Chapter 53
Rosalie's POV
"So this was the last lesson until after the Christmas holidays." Harry announced to the people crowded around him and Bella who complained as he did so. "But once we come back, we'll let you know as soon as possible when our next class is. So just keep practising as much as you can and yeah…"
"Great job today you guys. Really good." Bella complimented smiling at the students as they slowly began departing from the room.
Everyone seemed to take well to the class, apparently Harry and Bella were very good teachers. They'd even gotten to work on patronus's.
Standing alone in the corner of the room facing the wall was Cho with her hair covering half her face like a curtain as she looked solemnly down at her feet. She looked upset.
"Go to her Harry." Bella encouraged him as she pushed him softly in her direction, departing towards the back of the room herself.
Slowly and nervously he walked towards her, their conversation just loud enough for Bella to hear from where she was ears dropping.
"It's- it's just that learning all this stuff, makes me wonder if he knew it." She mumbled as she gestured towards the picture of Cedric that was pinned against the board, "Did he know it?"
"He did, because he was a great wizard. It's just that Voldemort was better." His voice calm and soothing did his best to cover the croak in his voice. Cho nodded, this time with the smallest hint of a smile on her face.
"Thanks Harry."
From the ceiling a tail of green leafy vines sprouted; it looked like mistletoe and I wonder if it had the same effect. Harry smirking at her, Cho smiled back before the two of them leant in and kissed each other.
"Aww!" Esme hushed.
They pulled away from each other and Cho, though still smiling, blushed and stepped back, "I should get going. See you Harry." She quickly skipped out the room and Harry sighed.
"Aww look at my girl kissing brother." Bella teased appearing out of nowhere and stepping openly into the empty space.
"Bella!" Harry yelled, turning a deep crimson red, "What- how long have you been there? Did you see all of that?"
"Oh course I did. Though, I did try to zone out on the kissing part because-" She emphasised her point fake gagging.
"Okay, okay I get it. Stop!" Harry begged reaching out to her hands and placing them by her side. Bella nodded slowly with a straight face, "Harry's got a girlfriend!" Bella giggled again, her façade breaking.
"Bella!" Then whispering, "I do not have a girlfriend."
"But you want her to be your girlfriend."
From the corner of the room someone shifted and caused a pile of paper to fall onto the floor. The two alarmed snapped their necks to see what it was almost instantly.
"Who's- Neville?" Harry asked as Neville came from out of the corner, "What are you still doing here?"
"I, um…nothing, I was just thinking." Neville said with a sigh and a sad expression.
"Thinking about what?" Bella asked him, her voice soft as she turned the corner to stand besides him. In Neville's hands was a piece of paper covered in marks from the amount of times it had been folded over. "You don't have to tell us, but we're here if you do." The paper wasn't actually blank but instead a photograph, of course moving. A handful of smiling people gathered in a room clearly celebrating something if the banner behind was any indication. I couldn't recognise many people but I was able to point out a handful; Sirius, Lupin, Wormtail, Dumbledore and also Bella and Harry's parents.
But Neville's attention was on the two people stood behind James and Lilly. A young woman with a pixie cut and a man stood next to her with short brown hair and a grey sweater vest.
"Those, they're your parents aren't they?" Bella said softly as her eyes met the people on the photo, "Frank and Alice Longbottom."
"Wait!" Emmett called, "Neville's last name is Longbottom?" Emmett laughed hard.
"Emmett, be quiet!" Alice whined.
"Emmett don't make fun of other people, and shush, they're having a moment. Don't ruin it." Esme warned him with cold voice and glaring eyes.
"Yeah they are. Bellatrix Lestrange, a Death Eater, tortured them a few days after this photo was taken. Now they…they." Neville murmured tearing up a bit. Esme gasped, hands shooting up to her mouth.
"It's okay Neville, you don't-" Harry said soothingly, placing a reassuring arm on his shoulder.
"What do you think he was going to say?" Jasper asked.
"That they were dead? He lives with his Grandma doesn't he?" Emmett suggested with a shrug.
"No…I don't think he was. If they were dead…" Edward paused, "It sounds like whatever it was, it was worse than death."
"What's worse than death?" Alice asked curiously in a small voice.
I gave her a sideward look, I could think of a thing or two. Myself being one of them. Forced into an endless life, never aging. Cursed to never have a family…
"I'm not ready enough to tell anybody." Neville told them looking down at his shuffling feet.
"That's fine Neville." Harry spoke. There was silence for a moment.
"But I'm proud to be their son."
