We all jumped up to join Mrs. Weasley by the door and ran to see if it was really Percy Weasley.
It was.
And he was standing in the doorway with Rufus Scrimgeour. "Percy here wanted to come by and see the family," Rufus said smiling, clasping Percy on the shoulder.
Mrs. Weasley was smothering him with hugs. The rest of the family seemed hesitant to say anything, and Percy didn't seem to mind. He looked rather uncomfortable, and seeing the look in Rufus's eyes, I suspected he didn't want to come at all.
Rufus looked around at all of us. "Well, I don't want to butt in on this obvious emotional family moment. Ah, Haile, you are an outsider as well. Why don't you come for a walk with me?"
So this is what this is all about. I nodded, even though Lupin shot a look at me. "Haile…"
"It's okay," I said, walking towards the door.
Rufus led me around to the garden. "Ah, Haile. Finally meeting you! It's such a pleasure. You are even more stunning in person."
"Thank you," I said indifferently.
"I must tell you the reason why I wanted to talk to you so bad," Scrimgeour said right away. He apparently did want to beat around the bush. "There's been rumors flying, Haile. You being the Chosen One. Now, I'm sure you and Dumbledore have talked about it."
"Yes, we have, and no, I'm not telling you anything."
Scrimgeour surprisingly laughed. "I thought you'd be difficult. Dumbledore's trained you well."
My eyes flared. "Actually, I'm not too fond of the Ministry. I've been reading the papers, Minister. Locking up people for no reason, just to make it seem like you're doing something? And not to mention last year, when the Ministry made me out to be a fool, an attention-seeking prat, and Dolores Umbridge made my life miserable. So, if you want the truth, Minister, I want nothing to do with you or the Ministry."
Scrimgeour looked taken aback. "Well, Haile, I've come to ask you a favor." Before I could protest, he went on, "If not for the Ministry, do it for the wizarding world. They look to you as a symbol of hope, Haile, that someday Voldemort will be defeated. I want you to come into the Ministry, and stand alongside us."
"Absolutely not," I said, shaking my heads. "I'm not going to lie to the wizarding world, just like you told them I was last year. I'm not going to cooperate with you."
"Can you tell me anything about Dumbledore's frequent disappearances?"
"Nope."
"Dumbledore's girl through and through, huh?"
"You got it. Now, leave me and him alone." And I went back inside, turning my back on the Minister of Magic.
Upon returning back at Hogwarts, I sought out Hermione immediately. I hugged her tightly. "HERMIONE!" I cried. "I missed you…"
Ron came up behind us. "Hello, Hermione."
"Ron."
They looked at each other for a few moments, and Ron said, "Look, Hermione I'm really—"
"WON-WON!" Lavender Brown came out of nowhere and tackled him, kissing him passionately right in front of Hermione's face.
I smacked my forehead. Not again.
Hermione walked away numbly, and took a seat on the couch. I perched next to her. "Dumbledore sent me an owl that he wanted to see me tonight in his office," I told her.
"Did he?" Hermione asked me, happy to be distracted. "I'll wait up for you again."
"Thanks," I said. "Well, I better head up. It's getting late. Are you going to be okay here?"
"Yes, just go," Hermione said, distractedly, searching for a book in her book bag.
I left the common room. The reason why I was leaving so early was because I hoped I would see someone, a certain someone, on my way.
I deliberately took the longer way and walked past the Slytherin corridor. As luck—or fate—would have it, I saw Draco walking with Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Blaize to the common room.
I froze, unsure if I should go up to him or not. Pansy spotted me first. "Oh, it's Potter," she sneered. "Don't tell me you left me for her, Draco." She snorted with laughter.
"Oh, Pansy, you're still not hung up about the stupid break-up," Blaize said, rolling his eyes. "Get the hell over it."
Pansy stormed into the common room, furious. Blaize raised his eyebrows at me. "So, what are you doing here, Potter?"
"Just passing by," I said, not taking my eyes off Draco Malfoy. He was hotter than I remembered. The butterflies in my stomach were flying around madly.
I wanted to jump on him, take of all his clothes, and—SHIT, what was I thinking?! Control yourself, Haile Potter.
"Go on, I'll be a second," Draco said to his boys, trying to keep his cool, but his voice almost shaking. "Really, I just have a little something to discuss."
Blaize shrugged, and with one last look at me, climbed into the common room after Crabbe and Goyle. Once they were gone, Malfoy rushed at me.
He took me up in his arms, and kissed me, hard, on the mouth. "It was so hard being away from you," he said, huskily. "You were all I thought about."
"I thought about you all the time, too," I told him. I broke away from our embrace to look in his eyes. "Especially at night."
He looked at me, imploringly, incredulously, hungry. "Haile…I don't want you to regret anything."
"I know," I told him. "I know." I reached up and kissed him again, softer this time. "I won't regret anything."
I led him around the corner to a small corridor, and we kissed there for what seemed like ever. I let him put his hands on me. I wanted to feel his hands on me.
I finally made him pull away, take his hands off me, detach his lips from mine. I didn't want to be late for Dumbledore, but I didn't tell Draco where I was going. I know, I know, trust and honesty are the most important in a normal, healthy relationship, but our relationship was anything but normal or healthy.
I hurried to Dumbledore. "Hi," I said breathlessly, letting myself in the office. "How was your Christmas?"
