Author note: yes I am insane … that clarified please read at your leisure
Where to begin … they always say to begin at the beginning but that doesn't mean it's easy … though when in my life the easy thing has been the right thing…I don't know so why should now be any different? Okay … breathe … this time I'm going to do the right thing…
I suppose the real beginning of this is when someone said to me … 'there is always a choice … a choice between the easy thing to do and the right thing to do' … I hadn't seen it that way before … but … but now I suppose I'm a different person … or at least I have a different manner now.
I grew up in a world of fake smiles and glittering fortunes … a world where everyone is constantly jostling for a way to move up in the social ladder … you never showed what you really felt or thought … you had a perfect mask of indifference and nonchalance to hide behind … and being who I was … well you always had the last word … always had more dirt on others than they could have on you … but then everything changed in my last year at Hogwarts ...
Nobody had thought the school would reopen after the fiasco that occurred there the year before … Dumbledore dead …. Death eaters everywhere …. And it was all my fault … well mostly …. My initiation task was to get the Death eaters into Hogwarts via a vanishing cabinet and then kill Dumbledore … but I only succeeded in the first part … my godfather Severus carried out the final part of my orders when I couldn't … he'd promised my mother you see … made a wizards oath …. After he killed Dumbledore we fled … if we'd stayed we would both be as good as dead …. The ministry wouldn't hesitate to lock us up … and Voldemort couldn't guarantee our safety if we stayed …
We went into hiding … imagine our surprise when I get an owl from Mcgonagal … the new headmistress of Hogwarts … asking me back for my seventh year … and Severus back as potions master … Severus didn't know if we should go … he thought it would be a trap … but Mcgonagal wrote another letter … promising amnesty … so we went … we were as likely to get caught there as anywhere else …
When I got there on September 1st I understood why they wanted us back so desperately … the only other Slytherin 7th year was Blaise Zambini … and the Zambini's are famous for remaining neutral … another thing I noticed was Potter and his shadows were missing … probably off playing hero somewhere safe … When we got to the school for the sorting I was surprised to note that there weren't only first years being sorted … their was also a seventh year and a third year girl from Beauxbatons … the third year was called up first … she was a slight thing with olive skin and long dark brown hair that was braided down to her knees … she was placed in gryffindor … then the seventh year was called up … she couldn't have been more different to her sister … leggy yet curvy with pale lightly freckled skin and reddy brown hair that came to her shoulder blades … where her little sister was dressed immaculately in her Hogwarts uniform she was wearing her Beauxbatons uniform minus the hat, and with sparkly little decorative bits around the edges … the hat had taken only moments to place her sister but it seemed to take an eternity to place her … she seemed to even be bored … when the hat finally said … 'Slytherin … she'll cause too much trouble anywhere else'. Laughing the girl removed the hat, blew a kiss to her sister before skipping down to the Slytherin table. I was in shock … the girl was wild … she was the opposite of what a slytherin should be …
The sorting continued …. And then the feast began … long story short it ended and we all went to our house areas … with the transfer linking arms with Blaise and dragging him along in some insane pattern singing some crazy song about going to see some wizard … it was then I noticed that she had barely any accent and seemed to be more than fluent in English … all the while wondering what the hell she was doing in slytherin.
Weeks passed and everything fell into a pattern for everyone except for her, Louve de la Feu Grégeouis, and that caused her little sister Angélique life to be thrown out of balance as well. Surprisingly all the houses got used to Louve sitting at their tables and amongst them in classes, she had to be the least hated Slytherin. The Gryffindor's even put up with her, for the most part, the Weaselette and her crowd gave her hell but she just laughed at them and went on with life. As October passed she started to take an interest in me, she started trying to drag me into her world of hippie free love and flower power. Day before Halloween she even showed up to potions wearing this psychedelic mini dress and purple go go boots, and when Severus asked why she was late she laughed and said she stopped to smell the roses on the way down the stairs … when he went out to validate this claim he had to walk past her and she hugged him and told him 'peace man you gotta feel the love'. I wish I had a camera, I have never seen Severus so shocked as when he tried unsuccessfully to pry her off. I was the only one able to control myself aka not laughing by this stage, so he told me to come get her off. Being the wonderful person that I am naturally took my time getting up and over to them before wondering how to get her off. In the end I grabbed her round the middle and pulled, she let go only to latch onto me instead. Now it wasn't funny anymore, not now it was happening to me. Severus continued out of the room only to find that the entire staircase was in fact full of roses. Upon finding himself unable to get rid of the roses, he came back to class in a rather foul mood. And Louve still hadn't let go of me. Instead she attached herself to my side for the rest of the day, until I had divination. She had point blank refused to go to that class after the first time where the old quack had told her that her 'plans will come to ruin …. And something bad will happen to your sister if you continue to ignore what your heart sees …. And that you should turn back now before something you are deathly afraid of happens'. Well instead of letting me go to that class she latched on around my legs and refused to let go. As I couldn't climb the stairs like that I had no choice but skip the class. Happy again she proceeded to drag me out to the lake to sit on a rock.
