New Beginnings

Chapter 5 – The Talk Part 2

'Alright so let's start with who the people are.' She pulled out two pictures. One with many of the people I saw at the station and then some, and the other was older and had a mix of people who were not family, but very close. These people were not as happy as the one of the Weasley family, they seemed to be scared of something, even behind the smiles they had on their faces.

'This is our family, obviously, The Weasleys. They are all huge players in this story. Uncle Harry, he was raised by his muggle aunt and uncle. They were really mean people and though he was a freak because they thought that magic was unnatural. When he got on the train he met Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, soon the three were nearly inseparable. As the year progressed Harry learned that he was famous. As a baby, the most evil wizard that the world has ever seen, Lord Voldemort, attacked Harry and his parents at their home. His parents died in the attack due to the killing curse, and when Lord Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry, the curse rebounded and killed Voldemort instead. Harry became a hero to the wizarding world, even though he didn't know it for ten years. With me so far?'

All I could do was nod, I was so wrapped up in this story and it was only just beginning.

'Good. So that year the philosopher's stone was hidden at Hogwarts behind many enchantments and barriers that should have kept even the most talented wizard and witches away. The trio, Harry, Ron and Hermione, managed to get through them all when they believed that Professor Snape, their not so nice potions master was attempting to get it. They thought ill of the wrong professor and it was there DADA professor, Quirrel was his name I think, he wanted the stone and had Lord Voldemort living inside him. It's hard to explain how but it will become clearer through the story that Voldemort would stop at nothing to become human again. That was the second time that Uncle Harry defeated Voldemort.'

'Wait he did all that in his first year?' The question was out of my mount before I could stop it,

They both laughed before Teddy picked up the story where it left off.

'I think those were similar to my thoughts when I first heard this story. over the summer after their first year the trio was separated and Harry hadn't received a single letter from his friends all summer. Obviously he was feeling upset that they didn't want to see him when suddenly a house elf appeared in his room and basically told him that Hogwarts was not safe this year and that he shouldn't go back. The house elf had stolen all his letters and gifts that his friends had sent him. Before he left the house elf got Harry in trouble with his aunt and uncle, hoping that if they were made then they would not allow him to go back to Hogwarts. Ron, Fred and George all came to get him shortly after this in Grandpa Arthur's flying car and took him to The Burrow. It was..'

'Did you say a flying car? They actually exist? Do they still have it? Can I see it?'

Laughter rang through the room once more and Teddy claimed that it is still in the shed at The Burrow.

'Just don't tell Nana, she'd give Grandpa a scolding like no other. Anyways it was Aunt Gin's first year that year and so everyone headed to Diagon Ally. They ran into another old wizarding family, the Malfoy's. The younger Malfoy was in Harry's year and they had never gotten along. Malfoy's father, Lucius, slipped a diary into Ginny's stack of books and the group left without knowing. She wrote in the diary and it wrote back and gave her advice, the diary called himself Tom. Throughout the year the trio was dealing with some things, during a dueling club meeting people heard Harry talking to a snake in Parseltongue, snake language. This has only been done by dark wizards, the last being Voldemort himself. The Chamber of Secrets was opened that year as well and everyone automatically thought that it was Harry who had opened it due to this 'gift'. Whatever was held within the Chamber was petrifying Muggleborns and even Mrs. Norris, that really old cat the caretaker has. After a year of these attacks, there was a message left a hallway in blood. I think it said 'Her body will lie in the Chamber forever'. That was it right Vic?'

'I think it was skeleton, not body, but close enough…'

