I heard about Mr. Weasley's attack the morning after it happened. Hermione told me, answering my question about why Umbridge was storming around the school in anger. She was yelling at everyone that was not in Slytherin or who she was unsure about the blood status of. She was obviously a blood-supremacist and not subtle about it.
Although not many people were any more; subtle that is. Draco was walking around the school like a peacock in mating season. He was flaunting that he was untouchable.
I thought he was flaunting that he was the product of years of inbreeding.
Hermione was getting the brunt of her attack. She was the muggleborn friend of Harry Potter. Of course she would get the worst. She was also more powerful and talented, not to mention smarter, than most of the purebloods in the school. She had been given detention before lunch on the first day. We still had a week left before we could leave on vacation.
I waited outside Gryffindor Tower the last night, after Hermione was supposed to serve her final detention. Umbitch assigned one every night of the week leading up to the day we were meant to leave. She probably knew Hermione would be seeing Harry and was making sure the wound was fresh and clear enough to get him angry. I stayed in the alcove until I saw her walk down the hall. She'd been there for three hours and it was obvious in the way she walked. She was stumbling and staying close to wall in order to catch herself if she toppled over, which was often.
I darted from the alcove and grabbed her arm to steady her when she tripped over a raised stone in the floor. She went willingly as I pulled her into the alcove and forced her to sit on the bench it held. Her eyes were glazed over as she looked at me. There were tear tracks on her face and dried blood on her cheek, like she'd used her injured hand to wipe the tears away.
"I just wanted to be accepted. I never knew it would lead to this. I thought that if people knew I was smart then they would think I belonged in this world. Why? Why can't they accept me? What did I do to them?" Tears were trailing down her pale cheeks once more and my heart stuttered slightly. I scolded myself, I needed to be clinical, to make sure she was okay.
She was paler than normal and shaky from the blood loss. While she spoke I began to heal her hand. I saw the words that Umbitch had forced her to carve into her own hand. Never before had I wanted to kill a woman more than I did in that moment. The part that made it all that much worse was that I knew I could kill her without much problem. All it would take was a levecorpus and a slicing hex. She would be gone from this world and would no longer be able to hurt the children in this school.
"They underestimate you. They don't think you can take them down so they try to take you down instead. Let me tell you a secret. Being underestimated is an advantage. It blinds people to the power you possess. You can use that power to kill them where they stand and force them to eat their actions and their words. You have the upper hand, don't let them break it."
"I don't want to kill people, I just want to live in peace with my books." I laughed at that. I would love it as well, but that wasn't what was going to happen.
"We all have our parts to play in this. I disagree with Dumbledore about nearly everything, but that is one thing that we agree on. I don't agree with who he's chosen for each of these rules, considering they're children and all, but the point still stands." Hermione's eyes were clearing, she appeared to be coming back to herself. She also seemed to realize that I had been casting spells and applying potions to her hand the entire time we had been talking.
"Thank you, for taking care of me. I appreciate it." I nodded at her.
"It's what friends do." I explained, knowing she would accept that.
"We haven't been acting like friends to you lately."
"Nobody ever said friendship was 100% reciprocal. I can be friends with someone and they could hate my guts. It's not going to stop me from helping them when they need me."
"Oh…"
"Now, I think you should get some sleep. I managed to steal all of this from Pomphrey, but I couldn't get any blood replenisher. She was all out. I had the elves bring some food to your room instead. Eat it. It should help, or make you feel better at least." Hermione went to her room with a whispered thank you, and I went my own way as well, avoiding detection the whole way.
The next morning we both ended up hiding in the same compartment on the train, trying to avoid everyone and keep away from the other Slytherins. I heard someone approaching and knew by the gait that it was Malfoy and his cronies. Without pause, I whipped out my wand, silenced Hermione, and removed her from sight. I felt her tap my shoulder in confusion until the door slid open and revealed Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Zabini and Daphne were standing behind them, looking cautious and unsure.
"Moon, hiding in the back of the train? What? Don't want people to find out who your parents are? Still trying to keep your blood status a secret? You know, if I didn't know better I would think you were a mudblood like Granger."
"Yes, Malfoy, we all know you have a superiority complex and nothing to do with it but annoy the living daylights out of everyone you encounter with more than two brain cells. However, if you could, perhaps just this once, shut your mouth and leave me alone, I would be eternally grateful." I saw Zabini's lips twitch up slightly and Daphne roll her eyes.
"I will find out who your parents are. You see, it's funny. My Father has never heard of the Moon family, nor that one had come over from America. That makes me think you're lying about who you are. I also happen to know someone else who has never heard of your parents. Odd isn't it?"
"Draco, what do you think you're doing?" Daphne whispered with some urgency. Blaise remained silent as he inspected me.