Okay, so I admit I was curious about her. Who wasn't? She and her sister were like chalk and cheese and any idiot could translate their names, the She-wolf and the Angel of the Wild Fire. Her sister was a perfect little angel, everyone's favorite 3rd year. Gryffindor or not, top of all her classes without any perceivable effort. Yet she was sweet and modest, and willing to help anyone with anything. But it was her big sister who intrigued me. A slytherin who charmed most of the school, who broke every rule and never got in serious trouble. She never received a detention, just was docked points, and even then it was never more than fifty. She never hid behind any mask, she never pretended to be what she was not. Nothing about what people thought bothered her, she was fiercely loyal though, no one messed with her friends, which meant that inter house unity was at its peak because she was friends with almost everyone.
So here we were, out on a rock by the lake while everyone else was in class. So I gathered my courage and asked "why are you at hogwarts, why is your sister here, why do you act how you do, why don't you care what people think, how do you get away with everything?" She seemed genuinely surprised that I had asked her, she actually blinked twice before answering …
"My sister and I are at Hogwarts because after mother was killed in the fire we couldn't stay in France. The only reason we are still alive is because we were still traveling home from school when it happened. I act how I do because in every moment I have a choice, between the easy thing to do and the right thing to do. I can't care what people think, because is not what I think of my self more important than what they think of me? I get away with everything because every time a professor looks at me they see poppa. I never knew poppa, mamma barely even knew poppa, I think she met him twice and got cards for her birthday and at Christmas. You see nana and poppa weren't married, and nana left after she found out she was pregnant with mama, because she didn't want to be married to him. Mama did the same thing with my da, and then again with Angel's da, I don't even know their names. We use nana's maiden name de la Feu Grégeouis, because mama always used it. But you see mama's da was a man called Albus Dumbledore. And mama never hid that fact. Poppa was killed here, and mama was killed in France, nana's been dead for years, all that's left is Angel and I. I had a choice, remain in France with nothing but memories or come to Hogwarts and bring Angel and hope for a way to change the future. They will find out about us eventually you see, and I have to find a way to keep Angel safe before they do." She stopped and looked at me, hoping I understood, I was shocked. The reason her grandfather was dead was sitting with her, and she probably didn't even know. Then I realized she was talking again…. "…you see I know things, not all the time but sometimes before they happen. They fill my dreams, every new moon. I know that coming to Hogwarts, I will die, but Angel she will live, if we stayed in France the opposite would happen, and if we spilt up we both would die. The final showdown will occur in the forest on new years day. We have to be ready, everyone must make their choice, for there is always a choice between the easy thing to do and the right thing to do"
I was doing a marvelous impersonation of a fish by this stage, and then she cocked her head to the side, smiled and dragged me inside for dinner.
More time passed and Christmas was upon us. Not many people stayed for Christmas this year, the de la Feu Grégeouis sisters, a lone hufflepuff, me and the professors. The rest of the school was due back the day after new years. Somehow coughLouvecough all the students ended up in the Slytherin quarters for the entire time, Merlin forbid but I think there is now a single hufflepuff first year who no longer fears the might of slytherin. Ah well all good things must come to an end, eventually. Louve kept getting more and more anxious about something, and I kept getting more and more drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Angélique kept watching me and stifling her giggles, it was down right annoying so being the big bad slytherin king that I am I naturally waited until the hufflepuff and her sister were out of the common room before confronting her about it. I didn't even get the question out of my mouth before she said, "You're crushing on Lou and she doesn't even notice, sucks to be you." Suffice to say I was slightly put off by this revelation, which I instantly denied with a very dignified and elegant "What?" The Brat, as she will forever hence be known, then giggled again and ran over to the entrance where her little hufflepuff friend was entering before grabbing her arm and them both running out again. Steaming about the little encounter I was still muttering incoherent curses and threats of bodily harm to The Brat and kicking very heavy pieces of furniture when Louve got back.
She naturally thought it was hilarious that her little Angel had caused 'poor ickle dragon' to get so 'hot under the collar' … being the mature adult that I am I naturally poked my tongue out at her.
