the black spider's body and it fell into the pit with a crunch. I winced. Hagrid started to cry.
"Of course, it's difficult for you, who knew him best." Professor Slughorn said, patting Hagrid's elbow. "Why don't I say a few words?"
I came to stand next to Hagrid who wrapped a massive arm around my shoulders. My knees nearly buckled under the weight of the arm but I managed to keep standing though I felt as though I was carrying two bookbags with twenty textbooks in them.
"Farewell, Aragog, king of arachnids," Professor Slughorn said in an impressive voice, something like a preacher I'd heard at a church before. "whose long and faithful friendship those who knew you won't forget! Though your body will decay, your spirit lingers on in the quiet, web-spun places of your forest home. May your many-eyed descendants ever flourish and your human friends find solace for the loss they have sustained!"
"Tha' was. . . tha' was. . . beau'ful!" Hagrid sobbed and he collapsed onto the heap, crying harder than ever before. Even I had tears springing to my eyes, though I was sure that had to do more with the high emotions running around here than the actual sadness that Aragog was dead. But I hated it when Hagrid was upset.
"There, there." Slughorn said and with a wave of his wand, the earth crashed back into the grave, smoothing over the surface. "Let's get inside and have a drink. Get on his other side, Harry. . . That's it. . . Up you come, Hagrid. . . well done. . ."
Hagrid was deposited in a chair at the table. Fang came padding over and put his head on Harry's lap as usual. I think Fang liked Harry better than me and I was quite okay with that. Professor Slughorn uncorked one of the bottles he had brought.
"I have had it all tested for poison." He said in what he obviously thought a reassuring voice. "Had a house-elf taste every bottle after what happened to your poor friend Rupert."
I had many retorts for that comment, some of them about the cruelty for house-elves, and some of them about what 'Rupert's' real name was.
"One for Harry. . . one for me. . . and one for Elizabeth. . ." Slughorn said, diving the second bottle between the three of us. The first bottle had been fully deposited into Hagrid's tankard. "Well- to Aragog."
"Aragog." Harry, Hagrid, and I said together, also lifting our glasses.
Hagrid and Slughorn drank deeply. Harry didn't drink at all. I took a small sip and did not find the texture or taste to my taste. I'd never liked wine or alcoholic substances. I set the glass down on the table. I supposed I could hand it over if they wanted more drink.
"I had him from an egg, yeh know. Tiny little thing he was when he hatched. 'Bout the size of a Pekingese." Hagrid started down the tale.
"Sweet." Slughorn said.
"Used ter keep him in a cupboard up at the school until. . . well. . ." Hagrid's face darkened and a peculiar thought came over me.
If Slughorn had taught Tom Riddle, and Tom Riddle and Hagrid had gone to the school at the same time, then Slughorn had taught Hagrid as well. I found this much more fascinating than the story that was unfolding. I loved finding connections where none seemed to be. I always felt the need to share it too and on instinct, I looked over at Harry, but kept my mouth shut.
"That's never unicorn hair, Hagrid?" Slughorn asked, eyeing Hagrid's walls with interest. Hagrid collected things he found in forest- unicorn tail hair included. I'd helped him collect some. It got caught on bushes and ferns and was quite easy to pick up.
"Oh yeah," Hagrid said with indifference. "Gets pulled out of their tails, they catch it on branches an' stuff in the forest, yeh know. . ."
"But my dear chap, do you know how much that's worth?" Slughorn asked in awe.
"I use it fer bindin' on bandages an' stuff if a create gets injured. It's dead useful. . . very strong, see." Hagrid said with another shrug.
There was quite a difference between the educated and the uneducated, I noticed. Hagrid had only three years of schooling (at least at Hogwarts) and yet, he didn't see things for their monetary value. He'd even passed on some of his skills to me, using unicorn hair for bandages and other things. Slughorn on the other hand. . . Aragog's venom was rare, very expensive, very valuable. . . unicorn hair could be sold to wand makers. . .
They had ventured into tale about the Centaurs of the forest and I listened with vivid interest as Hagrid told recent stories of Ivagio, Ronan, Bane, and the others. I had missed some of them- Bane excluded- and hearing recent stories was quite nice. I thought about retelling some of the stories to Firenze, but I wasn't sure how he'd take it or if it would make him more upset.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Harry wave his wand slightly and the bottle on the table refilled. I said nothing, grabbing my own cup and turned the wine into pumpkin juice. Then I started to take small sips while listening to Hagrid and Slughorn trade stories about the illegal dragon trades they'd taken part of.
Harry continued to refill the bottle and they started to get drunker. They started to make random toasts to some random, some not random things. To Hogwarts, to Dumbledore, to elf-made wine, and to Harry.
"Harry Potter!" Hagrid bellowed, slopping another bucket of wine down his front. I felt how I had felt coming to Grimmauld 12 before Christmas and finding Sirius had been drinking as he had been alone for a long time. I was quite upset, watching him drink himself into oblivion, but I did nothing to interfere.
"Yes, indeed, Parry Otter, the Chosen Boy Who- well- something of that sort." Slughorn mumbled.
Parry Otter. I laughed aloud and neither seemed to notice. Harry's lips twitched for a millisecond.
Hagrid became tearful soon after, reaching up and pulling the whole band of unicorn hair off of the ceiling and gave it to Slughorn. Slughorn put it in his pocket saying, "To friendship! To generosity! To ten Galleons a hair!"
I watched the end of the unicorn hair slip into his pocket, more upset than was rational. Hagrid and I had spent classes searching for unicorn hair. While easy to take off, unicorns were usually quite careful and rarely caught their tails on bushes unless they were already loose. It was going to take ages to find more unicorn hair for bandages. What if a magical creature got hurt? We would have nothing to bind their wounds with. . . unless something else could be used? Maybe Firenze could teach me something.
They started to sing and I put my head on my arms, wondering when the night was going to end. I suppose I could've left, but I didn't want to. Something was keeping me here.
