Chapter 4

The common room was filled with people the next morning. When all the girls were up and dressed, they began to climb town the spiral staircase. Upon reaching the bottom floor, a bunch of students, older than themselves threw questions at Demi. There were weird ones, like the rumor that she was a ghost, to ones that hit her close to home (maybe her parents don't want her?). Demi quickly climbed out of the portrait hole and slipped down the staircase to the Great Hall.

"Wait up Demi" said Lily, her face flushed from having to chase after her friend" we need to talk to you."

"I know but there's someone else I need to tell the truth to, and if I don't, then I would hate myself forever and so would they!" she said back. She vanished in to the Great Hall and came back five minutes later with a stack of toast in one hand, and a jug of milk in the other. She turned around and stuck her head back into the Great Hall and said to someone that they couldn't see "I don't care, just get him off his butt and meet us by the beech tree near the lake in 5 minutes, or I'll get him myself." Her head emerged and she turned to the group and said, "let's go to the lake, and eat, it's a lot more quiet and peaceful than it is in there. The four girls spun around and opened up the Great Oak doors and made their way to the tree that Demi was yelling about. They sat down in the grass and began to eat their toast in silence.

Lily looked at Demi. She looked at ease with herself, despite what happened yesterday. They were like that for a few more minutes until they heard he crunching of grass under feet and they whipped their heads around. Lily could not believe her eyes. James, Peter, Remus, and to her surprise Sirius were making their way towards them. James, peter and Remus seemed confused at why they were there, but the look on Sirius' face told Lily all she needed to know about the situation. Maybe Demi needs to tell him that she's sorry? But maybe there's the chance that . . . oh my goodness! Sirius is the person that she had to apologize to! Lily turned to Demi, about to confirm her suspicions, but Demi had gotten up and walked over to the four boys.

"Hey guys" she said smiling.

"Hi" said James, Peter and Remus. Sirius had just stood at the back of the group with is head down and mumbled a just audible "'lo"

"Okay, then. I just wanted everyone that I think that ought to know the truth here, this way I only have to tell the story once, and you guys all know that each of you, you know, know the truth. What I'm about to tell you cannot leave this little group or I will never talk to you again. Understood?" she asked.

Everyone looked at the thin, scrawny girl, but they could tell by her face that she was dead serious. "Okay" was said by everyone as they each sat down and made themselves comfortable.

"The story is a little long and I'll answer any questions you have at the end, alright?" everyone nodded their heads. "Okay, here we go. When I was a baby, my parents, from what Professor Dumbledore told me were dead. I don't know how or why, he just told me and I believed him. Before he found me I was alone, in London, wandering the streets, stealing food, using magic (I couldn't control it back then), and basically trying to survive. Now, when I was about 4, Dumbledore found me on Christmas, trying to get away from some street dogs. I used magic and, you know apparated." Seeing the look on Lily, Peter, and Remus' face, she added "it means I transported from one place to another. I was a kid and I didn't have much power so I managed to apparate just to the top of some tall bins. Dumbledore saw this and he took me away from London, he brought me here. To Hogwarts. He explained to me that I was a witch. Of course, growing up on the streets, I didn't know about muggles or their fear of magic. He explained the entire world of magic to me. Of course, he couldn't just toss me to another wizarding family, not many would be so keen to take a filthy child that could neither read nor write into their house. I also needed to be treated at the time, you know medically, to make sure I was healthy and didn't have any diseases. He handed me over to Madame Trillium, the old matron. She declared me healthy and that was it. I didn't have a place to live, and no one wanted to take me in, so Professor Dumbledore kept me here in the castle. Throughout the summers I would stay here, with him, and in the school year I would stay with my uncle Aberforth, Dubledore's brother. When I would stay at the castle with Professor Dumbledore, he would teach me magic, you know, charms, potions, transfiguration, especially Defence against the Dark Arts, for this was when Voldemort (James, Sirius, Remus, Alice, Kiaria, and Peter shuddered) was roaming around and he was not so kind to stragglers like me. Aberforth taught me the basics throughout the rest of the year, like Maths, literature, art, that stuff. Then, when I turned eleven, Dumbledore sent me to Diagon Alley to get my school stuff. I had to wait for him to pick me up and I was taken by the Death Eaters. They took me hostage, because they thought Dumbledore would come rushing to save me, and they would be able to kill him. The trouble is, they only saw me as a little girl and didn't think to see if I was dangerous enough or magically gifted enough to save myself," she smiled at the memory.

"How can you be thinking about such a sad thing and still be happy?" asked Sirius.

"Well, back then I wasn't that scared, I knew how to get away. But the guarantee that I would manage to get away, that scared me. They did the usual stuff, you know, Cruciatus curse, Imperius curse, try to make me obey them, tried out experiments of their own making" she said simply.

"But how did you manage to get away from all that?" asked James, dumbfounded that someone his age had to fight all this.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore taught me how to fight of the Imperious, it just never occurred to him that they would use the Cruciatus curse on a child" she deadpanned.

"Wait" said Remus, "how long were you in there?"

"About a two, two and half months" she said. Everyone that knew of the war looked grave. "Continuing on, so I managed to confund the two Death Eaters that came to get me one day, and they helped me escape. Mind you I had to keep casting the spell, it was very weak. I managed to get back to Hogwarts and Madame Pomfrey came to patch me up, and I stayed here until school started this year."

"But you were on the train to Hogwarts?" asked Lily, "Why would you go on the train if you were already here?"

"Partly the tradition of going up to the school on the boats, partly the fact that the train ride seemed so cool and well, I had to do it, and then there was the fact that people would notice that I wasn't on the train, but lived here" she gestured towards the castle.

"Oh, I get it, "said Alice.

"You poor thing, I feel terrible" cooed Kiaria.

"I didn't tell you the story to gain sympathy from you all, and don't show me any. I managed to get away and I am safe, that's all that matters. I told you the story to clarify a few things, to come clean to all of you" she looked at everyone, her eyes lingered on Sirius for a little longer. "That's the end of that story, do you've any questions?" she asked politely.

Everyone shook their heads, and proceeded to go up to the castle. Demi decided to stay back for a while, she wanted to mull things over and make sure what she did was the right thing. The girls knew how she must be feeling and steered the boys over towards the entrance to the castle.

"That's it then?" she heard a voice say. She whipped her head around and saw Sirius standing under the beech tree, looking at her, "you've told us everything? Nothing more to add?" he asked her

She hesitated for a moment, there was one thing, but Dumbledore had told her not to tell anyone. She shook her head and said "no, that is all."

Sirius came a couple steps closer to her and said "I never really realized that you went through so much, and here I was giving you a hard time. I'm sorry, for everything" he held out a hand.

Demi smiled and instead, gave him a hug, which he returned. "Let's head back up to the castle" she said.

They both ran up the hill, and when they reached the doors, Sirius held them open for her. He looked back and the gardens and the lake, all displayed down the hill. He'd never really noticed how beautiful this place was.