New years eve came and we had a bit of a party in the common room, counted down to midnight and everything was grand, until The Brat shouted out that we had to kiss. Laughing Louve naturally acquiesced, so I had no choice but decide to impress her, especially seeing how even the gossip king of slytherin (Blaise) hadn't even dug up anything on her history. So we kissed, nice sweet innocent chaste kiss, not my usual style at all, and yet even after kissing as many girls as I had I knew that this kiss was different, this girl was different. In a flash the kiss was over, and she was kissing the hufflepuff on the forehead before shooing her off to bed, before turning to her sister and kissing her forehead and then each cheek in turn before telling her that she loved her and wished her all the best for the new year and all the years to come, before sending her off to bed as well. Once she had disappeared up the stairs Louve turned to me and simply said, "It's time, make your choice."
I was confused at first, as she was gathering her cloak and settling it around her shoulders, before taking a envelope out of her cloak pocket and setting it on the table. Then I remembered what she had said at the lake, the final showdown … forest … new years day … today … #$! She then turned and headed out the door, out to the battle, out to her death. I couldn't help it, I made my choice, and it wasn't easy, but it wasn't really a choice at all … I grabbed my cloak and wand and went with her.
She was being unnaturally quiet, well for her at least, as she led the way through the corridors to the great hall … where to my surprise were all the professors and a lot of other adults I had last seen at the death eater attack last year … of course … Dumbledore's precious soldiers for the light … but what was I doing here?
It seemed that thought was being shared by the majority present … but only Moody called her on it … to which she said "he made the same choice you all did, he choose not to do the easy thing, but instead to do the right thing."
And that was the end of that. She then led the way out of the school and across the grounds towards the forest. As we entered the forest she led us through to a clearing where other figures were waiting. Amongst them, the werewolf and potter and his shadows. They didn't seem very impressed with what was going on … the weasel was practically cursing Louve … seems to be a family hobby. But she just ignored him told everyone to be ready and to stay out of her way … I was surprised by what she did next … She marked out a circle with stones with a 20ft diameter, then inside that a circle with string/yarn/ribbon stuff with a 15ft diameter, and then she marked out a circle with salt that had a 10ft diameter. Before drawing a rune at each point of the compass. Then I notice the cup sitting dead in the center of the concentric circles.
Then she took five small crystal bottles out of her cloak pocket, the adding each of the first four's contents to the cup in turn saying, "Bone of the teacher unknowingly given you will summon your student, tears of the lover willing given you will bind your love, scale of the pet unwilling given you will reunite the soul, blood of the innocent stolen away you will steal away his strength." The fifth vial she then unstoppered before saying, "life of the fire daughter given away you will bind him in death for eternity." Then she drank the opal like contents of the last vial. A pure white glow started as the vial slipped through her fingers to join the others on the ground, before the wind began to swirl in a vortex. Then suddenly, the clearing was filled with noise as more death eaters than I cared to count apparated into the clearing, but I was shocked to see in their lead the dark lord himself.
Then the dark lord spoke, "Well Harry Potter, it seems you have found a way to bring the war to you, how clever of you, …" here suddenly Louve interrupted, still retaining a hint of the glow in her very being, "Oh pish posh, give credit where credit is due, I put a lot of effort into finding writing's on the old ways, and then even more effort into not only rewriting the very same spell you used for your resurrection but also writing in a fail safe, so you won't be able to escape your fate," here she broke off as everyone stared at her, "do you know how long I researched to find the parts I needed, poppa's bone was easy, so was finding a poison to drink, getting a basilisk scale from the chamber of secrets was messy work but doable, but you try finding out who was a student from fifty something years ago lover, let alone tracking them down and convincing them to give you their tears, or the blood of a innocent child you personally kidnapped, that was ridiculous, took me till almost Halloween to get that, and it was the first one I went after. And to then convince this bunch of skeptics that I knew what I was doing while not giving them any details, damn sight near impossible, but I did it, and now if everyone is in agreeance I vote we sit down and watch the fight of the century between the corrupt dark lord Tom Riddle and the pure true hero Harry Potter." The dark lord then laughed his maniacal laugh and said "oh that's rich, gather round everyone so we can watch the savior of the wizarding world die."
I was shocked now, what the hell was she planning? Potter squared his shoulders and faced up to the dark lord, when Granger suddenly hugged him and whispered something in his ear, what ever it was she said it wasn't what Potter was expecting, and when Granger pulled back he gave her a confused look, to which she snapped, "Oh really Harry when have I been wrong before hmmm?"