Dumbledore smiled pleasantly. "Very enjoyable. I hear you met the Minister of Magic on yours."
"I did, indeed," I said, licking my lips. "He tried to get information out of me, and asked me to join the Ministry as a…a mascot, or something, but I didn't comply. I was very loyal." I smiled happily.
"Thank you very much, Haile. It really does mean a lot to me. Do you by any means need chap stick, my dear?"
I had been absent-mindedly rubbing my chapped lips. Kissing Draco so much had its negative points, but they were so, so worth it. I immediately shook my head rigorously to Dumbledore. "No, sir," I said quickly.
"Well, then," Dumbledore said, his eyes amused, "let's begin. Two more memories to see tonight. We last left Riddle as just a boy, beginning Hogwarts. He was intriguing to most people, and the teachers all loved him. He was a very good-looking boy, and very unusually talented, too. He acquired over time a group of followers, many of whom became the first Death Eaters."
The first memory that Dumbledore and I visited was of Morfin's, Voldemort mother's brother, when Tom Riddle came back to visit the Gaunt house for information about his parentage. Lord Voldemort learned of his father, and Dumbledore explained to me after that it was the same night in which he killed his father, and his grandparents. Morfin confessed to the murder after some magic being done by Voldemort.
The second memory was of Professor Slughorn's, back in the day when Voldemort was still in school. He asked him about Horcruxes, a term I was unfamiliar with. Slughorn refused to tell him anything, but I could tell the memory had been tampered with.
When we were finished, Dumbledore said to me, "You must understand, to retrieve the real memory is of vital importance. This where you come in, Haile. I need you to retrieve the memory from Slughorn and come back to me with it when you do. Until then, we will postpone lessons."
I nodded. "I'll do it, Professor Dumbledore."
Ron and Hermione were surprised at my task. Ron, however, was optimistic. "You won't have a problem," he told me easily.
Hermione hadn't heard of the term 'Horcrux' and it was really getting to her. "Must have read it somewhere…no…I just don't know!" she kept saying over and over.
Meanwhile, besides trying to find the right time to ask Slughorn about the memory, I was trying to get my two best friends to be friends again. First, I had to get Ron to dump Lavender.
"Look, Ron, I know you're not happy. I mean, I bet the snogging is fun and everything, but where is this relationship going? Get real."
"I know, mate, but how am I going to lose her?" Ron asked me desperately. "I've wanted to break up for weeks, but I don't know how."
"You're hopeless. Just tell her that you don't think it's working out. Say that it's you, and that she's an amazing girl. Do what you gotta!"
Ron complied, and finally, one day, I saw Lavender crying on Parvati's shoulder. I figured he must've done it.
I told Hermione right away. She shrugged. "Great," she said, her head buried in a book.
But over the next week, Ron and Hermione began talking again, slowly but surely.
By the next Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, Hermione wished him good luck playing quite cheerfully.
We won the game, of course, and after, I met Malfoy. I had been seeing him secretly, stealing kisses in between classes in abandoned classrooms or corridors.
Malfoy and I were not a perfect couple, if that's what you'd call us. We still bickered like we used to – maybe even worse than we used to – but our passion and fierceness were intensified by our new said feelings for each other. It just made kissing him that much better.
I was ready for more with him though. I don't know really why I wanted to. I mean, he was a Death Eater. Why did I want to make myself emotionally vulnerable to him? But I did.
I was still busy, trying to get the memory from Slughorn. I didn't know how to ask him though. He'd know what I was up to if I tried to just ask him. I needed a plan, I needed a good day when he was in a good mood… I needed a bit of luck.
A couple weeks later, Ron, Hermione, and I received a letter from Hagrid. It was spotted with tearstains. Aragog had died finally. And he was having a burial, and he invited us to come that night.
"Sneaking out," Hermione said shaking her head. "We'll be lucky not to get caught."
"All the times we've been out?" Ron disagreed.
I snapped my fingers. "That's it! Lucky! I'm going to take my lucky potion today and get Slughorn to tell me the memory!"
I waited until around dinnertime. That way it would last us to go to Hagrid's too. I took a mouthful with an excited feeling inside of me.
Ron and Hermione watched me anxiously. "How do you feel?" Hermione asked eagerly.
I thought for a second. "Brilliant." I felt like I could do anything. It was an amazing feeling. I could get the memory from Slughorn easily, it was a piece of cake.
"Well—I'm going down to Hagrid's," I told Ron and Hermione confidently. "I'll see you later."
They looked alarmed. "What."
"I'm going to the burial," I said. "You two stay here. I've got a good feeling about this. Okay?"
They shrugged. "I hope Felix knows what he's doing," Ron said, looking uneasy.
I stood from the Great Hall, and walked out confidently. I felt elated, high, amazing, strong, beautiful…
I hurried down to Hagrid's without a second thought.
You all know how the burial goes. Hagrid is heartbroken, I'm there to comfort him, Slughorn happens to show up, Hagrid and Slughorn drink together, and I sit there patiently waiting. Finally, I persuade Slughorn.
"When you see this, Haile," Slughorn said, his drunken eyes swollen and sad, "please don't think too horribly of me."
I walked back to the castle under my Invisibility Cloak with pride. I had retrieved the memory! I couldn't wait to tell Dumbledore. I knew it was late, but he'd want to know I got the memory.
I just knew he would.
