DISCLAIMER- While I wish I was brilliant enought to think up HP, JK Rowling did that, so I am not taking any credit for any of her amazing characters, places or things. Its all hers!
AN: Hey guys! So I dont particularly like this first chapter, but I had to start sommewhere, and I hope you all bare with me through it. It is strangly confusing, but I also wanted it to be like that for a little bit. Seeing as this it the first real chapter, I would like to tell you guys that life is a bit hecktic, and so I can not promise super fast updates, but I will try to at least get one in a week!
Also if you guys have any thoughts or ideas about how and where I should take this fanfic I would love to hear it! Your feedback gives me hope! lol...ok...I think that is all so happy reading!
There are two tales of what happened at Godric's Hollow. One that has been told, and one that is known true, and they are not the same.
Harry read the parchment as if it were the only text in the Black family library. It felt as if he had only just discovered the parchment in the photo book when, in fact, it had been over a year now. Once more he read the lines, smiling at the neat cursive handwriting, and then repeated the words aloud.
"Still on that?" Ron held a bag of ice to his head and slumped lower in the armchair, groaning about the pounding in his head. Earlier that day he had picked a fight with a very well-known Quidditch player. You can guess who won.
"It means something." Harry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Sirius would not have left it for me if it wasn't"
"Not to be an ass, but there are more important things to be thinking about right now." Ron said in a small voice. He stared into the fire and remembered all that had gone down in this short time, all of the friends they had already lost.
"Maybe Arthur would know something." Hermione could see the importance in Harry's eyes, even if she could not see it herself. "And if it helps, I'll even do a little digging myself."
"Maybe. Thanks Hermione," Harry smiled weakly and tucked the paper back into the book. "but Ron is right. Now isn't the time. Malfoy will be here any second."
"Does he have to come every single time?" Ginny spoke through gritted teeth
"Good to see you too Weasel-brat." Draco smirked at the ginger and took a seat in a plush armchair, crossing his leg casually. Not even the Order would change her mind about Draco Malfoy. He remembered the night on the Astronomy Tower. When Voldemort had instructed him to kill his headmaster, Draco was overwhelmed with fear. He knew that if he did not finish the task, the Dark Lord would kill him. Dumbledore knew this as well, so, the headmaster offered him a way out, and Harry heard it all. With the help of Snape, Draco would become a spy, listening in on meetings and uncovering information that would lead to Voldemort's demise.
For months, Draco did his best to pass information onto the Order, and over time became a trusted member. Not only did he reveal Death Eaters within the Ministry, but gained the Order the loyalty of the Centaurs, which would come in great need during the war. He went to extreme measures to insure the defeat of Voldemort by secretly instilling hints for Harry, Hermione, and Ron to discover in order to find the remaining horcruxes and while they would never admit it, the golden trio owed their lives to the Slytherin. "Remember asking me to keep my ears open about those murder cases?"
Ron perked up. Only four weeks ago Cho Chang had been found dead in her home, with the dark mark burned in the floor next to her body. The case went directly to the trio, and they had been keeping the case a secret from most of the Ministry for all that time. Since then, two more bodies have been found, Dean Thomas and Parvati Patil. Draco nodded and opened the folder he walked in with and tossed it down on the coffee table between them.
"We are up to four."
Hermione's face turned sullen as she looked down at the file. Neville Longbottom had always been her friend. He was sweet, and while he started out struggling with the confidence behind his spells, he really came into himself during the last years at Hogwarts. He became a truly brilliant wizard, and it saddened her to his face in that file.
"And there was a dark mark?" Ron leaned on his elbows and tried to read Malfoy's messy scratch.
"It was just like all the others." Harry walked to the mantel and looked at the picture of Dumbledore's Army, paying particular notice to Neville. "Torture, most physical, then death by Avada, with the dark mark burned into the ground next to him."
"The wand used was owned by a mister James Avok. A half-blood who died last month of natural causes." Hermione took a deep breath and sat defeatedly down on the sofa.
"So far all that links the victims is the fact that they were all a part of Dumbledore's Army." Ron took the file in his hands and leaned back into his chair, putting his feet up on the coffee table. "Last seen coming out of his office with a Ministry official."
"What would he be doing with a ministry official?" Hermione looked puzzled.