The two wizards then faced each other and the dark lord said to Potter, "and now we bow," which they did, as they were straightening up the dark lord shot the cruciatus curse at Potter, who somehow managed to dodge it before shouting off a curse I had never heard before, "Puritus Veritas". Out of his wand shot a beam of opal like light which hit the dark lord dead in the center of his chest. Then to everyone's surprise, probably even Potter's, the dark lord just dissolved into dust, which blew away in the wind that had suddenly come up, but not before strands of the light split off and bound all the death eaters in the area. Turning in shock I looked towards Louve, now she and her sister were safe, but to my surprise the three circles round her were broken, and her body was on the ground in a rather awkward position. Then it all made sense, the strange incantation, the mention of poison, the knowledge that she was going to die, she had traded her life for a world without the dark lord.
Numbly I headed over to her body, but Severus had beat me to it, he had her straightened out, and arranged on a stretcher by the time I reached them. In silence the auror's were called to collect the death eaters and we headed back to Hogwart's in silence. The final battle against the dark lord had occurred with only one death on the side of the light, because of a choice made by one person. As this thought floated through my numb mind, a voice followed it, Louve saying to me that 'there is always a choice between the easy thing to do, and the right thing to do', she had said I made the right choice when I followed her out here, and I suppose she made the right choice when she decided to do what she did. I must make sure that everyone knows, she did what she did not because she had to do it, but because she chose to do it, because it was the right thing to do.
Louve's part in my life was the catalyst for the change in me, and in my manner, but it was her death that really brought home a truth I had never realized before, that no matter what happens we always have a choice. Just as I had a choice when I petitioned to become Angélique's guardian until she comes of age, and every time I see her I remember, her sister and her story about choice.
Hey Angélique de la Feu Grégeouis here,Just thought I should let you know about the bits of this story that Draco left out. Lou really was Slytherin material, she was cunning and would be as devious and manipulative as it took to get what she needed done. That wasn't a 'crazy song' that was the 'We're off to see the wizard' song from the Wizard of Oz, which is a wonderful movie/musical, even though I hate Judy Garland. Oh and Lou's hair was auburn, not reddy brown. When Ginny and her crowd were mean, Lou laughed and didn't show that it hurt her because they wanted a reaction, and she didn't want to give them that satisfaction, she cried on multiple occasions from what they said and did to her. Draco learnt from the Halloween mistake and now has a bazillion pictures of her, and he was soo obviously obsessed by her from day one. My personal favorite is the one I took of the two of them kissing on New Years, and I think it is Draco's favorite as well, considering the number of copies of it he has around the place. Actually, Draco may have been the Slytherin Sex God, but before he met Lou he never fell head over heals in love, and he possibly never will again. He also left out that Harry, Hermione and Ron all came back to finish their seventh year. They got along better most of the time now, except when Ginny was around, or came up in conversation. You see Draco hates Ginny with a vengeance, he's not to fussed on Ron either, but he refuses to get along with anyone who Lou couldn't get along with. And Ginny is around a fair bit with the others because she and Harry are going out, even though she still sees all the guys she was seeing while Harry was away. Harry could do soo much better than that cheap little tart but he is to blind to see. Lou used to say 'love isn't blind, it sees all and doesn't give a rats', but I don't think that quite applies in this case. But that's none of my never mind. I've actually managed to loosen up a fair bit, I got lost somewhere between being a child, mama's death, and growing up too fast. Lou was as wild as Draco tells it and wilder, she lived every moment for the moment because she knew how short her life would be. I may not know things before they happen like Lou did, but I know a good thing when I have it. And life most definitely is a good thing that should be enjoyed all it can. Well that's about everything, except always remember there is always a choice.
Luv Angélique de la Feu Grégeouis
Author note:- Well this all started with me being unsatisfied by J.K's explanation for why Draco did what he did and why Severus did what he did … note also that the Avada Kedavra curse causes people to drop down dead WHERE THEY ARE, not to project backwards off a tower, see book 4 Cedric crumples/collapses beside Harry, the only time he flies backwards is in the movie, because we all know how movies like to destroy books … anyway this is what you get … it actually wrote itself, no known plot bunnies/kitties/puppies or any other small furry creatures … although the girls names were dancing round in my head for months before I even thought of this story … also the spell Harry uses is of my own creation … it is supposed to mean Pure Truth, as in the force which could destroy something so twisted and deceitful … neway as always u review mine and I'll review yours …
Luv huggles and kisses tiddly peeps
DramaQueen4eva
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