Disclaimer:
Oh I hate these...alrite, everything you haven't seen in the Harry Potter books
is mine, and everything else is J.K. Rowling's.
Chapter
1 - The Betrayal
It was a
bright spring day. But Elizabeth Corcos' mood didn't match the weather. The
shock of what had just happened was still sinking in. She remembered last
night, and every single detail, every single thought....
*~*~*~*~*
*Memory*
Liz
Corcos walked home to Malfoy Manor, whistling cheerfully. She had been promoted
at work, and was heading back early to surprise her boyfriend Gregory Malfoy,
and her best friend Veronica Weasley, who was staying over. Around the curb, up
the steps, through the door, and into the Manor. Suddenly, it occurred to her
to try and give Greg and Ronnie a little scare. She smirked evilly, remembering
all the times they had played pranks on her. Liz tiptoed silently up the
stairs, towards the main bedroom. Little did she know she was really making the
biggest mistake she could imagine. The door opened easily, but when Liz turned,
she got a huge shock. In the king sized bed that she and Greg shared, he was
sleeping with - Ronnie! Liz held back a scream of hurt, anger, and confusion;
instead, she whipped out her wand, gathering up courage. She gripped her wand
tightly, and in one sudden, quick, almost instant decision, she flicked her
wand at Greg and Ronnie, and snapped, "Stupefy!" Advancing on the
bed, the thumping in her chest got faster, she didn't want to believe is was
real, wanted to believe it was all a dream, and she was going to wake up.
Pulling back the covers, her suspicions were confirmed. They'd been doing it,
that much was obvious. In fact, they were still connected. Tears about to spill
out, she backed up slowly, pointed her wand at them and muttered,
"Enervate!" When Greg and Ronnie's eyes opened, and they realized the
situation, Greg sat up, disentangling himself from Ronnie, and said, in a shaky
voice, "Liz...it's not what it looks like...." But his voice failed
under Liz's flashing eyes and furious glare. After a horrible, tense silence,
Liz spoke. "I cannot believe that you two, of all people, are having an
affair behind my back. I trusted both of you. Greg, didn't you tell me you
would never love another? And you, Ronnie, didn't you say you'd never think of
taking Greg away?" Another tense silence, and Ronnie said, "Liz...I'm
so sorry, I didn't know what I was doing..." Liz finally let the tears
slide down her cheeks. Her emotions were swimming around in her head, and she
didn't know what to do. Finally, she let her hurt and anger take over. Raising
her wand once more, she said, in a dangerous voice, " You two betrayed me,
and had an affair behind my back, seemingly not caring about what I would think
if I ever found out. Now you will see the consequence. Love in both of your
families will diminish, until one is born who understands. Lovilias
Totalus!" And with that, Liz stalked out of the bedroom, heading for her
own little room, where she kept all the things she had at Malfoy Manor. In just
a few hours, she would be back in her own house again. Lonely, but safe from
the hurt in this house. Locking her door to keep out any apologies from either
of those traitors, she began tossing everything into her little suitcase.
*End
Memory*
Now Liz
sat on her bed, sobbing quietly. It's no good crying your eyes out anymore,
what's done is done and you can't change it. She remembered a line she'd picked
up somewhere. Fall down seven times, get up eight. No matter how many times you
fall, get up and keep going, it'll be all right in the end. Liz sighed. How she
missed those days when everything was fine, when she and Ronnie were at
Hogwarts and still thinking up mean things to say to the meaner Slytherins
(Gregory changed after a while). She thought harder. One of the more insulting
things to say came back to her, one that she'd been just waiting to say to
Peter Goyle. Remember, when someone pisses you off, it takes 42 muscles in your
face to frown. But it only takes 4 muscles to extend your arm and bitch-slap
the motherfucker. I suppose you're rather unfortunate, since 4 muscles are all
I'm planning to use on you. Suddenly,
she giggled. All the little quotes and things were coming back to her. Giggling
crazily, her spirits lifted just a bit. It came as a surprise. Liz had been so
mixed up in different emotions that she believed she might never love again.