Some called him Odo the early and some called him Odo the late
It's undoubtedly true he was often confused, but his deeds they were noble and great
Some name him born on a Wednesday, for he had his measure of woe.
No he was born on a Thursday some say, for he'd always a long way to go.
"Aaargh, the good die young," Hagrid muttered after slumping into his chair. "Me dad was no age ter go... nor were yer mum an' dad, Harry..." More tears oozed from his eyes and he grabbed Harry's arm and shook it. I watched the scene with sadness. "Bes' wiz and witchard o' their age I never knew... terrible thing... terrible thing..."
And Odo the hero, they bore him back home
To the place that he'd known as a lad,
They laid him to rest with his hat inside out
And his wand snapped in two, which was sad.
"...terrible." Hagrid grunted one last time before falling asleep.
"Sorry, can't carry a tune to save my life." Professor Slughorn said with a hiccup.
"Hagrid wasn't talking about your singing. He was talking about my mum and dad dying." Harry said in a soft voice, the first time he'd talked ever since coming back into the cabin.
I flinched. Mum and Dad. I felt a sudden wave of grief and longing.
"Oh. Oh dear. Yes, that was- was terrible indeed. Terrible. . . terrible. . ." Slughorn said with a horrible belch. He refilled the mugs, obviously having nothing else to say but said anyways, "I don't- don't suppose you remember it, Harry?"
"No- well, I was only one when they died." Harry said. I was looking at the floor because I was crying. "But I've found out pretty much what happened since. My dad died first. Did you know that?"
"I- I didn't." Slughorn said in a quiet voice.
"Yeah. . . Voldemort murdered him and then stepped over his body toward my mum. He told her to get out of the way. He told me she needn't have died. He only wanted me. She could have run."
I imagined for a moment, if she had stepped aside. Voldemort would have only of killed Dad and Harry. It would've been me and her. Sirius would've helped her raise me and Lupin would have too. I could've later avenged Harry's killer. Or maybe Dumbledore would have destroyed him before I was even eleven.
"Oh dear. She could have. . . she needn't. . . That's awful. . ." Slughorn murmured.
"It is, isn't it? But she didn't move. Dad was already dead, but she didn't want me to go too. She tried to plead with Voldemort. . . but he just laughed. . ."
"That's enough! Really, my dear boy, enough. . . I'm an old man. . . I don't need to hear. . . I don't want to hear. . ."
He didn't want to hear what he had done.
"I forgot, you liked her, didn't you?" Harry asked. I shot him a quick look. Slughorn doted on his mother everyday, surely Harry couldn't have forgotten that! Or perhaps he was faking it.
"Liked her? I don't imagine anyone who met her wouldn't have liked her. . . Very brave. . . Very funny. . . It was the most horrible thing. . ."
"But you won't help her son. She gave me her life, but you won't give me a memory." Harry said.
Hagrid's snoring was all that filled the room at that moment. Even Fang was silent.
"Don't say that. It isn't a question. . . If it were to help you, of course. . . but no purpose can be served. . ."
"It can. Dumbledore needs information. I need information." Harry said loudly and firmly. Harry leaned forward a little. "I am the Chosen One. I have to kill him. I need that memory."
"You are the Chosen one?"
"Of course I am."
"But then. . . my dear boy. . . you're asking a great deal. . . you're asking me, in fact, to aid you in your attempt to destroy-"
"You don't want to get rid of the wizard you killed Lily Evans?"
"Harry, Harry, of course I do, but-"
"You're scared he'll find out you helped me?"
Slughorn said nothing.
"Be brave like my mother, Professor. . ."
Slughorn lifted his fingers to his mouth as though he were trying to smoke an invisible cigar. "I am not proud. . . I am ashamed of what- of what that memory shows. . . I think I may have done great damage that day. . ."
He had.
"You'd cancel out anything you did by giving me the memory. It would be a very brave and noble thing to do." Harry said.
Would it though? Would it cancel out everything?
Hagrid twitched his sleep, his elbow nearly knocking over the tankard. I watched as though hypnotized. There was a long silence. They both waited, a type of staring contest seemed to be going on between the two of them.
Finally Slughorn touched the tip of his wand to his temple and withdrew it, a long silver thread of memory stretched until it broke. It swung from the end of the wand until Slughorn put it into a small bottle and passed it, with a trembling hand, to Harry. He had tears in his eyes, or maybe his face was just obscured by my tears.
"Thank you very much, Professor."
"You're a good boy, and you've got her eyes. . . Just don't think too badly of me once you've seen it. . ." And with that, he put his head down and with a deep sigh, fell asleep.
Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.
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"𝖂𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖉𝖎𝖉 𝖞𝖔𝖚 and Dumbledore argue about?" I demanded as I got ready for the day. Severus yawned, running a hand through his unkempt hair and waved his wand so that the shades opened, light streaming into the windows.
I slipped out of bed, stretching. Severus' shirt was very warm and I didn't feel like getting out of it.
"It was nothing." Severus said, throwing his nightgown into his wardrobe and pulling on his uniform black robes. My eyes flicked from his body to my bag where my secret drawing was being kept.
"Uh huh." I said, unconvinced.
"Don't you already know anyways?" Severus asked, disgruntled.
"No." I replied honestly. "Well, I know that you argued about Dumbledore taking too much for granted and also not wanting to do something anymore."
"I don't want to kill him." Severus said.
"You want Draco to kill him?" I asked in slight disbelief. "You know Dumbledore is trying to save Draco's soul."
"And what about my soul?" Severus asked fiercely. "Apparently it means nothing to Dumbledore!"
I sucked in my cheeks. I shouldn't have asked. I should've let it stay between Dumbledore and Severus. Why had I intervened?
I turned away, grabbing my bag, switching out Friday's books with Monday's books. I hated that it was going to be so cold during Care of Magical Creatures class. But I couldn't skip, not with me being the only student in the class.