"See, that's the problem with you Malfoy. I would never expect you to be able to find my family. They're rather… buried. When it coms to seeing people, they can't. I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough. Until then, make like a ferret, and scurry away." Malfoy scowled at me before turning and leaving me in peace. Blaise and Daphne remained behind, staring at me.
"Blaise we should go…" Daphne said looking at the unmoving boy. He was watching me curiously and seemed to be thinking about something.
"Burried, huh?" He asked with a questioning expression. Daphne stopped trying to tug him away and turned to him in confusion instead.
"Six feet deep some might say."
"My apologies for Malfoy. He needs to work on being discreet."
"It's of no consequence to me what he does or says."
"This is true, but one of these days he might say the wrong thing and you might end up dealing with the consequences." Blaise turned to leave then. Daphne nodded softly at me and followed him. I locked the compartment and placed a notice me not on it so we would remain undisturbed for the rest of the journey.
"Malfoy just threatened that You-Know-Who would be looking into your family and, by extension, you! Are you not freaked out by that? And what about Zabini?! He just threatened to frame you for Malfoy's actions! Plus Greengrass just stood there and let them. So much for house loyalty." Hermione burst the second I removed the silencing charm. I suddenly wished I had left it on.
"Not really, he can look all he wants. He won't find anything." I told her, trying to work out what Blaise had said. It made sense on the surface, but the thing with Slytherin's was that what you heard was rarely the whole story.
"Lily, your family is extremely popular in the muggle world." She pointed out, as if I didn't know that.
"Yes, and he's a person that would never think to look there for information. He's far too into the whole pureblood thing, even if he isn't one."
"Are you going to tell the others? And what about Remus?" She asked. It was a good question, would I tell Remus? It would only worry him, but I did need to tell one of them. I couldn't tell the others for obvious reasons, mostly that they already didn't trust Malfoy and telling them wouldn't help anything. I might be able to tell the twins… they would listen to what I had to say instead of going off on Malfoy.
"I don't know, maybe? Malfoy is all empty threats Hermione. He is also far to much of a coward to talk to their leader, let alone actually ask for something from him that might turn out to be a dead end.
"That's one thing you need to understand. Pureblood etiquette is very finicky. If he were to ask about another family's purity it would be punishable by death in His eyes. If he were to inquire to the other Death Munchers, it would be seen as a slight to the Malfoy name, which he won't risk considering who his father is. The only way he can find out for certain, is if he ventures into the muggle world and finds out or if I tell him. Seeing as how neither are likely to happen, I'm not exactly worried."
When we arrived at the station I could tell Hermione was still worrying over Malfoy's empty threat. The fact that she could see him watching me from where he was standing, waiting for his escort, didn't help. A member of the Order arrived to take Hermione to headquarters, but I would have to wait for another little while before I could leave. The line to the floo was rather long.
Malfoy began to walk toward me, but his father exited the arrival floo before he could reach me. I still had my normal mask on when he and his father took their place behind me.
"Would you care to go ahead of me Lord Malfoy?" I asked his father in proper form. He looked at me with slight approval, before declining. "Very well." Draco looked smug and his father was obviously curious about why. Their slate grey eyes were incredibly expressive.
"I wish you well for the holidays, Moon." Draco stated with a grin when it came to my turn. Malfoy Senior looked to me in surprise now. Obviously Draco had brought me to his father's attention if nothing else. I looked Draco in the eyes as I entered the floo and grabbed the powder.
"Black Ancestral Home." I stated, still staring into those eyes. He was surprised at my destination, but I was gone before he could ask anything. I was shoved from the floo at the old house, and Sirius was waiting to apparate me to Grimmauld. "That was fun." I said with a small grin.
"Tormenting Malfoy again?" He asked as I took his arm. Just before he went to apparate me I took my arm away. He looked at me curiously. "What's up?" I bit my lip and he sighed, sitting on the couch a few feet away and gesturing for me to do the same. Biting my lip was a tell that I let happen when I was around people I trusted.
"There was some… events that took place on the train that I think you should know about. I would tell Remus, but he would only worry. By the way, where is he? He was meant to come get me.
"I needed to get out of the house. It was somber before the attack, now it's downright unbearable. Remus is explaining some muggle stuff to Arthur. Keeping him occupied." I nodded. "Now tell me what happened. And why we're talking about it here."
"Because it's about Malfoy and I don't need the immature Gryffindors in the house to overhear and tell Harry only for him to challenge Malfoy to a duel." Sirius nodded.
"You going to tell the twins? And do you mind if I tell Remus?" He asked.
"I think I will and you can if you think you need to." He nodded again and motioned for me to continue. "Malfoy, for lack of a better word, threatened me with his Lord. Well, kind of… he said that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named hasn't heard of my family and neither had his father. I have my doubts that he actually asked about me to Moldyshorts, but it seems that he has mentioned me to his father. Or at the very least, his father knows my name."
