Life, Love, and Family
Chapter 13: Deception and Changes
Harry, Ava, and Kingsley came to a stop by a glass window. The nurse turned around to look at them.
"This is her room. She's dressed in a special type of suit. It is to keep her from doing magic, even Soliopathy," she said. Ava and Harry turned to peer inside the room. They could not see anything. The garish white lights were almost blinding in the all white room. Kingsley stepped up next to Ava.
"Where is she?" he asked. Harry looked at Ava.
"She's definitely inside of there; I can feel her mind signature. She's sitting beside the window, out of sight. She probably knows exactly where it is, too. Harry, this is your cue," Ava said. Harry nodded. The nurse unlocked the door with her wand and Harry stepped inside.
Once he entered, Harry saw a flash of red and blonde hair. Vasha, dressed in a white bodysuit, was sitting on the ground. The only skin that was visible was Vasha's face; her fingers and feet were covered with the cloth of the bodysuit. Harry walked around to face her. Vasha had not even acknowledged her presence.
"Vasha?" Harry said. Vasha did not move. Harry tried to see through her hair. "Vasha?" he repeated. Vasha raised her head ever-so-slightly. Her good eye glared at him. The rest of her hair covered the right side of her face.
"Uncle Harry," she whispered. Harry nodded.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Vasha continued to look down. Harry could not see her good eye very well. He could not tell what she looked like.
"Do I look okay?" she mumbled in an irritated voice. Harry blinked with genuine shock on his face. Vasha was never impudent with him. She continued to stare at the floor. Harry walked closer to her and held out his hand. Vasha did not move.
"Come from that corner, Vasha," he said. Vasha scooted backwards, as if she was trying to meld into the wall. For all intents and purposes, Vasha was one with the wall.
"I don't want to move," she muttered. Harry did not remove his hand.
"You have to come out of there some time, Vasha. Your parents are worried about you," he said. Vasha sighed but did not look up.
"Where are they? I want to see my father," she said.
"You have to talk to someone first, Vasha," Harry said. He knew that she was about to blow up.
"I want to see my father," she repeated in a tone Harry had never heard her use before. "I don't want to talk to anyone else until I see Dad and Mum."
"You have to talk to these people or they will not let you see your father or your mother, Vasha," Harry tried to explain to her. He heard Vasha sigh.
"Fine," she said. Harry blinked, thoroughly shocked. He hadn't expected her to cave in so easily. Vasha took his hand. Harry pulled her up. Vasha walked to the other end of the room and faced the window.
Ava watched the 12-year-old look at the window. She knew Vasha couldn't see her. To Vasha, it should've looked like a wall. Ava stared at Vasha. She was looking directly into Ava's eyes. Ava blinked. There was no way Vasha could possibly see her, yet, somehow, the preteen was staring directly at her.
"She's looking directly at me," she whispered. Kingsley looked in Ava's direction.
"What are you talking about? On the other side, this is just a blank wall. It's enchanted to look that way. She can't see us," he said. Ava shook her head and looked at the tall Auror.
"Then how is it that she staring directly at me?" she asked. Kingsley shook his head.
"You're imagining things, Ava. There's no possible way that she can see through that," Kingsley said as the door opened. Harry stepped out of the room and looked at them.
"She'll talk to you now. I told her she would be able to see Bill and Nadia after this. You better keep your word or she will be extremely mad. Even I can't control her that much," Harry said. Ava and Kingsley nodded and went into the room.
Vasha eyed Ava and Kingsley with a blank face. She recognized Ava Jordan but the other man was new to her. She had seen him somewhere before but she could not place where it was exactly. She turned her gaze back to Ava. The woman was staring fixedly at her. Vasha could not remember what it was that Ava did exactly; her father had said that she worked for the Ministry sometimes, though.
'But what does she do?'
"Vasha, this is Kingsley Shacklebolt. He's an Auror for the Ministry. You already know Ava," Harry said, gesturing to the other two. Vasha did not move. Her hair still covered the right side of her face.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"We need to know what happened at school," Ava said. Vasha narrowed her eye.
"I'm sure you've heard the story many times before this," she said. Kingsley nodded.
"We need to hear your side of it, though. We need to know if what you did was intentional," he said. Vasha stared at him for a long moment in complete silence. Kingsley did not like the look the girl was giving him. He shifted to the side and looked at Harry. Harry looked confused as to why she was staring Kingsley down like that.
