Chapter Twenty-One: Valentine's Day
I disclaim anything recognized as made famous by JK Rowling.
Here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it! Also, please give me a little wiggle room with the grammar for this one, it's sorta 2am...
Keena's Point of View:
I shut the door behind me, leaning back against it and sighing deeply in relief. It was February and February only meant one thing: Valentine's Day. Or, according to a castle full of hormonally challenged adolescents, Single's Awareness Day. I couldn't decide which of the two names were worse to hear about from the students.
"Long day in the office?" Sirius called from his seat in the middle of the couch where he was comparing two pieces of parchment. He looked up and I noticed he had a bit of black ash on the side of his face.
"Some of the girls need a good snog, but I can't exactly tell them that," I replied, shaking my head. "And the boys…I'd refer them over to you, actually, if that bloody decree wasn't around."
His face broke into a mischievous grin and I couldn't help the smile that the look brought to my face. I came forward and sat down beside him, leaning into him when he wrapped an arm around me.
"I think it'll be better once it's March."
"I think you're being over dramatic."
"What's your point?" I smirked, looking up at him. He only chuckled. "What happened to you, anyway?"
"What are you talking about?" he frowned.
"You've got ash all over your face," I replied, reaching up to wipe it away as best I could.
"Oh, that," he answered with a sigh. "I walked in on the end of a fight…literally."
"You didn't hear it going on?" I asked, the corners of my mouth twitching.
"Maybe 'walk' is too literal. I was heading for them anyway, but Crabbe doesn't have the best of aim," he informed me.
"Crabbe?" I frowned. "Who in the world was he fighting with? And since when does he fight using his wand and not his fist?"
"I can't answer when that started up, but he was fighting with Ernie Macmillan of all people."
"The Hufflepuff?"
"The one and only."
"You caught a Hufflepuff fighting in the halls?" I asked in confusion.
"Well, according to this," he said holding up one of the parchments. "Crabbe was bothering Susan Bones about her family 'again' and he stepped in to get him to stop. He claims that Crabbe pulled his wand out first."
"Which is probably true; have you ever heard of a Hufflepuff starting a duel?"
"You know I haven't," he rolled his eyes. "But it's making sure I've got the evidence that's important; I don't want Crabbe to be able to complain to Umbridge about this."
"Alright, so explain the ash," I suggested, satisfied with the story. Susan had already come to talk to me about having to deal with people pointing and staring ever since the news of the deaths of her family members at the hands of one of the escaped Death Eaters had gotten out.
"Crabbe tried to use Fiendfyre, I think," he admitted quietly. "He botched up the incantation, but I'm pretty sure that's what he was going for."
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"What did he tell you he used?"
"Just Incendio, but I know what I heard. I'm just glad I got there when I did; I doubt Ernie would've known how to put up a good shield in time."
"And considering you got hit with the backlash anyway…" I sighed again. "This is why I don't want to bring her with me to the office anymore. This castle is falling apart," I said, nodding my head towards Aradia's room.
"At least Dumbledore was able to put a stop to Umbridge interviewing the rest of the staff; she can still only go after teachers," he pointed out. "And, like you said, March will be here soon and then we've only got to put up with her for a few more months."
"And then that damned DADA curse will force her to depart, I know," I sighed and leaned my head against his shoulder. "Remus was lucky to get away without it doing anything particularly harmful to him."
"What d'you mean?"
"Quirrell died, Lockhart has permanent memory loss and Mad-Eye was locked in his trunk all year while his imposter ended up getting the Kiss," I listed. "That curse is getting worse as time goes on, I'd say."
"Well, you ended up leaving after a duel, that's not terribly unusual."
"A duel which, eventually, cost me my job at the Ministry," I countered, shaking my head. "And now that I think of it, Remus' reason for quitting was because of that mishap with his furry little problem which may have ended a lot less happily had we not had access to a time-turner."
"I'm sure if it were something too drastic, Kailey would let us know."
"The way she let Dumbledore know about Quirrell?" I suggested quietly.
"Quirrell was different, didn't he have Moldy Wart possessing him with his permission?"
"If you hadn't noticed, Umbridge is not on Kailey's good side."
"That's dark, Keena," he stated bluntly. "I don't think she'd willingly let someone die."
"Unless it led to something else happening that needed to happen," I argued.
"Like what?" he asked, clearly not believing me.