"And even though Malfoy is a spineless git, his father is not as much of one and you're worried that he might ask after you." Sirius paused to think. "To be honest, I don't think he will. You know the pureblood rule about asking after another person's purity. Although, you can be sure that Lucius is smarter than his son is. He's been through more so it stands to reason that he is more cautious as well. He might inquire about you on a informal level… not about your blood status or family, but about you in particular. I don't think that crosses any lines…"
"That's what I was thinking. There's more…"
"More? I'm almost afraid to ask."
"Blaise Zabini…"
"The same guy that hinted at knowing after the second task?"
"That's the one. He was with Malfoy when he was taunting me. He didn't join in, but it would look weird if he did anything else. He's known to be rather neutral to this whole ordeal, even if his family isn't. Anyway, he said something and it makes perfect sense to me…"
"But if a Slytherin, or anyone of our parentage for that matter, says something that clear, it means that isn't what they are getting at."
"Exactly. I think… I think he knows something is going to happen but he's not quite sure what. His father isn't neutral in the slightest, he's very much on the dark side, so I think it may have to do with that…"
"What, exactly, did he say? Verbatim if you can please."
"One of these days he might say the wrong thing and you might end up dealing with the consequences." Sirius pondered this statement for a few moments, seemingly not coming up with anything.
"We should get back to headquarters. I'll think on it and tell Remus. Until then, just try to keep your head down and don't engage Malfoy or Zabini."
"Okay. Oh, by the way, Hermione knows everything that was said as well. I don't think it will be a problem, but there is the distinct probability that it will be." He nodded and stood, reaching out an arm or me to take once more.
Before entering the dinning room for dinner that night, I pulled Hermione aside. She had looked fit to burst ever since I had arrived.
"Hermione, just remember what I said. I can handle this without everyone else." I walked into the dining room and sat next to Sirius who sat at the head of the table. He gave me a slight nod, letting me know that he had told Remus.
Harry was sitting on his other side, which put us across from each other. He was still pissed at me and it showed. Remus and Sirius could probably see the tension, but obviously didn't want to ask. I hadn't been able to keep them informed lately because of Umbridge checking all the mail as it went out and came in. They would probably ask when their curiosity got the better of them.
"So, what has you glaring at our charge Harry?" Sirius asked. Well, I knew it would happen soon, but not that soon.
"She cheated in a duel and someone got hurt." He stated, silencing the room.
"What?" Remus asked, looking at me. He knew I would never cheat in a duel, not after what had happened with Sirius. I had sent a spell that I didn't know the effects of, he had ended up stuck in duck form for two days before we found a counter for it.
"He's right. She cheated in a duel and both of us got hurt." I stated, sending an unimpressed look at the boy. Remus looked concerned and opened his mouth to ask, but was cut off by the eruption of Mount Potter.
"What?! That is so not what happened!" Harry yelled.
"Calm down Harry. Lily, explain what happened from the beginning." Remus ordered.
"What makes you think she's going to tell the truth?" Ronald asked from down the table. Remus turned to him, his eyes flashing amber for a moment. This terrified most of the table, especially those who heard the snarl. He was extremely overprotective.
"Lily, talk." Sirius stated.
"Harry has been teaching the other students to defend themselves with a defense group called Dumbledore's Army; stupid name, I know. I go to most meetings in case anybody needs help, not that they listen to me. Hermione and Harry both asked me to teach the last lesson before break. I agreed and taught them a few life lessons. Then I allowed them to go against me in pairs of two, one pair at a time. Nobody managed to beat me, though Hermione lasted for 15 minutes and Neville for 14 and a half. And the twins didn't even try.
"Harry was teamed with Cho Chang and they went last. I got Harry taken care of fairly quickly, seeing as how he's way too reliant on one spell and doesn't use any defensive magic. That meant it was just Chang and I. Chang doesn't like me for reasons that are out of my control. She let emotions run the duel. She rebounded one of my spells and when I went to roll out of the way, she conjured metal spikes on all sides of where I stood. I got hurt, which was against the rules; nothing harmful or without a counter.
"I continued to maintain integrity over the duel, but she did not. Several slicing hexes were mixed in with her spells, all of which were aimed top and center. She didn't manage to hit me with any, but because of the spells, I was at a disadvantage. I cast three slicing hexes, weaker ones than what she was sending, and a disarming spell in succession. All three spells hit her. Arm, thigh, and calf for the slicing hexes. I won the duel since stunner equals death, and as I mentioned, it hit her.
"Everyone appeared to think that I cheated in the duel and beat her unfairly, with the exception of the twins. Hermione seemed on the fence and didn't take sides. Though that's just because she doesn't like Chang. Since Harry has a massive crush on Chang and might be dating her, haven't a clue about that, he took her side regardless of the first inequality being cast. Now, you see, Harry is angry at me for beating his girlfriend slash crush in a duel in which she cheated. It might also have to do with the fact that I can control my emotions more than he can, or male ego being wounded by me getting him so quickly, but I think those two are slightly less likely." The table remained silent for several minutes.