I heard Severus grumbling behind me and I said, "I think all this business about souls is stupid."
He didn't answer,
"Your killing him out of mercy." I replied. "And to show your last act of loyalty. That you were always Dumbledore's and never Vol-"
"Don't say his name Elizabeth." Severus said sharply.
Now I said nothing.
Severus sighed, sounding frustrated and knelt behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, "Sorry." he muttered.
"You should be used to it." I muttered, "Dumbledore uses his name."
"Dumbledore is a great wizard." Severus argued, "The only one the Dark Lord fears."
"Well what would you want me to call him?" I said, very close to snapping at him as I stood up, hoisting the bag onto my shoulder.
"Anything else." Severus said.
I tried not to grin as I turned around, picking up my quill and said, "Then the last act of loyalty is killing Dumbledore, showing that you were always Dumbledore's and never anything else's."
There was a bit of awkward silence and I figured I was going to leave now when Severus grabbed me by the shoulders, spinning me around, and kissing me fiercely, "Smartass." He whispered through our lips, moving one hand down to my ass to smack it lightly.
I laughed lightly, kissing him back hungrily. I'd always thought that being in love, you eventually got tired of each others' presence. Perhaps we just hadn't been together long enough. Either way, I was going to savor every moment I was with him. He pulled away and said, "Also, that's my shirt you're wearing."
"And you're not getting it back." I teased as I pulled it off so I could get dressed in my Hogwarts robes.
"Looks better on you anyways." He said, pulling me back towards the bed.
Needless to say, we were both running late.
We made our way down the stairs together, sneaking kisses until he set his book down on the desk, and I made my way out the door, grinning broadly.
The news that Ron had been poisoned had spread throughout the school quickly by noon, but there was no fear about the occurrence. Rather, most were regarding the incident as an accident because he had been in the potions office. He must've picked up the poison on accident. Plus, he'd been healed almost immediately, therefore, it wasn't that big of a deal.
What was a bigger deal with the Gryffindors animosity towards the Hufflepuffs. This was because of Zacharias' commentary during the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match, something I wished had never happened.
I was actually quite excited with the idea of the Quidditch match since I had never played against Harry captain v captain. This would certainly be interesting, especially since we were both seekers as well.
However, we still had a week before that happened.
Over the next few days after attending classes I would spend time in the common room, helping with the first-years questions and such. I also upped Rose and Grace's private lessons with me from just Friday to Wednesday and Friday.
I also spent time in the common room in the corner, working on the mid-draft for the drawing, adding more details. I wanted there to be something that connected each Professor to their job. Now, instead of Trelawney having her hands clasped in front of her, she was now holding out a crystal ball. Professor McGonagall had a tabby cat by her feet. Firenze was holding a bow, a sling of arrows across his back.
But before the Quidditch match could approach in full, Severus cornered me one night into the discussion.
"Hufflepuff is playing Gryffindor this week?" Severus asked casually, dipping his quill into his ink and writing a 3 out of 10 on one of the papers.
"Yes." I replied casually, adding detail to Dumbledore's glasses. Severus did not know what I was working on but I would not let him see it and he was respecting my privacy.
"Zacharias is the captain, right?"
I thought maybe he was joking and I laughed casually, "Of course not. I am."
"You are?" Severus asked strangely and I looked up from the drawing.
Severus seemed mad, but he didn't look mad.
"Yes. . ." I said slowly, frowning, "You did know that, didn't you?"
Severus' face flushed and he said, "I thought you would have given it up!"
"Why would I do that?" I frowned, trying to figure out what I was missing here.
"Because you're pregnant!" Severus exploded and I felt the blood drain from my face when I realized what his problem was.
"Oh." I whispered, setting my drawing utensil down and quickly put the drawing away. "But Sev, I'll be fine. I'm a good flier, I'm not going to get hurt."
"You don't know that!" Severus said fiercely, shoving the homework aside, throwing the quill down. Ink splattered on the pages.
He shoved the chair back, standing up quickly and I looked at him in amazement and somewhat fearful. He was angry, extremely angry. I had to say something.
"Sev!" I stood up now, holding a hand out to touch his chest. "Breathe, alright?" I said this as lightly as possible. He closed his eyes, his hand reaching out and taking mine, keeping my hand against his chest.
"Look." I said softly, reaching up, touching his cheek softly with my other hand. "The match is going to be smooth. I foresee Hufflepuff winning."
Severus breathed in deeply and then said, "I don't want you to get hurt and even more, I don't want the child to be harmed either."
"You've watched me fly for five years Sev." I said gently. "I usually come out unscathed."
"Right." Severus said, "But there have been close calls."
"I'm playing against Gryffindor, remember, not Slytherin." I said this as gently as possible. "They're not going to be trying to seriously harm me."
Severus gritted his teeth, most likely because he had no way of defending the Slytherins and also me at the same time and he said, "If you get hurt-"
"I won't." I said firmly.
We stared at each other for a moment, almost like a staring contest and he relented, sitting back down in his chair.
I sat back down on the bed, pulling out the drawing and started to work on Hagrid's character.
"What are you working on?" Severus asked curiously and I lifted the paper slightly so that he couldn't see.
"You'll see when it's time for you to see." I said, methodically adding tiny bristles to Madam Hooch's broom.
Severus sighed in an exaggerated way before turning back to his work. I was worried that things were going to be bad between the two of us. I wasn't sure he'd completely let go of the idea of me not playing at the game this Saturday.
When we finally went to bed, there did seem to be space between the two of us that wasn't usually there at night. I didn't say anything though. It was my choice about whether or not I was going to play at the game this week. Nothing was going to happen and there was no reason for him to be upset with me.
I tried putting myself in his shoes. The baby was his child too and as such, he really should have a say in the child's safety. He had to try and get me to keep the baby safe.
I wondered what Trang would say if she knew that I was playing in the game this week. Would she agree with me? I had promised not to participate in any fights. But that had been with Death Eaters and students. Did Quidditch count?