'Ok anyways, after Harry and Ron saw this, oh Hermione was petrified! I almost forgot that was why she wasn't there. So once the boys saw the teachers around this, one of them informed the others that the girl in the girl in the Chamber was Gin. Needless to say they thought with their hearts and not their heads. They went to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom to ask her where the entrance to the Chamber was; since she had died the last time it was opened. She pointed to where the Basilisk, a really big snake, came out of the sinks. It was the entrance. Harry and Ron had dragged their wimpy DADA teacher with them. Once in the chamber the teacher tried to leave them and erase their memories, but he stole Uncle Ron's wand which had been broken all year. The spell back fired and shot the professor into the wall causing the ceiling to collapse and split up the pair. Harry continued into the Chamber and saw Gin lying there nearly dead. Then he saw a young man with her. It was Tom, he later became Lord Voldemort. So harry was forced to fight a huge basilisk by himself, but Dumbledore's phoenix brought him a sword that belonged to Godric Gryffindor himself and Harry stabbed the basilisk killing it, but he was bitten in the process. Gin woke up after Harry destroyed the diary by stabbing it with the fang that was in his arm. Fawkes, the phoenix cried on him and healed the wounds, see phoenix tears have healing powers. After they were done in the Chamber Harry set that house elf, Dobby was his name, free from the Malfoy's. They were his masters. Still following?'

Oh yeah, I was following alright. 'This story seems impossible. How could one twelve year old handle all this drama and action? No one can live through that much. I'm sorry but Mr. Potter seemed perfectly fine when I meant him. He wouldn't be like that if this was true!'

'Chelsea I swear to you this is all true. I wanted you in the Pack because I knew you would bring reason to us, just like Aunt Hermione did to the trio. Merlin knows we need reason and logic sometimes, especially the boys. When I saw you ready to leave the only thing that made you smile the whole day, I knew you were it. You're selfless and you put family first and that is what we are all about. We keep others away usually because they usually don't understand that. But you do. The only people in the Pack other than family are people who have been around since before we were here. The children we had play dates with and heard the stories we are telling just like we did. They understand why we are the way we are. Why we put family before everything else. It's because you can lose them so quickly. Fred, the brother that flew the flying car to Harry's house, he died fighting in the final battle against Voldemort. Percy, Molly and Lucy's dad, he turned his back on the family because they believed Harry once Voldemort came back in his fourth year. He only came back to them right before the battle where his brother died. The first one to accept him back was Fred. Uncle Percy to this day has never forgiven himself for turning on family. That's why we protect ourselves by keeping people who can make us lose the most important thing to us away. We don't invite the girls that the boys have as flings into the pack or usually the people in the dorms with us. They don't understand unless they have seen firsthand what losing the ones you love can do to a person or a family. I can see your family has similar values to ours and I can also see that you have lost someone close to you and that has helped you make your own Pack. I could tell Al saw that too and that's why we accepted you into ours. It's obvious your Pack isn't here and we invited you to ours. We will protect you in our Pack just like your Pack did for you before. But we can't do that if you doubt us and our history. You have to know why we became the way we are, because if you don't understand you can't accept our flaws and quirks and that won't create the unity we need. I promise you we aren't lying to you. Do you promise not to doubt us?'

Victorie's speech left me shocked. People died fighting this monster Voldemort. People in their own family none the less. People they miss even though it seems like they have never met them. How could I doubt Victorie and Teddy when the two of them had tears in their eyes after that speech? They lost people that they love and that was something that I could understand whole heartedly.

'I trust you, and I'm sorry for ever doubting you. Please continue the story.'

As the two spoke the story got more intense. Fugitives and tournaments, dragons and war. The whole thing was too much for one person. But it wasn't just one person was it. It was a family, much like the Pack itself. I saw it, the reason for their secrecy. People could not be trusted, because most of the time they abused that trust. Like Peter who literally ratted out his friends to their enemy, or Professor Moody who was actually a death eater on a potion, impersonating the great auror. They were both trusted and turned out to be nothing but fakes. Family were the only ones you could ever trust.

The hardest story to listen to was the final one though. The trio was on the run finding pieces of Voldemort's soul. No connection to what was happening. The war itself was an insane thought. I could have easily been killed in it due to my blood status. The final battle was a heartbreaking story. Teddy had been telling the story but had to stop midway because of his emotions. His own parents had died; I couldn't imagine losing my parents before I could even remember them. He could barely sit up on his own before he was orphaned by the war. Fred had died as well as many other students that were barely old enough to fight.

The believability of the story was in their eyes and their emotions. I hung on their every word and the meaning of this whole meeting clicked. They needed to trust me like they trusted each other. I could not take the pain of this story anymore and decided it was time I told my own.

Hopefully it would help them see why I am the way I am, just as their story did for me.