"What are you all thinking! Starting a dueling club? With no supervision?" Molly exclaimed, berating everyone at the table. I rolled my eyes. Of course that's what she focuses on.
"Harry, I think I need to tell you that what Chang did was actually a very big slight. To have broken pre-established rules or guidelines in a duel is akin to cursing someone with their back turned. What Lily did was warranted, and the only reason you're angry is because hers beat Chang's spells. I sincerely doubt that you would care this much if it were Lily who'd been hit with the slicing hexes. You must not let your emotions rule you so much." Sirius stated with a grim look on his face. "And Molly, the kids want to learn how to protect themselves. Lily is extremely compotent at both healing and defensive spells. They have her for supervision. Plus, I'm sure Lily has elves on call at all moments in case something happens?" Remus was nodding along with the entire explanation.
"Of course I do, I'm not an idiot." Hermione looked affronted. Molly sat and fumed in silence. As the meal went on only Remus, Sirius, and I talked to one another. Everyone was too scared to say something. Harry looked contemplative, yet still majorly pissed. His food was getting the brunt of his anger though. Hermione was looking at me with pleading eyes. I rolled mine in response and went back to teasing Remus with the help of Sirius.
"Malfoy threatened Lily with You-Know-Who!" Hermione blurted just before we all got up to leave. After everyone turned to her she continued at a near whisper. "And Zabini threatened to frame her for something."
"He did what?" Everyone at the table asked at once. Well, everyone but Sirius, Remus, and the twins. I'd told them when Sirius and I arrived.
"Really Hermione? I thought we had an agreement."
"No, you said some things that I didn't agree to."
"Hermione, I already had it taken care of. All you've done is told a bunch of people who are going to fuss and obsess over this. It was an empty threat. Just like the one about his father hearing about everything." I told her, disapproval lacing my words.
"That's not an empty threat! That's what almost got Buckbeak executed."
"No. What almost got Buckbeak executed was him attacking a student in class, and thus a accident form being filled out and submitted to the board of governors, which happens to seat Lucius Malfoy. Draco Malfoy is a spineless git that can't even hold a conversation with me anymore since I threatened to end him in no uncertain terms. That was in second year. If he was scared of me, a rather small girl in second year, you can be damn sure that he would piss his pants at the mere sight of their supposed Lord. Even if he grew a spine, that doesn't change the fact that it would go against everything high society children learn to speak out about someone or accuse them of something without concrete evidence, which I haven't given him."
"You mean pureblood children?" Ronald asked with a glare. I turned on him, the anger blaring in my eyes rivaled that of his mother, Ginny, and Hermione combined. I was pleased to see him cower slightly even as I remained completely calm on the outside.
"No, I mean high society you ignoramus. I have never once stated that I was pureblood. You assumed I was because of my house and my manner. Has it ever occurred once to your three brain cells that I am a muggleborn who grew up in aristocracy? Probably not, seeing as it doesn't fit your cookie cutter views of what I should be. Now if we are done learning all about me and my business, I think I will go. I have some reading to do, maybe I'll find a new possibly lethal spell to cast during my next duel. Which won't be with the DA by the way. I quit. Have fun and don't bother me unless you want to beg forgiveness." I sauntered out of the room, leaving the Weasley's that hadn't been aware of my blood status in a state of shock. I paused outside the door to breath deeply.
"Well… she seems to be awfully fragile. Can't even make a conversation without her being offended." Ronald stated.
"Fragile she may be, but she's not fragile like a flower. She's fragile like a bomb. That wasn't her going off in anger. That was her finally breaking after weeks of hurt. None of you seem to get what she goes through living in the dungeons. She doesn't keep her emotions in because she wants to. She does it because, if she didn't, they would eat her alive." Sirius stated.
"I recommend you all re-evaluate your misinformed opinions about my charge. I'm rather protective over her." Remus reminded the inhabitants of the room.
"So are we." One of the twins added.
"We've known the truth since her first year." The other twin continued.
"Also, unlike some people, she believes in and encourages other people in whatever endevors they deem worthy of their time."
"Like a joke shop for example."
"In fact, she's been helping us with pranks since we met." I smiled remembering when I met the twins, but decided to leave them all to their own devices. I went to my room to read some more books on offensive and defensive magic.
Nobody bothered me for the rest of break. They didn't ignore me, but they were extremely careful with what they said. Hermione had been the first to approach me and apologize. The first and the only. The other Weasley's were all too proud, and Harry just seemed too hesitant. We took the Knight Bus back to Hogsmeade, Remus and Tonks acted as our escorts. We all went our separate ways, no words spoken between us.
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