If I did stop, what was my excuse? I certainly couldn't say an overload of homework, because the others were more overwhelmed than I was. There was nothing I could say that was an adequate excuse for giving the captain ship over to Zacharias.
I shifted uncomfortably onto my side, my back facing Severus, looking out at the dark room. I certainly couldn't tell the Quidditch team I was pregnant for goodness sake! Even Hermione didn't know.
Severus breathing turned into soft snoring and I slipped out of bed, unable to sleep. I went over, sitting by the window, looking out at the dark grounds. Then I shifted my eyes, turning my head so that I could look up at the sky.
The moon wasn't full yet, though it was getting to that point. I wished I could talk to dad, but that wasn't possible. The little girl in my stomach kicked me, though it felt like a feather kick. I put a hand on my stomach, wishing for the millionth time that I knew the countercharm to Dumbledore's spell. I would've liked to see the bump.
I fell asleep at the windowsill, looking up at the sky, but woke up in bed, Severus arm wrapped tightly around my shoulder, my cheek resting on his nightgown. His breathing was uneven, I wondered what he was dreaming about.
I rolled over, his arm flopping to the side so that I could check the time. It was a few hours till sunrise, but I no longer felt tired.
I pulled out a new piece of paper and a pencil and though there was almost no light, I started on a drawing that I had wanted to draw for a very long time.
Severus always looked quite peaceful when he slept and it was a good muse for the drawing. Of course, I didn't know how the drawing was going to turn out, considering there was no light. I halfway let my subconscious take control, and halfway not.
I couldn't see the finishing piece, but I finally felt that I could sleep properly and without putting the artwork away, I fell asleep, my head resting on Severus' legs.
"You were restless last night." Severus murmured after he had shaken me awake so that I wasn't late for class.
"Couldn't sleep." I murmured, rolling out of bed and grabbing my robes.
"What's that?" Severus asked, leaning down and picking up a piece of paper. It was the drawing I had drawn last night.
I blushed, wondering how it had come out. Severus' eyes scanned the paper and his mouth curled into a smirk.
"Give me that." I muttered, reaching to snatch the piece of paper out of his hand. He held it out of my reach and I glared at him.
"Great detail." Severus said, openly grinning now. "I hope you weren't planning on selling this one?"
I jumped, grabbing the paper, and turned the drawing to face me. It'd come out better than I had thought. He was right, there was great detail to this drawing, though no where close to the detail I'd give the mystery drawings or the Professor drawings.
I blushed deeper, folding the sexual drawing up, and handed it to him. "No, I wasn't going to sell it. You can keep it if you want."
I grabbed my bag, pulling it over my shoulder. I kissed him on the cheek and hurried out of the office so that I could grab breakfast before class.
Trang met me halfway to the Great Hall and I felt the impending doom of the Quidditch questions coming.
Indeed, the minute we sat down, refreshingly at the Ravenclaw table, she started with, "You're not playing the Quidditch game are you?"
"I've already discussed this with Severus and we feel that there is no danger if I play." I said as firmly as possible while pulling over chocolate muffins.
Trang dropped her mouth, her fork dangling carelessly from her fingers. I wondered if I was starting to see everything as art, each moment a pause in time, a drawing that could be captured. I wasn't so sure Trang would like if I drew her at this exact moment though.
"You're kidding, right?"
I sighed, peeling away the wrapper. I wasn't supposed to have chocolate or muffins or chocolate muffins but I was feeling rebellious this week, and I figured my little girl needed to taste sugar so she grew a sweet tooth anyways.
"No. Trang. I'm not kidding. Especially since we're playing Gryffindor, I'm in no danger and neither is the child." I bit into the sugary mess and was immediately satisfied. I should eat like this more often. Oh wait. . . no I couldn't.
"You promised-"
"I promised not to get into fights with Death Eaters and I extended that to duels in school." I replied, a bit sharper than intended. "I did not promise to stop flying or hand over my captainship. I kept my captain ship all last year despite Umbitches attempts to 'dethrone' me. I don't plan on just handing it over for no reason!"
"But the baby!" Trang complained.
"Trang!" I said sharply, putting my muffin down. "I've already told you that I've talked it over with Sev. If he's okay with it, then it's okay."
Trang hands were clenched into fists on the table, quivering. I got up abruptly from the table, storming off to potions where Harry was star boy and Hermione and I were second-hand for the first time in our lives. Bloody frustrating.
Saturday approached. Trang and I hadn't spoken since our spat at the Ravenclaw table. Severus seemed almost nervous this morning and eventually, his nerves became my nerves because I couldn't help it.
I went down to the Quidditch pitch early so that I could sit by myself in the Hufflepuff locker room. I closed my eyes, leaning my head back against the wall.
An hour later, the other teammates started to come in, chattering quickly and excitedly and I quickly started to get into my own robes.
The match time drew closer and I looked out the door. "Alright Anthony, James, you'll want to fly out of the sun." I commanded and I was glad my voice was sound and sure, "That way the other team won't see the bludgers coming. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if Harry told his own beaters to do that so be on the lookout. Susan, up to your post."
Susan flew up to the Keeper's post on our end. I noticed McLaggen was already in his spot. I walked out with the rest of my team.
Harry and I stood opposite each other and shook hands cordially, grins on both of our faces. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and we all streaked upwards. My nerves turned into adrenaline and I shot up higher than any of the other players, looking down for the snitch.
Harry was looking for the snitch so that he could get back to the castle and find out what Draco was doing. That was the wrong mindset for the game.
"And that's Smith of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle. He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it." A dreamy voice echoed through the stadium and I pulled up short in amazement, right next to Harry, and looked towards the commentator post. "Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets it now he's playing them-oh look, he's lot the Quaffle, Ginny took it from him, I do like her, she's very nice. . ."