"Willow got angry with me for defeating her. She shot a curse at me that probably would've sent me here no matter where it hit me. Cheyenne tried to warn me and I turned around and got hit in the face with it. I don't remember much after that. The next last I heard was Cheyenne's voice before I woke up here with people poking and prodding at me. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Vasha asked. Kingsley looked at Ava.
Ava was having a relatively hard time trying to read Vasha. Somehow, the girl was unconsciously blocking her. Ava could not seem to knock her walls down. It was really starting to frustrate her. She sighed and focused on Harry's mind.
'Can I have a word with you outside?' she asked. Harry smirked, not looking at Ava.
'Sure,' he replied. Ava narrowed her eyes and turned to leave the room.
Vasha noticed her uncle moving to leave her in the room with Ava. Harry paused for a moment. He turned and looked at Vasha.
"I'll be right back," he said. Vasha nodded and turned her glare back to Kingsley. Kingsley stared right back at her, determined not to show his apprehensiveness of her. Vasha smirked inwardly. She could feel it from him; he was a little scared of her.
'He should be,' she thought evilly.
Ava rounded quickly on Harry as they stepped into the hall. The nurse stood back and looked at the two. Harry had a smug look on his face. He crossed his arms and leaned on the wall.
"Did you teach her how to throw up blocks like that?" Ava asked, sounding furious.
"Not at all. Vasha isn't a Telepath. I don't even know how to teach someone to control Telepathy; I don't practice it myself. I told you that it would be hard to break her," he said. Ava looked at the window. Vasha was still staring at Kingsley.
"I could hurt her if I go full force. Right now, I'm only at half power. If I go full force, I could end up sending her into a coma. I don't want that to happen," Ava looked back at Harry. "Do you think she could handle three-fourths?"
"I have no idea. Vasha has a pretty strong mind. I doubt you going at three-fourths power will even break her walls. If you can't break her at half, which is pretty powerful coming from you, I don't think even full would work. I guess we'll just have to take her word for it."
"Did you want to do what you did to Willow Johansson?" Kingsley asked as Harry and Ava walked back into the room. Vasha continued to stare at the Auror.
"If I wanted to kill her consciously, I wouldn't have done it in front of most of my house. Do you take me for that much of a dunce?" she asked, raising her head. For the first time, everyone saw Vasha's good eye clearly. It was very narrow and she looked positively evil. Her long, chromatic hair was still hiding the right side of her face.
"Of course we don't, Vasha. Although, the way you did it seemed very calculated and planned," Ava said. Vasha turned her head toward Ava very slowly. She caught Ava's eye for a split second. Ava entered Vasha's mind during that one second. What she saw was quite disturbing. The girl appeared to feel no remorse for what she had done.
"Calculated? I had no intention on fighting her in the first place. Professor Shamus put us together. She apparently didn't know that Willow didn't like me. Like I said before, Mrs. Jordan, if I wanted to kill Willow intentionally, I would not have done it in class," Vasha said.
"Then how would you have done it?" Kingsley asked. Both Harry and Ava turned their heads to the Auror. He was still staring at Vasha. "I'm curious to know." Vasha chuckled at his words. Ava and Harry exchanged bewildered looks.
"I'm glad you asked that, Mr. Shacklebolt," Vasha said as she rose from the ground. She stared at Kingsley. Harry suddenly got a very bad feeling. "I would basically give Willow what she gave me."
"And what was that?" the Auror asked. Vasha smirked and held her hand out. The lights in the room suddenly went out. Harry looked around.
"Scossa," the preteen whispered. Before anyone could throw up a shield, the curse shot out from Vasha's index, middle, and ring fingers. Each electrical shock hit one of the adults in their chests.
Harry flinched as the curse hit him. The electrical shock coursing through his body was almost unbearable. What was happening was supposed to be impossible; Vasha's outfit wouldn't allow her to do magic. This was definitely not like Vasha. She would never intentionally do a curse on him. Something was not right with her; she was not well. He looked up at her. She seemed to be enjoying every moment of this, though.
Ava glared up at the puerile girl. She had to stop her before she killed all of them. Ava managed to hold her hand up at Vasha. She concentrated on her.
'Retromarcia,' she said in her mind.
Vasha blinked as the curse that she was putting on Ava flew back at her at top speed. She was blasted backwards, breaking the curse on Harry and Kingsley. Vasha slid down the wall and fell forward on her arms. She was gasping for breath.
Harry and Kingsley were also trying to regain their bearings. Harry looked toward Ava. Ava was still holding her hand out towards Vasha.