"Like Lily and James dying so that the blood bond would activate for Harry. Like coming to the Shrieking Shack without bringing Wolfsbane potion with her to prevent Wormtail's escape and Moony's transformation. Like not stopping Voldemort from returning to human form. Like not telling us that Umbridge was going to be here, teaching and destroying Hogwarts from the inside…"
Sirius stayed quiet for a few moments.
"Keena, you were the one that was there when they died and you were still a part of her when she came to the Shrieking Shack instead of just chasing Wormtail down."
"Exactly, I agreed with her reasoning," I pulled away to look at him properly. "We don't know what she knows, all we know is that she's trying not to change too much because then she loses the advantage of knowing. Her thought process is…complicated."
"She's fifteen," he murmured, shaking his head. "I almost think she should be Obliviated."
"Don't think that hasn't crossed her mind; I'm sure it has."
He sighed and shook his head. The clock on the mantel chimed before he said anything and he looked down at me.
"C'mon, we don't want to be late for dinner; all of the good seats will be taken and I don't want her sitting anywhere near Aradia if we can help it. Severus either, if possible."
I laughed slightly at that.
"I doubt he'll make too much fun of you for getting messier than the baby this morning, love."
"It wasn't my fault! That bloody bird was going to land in the pitcher of Pumpkin Juice!"
"Yes, so naturally you pull it towards yourself and let it spill all over everything. Including the baby," I added, trying to keep my laughter in check and failing miserably.
Kailey's Point of View:
Hermione and I were woken up to the sound of girly shrieking the Saturday morning of our Hogsmeade trip. Also known as Single's Awareness Day. Parvati and Lavender were running around trying to find something "sexy but not easy" for Parvati to wear; she was going to be meeting some sixth year Ravenclaw her sister knew for a date.
"Kailey, Hermione, what do you think?" Lavender asked, holding up a tight fitting shirt with an even tighter fitting skirt. "Parvati thinks it's too much."
I snorted and shook my head.
"More like too little," I stated as Lavender's face fell and Hermione nodded in agreement. "Can I go back to sleep now?"
But sleep was not in the cards for me this morning because moments after I laid back down, Hermione was shaking me awake.
"C'mon, Kailey, we have to get down to breakfast before the mail comes," she said, stepping back out of shoving range.
"Why don't I save you the trouble and tell you she says she'll do it?" I suggested, glancing to see that Parvati and Lavender were in the bathroom trying to do something to Parvati's hair.
"Well I'll still need to respond to her about when and where we'll meet then won't I?" she replied, ducking when I threw my pillow at her. "Please Kailey? I know you don't want to see him with Cho—"
"That has nothing to do with anything, Hermione," I cut in, giving her a look. "Besides, they're probably not going to last anyway."
"Then why do you keep calling it his 'Single's Awareness Day Date'?"
"Because it's making me so very aware of how single I am." And how very much alone I am...
She rolled her eyes at me and threw the pillow back at me.
We left the dorm only fifteen minutes later, me dragging my feet and Hermione grumbling about my attitude. The boys were waiting for us in the common room. Ron noticed us coming down the stairs and pointedly checked his watch. Harry didn't even seem to notice us arrive as he ran his hand through his hair for what must have been the fifth or sixth time judging by how much messier it looked than usual.
"What took you so long?" Ron asked, giving Harry a slight shove when he made no move to get off of the chair he was sitting in.
"It's not like we won't have the whole day to be in Hogsmeade," I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah it is, don't you remember? They changed the rules since the breakout; we've got to be back here by six."
I gave Ron a look and he just shrugged.
"That's still more time than anybody needs to get anything done there," I replied, choosing to ignore him when he coughed something into his hand. Hermione shoved him in any case.
We made it to the Great Hall ("finally" according to Ron) and took our seats along the table, Ron and Hermione facing me and Harry. I served myself, only half-noticing that Harry was only playing around with his food until Hermione commented on it.
"Harry, what's the matter? Aren't you hungry?"
"I'm fine," he answered quickly, stabbing a piece of sausage and stuffing into his mouth to emphasize his point before going back to playing with his food.
Hermione opened her mouth to argue with him when an owl landed in front of her. The letter or, rather, the note (it appeared to be very short) taking precedence over Harry's discomfort.
"You know, it'll be more embarrassing if your stomach growls while you're with her, Harry," I said lightly while Hermione read.
"I guess I didn't think of that," he muttered, beginning to eat normally.
"Harry, listen, I need you to meet me at the Three Broomsticks at, let's say, noon or so? It's really, really important," Hermione said, looking up from the note.