While I had foreseen Luna commentating Quidditch, I hadn't quite expected this. I noticed all the Quidditch players had frozen for a moment, looking at Luna before moving into motion again. Harry and I exchanged a glance, and we both shook our heads in amazement before we darted off in opposite directions.
Luke took the Quaffle from Ginny. It was a good play too. I ducked a bludger but it didn't come to close. I really needed to keep any eye on the bludgers as well as the snitch.
". . . now that big Hufflepuff player's got the Quaffle from her, I can't remember his name, it's something like Chaddle- no Clartin-"
"It's Cholderton!" Professor McGonagall shouted from behind Luna, loudly enough to be heard through the magical megaphone. The crowd laughed. It was an entertaining commentary.
A moment later, Luke scored. I looked over just long enough to see that McLaggen had been shouting at Ginny, rather than watching where the Quaffle was.
"And Harry Potter's now having an argument with his Keeper. I don't think that'll help him find the Snitch, but maybe it's a clever ruse."
Below, Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were jeering at the Gryffindors. Imagine Slytherins being on your side.
Both Ginny and the other girl chaser on the team whose name started with a D scored a goal and then Luke scored a second one. The game continued on though Luna was trying to draw attention to shapes in the clouds. Zacharias hadn't taken possession of the Quaffle once since his fumble in the beginning and Luna was starting to mention that he might have Loser's Lurgy.
While entertaining, I certainly couldn't have Zacharias with any condition and I zoomed over on my broom.
"What's going on?" I asked while McGonagall shouted that we were up thirty points after Rose scored a goal.
"I just can't seem to play." Zacharias said through gritted teeth. "That Luna-"
"It's all in your head." I snapped, "You're one of my best chasers. Now get out there and show me that you are."
"And now Elizabeth's yelling at Zacharias. Or maybe they're just talking, I'm not sure. I like Elizabeth, she's very popular. It's also rumored that she's working on a surprise for the Professors, but it might not be true."
I blushed. "Bloody hell Luna."
Zacharias grinned, "I think I can score some goals now."
We both sped off into different directions.
"Oh look! The Gryffindor Keeper's got hold of one of the Beat's bats." Luna announced dreamily.
I pulled up short and watched as Harry pelted towards McLaggen. Cormac took a swing, mishit, and the bludger collided with Harry who started to fall.
At that moment, I caught the sign of gold and I dropped, diving after the snitch. I no longer had to compete against anyone to catch this snitch (though I wasn't particularly glad about it). I just hoped that Harry's teammates had enough sense to catch him.
The Gryffindors were moaning and the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were cheering. I reached out, grabbing the snitch. While originally, I'd seen us winning three hundred and twenty to sixty, the real score under my captainship was two hundred and forty to fifty.
I landed, the rest of the Hufflepuff team catching up to me and we headed off to the lockers amongst the cheers of the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins.
"Brilliant game everyone." I said cheerfully, wanting to find Trang and shake an apology from her but also wanting her to come herself and apologize herself.
"Loser's Lurgy." Rose chortled. "Zacharias has Loser's Lurgy."
"What a little brat." Zacharias muttered under his breath and Rose stuck her tongue out at him, skipping to the locker room.
"McLaggen is unbelievable." Susan said, shaking her head as the rest of us entered the locker room.
"He's in some of my classes." Luke said unexpectedly. He reminded me of Malcolm. He was usually very quiet- I'd only ever heard him say a few words. "Because he knows people in high places he automatically thinks he knows everything."
"Including how to play every Quidditch position apparently." James piped up, putting his beaters bat into the locker.
"You're coming to the party right?" Susan asked as we walked up the slop. Anthony and James were ahead. Rose and Zacharias walked on either side of her. Luke was somewhere behind us.
"Yes." I said. "But I'll be a few minutes late. I want to go and check on Harry on the hospital wing."
"Alright." Susan said as we entered the castle, "See you then."
We split off into opposite directions and I found my way to the hospital wing and stepped inside. Ginny was already there, sitting in a wooden chair between Harry and Ron's beds and was telling Ron what had happened.
"How is he?" I asked, pulling up a chair and sitting next to Harry.
"Cracked skull." Ginny said, looking worried. "I think the rest of the team is going to kill McLaggen. Well-" She sucked air up her nose and spat out, "except Dean."
I looked away, not wanting to get into the middle of everyone else's love business. "Dean laughed?"
"Yes!" Ginny said hotly. "Actually, I think I'm going to go kill McLaggen now!"
She got up, storming out of the hospital wing. I sighed, shaking my head.
"Did McLaggen really do that bad?" Ron asked, sounding hopeful.
"Yes." I said honestly. I would much rather play Gryffindor with McLaggen as Keeper than Ron at this moment. "He kept trying to act as captain and tell the others what they were doing wrong rather than paying attention to what he was supposed to be doing himself."
Ron looked happy about that and then said, "I hope Luna commentates from now on."
I chuckled. "So do I."
I got up, kissed Harry's cheek, and then left the room to go and join the party.
🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎
𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖓𝖊𝖝𝖙 𝖉𝖆𝖞, I joined Hermione, Harry, and Ron as they were walking down to the Great Hall for breakfast. I was quite glad that Hermione and Ron were friends again and this felt more normal- the four of us.
"Ginny and Dean rowed last night." Hermione mentioned as we walked down the marble staircase.
"What did they row about?" Harry asked casually. A small girl dropped heavy brass scales as we approached. I glared at her, keeping my mouth shut.
"It's all right! Here. . ." Hermione said, hurrying forward the repairing the brass scales.
"I swear they're getting smaller." Ron said after we'd passed the small girl.
"Never mind her, what did Ginny and Dean row about, Hermione?" Harry asked, sounding impatient.
"Oh, Dean was laughing about McLaggen hitting that Bludger at you." Hermione said.
"It must've looked funny." Ron consented.
"It didn't look funny at all! It looked terrible and if Coote and Peakes hadn't caught Harry he could have been very badly hurt!" Hermione replied hotly.