"Not catching up on the latest ministry news." Ginny narrowed her eyes at Draco, and shot him an unconvincing smile. Like Ron, she wasn't too keen on believing his 'spy for the order' crap. "I talked to Hannah. He wasn't even supposed to be at Hogwarts. They had an appointment that day, and he was supposed to take her."
The room went quiet as everyone remembered that Neville's wife Hannah was pregnant. Even Draco felt bad for the bloke.
"And you haven't heard anything Malfoy?" Hermione asked in a small voice. Even though the war was over, Draco kept a close ear to those who were still loyal to Voldemort. Because of him, the Ministry was able to stop two attacks, one of which was on the muggle Prime Minister.
"From what I am hearing, it is not an organized group making these attacks." He poured himself a glass of fire whiskey and smiled. "There are plenty taking credit though."
"And?" Harry inquired even though he was not completely hopeful of finding a lead. Death Eaters would say anything to boast about their loyalty to the Dark Lord.
"No such luck." Malfoy slammed his small drink, and Harry hung his head. This was never going to be over.
...
With her simple hawthorn wand, she levitated the small scraps of paper from, so they floated above her like snow in the air as a small smile tugged at the corners of her lips. At her feet, the old grey cat jumped at the flying pieces of paper as if she were still a playful kitten, and the sight of it made the auburn-haired girl giggle. Then with a small flick of her wrist, the paper flew into the fire where they began to burn bright before quickly disappearing. Peacefully she sat there, watching the flames dance in the fire. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine what her life would be like if fate had been kinder, but she was torn. She loved her life here, but longed for the world outside these thin cottage walls.
"Why is it that I always find you like this?" Draco chuckled softly, placing a kiss on the top of her head before sitting on the couch behind her.
"Your back early." She magically turned the volume of the record player up and joined Draco on the couch, putting her head in his lap.
"Anything interesting today?" He looked down at her, noticing the small freckles on her nose that seemed to get darker as the summer went on. He ran his hands through her curls playfully, watching the way they changed color in the light of the fire.
"Afraid not." She sighed and forced a little giggle. She sat up and kissed the tip of his nose quickly, as if she moved fast enough he would not see her coming.
"Potter found that little note of yours." He smiled at her and waited for her reaction.
"He did?" she pretended not to be all giddy inside as she looked up at him, but she kicked her feet in the air with excitement.
"Don't even…"
"Why won't you tell me what he is like?" She got up and squirmed like a child, who was about to burst with energy. "Just one, little thing."
Draco rolled his eyes and leaned his head back in defeat. He felt as if he had this conversation with her every single day. It was exhausting. Ella moved so that she was sitting cross legged on the cushion next to him, giving him the best puppy eyes she could manage, even sticking her lip out just a bit.
"I am very bias." He stated flatly. "But I will say, he has a bloody death wish or something. In all the years I have known him, he has never once ran away from danger."
" Most people call that bravery." She chuckled
"Typical Gryffindor he is." He rolled his eyes and with a flick of his wand, apparated a book. The grey cat had made its way onto his lap, and even though he hated the darn thing, slowly he stroked its soft fur.
"Would I have been a Gryffindor you think?" She leaned her head on his shoulder and stared into the fire.
"I suppose so." He smiled at her, even though she could not see it.
"Do you think you would have hated me, like you did Harry?" She was all full of serious questions tonight. Ella had only known Draco since the start of his 6th year at school, when he first became involved with You Know Who, yet she felt as if she knew him better than anyone else in the world. In a way that was true. Ella got to see the raw and changed Draco. Everyone else saw him before he became the better man, and they didn't try to see otherwise.
"I didn't hate…well…" He tried to chuckle, but it seemed close to impossible. He remembered the way he was at school, how awfully nasty he was, to almost everyone. He was sure it would have been no different with Ella. She was a half-blood, and in that time, that made her the scum on his shoes. Draco had changed since then. When he joined Snape and the rest of the Order, he put all that behind him, but it was hard. For so many years he had seen half-bloods, and mud bloods as inferior, but Ella had really helped him see that they were all the same.
"Think I'll meet him someday?" She whispered. She knew the rules, and Harry would never meet her until he learned of her name, that's just how it had to be. Draco smiled, thinking of what happened earlier. Hermione would figure it out. She was brilliant, well that's what everyone else thought.
"I'm sure you will. "