"Er, well, I dunno," he answered, reaching around to scratch the back of his neck. "I think Cho and I were going to spend the day together…"
"Oh, just bring her with you if you have to, please, Harry, this is very, very, very—"
"Alright, Hermione, we get it, it's wicked important!"
She gave me a look but I ignored her.
"If it's that important than I guess I could—"
"Thank you Harry!" she cried, jumping out of her seat and sprinting for the dorm.
I shook my head after her and continued on with my breakfast, though I looked up after a few moments of complete silence. Both of them were staring at me expectantly.
"Don't worry about it," I said, shaking my head once more.
"C'mon, Kailey, won't we find out later today anyway?" Ron groaned, exchanging an annoyed look with Harry.
"Yeah, you will, which is why I don't think it's as important at the moment as is the fact that Harry's got to figure out how to give the slip from Sirius and Keena when they chaperone today," I answered smugly, sitting up straight to give them both a look.
"They're not coming to the village," Ron replied, glancing up at the staff table.
Harry and I looked up as well.
Sirius was glaring at his plate while Keena, sitting on the baby's other side, sniggered with McGonagall. Snape was on Sirius' other side and he looked satisfied about something.
"What makes you think that?" I asked Ron, looking away from them.
He put up a hand and pretended to whisper back to me.
"Nothing, but Harry's nervous enough about his date as it is," he answered, grinning widely as Harry's entire face turned bright red.
"Shove off; at least I have a date!"
"If you hadn't noticed, I'm going to Hogsmeade with two girls today," Ron boasted, winking at me. "Neither of which will expect me to be a gentleman," he added, making me snort as Harry rolled his eyes.
Keena's Point of View:
I looked over at Sirius, who was carrying Aradia in the sling. He was making faces at her and she was giggling madly at him, wriggling around. I smiled before I noticed that her hat was falling off of her head and reached over to adjust it, but he caught my hand in his and refused to let me touch it. Again.
"Keena, you've fussed over that hat at least eight times now and we aren't even in the village yet," he said, lacing his fingers through mine. "It's not going to stay on her, you might as well let it go."
"It's cold out here, Sirius," I argued, though I didn't bother trying to take my hand away from his. "And you and I both know that we'll stay awake with her all night if she gets so much as a snivel."
"She'll be fine," he insisted as we finally came through the gates of the village.
It was the first time that we were bringing Aradia with us and I wish I could say that her catching a cold was the worst of my worries. Even though I knew how unlikely an attack on Hogsmeade was, it was still my biggest worry. But Alianna had told us to say 'hello' to Remus and Tonks for her and Kailey hadn't implied that anything, aside from Harry's date with Cho Chang, was going to go wrong today. Besides, I had promised Rosemerta that I would bring the baby along for the next school trip.
I sighed and shook my head, giving Sirius' shoulder a light slap when he laughed at me. He gave me a pout and I glared at him in return. Aradia gave another shriek of delight.
"Hey, why aren't you on my side?" he directed at our six-month-old.
"Because she clearly knows who is going to be in charge of the allowance money," we looked up to see Remus and Tonks heading towards us from a different street. I tilted my head at Remus, narrowing my eyes in question. "Tonks wanted a more in depth tour of the Shrieking Shack."
"Did she now?" Sirius asked, wriggling his eyebrows at Remus, who blushed while Tonks' hair turned from its festive pink and red to a blush-colored red.
"Be nice, Sirius," I grinned, moving forward to give each of them their own hug.
"What are you insinuating, wifey dearest?" he replied sounding shocked. "Are you saying I'm as bad as your darling brother?"
"Really, Padfoot?" Remus sighed, looking away from all of us.
Sirius' grin widened.
"Aren't you even wondering where Lily and James are?" Tonks broke in, letting her hair drift back into Valentine's Day themed colors.
"No," Sirius and I answered at the same time.
Tonks and Remus looked at one another before giving us a confused look. I smiled widely and rolled my eyes. According to the last letter I had received from Lily, the two of them were "definitely, most certainly not dating," no matter how often James teased or how often Molly sighed happily when they came into the room together. Oh, no, Merlin forbid the "d-word" pass through anybody's lips at Grimmauld Place.
"Why not?" Remus asked, breaking me out of my reverie.
"Alianna said to say hello to the two of you for her," I answered with a shrug. "No mention of James or Lily. Though she actually didn't mention what they were up to exactly."