"Yeah, well, there was no need for Ginny and Dean to split up over it, or are they still together?" Harry asked, the casualness not so casual.
"Yes, they are- but why are you so interested?" Hermione asked sharply.
"I just don't want my Quidditch team messed up again!"
"Harry!" A dreamy voice called.
"Oh, hi, Luna." Harry said, turning to face her.
"I went to the hospital wing to find you but they said you'd left. . ." Luna said, thrusting a green onion, a spotted toadstool, and possibly cat litter into Ron's arms. "I've been told to give you this." She handed Harry a roll of parchment that was most likely from Dumbledore.
"Tonight." Harry said to Ron, Hermione, and I after he unrolled and skimmed through it.
"Nice commentary last match!" Ron said to Luna as he handed her stuff back over to her.
Luna smiled at him vaguely, "You're making fun of me, aren't you? Everyone says I was dreadful."
"I loved it." I said sincerely.
"No, I'm serious!" Ron agreed. "I can't remember enjoying commentary more! What is this, by the way?" he added, holding up the onion which wasn't an onion.
"Oh, it's a Gurdyroot. You can keep it if you like, I've got a few of them. They're really excellent for warding off Gulping Plimpies."
She walked off, leaving Ron behind to laugh contentedly.
"You know, she's grown on me, Luna. I know she's insane, but it's in a good-" Ron started happily before he was cut off by Lavender Brown. "Hi?"
"C'mon." Harry muttered to Hermione and I and we sped up.
I distinctly heard Lavender murderously question Ron, "Why didn't you tell me you were getting out today? And why was she with you?"
"Oh yeah," Hermione said as we sat down at the Gryffindor table. "What was Luna talking about during the match yesterday Elizabeth?"
"Which part?" I asked, grinning.
"The thing for the teachers." she clarified.
I moved uncomfortably in my seat, "Oh well, it was supposed to be a surprise. I suppose Luna didn't know about that part."
"What is it?" Harry asked curiously.
"I'll show you guys later." I said, slicing an apple into small pieces so I didn't have to bite into the apple.
"When?" Hermione asked.
"How about later today in the library. I'll be with a group of Hufflepuffs." I said.
"Sure." Harry said. "But it better be good considering all the suspense."
"It's not suspense." I said scornfully. "It's a secret. Students talk, you know? If we keep it amongst a few people, it'll stay quiet from the teachers. Not that Luna helped with that."
"Had you told Luna?" Hermione asked.
"No. It was only discussed amongst a few Hufflepuffs. Perhaps Ernie or Zacharias said something." I suggested, shrugging. "Or perhaps Rose told Grace and Grace spread it around."
"Rose plays well." Harry complimented.
"She does, doesn't she?" I smiled, sliding a piece of apple into the back of my mouth. "I was pleasantly surprised. She has a knack for dodging bludgers."
The rest of the conversation carried out onto the Quidditch matches and Hermione disappeared behind her newspaper. Gryffindor was most likely to win the cup this year, something I was both pleased and disappointed about. I wondered if the difference in the two scores would change things.
Around noon, I went to the library to partly work on my Herbology essay and partly to add some new details to the drawing before I showed it off the Hufflepuffs and Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
I was nowhere near finished, not even close. There were so many more details that needed to be done, especially with the Professors I either hadn't met like Kettleburn, Professors I didn't see any more like Quirrell, Lockhart, and Umbridge, or Professors I simply didn't have like Burbage from Muggle studies.
To top it all off, besides Hagrid, Severus, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Uncle Moody, Firenze, and Dad, I didn't really have the details memorized from all the other Professors which made things quite difficult when trying to call up specific details. Moles, wrinkles, stress lines, the lights of their eyes, the skin deformities, the shapes of their eyes, noses, mouths, ears, hair, their height, crooked shoulders, bent knees, etc.
I knew that the sketch would never be perfect. What I needed to do was to get it to a point of satisfaction for everyone except for me. Only the artist sees the flaws in their own work where others don't. (Except perhaps art critics).
I decided to work on the Herbology essay first because that didn't need to be as perfect as the drawing and would take less time.
Halfway through however, there was an interruption in the form of a person: Trang.
She sat down across from me, red eyed, and with a stuffy nose. I knew she'd been crying and though we'd fought, I immediately set aside my essay to talk to her. I reached out, taking her hand in mine. "What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry." Trang whispered, "You were right. There was no danger after all."
I sighed. "Look, Trang, I'm sorry. In a way, you were right. Something could've gone wrong, something could've happened. At the same time, I don't want to live my life in a safety box, you know?"
Trang smiled hesitantly, "Yes, I know. You never could do that."
I smiled, pulling back the essay and finishing off the last paragraphs. Then I pulled out the art drawing.
"What more do you need to do on this?" Trang asked, frowning at the drawing.
"Lots and lots of details." I said, not taking my eyes off the drawing and pulling out my pencil. "I'm going to have to find and excuse to see some of these Professors. I've got a picture of Lockhart and Umbridge, but Quirrell is going to be harder. Plus I've never met Kettleburn and Grubby-Plank is hard to pull up as well. Not to mention the Professors I've only had for a year like Burbage. I have to do these people justice, and the details are quite difficult." I paused for a second and then said, "Plus, I'd like to add myself into the drawing."
"Like an artists mark." Trang stated in a matter-of-fact way.
"Exactly." I said, my voice rising in excitement. "I think I'm going to do it in cat form. No one will find that weird because McGonagall has a cat on her shoulder, Filch is holding Mrs. Norris, and Fang is by Hagrid's feet. I just don't know where I want myself to be, you know? I was thinking by Firenze's feet but I'm also Severus' wife, but I Severus doesn't exactly show his um. . . what do you call it. . . emotional side to anyone else and him holding a cat isn't as realistic as the drawing could be. So I'm not entirely sure where-"
"In your dad's arms." Trang said and it was such a simple suggestion and the obvious one that I kind've just stared at her for a moment. "What? It'll bind the love that you two have between the two of you in a symbolic and permanent way even after we're all dead."