"Thanks. Are you okay?" he asked. Ava breathed in deeply and nodded.
Vasha looked up slowly at the three adults. She looked oblivious to what had just happened.
"Uncle Harry?" she whispered. Harry raised an eyebrow. Vasha sat back on her knees and looked at her hands.
Ava suddenly could hear all of the girl's thoughts. Vasha was clearly confused as to what had just transpired. It was like the child was another person just moments before. Vasha looked at her, as if she was analyzing her. It was then that Vasha appeared to realize that she could not see with her right eye.
"I can't see out of one eye," she said. Vasha moved her hair out of her face. Harry saw the white patch that covered her eye. Vasha did not realize that her eye was gone. When she touched her face, she gasped. There was nothing there. The 12-year-old looked up at her uncle. "Uncle Harry..." she said, looking very scared.
"Vasha, calm down," he said. Vasha stood up and backed up into the corner of the room.
"What happened to my eye?"
"You don't remember anything?" Kingsley asked. Vasha acknowledged him for the first time. "You don't remember what happened at Hogwarts?" Vasha looked completely clueless.
"She really doesn't know. You can't fake clear confusion like that," Ava said in his ear. Kingsley looked at her. Harry could see it as well.
"What happened?"
"Willow Johansson shot you in your right eye and you let your power take over you," Harry said. Vasha looked down at put her hands on either side of her head. She closed her left eye and shook her head.
"Willow..." she whispered. "What happened to Willow?" she asked, looking back up. Ava and Harry looked at each other.
"You killed her," Ava said. Vasha shook her head. She fell to her knees and looked down. She put her palms flat on the ground.
"I want to see my parents," she said.
"Darling, you can..."
"NOW!" the child yelled. Harry felt Vasha emit a bit of power. He nodded, still confused how she was doing magic with the preventive suit on.
"Okay. We'll be right back," he said. Harry looked at Ava and Kingsley. They followed him out, leaving Vasha on the floor.
Vasha scooted back into the corner as the door closed. She put her knees to her chest. She let a self-satisfied smirk come to her face. Her hair fell back into her face as she started to chuckle to herself. She looked back up and towards the door.
"I guess I'm a pretty good actress. They're even dumber than Willow if they believed that load of bollocks," she mumbled.
Harry looked over at Ava as they traipsed down the hall. Kingsley appeared to be in his own world and Ava appeared to be the same way. Harry sighed and looked straight ahead of him again.
"What are you thinking, Ava?" he asked. Ava blinked out of her thoughts and smirked.
"Well, I think that either Vasha has multiple personalities or she's a damn good actress. She also did magic with that suit on. How was that possible?" she asked. Harry raised an eyebrow as they entered the room where Bill and Nadia were waiting. Bill immediately walked up to them.
"How is she?" he asked quickly.
"Well, I think your daughter has multiple personalities," Ava said. Bill and Nadia paused and glared at her.
"Vhat?" Nadia asked. Vince stood next to his mother and looked up at Ava and Harry. Ava looked down at him. She kneeled in front of him. Vince looked into her eyes. Nadia and Bill watched her. Harry and Kingsley were also interested in what she was doing.
"Vincent, has your sister ever gotten mad at you and done something completely out of character?" she asked. Vince just stared at Ava with a blank expression on his face. Ava could see that it would not be easy to get an answer out of him. She decided to go the long way around. She entered his mind. Vince's eyes immediately went blank. Nadia noticed this.
"Vwhat are you doing to my son?" she asked, sounding furious. Bill touched her arm. Nadia settled down and looked back down at her son and Ava.
"Vincent, has Vasha ever gotten mad at you and done something completely out of character?" she asked again. Vince nodded slowly. "What was it?"
"Vasha did this," Vince raised his sleeve. Ava and everyone else looked at a scar on his arm. Nadia gasped.
"You told us dat you fell, Vincent," she said. Vince shook his head.
"I spilled a bottle of red ink on her parchment for school. She got really mad at me and swung at me. I said I didn't mean to. She sent a strong Stinging Hex at me. At least, I think it was a Stinging Hex. I hid the letter she got the next morning about it. The Ministry found out about her illegal use of magic," he said mechanically.
"Well, I think that answers your question. I think you should talk to the doctor about putting Vasha under mental rehabilitation for the rest of her school year. She can do her lessons from here," Kingsley said. Both Harry and Bill turned their heads slowly towards Kingsley. The Auror stared back at them.