"Some research on how to destroy dementors and if that relates at all to the you-know-what's," Remus answered, glancing around for a moment, though the closest people to us were a group of Ravenclaw third years, chattering loudly about finding a good bookshop. "They were heading to Potter Mansion to use the lab."
I frowned at that and looked at Sirius to see he had a similar expression of confusion on his face.
"She hates it when she has to share her lab," I said, turning back to Remus. "Why didn't James want to come?"
Remus sighed and Tonks' eyes fell to the ground, her hair lengthening and turning a pale shade of blue. The four of us paused as we reached the Three Broomsticks.
"Let's go inside, shall we?" Remus suggested when the silence didn't let up right away.
The pub was just as crowded as usual, but the population today was almost strictly students. The few adults that I saw were all sitting up at the bar, casting nasty looks at the kids as they pushed their way up to order drinks. After a quick scan, I found that I recognized most, if not all, of those grouchy faces and dismissed them as villagers who were merely put out by the fact that it was a Hogsmeade day.
The four of us found a table near the back and Sirius conjured a seat for Aradia to sit in as I slid into the booth. Remus and Tonks sat opposite of us, neither of them looking at each other or me as they did so. I was just about to say something when I heard my name being called from across the pub.
"Keena!" I looked up to see Rosemerta waving at me while her other hand balanced a tray of what I assumed to be butterbeers. "Hang on a moment!" she called when I waved back.
By the time she got over to us, Aradia was situated and Sirius had managed to get himself out of the sling. He was getting better at it; it only took him two minutes instead of five now.
"Hello Rosemerta," I grinned. "This is Aradia," I added, gesturing to the baby who had Rosemerta's whole attention.
"Oh, Keena, Sirius, she's darling!" she cried. "She looks just like you, Sirius," she added, glancing up at my husband as though to confirm it. "How old is she now?"
"Six months and change," I answered happily. "She sleeps all the way through the night most of the time now," I added, feeling proud of it for some reason.
Rosemerta laughed while Remus and Tonks chuckled.
"I'll bet that was a relief! Oh, and if you garner any nasty looks, ignore them; I told the boys that I'd only serve light while the baby was here. They drink almost every day of the year anyway, it'll be good for them to have a break from it," she added, jerking her head towards the bar of grumpy wizards. She flipped open her notepad as she finished speaking. "What'll we have then?"
Kailey's Point of View:
I managed to turn a snicker into a cough. It was hard work, though. Ron's expression as Luna explained Crumple-Horned Snorkacks was priceless. The three of us and Hermione (who had long since stopped listening to Luna in favor of reading a book she had pulled out of her bag) were waiting for Harry and Skeeter to show up. Just when I didn't think I'd be able to hold it in a moment longer, a prissy little huff announced the arrival of Rita Skeeter.
Hermione's book snapped shut as she looked up at the disgruntled ex-Daily Prophet reporter. She smiled at the blonde witch, who grimaced in response, plopping down between Ron and Luna. Ron seemed relieved by this, though Luna raised an eyebrow at the older witch's long, broken fingernails.
"Well, I'm here. What do you want?"
"We're waiting for Harry," Hermione replied. "You might want to order something while we wait."
"Already did, sweetheart," she answered, rolling her eyes and jerking her thumb towards the bar. "Apparently someone brought a baby in so the pub is only serving light stuff for the day," she added under her breath.
No one commented on it; we had already greeted Sirius, Keena, Tonks and Remus. I only hoped Harry didn't notice that they were there, or, rather, that he didn't notice that his parents weren't there. That would just be an explosion waiting to happen.
"Yes, well, hang on…" Hermione paused as she glanced up. "Harry! Over here!" she called. The rest of us turned to see where she was waving at.
"Of course he's with the half-giant," Rita muttered. I shot her a nasty look, though she didn't seem to notice.
Harry weaved his way through the crowd towards us, though he slowed down and narrowed his eyes as he took in the party before him. He lowered himself into the seat between me and Luna, staring around.
"I thought you weren't going to be for a little while longer?" Hermione asked, glancing around behind him. "Where's Cho?"
He flushed and Rita pounced on the subject.
"A girl? Whatever happened to your romance?" she asked, gesturing between the two of us. It was my turn to flush now.
"That is exactly zero of your business," I replied firmly. "Quit looking for your quill and let Hermione explain to us all what's going on first."
She retracted her hand from her bag, giving me a strange look.
"She hasn't told you either?"