"Your completely, totally right." I whispered. "Though of course, I'll have to take out the tank under his arm."
"Not necessarily." Trang suggested, tilting the paper slightly to the left instead of getting up and coming around the other side of the table to look at it. "The cat could be drawn by his feet. Or he could be holding you to his shoulder with one hand."
"Of course. . ." I whispered, picking up the paper and holding it up to the light. "Genius Trang! Genius!"
"What's genius?" A new voice said and I quickly rolled the paper automatically, feeling stupid when I saw that it was Ernie, Justin, and Zacharias.
"Is that the drawing?" Justin asked.
"Yes." I said. "I'm just waiting for the others to show so I can show all of you at once."
"Let's go over here." Zacharias said, jerking his head. I carried the drawing while Trang picked up my things and we headed to a corner of the library.
It was circular shaped, bookcases all around. I stayed with my back to the wall so that no one could appear from behind us. There were chairs that were angled around a small coffee table. Ernie, Justin, Zacharias, and Trang all took seats nearest to me. Very soon, Susan and Hannah entered and hurried over.
Rose followed by herself some moments later.
Hermione, Ron, and Harry came in last, settling around with us.
"So what is it?" Ron asked bluntly.
I gave the credit where it was due. "Susan came up with the idea, at least to the best of my knowledge, I wasn't paying attention to the conversation. Anyways, they said we should come up with a graduating present. A token of appreciation to our teachers. I took this a bit literally. . ." I carefully unrolled the drawing, facing it towards them on the coffee table.
"When you meant all of them. . ." Harry said slowly, observing Professor Moody's details.
"All of them." I said solidly. "None of us had Kettleburn, granted, but he was still an incredibly important teacher and he was technically here when we were here."
"This is amazing!" Rose declared. She'd left her seat, kneeling by the coffee table.
"Thanks Rose." I said gently.
"I can't believe you're done already." Zacharias said, his neck cinching a little as he turned his head to look at the drawing rather than stand up to look at it.
Trang snorted, "Done? You should've heard her earlier. Going on about details. She's apparently nowhere close to done."
Hannah's face was quite impressed. She came back after Christmas break with the rest of us. She'd been unusually quiet, but I didn't blame her in the least.
Ernie was also being unusually quiet, observing the drawing as though he had to take a test on it later. I was slightly amused.
"So?" I asked, "How's the rough draft?"
Ernie chuckled. "Rough draft."
"It's wonderful Elizabeth." Hermione said, practically glowing with happiness. "You've captured all of them so well."
"You should make Professor Snape grumpier." Ron pointed out. "He looks to kind in this drawing."
My eyes met Harry's for the briefest second and I said, "Well, I was trying to make them all look a bit nicer."
"Yes, I can tell with Mrs. Norris." Susan said, "Even Filch looks a bit happy in this one."
"That was inspirational." I said honestly. "After Mrs. Norris was unpetrified, I saw him holding her and he looked quite happy."
"I would definitely pay to see a drawing of Professor Snape smiling." Justin said with a laugh.
"Oh, one second." I said, giddy with pleasure. I was human after all and I did like compliments to my drawings. "I was doing some portraits. Pay me for this."
I handed him the artpad, page already up of Severus smiling, standing by the window, holding out his hand.
"Wow." Justin said, laughing and passing the artpad around. "That's. . . wow."
The drawing brought on laughs. After all, no one had ever seen Severus smile before. Harry met my eyes again and gave me a slight nod. I gave him a small smile before sticking the art pad into my bag. Trang gave me a smile as well.
"Well." I said. "I must admit that's all I had. I just wanted opinions, criticisms. I'll take into account of S- Professor Snape looking grumpier. I was also hoping you guys could give advice on what each Professor could be holding or wearing that might contribute to their subject. For instance, Professor Lupin was holding the Grindylow tank or Professor Burbage holding the rotary telephone- that's a Muggle thing. Anyways, I don't need suggestions now but if you guys write down a list or something I can utilize it in the final drawings, deal?"
"Deal." Came multiple responses.
"Great." I said with a broad grin and we all left the library at different times.
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"𝕯𝖔 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗 tell stories?" Severus asked sleepily late that night.
"Through my art, you mean?" I asked, rolling over so I could see part of his face in the moonlight.
"No, I mean physical stories. I know you wrote a couple before giving up the hobby." Severus said, putting an arm around me to pull my closer though he was looking up at the ceiling rather than at me.
"No." I said softly, looking at the wall. "I've never told an adequate story without artwork."
"So if you had a piece of artwork, you could tell a story." Severus said.
I got up on my elbows to get a better look at him, "Why?"
"Something I was simply curious about." Severus said smoothly, pulling me down to the bed again. I gave in, pressing my lips to his warm bare skin.
I looked at him for a moment and then rolled over out of bed.
"Where are you going?" Severus asked. I heard the bedsprings creak and knew he was probably sitting up.
"I'll be right back, I promise." I said gently, turning into a cat and padding out of the room.
I made my way to the Hufflepuff common room. I probably should've put clothes on, I realized too late. I morphed, quickly entered the password and turned back into a cat before anyone could see me. I slinked upstairs to the dorm.
The other girls were asleep and I padded over to where I'd locked the drawings. I morphed again, pulling the blanket off my bed and draping it over me while I unlocked the drawer, pulling out a specific drawing.
It was the drawing of a shop filled with keys. Keys in jars, keys hanging from the ceiling, keys hanging in the garden, keys under class cases and such. There was an old man, rearranging jars on a shelf, his face turned away so that only the back of him could be seen.
I locked the dresser again, turning back into a cat and, carrying the drawing in my small mouth, made my way back to the Defense Against the Dark Arts office.