Now, she decided to push her mind off Greg and Ronnie. It wasn't worth it,
mourning when she didn't really have to. She got up and walked to the kitchen
to fix some hot chocolate, thinking hard to herself. As she walked in, she
spotted a note on the table, and an owl hooting softly on the table. Funny, she
thought, I never heard an owl come in. Must have come during the night. She
stroked the bird absentmindedly, her other hand holding the letter. Only when
the owl, which was a beautiful snowy owl, hooted again and affectionately
pecked her arm, did Liz come to, and look at the letter. The paper looked
familiar...with that unique border. Oh yeah. Belonged to Greg. Liz dropped the
letter back on the table with a disgusted look. Come to plead for her to take
off the spell, no doubt. She patted the owl again, who took off once more.
Sitting down and sipping her hot chocolate, Liz felt a little better, and
decided not to read the letter just yet. Instead, she went out to sit on her
porch, bathed in light sunlight and a cool breeze, and sat there drinking hot
chocolate and reading a book. The book, Hogwarts, A History, was one of the
older ones she had, and she hadn't read it since...since her school days! How
long ago that was, even though it wasn't so long ago after all. She was 28, so
it had only been 17 years since her first year. She drifted off into memories
of Hogwarts.
*~*~*~*~*
Several
hours later, it was time for dinner. Liz got up to make dinner, and in 30
minutes she was eating away. Glancing at her messes on the table, her eyes once
again fell on the letter she wasn't going to read just yet. In spite of her now
gradually getting happier mood, she felt just a tiny bit sad. In the old days
she would have read the letter at least twice by now, possibly more. She would
have been excited to get a letter from either of her best friends. It occurred
to her to try and forgive them. Her mind answered immediately. I will NOT take
off the curse. Even the most forgiving person probably wouldn't. Too bad. She
frowned. Maybe I shoulda added something else...Oh well, too late.
*~*~*~*~*
That
night...
Liz
picked up the letter carelessly, and crawled into bed. She hesitated, then
opened it. The letter was not too long, only about 1/4 of a piece of parchment.
It read:
Liz,
Look,
Greg and I are really sorry about the affair. This was not supposed to happen,
I was and still am dating another guy from school (Andrew Longbottom, I'm sure
you know him) and Greg didn't care a lot about anyone other than you! What I
really need to say is that whatever happened was not meant to happen, the whole
thing had a reason. We didn't have a choice, and if you would just come back to
the manor we could explain to you what's wrong, I won't say in a letter because
the owl might be intercepted. Just come to the manor tomorrow at 8:00 AM and
we'll explain this whole thing away, ok? I trust that you will believe us. We
are truly sorry.
Sincerely,
Veronica Weasley
Liz
thought for a while. Can I forgive them? Should I go? What if it's a trick? She
shook her head. Just go, she urged herself, it won't make much of a difference,
will it? No. I'll go. Not looking forward to the next day, she turned the
parchment over and wrote on the back:
Ronnie
& Greg,
All
right, I'll come, but this explanation better be good or I'll hex you both
again.
From,
Elizabeth Corcos
Liz
folded up the letter and went to find her own owl, called Morgana. She tied the
letter to Morgana's leg, and then Morgana soared out the window, to Malfoy
Manor.
*~*~*~*~*
The next
morning...
Liz got
out of bed and stretched. The letter was sprawled carelessly on the bedspread.
She glanced at the clock. 6:00 in the morning, and she couldn't get back to
sleep. She decided to go early, it wouldn't hurt. And in half an hour, she was
ready to go. Jogging down the road to Malfoy Manor, she again looked at her
watch. 7:00. She didn't want to just barge in, and figured she'd just knock if
she saw them inside, or hang around and come back at 8:00. As soon as she came
to the Manor, she walked cautiously up to the door and peered into the windows
on the door. What she saw almost made her run in and kill the two of them.
Inside, Ronnie and Greg were doing
it-on the couch! With an enraged hiss, Liz sat down on the steps and pressed
her ear to the door, forcing herself to be quiet. There were the usual noises,
but then finally Greg spoke. "Honey, we gotta stop at 7:45, we don't know
when Liz will get here and if she thinks we lied then...well, I don't think we
can maintain the relationship." "Alright, baby." Liz just
managed to regain control of her temper and walked away from Malfoy Mansion.
I'll come back, oh yes I will. And I'll punish the hell outta them for this.