"You can't possibly expect me to leave my daughter here! Vasha hates hospitals. I'm not leaving her here! My daughter is not insane!" Bill yelled. Ava shook her head and looked at Bill with a very stern face.
"Bill, she obviously needs the rehabilitation. The damn child nearly killed all three of us in there with the same curse that took her eye. She bypassed the limits of the suit she is wearing to prevent her from doing magic while here. You must not have any idea how powerful she is. She could seriously hurt someone else if her power is left unchecked," she said softly. Bill shook his head.
"I'm not leaving her here and that's final," he said. Ava frowned and looked at Kingsley. Kingsley lowered his head and sighed.
"Fine, Bill. Ava, we need to get going. Fairfax will want a report on this. Bill and Nadia, you are free to take Vasha home," he said. Bill and Harry both blinked as the mediwizard came through the doors. He stopped and looked at the five adults standing there.
"Would the parents like to see her?" he said. Nadia nodded and followed the mediwizard. Bill slowly moved to follow his wife. When they were gone, Harry glared at Ava and Kingsley. They were both looking at him innocently.
"Why do I have this funny feeling like this isn't over?" he asked. Ava shrugged and turned to leave.
"I have no idea," she said as she walked away with Kingsley. Harry narrowed his eyes after them and then looked down at Vince. The child blinked twice and then looked over at his uncle.
"What happened?" he asked, rubbing his head. Harry shook his head.
"Nothing, Vince. Nothing at all," he mumbled.
Vasha looked up as the door opened. She stood up as her mother ran to her. Smiling, she saw her father behind her mother. Nadia pulled her into a tight embrace. Vasha coughed harshly. Nadia realized that she was probably cutting off her daughter's air supply. She released her and looked at her.
"Are you okay, Vasha?" she asked. Vasha shrugged.
"I'll live, if that's what you are asking," she said. Nadia stepped to the side as Bill approached. He seemed to be analyzing his daughter. Vasha smiled up at him. A smile finally came to his face and he hugged his daughter.
"I'm glad you're okay," he said. Vasha nodded.
Harry appeared in front of his home. The wards around his house would not allow him to Apparate inside. Ginny and his positions as part of the Magi left them open to what Jones called "revenge attacks." They would technically never be safe.
Sighing, Harry walked to the door and opened it. He knew Ginny was still awake; she never went to sleep until he was safely at home. She said it was an old habit. Harry walked inside and immediately heard the wailing of a little girl. He went into the parlor and saw Ginny sent in a chair trying to console Lillian. She looked up as Harry leaned against the door.
"She refuses to go to sleep," she said. Harry nodded and walked forward. He took the child from Ginny. He held her out and looked into her watery eyes.
"Why are you crying?" he asked in a stern, yet kind, voice. As if Lillian understood him, she immediately stopped crying. She began sniffling uncontrollably, though. Harry just held her to his shoulder. Ginny had her arms crossed and was shaking her head.
"I swear that child is impossible," she mumbled. "I'll go fix you some tea." She rose from her seat. Harry turned around.
"I don't want any tea," he said. Ginny scoffed and turned to look back at him.
"From the look on your face when you walked in here, I think you do. Put Lillian to bed and come talk to me, Harry," she said. Harry smirked and noticed that the baby was sleeping. He went upstairs to put her to bed.
When he returned, Ginny already had the tea waiting for him at the table in the kitchen. He sat across from her and put two sugars in it. Ginny sat back in her chair and stared at him. Harry felt her eyes on him and looked up.
"Am I going to have to beat it out of you or are you going to tell me yourself?" she asked. Harry sighed and continued to stir his tea.
"It's Vasha," he mumbled.
"How is she? There wasn't any permanent damage, was there?" Ginny asked. Harry took a sip of his tea and nodded. Ginny sat forward, looking worried. "What happened?"
"She was hit with the Lightning Curse, so you know that had to hurt. It was where she was hit that caused that caused the lasting damage," Harry said.
"Where was she hit?"
"In her right eye," Harry said. Ginny gasped.
"Is she okay?"
"No. They had to remove her eye. The mediwizard on duty said that it was literally fried and that there was no amount of magic that could save it. So, she only has one eye now. Vasha also let her power get out of control when she was hit with the curse. She did more damage to the girl then the girl did to her," Harry said.
"What did she do?"
"Vasha killed her unconsciously. She had no idea what she was doing or that she'd even done it until she was told at the hospital. The Ministry somehow got wind of this and sent Ava and Kingsley Shacklebolt to question her."