After my long black tail slipped through the thin opening of the office door, I turned back into a human and closed the door behind me. Severus was grinning from where he was sitting on the bed and I rolled my eyes.
I lit a candle as I passed by, carrying it over near the bed. I handed Severus the drawing.
I touched the drawing too, wondering if this would work. But if I could believe Severus' hypothesis to be true, then if I reached into my subconscious, this could work.
I closed my eyes, the image of the drawing appearing into the back of my mind and I almost back out of the experiment. This was too weird, to much magic for a magical world. But was it? I took a deep breath and then started to speak in a voice that was my own and yet, also not my voice.
"Once there was a man who collected keys. Old keys and new keys and broken keys. Lost keys and stolen keys and skeleton keys. He carried them in his pockets and wore them on chains that clattered as he walked around the town. Everyone in the town knew the key collector. Some people though his habit strange but the key collector was a friendly sort and had a thoughtful air and a quick smile. If someone lost a key or broke a key they could ask the key collector and he would usually have a replacement that would suit their needs. It was often faster than having a new key made. The key collector kept the most common shapes and sizes of keys always at hand, in case someone was in need of a key for a door or a cupboard or a chest."
The man almost seemed to move, walking from the jars to the counter where the large tubs of keys were kept. His face was in view now.
"The key collector was not possessive about his keys. He gave them away when they were needed. (Though often people would have a new key made anyway and return the one they had borrowed). People gave him found keys or spare keys as gifts to add to his collection. When they traveled they would find keys to bring back with them, keys with unfamiliar shapes and strange teeth. (They called the man himself the key collector but a great many people aided with the collecting.)"
Severus fingers trailed up and down my spine, distracting me momentarily.
"Eventually the key collector had too many keys to carry and began displaying them around his house. He hung them in the windows on ribbons like curtains and arranged them on bookshelves and framed them on walls. The most delicate ones he kept under glass or in boxes meant for jewels. Others were piled together with similar keys, kept in buckets or baskets."
As I spoke, I saw each thing that was talked about. Keys hanging in windows though I'd never drawn that. Clearer details of the keys under the glass boxes then from the angle originally drawn. I finally knew what some people talked about drawings coming to life though I thought mine had more sustenance.
"After many years the entire house was filled near to bursting with keys. They hung on the outside as well, over the doors and the windows and draped from the eaves of the roof. The key collector's house was easily spotted from the road.
"One day there was a knock upon his door.
"The key collector opened the door to find a pretty woman in a long cloak on his doorstep. He had never seen her before, nor had he seem embroidery of the sort that trimmed her cloak: star-shaped flowers in gold thread on dark cloth, too fine for travel though she must have traveled far. He did not see a horse or a carriage and supposed she might have left them at the inn for no one passed through this town without staying at the inn and it was not far.
"'I have been told you collect keys,' the woman said to the key collector.
'"I do,' said the key collector, though this was obvious. There were keys hanging above the doorway where they stood, keys on the walls behind him, keys in jars and bowls and vases on the tables.
"'I am looking for something that has been locked away. I wonder if one of your keys might unlock it.'
'"You are welcome to look,' the key collector said and invited the woman inside.
"He considered asking the woman what manner of key she sought so he might help her look but he knew how difficult it was to describe a key. To find a key you had to understand the lock.
"So the key collector let the woman search the house. He showed her every room, every cabinet and bookshelf line with keys. The kitchen with its teacups and wineglasses filled with keys, save for the few that were used more frequently, empty and waiting for wine or for tea.
"The key collector offered the woman a cup of tea but she politely refused. He left her to her searching and sat in the front parlor where she could find him if she needed and he read a book.
"After many hours the woman returned to the key collector.
"'It is not here,' she said. 'Thank you for letting me look.'
"'There are more keys in the back garden,' the key collector said, and led the woman outside.
"The garden was festooned with keys, strung from ribbons in a rainbow of colors. Keys tied with bows hung from trees and bouquets of keys displayed in glazed pots and vases. Birdcages with keys hung on the tiny swings inside with no birds to be seen. Keys set into the paving stones along the garden paths. A bubbling fountain contained piles of keys beneath the water, sunken like wishes.
"The light was fading so the key collector lit the lanterns.
"'It is lovely here,' the woman said. She began to look through the garden keys, keys held by statues and keys wound around topiaries. She stopped in front of a tree that was just starting to blossom, reaching out to a key, one of many hanging from red ribbons.
"'Will that key suit your lock?' the key collector asked.
"'More than that,' the woman answered. 'This is my key. I lost it a very long time ago. I'm glad it found its way to you.'
"'I am glad to return it,' the key collector said. He reached up to untie the ribbon for her, leaving it hanging from the key in her hand.
"'I must find a way to repay you,' the woman said to the key collector.
"'No need for that' the key collector told her. 'It is my pleasure to help reunited you with your locked-away thing.'
"'Oh,' the woman said, 'It is not a thing. It is a place,'
"She held the key out in front of her at a height above her waist where keyhole might have been if there was a door and part of the key vanished. The woman turned the key and an invisible door unlocked in the middle of the key collector's garden. The woman pushed the door open.
"The key and its ribbon remained hanging in midair.
"The key collector looked through the door into a golden room with high arched windows..."
I drifted off and Severus looked at me sharply, bringing me back to reality. For a moment, seeing the images play inside my house, it felt real.
"What?" Severus asked.
"I drew the place that the man is describing." I said softly, mad at myself for breaking the spell. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to finish the story. But Severus prodded me and I closed my eyes again.
"Dozens of candles stood on tables laid for a great feast. He heard music playing and laughter coming from out of sight. Through the windows he could see waterfalls and mountains, a sky brightly lit by two moons and countless stars reflected in a shimmering sea. The woman walked through the door, her long cloak trailing over the golden tiles. The key collector stood in his garden, staring. The woman took the key
"on its ribbon from its lock.
"She turned back to the key collector. She raised a hand in invitation, beckoning him forward.