"No, so shut up and listen. It's what you're supposed to do as a reporter, isn't it?"
"My dear, my job is to gather information and present it to the public," she murmured, leaning forward and giving me a hard stare.
"Why don't you try out for facts, for once?" I suggested sarcastically.
"Do you have any that you're willing to share?"
"Actually," Hermione interrupted, a sweet smile spreading out across her face while her eyes glinted. "Yes, they do. A story that no one else has printed or even interviewed them about, can you pass that up?"
Rita's eyes seemed to bug out of her head as she stared at Hermione.
"Surely you can't be talking about the details of the Third Task?" she breathed out, her voice betraying how much she desired the story. "The only two witnesses—"
"There were at least a dozen Death Eaters there too," Harry interrupted. "Want their names? Maybe you could interview them as well."
"I would love them," she replied, looking as though it were too good to be true before her face betrayed how she actually felt.
"But only with the facts," I put in. "Word for word what we say. No Quick-Quotes Quill, no imaginary love triangles. Just cold, hard facts."
"Come now children, we must work from the public angle; how else do you expect it to be printed?"
Luna cleared her throat and I thought Ron was going to fall over right then and there by the expression on his face.
"My father says that it should only be facts that get printed," she said dreamily. "How else are people to learn what's important?"
"Oh and who does your father edit for? The Brew's Word or some other silly little magazine?" she asked in a bored tone.
"No," she answered evenly, either not picking up on Rita's impatience or ignoring it completely. "He is the editor of The Quibbler."
Rita turned to face Hermione, her face in between furious and shocked.
"You want me to write for The Quibbler? Absolutely no one is going to believe this story."
"They will when it's the only interview they have from us," I replied, shaking my head. "Besides, like it or not, people have a tendency to believe the crap you spew when it's in writing. All you need to do now is write exactly what we want you to say."
She considered this for a moment, her face betraying how flattered she was by the idea.
"And no, you won't get paid," I added before she could bring it up. She opened her mouth to argue but I cut her off. "Don't bug me about this."
She deflated in defeat, stuffing her hand into her handbag and pulling out a new Quick-Quotes Quill.
"Let's get this over with," she growled out, stiffening when she realized that Ron was preparing to read over her shoulder the entire time. "When did you first notice that something was wrong?"
Harry and I glanced at one another, but I looked away first.
"Well, the three of us, Kailey, Cedric and me, we made it to the cup at the same time. We figured it would be a Hogwarts victory if we all touched it at the same time," he started slowly, watching Rita carefully. "So we did and it turned out to be a Portkey."
"It took us to a graveyard in Little Hangleton," I added. "We knew right away this was all very wrong. There was a cauldron set up in front of one of the larger headstones and this figure was approaching us, all hunched over and carrying this bundle."
"I don't know how, but there was just this pain shooting through me and I collapsed," Harry added, editing his scar out of it himself. "Kailey was…" he glanced at me before continuing. "She was screaming at Cedric to leave—to apparate away and get help."
"He said he wouldn't leave us there alone," I said quietly, feeling my voice crack.
Neither of us spoke for a long moment, the noises of the pub covering up the sounds of my sniffling. I had never told the story from the beginning to anyone and it was all coming back in huge waves of emotion. The sound of someone clearing their throat got me to start up again.
"Voldemort ordered Peter Pettigrew to 'kill the spare'. I managed to knock Cedric out of the way of the first curse; I felt its heat rush over my back when I tackled him to the ground. We got up and I turned to see where he'd gone, but Pettigrew had disappeared. Then I…he disarmed me and then he stunned me."
"You were stunned by Peter Pettigrew?" Rita asked, looking up at me with narrowed eyes. "Wasn't he connected with your parents, Harry?"
"He was a good friend of theirs at one time," Harry replied with a nod. "Until he betrayed them."
She nodded. "Go on."
"He didn't take the curse off of me," Harry continued. "But I looked up in time to see him kill Cedric. I thought at first that Kailey was dead too until I saw her breathing."
"What did you feel when you thought they were both dead?"
"Trapped…alone…" he trailed off before looking up to meet her eyes. "And angrier than I can ever remember being."
She nodded and he moved on with the story.
Instead of listening to the details, I watched her hand as she wrote the words out. Her fractured manicure was depressing in a way. Who knew I would miss obnoxiously bright pink nail polish? Her hand paused at one point because it was shaking so hard. I tuned in and realized he had gotten to the part where Voldemort had woke me up. The part where he put the scar on my face.