What the hell do they think they were doing, doing it on the COUCH?! God they
will be sorry for this. She ran in laps around the block until she'd run her
anger away, and then decided she'd go for a quick snack before going back. Or
not. Wonder what they were up to now? A choice. Great. Liz was never good at
choosing a choice that worked out, but she decided to give it a try. Go back
and see what other things were happening, or stay and eat and fall for a
possible trick? Go back. Go back. The decision was instant. She ran back all
the way. Upon getting there, she again sank onto the step and pressed her ear
against the door. She looked at her watch. Only 7:35. Ten more minutes-yuck! It
was gross listening to her two ex-best friends doing it, but she decided she
would deal for now. Gripping her wand, she thought of all the curses she knew.
The Furnunculus curse, Stun them, body bind them, and better disarm them first,
who knew whether they had their wands with them or not? There was more, but she
thought to do them later. Listening carefully, she heard a bit of mumbling, a
few snatches of conversation she couldn't make out. Then came what she was here
for. A lie.
"Ronnie,
ya know, I think we'd better run through that story we made up last night, just
once to get it perfect, if Liz doesn't believe us she might curse us again. And
we'll also need our wands. Okay, what's the story again?" Greg's slightly
muffled voice. Ronnie replied easily, "Okay, we were out together for a
friendly dinner when we met your cousin David, who mocked us and said that if
we really cared about Liz then we'd do it, just once, and he would leave us
alone and not carry out his threat, that he would curse Liz for fun. He's the
type that thinks that it would be funny if she walked in, and she did. And the
whole point was to keep her from getting cursed cuz we cared so much." It
sounded like they'd been rehearsing for a long time already, probably the whole
night. And Liz knew that Greg and Ronnie were both extremely good actors and
actresses. If she hadn't heard all this, maybe she would have believed it. But
now she knew the whole thing, and she wasn't going to fall for it. "Oh
yeah, Greg, and we gotta pretend to cry a bit too, to make it more
realistic." "Ok, let's clean up now, we don't want any clues around
when she arrives. And remember, if she starts to do anything too drastic, stun
her." Liz hid her wand under her jacket. If she was gonna go there, might
as well look vulnerable and trusting. That way they wouldn't stun her as fast
and she'd be able to freeze them with the Impediment curse and something else,
possibly. Taking a deep breath, she thought, If they aren't done cleaning up,
too bad, maybe I'll catch them at something. She rang the doorbell, and an
instant later, the door opened, and Ronnie was smiling as nervously as
possible. Greg hung his head and Liz sat at her usual chair in front of the TV.
"Ok Liz," Ronnie started. "I just wanna say sorry for everythin'
we did again. If you'd let us explain...." Liz just nodded mutely.
"Ok, we were out for a friendly dinner last week, when I first arrived,
and we sorta bumped into Greg's cousin David...and he's the one who'd do
anything to hurt people...and Liz..." Ronnie began to stammer and cry.
"He said that if me and Greg didn't do it then he'd...he'd curse you and
make you join the death eaters, he'd kidnap you or something, no matter who was
in the way! And Greg and I were so scared, cuz you mean so much to us, and we
didn't want anythin' to happen to you!" Ronnie totally broke down, tears
streaming down her face. Might as well play the forgiving betrayed friend. Liz
grumbled to herself, but kept her face straight. "It's ok Ronnie, I
totally understand, I wish I hadn't blown up so fast. Thank you." Ronnie
looked up. "You're forgiving us?" She asked, with a perfectly
surprised face. "Yes." Liz answered firmly. "But now I know the
reason, I still have to go home, I have a meeting to attend, cause I got
promoted a while ago." Greg finally spoke. "Congrats Liz. I'm
proud." "Ok," Liz said easily, "But I have to go. See you
guys later." She backed up to the door, but just as she was about to close
it, she turned back and called to them. "Oh, I almost forgot! I do suppose
I should take off the curse, yes?" They nodded hopefully. "Well,
guess what? I should tell you something. But first...Petrificus Totalus!"
She waved her wand at Greg and Ronnie, and they instantaneously fell rigid onto
the floor. She walked over and knelt above them. "I didn't tell you, did
I, that I heard you two rehearsing that story at 7:30. And if you must know,
I've been hidden outside the door all this time. So just to tell you, next time
you wanna lie about something, be less public. And don't do it while you're
doing it on the couch, it doesn't mix." Then she turned and walked away
without even bothering to un-body bind them.
(A/N:
Review please, and if you like it I might just continue...even if you don't
I'll continue anyway, don't wanna just throw away the idea...)