"They sent a Ministry Telepath and an Auror to question a twelve-year-old about accidentally killing a classmate? You can't be serious. Are they really that thick to think that Vasha killed her classmate intentionally? Ava knows that Vasha is very powerful and the sometimes her Soliopathy can get out of hand and beyond her control. How did Bill and Nadia take it?"
"Oh, they took it very well. Bill nearly ripped Kingsley's head off," Harry said lackadaisically. Ginny laughed.
"Well, that was relatively calm for even Bill. I'm surprised he even allowed them to talk to her," Ginny said. Harry chuckled as he took another sip of his tea. Ginny continued to watch him. She could tell he was a bit worn out from all the happenings as of late. Something else appeared to be bothering him, though. "Something still bothers you," she said. Harry's head snapped up.
"No, that's about it," he said quickly. Ginny laughed and shook her head.
"It was a statement of fact, Harry. It wasn't a question," she said. Harry smirked and looked down at his teacup.
"Something about Vasha has changed. I don't know what it is, but something about her is not right," he said. Ginny nodded.
"You mean besides the fact that she's missing an eye?" she asked sarcastically. Harry narrowed his eyes at her. Ginny held her hands up, smiling. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know. Something just bothers me about what happened; she was way too passive with it."
"Maybe that's her way of dealing with it."
"No. I don't think so, Gin," Harry said, looking out the kitchen window.
'Vasha isn't the same person as before,' he thought.
Vince opened his eyes to the sound of his father yelling at someone. He sat up immediately and walked out of his room. Vasha was standing at the top of the stairs, looking down. Vince walked up beside her.
"What's going on? Why is Dad yelling?" he asked his older sister. Vasha did not respond. Both of them jumped when they heard something hit the ground with a dull thud and Nadia scream. Then they heard heavy footsteps approaching.
"No! You cannot have my daughter!" Nadia yelled. Vasha stepped back as three men appeared at the bottom of the stairs. They looked up at her. Vince stepped protectively in front of Vasha. Vasha stared down at the men with her good eye. "Leave her alone!" Nadia yelled. Two of them restrained her and threw her wand to the side.
"Move aside, son," the other man said. From the way he was dressed, Vince and Vasha could gather that he was an Auror. Vince shook his head; he was not going to move. "Move aside or I will move you myself."
"No," Vince said. The Auror sighed and raised his wand. He pushed Vince to the side. The Auror set his sights on Vasha. She stepped back away from him.
"Leave me alone," she said.
"You have to come with us," he said. Vasha shook her head.
"I'm not going anywhere! You can't make me!" Vasha yelled. The Auror grabbed her by the arm. Vasha tried to free herself by thrashing about. The Auror held her tightly and started to pull her. Nadia looked up as she saw the Auror pulling her daughter downstairs.
"Vasha! Let her go! She's just a child!" Nadia yelled.
"She's a murderer," the Auror said. Nadia paused for a moment. She stopped moving and looked down at her daughter. Vasha stopped moving as well. Nadia hung her head.
"Take her," Nadia mumbled, avoiding Vasha's gaze. Vasha's mouth dropped open.
"Mum, help me!" she screamed. Nadia looked away as they dragged Vasha off. "Mum, help me!" Vasha yelled again. Nadia did not look at her daughter. Vasha looked up at the Auror holding her and started to mumble a curse.
"Quietus," he said. Nothing came out of Vasha's mouth. She frowned and looked over at her mother. Nadia was no doing anything.
"Mum!" Vasha screamed. Nadia squeezed her eyes shut and balled her hands into fists. Vasha stopped screaming when she realized that her mother was not going to help her. She frowned as she disappeared through the door and out of the house. Nadia walked over to Bill, who was stunned.
"Ennervate," she whispered. Bill sat up quickly and looked around.
"Where is she?" he asked frantically. Nadia shook her head.
"I let them take her," she whispered. Bill stood up and looked at his wife.
"Nadia!" he yelled. Nadia flinched; Bill had never yelled at her before. She stepped back away from him, afraid he might hit her. Her eyes began to water. Bill saw how scared his wife looked and reached out for her. "I'm sorry for yelling," he whispered in her ear as she cried.
"I thought it vould be best for her," she said quietly. Bill nodded.
"I'm sure it is," he said.
Vince stood at the top of the stairs, glaring down at his parents. They'd let them take Vasha away. How could they do that?
'They just made it worse,' he thought.