"It hurt for a long time after that," I added in when Harry paused for breath. "It's not as raised as it used to be but every day, with every expression I put on my face, I remember that night. At least for a moment…" I ran my hand over it and looked up from her moving hand to see that she was pale.
We finished our story, ending with us in the Hospital Wing after finding out that Crouch Junior had been Kissed.
"Now, why exactly did He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named enter the two of you into this competition together?" she asked, glancing over the details.
Oh, you know, I just casually know the future, that's all…
"He found out somehow that we're best friends," I answered with a shrug. Telling Neville was one thing; tell a reporter was another thing entirely. "He didn't really explain it, you know, he wasn't planning on us leaving that graveyard alive."
Satisfied, she looked back down at her writings, Ron still hanging over her shoulder.
"You spelled Crabbe wrong," he pointed out at one point.
She rolled her eyes and fixed it.
"Now, Kailey, we know that your father doesn't care, but what about your mother? Did she come to see you at all?"
"No, she didn't," I answered stiffly.
"And Harry, your parents? How did they react to this?"
"The same way you'd expect them to; they were angry and scared and…well, normal parents," he didn't seem to know quite how else to put it. "They stayed with us both and so did my godparents as well as our family friends."
"Alright, well, is there anything else to add into this?" she asked, looking up when she finished scribbling. "Are you haunted by any nightmares?"
"You try fighting against Voldemort and his Death Eaters when the only thing between you and life is your own knowledge, half-trained I might add, and tell me that you don't have nightmares afterwards," I snapped my mouth shut when I realized I was being sarcastic again. "My apologies," I muttered when she raised an eyebrow at me. "This isn't my favorite subject."
She snorted at that.
"Well, I'll finish this up then if that's all you've got," she said, rolling the parchment up and stuffing both it and the quill into her bag. "Then I'll send it along to…Xylophonous?"
"Xenophilius Lovegood," Luna replied, annoyance only barely skimming her tone, though that was actually saying something when I thought about it.
"Right, of course," she rolled her eyes and stood, prompting all of us to follow.
We shook hands and she departed, and I swear she turned into a bug before she left. I shook my head and let it go. It didn't matter to me anyway.
"I think I'm ready to go back to the castle," I mumbled, feeling drained.
The others nodded and we bid Luna a goodbye as she went off to Honeydukes to find someone from the DA to hang around with, promising to write to her father again that night to tell him the interview was over.
We entered the common room to find it happily empty and I followed the other three over to the couches in front of the fire. I sat down beside Harry and just stared at the fire. Pure exhaustion was running through me as I thought over the words I had just given to the reporter. I couldn't help the nerves that followed.
What if by saying the things that we had, we only made more trouble for ourselves? Not with Umbridge, I could deal with that, but with Voldemort? Surely the Death Eater children would now be ordered to take some sort of action against us. What if we were caught unawares? Even if we fought back, Umbridge would expel us, that much was certain. Expulsion was dangerous for me; I had no one but Dumbledore defending me now and I didn't feel like that was enough.
"You don't only have Dumbledore," Harry said, cutting into my thoughts.
I blinked up at him, realizing that, one, I was crying and, two, I had been talking out loud.
"Legally, he's all I have," I countered shakily. "And if I do get expelled for this, then what? I'll be in the Ministry's pocket for sure! Of course I'll end up with the Malfoys or something and then…and then…"
He looked at me with concern, clearly realizing that this was not one of my normal breakdowns just as I realized it myself. And then, just because it could I suppose, my scar gave an enormous throb.
I completely lost it.
I doubled over, sobs shaking my entire body as I tried desperately to maintain some sort of control over my breathing and my tears. I felt him wrap his arms around me while someone else, probably Hermione, handed me a handkerchief.
"How did this happen?" I managed to choke out at one point, fighting for the air to be able to speak the words. Of course I knew how it'd happened; I'd let it happen. But somehow actually voicing the words released me from a tiny bit of the pain before it overwhelmed me again.
None of them replied, though he did begin to rock me gently in his arms. Their presence and his wordless comfort did more for me than any of the verbal reassurances had done for me the night after it had happened.
Their companionship was the best Valentine's Day gift anyone could have given me.
Voila! This story is now legal to drink in the US! Woot! I hope you enjoyed this chapter immensely and will be waiting in excitement for the 22nd! Reviews make me smile (thanks jessy63!) so don't hesitate to drop a question or comment!
:-D