Smiling warmly after a moments comforting silence, Bella spoke, "We should head back to the common room. It's getting late and the last thing any of us need is more detention for breaking curfew." Linking arms with both her friend and brother, they strolled out.
"Wait a second." Edward spoke, a look of concentration furrowing his brows, "Neville said that his parents were tortured, you don't think that that could be why the cruciatus curse affected him so much do you? That maybe it was the same spell that tortured his parents?"
Everything around us went black for a moment before coming back again, though still dark signalling midnight. We arrived standing in the centre of Bella's dormitory as everyone slept soundly; all apart for Bella who seemed to be tossing and turning restlessly in her bed. Her covers wrapped around her legs, sweating and moaning in frightened terror. "No!" Bella mumbled in her sleep before tossing violently over.
"It must be quite a dream she's having." Emmett said as we watched her.
"I don't think it's just a regular dream she's having." Carlisle said inspecting her; as the words came out of his mouth it felt as though I was being pulled forwards into another memory. Another look into Bella's unconscious mind.
The dream was fuzzy and unclear which added to its mysteriousness. We were in a dark room with stone walls which stood several stories high; in the room were shelffuls of glass balls, each with a hazy moving picture inside. Within the room was a ball of light being conjured by Mr. Weasley. But from the position we were watching the dream from we could only see him from behind and, strangely enough, from very low down on the floor.
Mr. Weasley turned around and whatever was in the room with him jumped and attacked him like a snake. Going and going again until her was left bleeding, almost unconscious on the floor.
Bella's eyes shot open, and we were pushed back until we were standing by Bella once more. She jumped from the bed and landed on all fours on the floor with a loud 'thump', however no one seemed to wake up, not even Hermione. Bella, who was now cowering on the floor, was gasping for breath and breathing heavily. Her body shaking and the brims of her eyes red and wet with tears.
"Mr Weasley!" She cried to herself and then a moment later she called, her voice rough, "Harry!" Shakily she got up from the ground and stumbled down the stairs until she reached the main part of the common room. Emerging from the other stairs was Harry who was being held up by Ron.
By anything, he looked worse off than his sister. He, like her was also shaking and covered in his sweat; his hair was messy and stuck to his face, and he looked as though if Ron lessened his grip he would fall.
Ron looked so confused as the two of them gave each other a look and a nod both understanding what was going on. Twin dreams?
However, I was still confused as hell.
"So wait…what exactly is happening then?" I asked as they left the room.
"No idea." Emmett and Jasper called together.
"Me neither." Alice said.
"Carlisle?" Edward asked with a pained expression as he turned to look at him.
"That, Edward I do not know, but I'm sure we'll soon find out."
"Stay here." Ron instructed them as he left them just outside before running off down the hall.
Where's he going?
"Harry, what's happening to us?" Bella sighed weakly, her voice edging on the beginning of a cry, "I- I feel angry all the time and- and the other day when we were with Umbridge I was so mad. It didn't even feel like me."
"I know. I don't know what it is." Harry mumbled back pressing his face up against the wall.
"So that's what's up with them then?" Alice pointed out.
"Well yes, that's what's up with them, but we don't know why." Esme spoke after her. What on earth could be the matter? What mysteriously makes two people feel not like themselves?
Moments later, McGonagall came running the corridors with Ron by her side. She was wearing her nightgown and had her hair pinned up under a sleeping hat. There were people who still wore those?
"Okay, Mr Potter, Ms. Potter we'll take you two straight to Dumbledore's office but first, Mr Weasley go get your sister and brothers. They should be here for this." She said urgently, efficiently.
With that he ran off again, leaving McGonagall with two shaking students. Moments later he returned with his siblings, who like McGonagall were also wearing dressing gowns.
"What is it?" Ginny asked concerned, "What's going on? What wrong with them."
"Miss. Weasley I will explain everything to you when we get to Professor Dumbledore's office but for now, we have to hurry." Their dreams had been less fiction and more reality before, did that mean Mr Weasley truly was in trouble?
Ron pulled Harry off the wall and helped pull him through the corridor whilst Fred picked up a weak looking Bella and carried her the remaining of the way.
Once reaching his office; guarded by the password and phoenix staircase, McGonagall whispered the password and the staircase revealed themselves. "Hurry." She spoke earnestly to them, helping Ron pull Harry up the stairs.
By now the colour had begun to come back and they seemed to be more with it; as in they no longer were trembling all over and appearing ready to faint.
"They had a dream about Mr. Weasley being attacked by a snake in the Ministry." Dumbledore nodded with a concerned face before turning, with his back to them, and began talking to the portraits that hung on the wall. "Alfred, Diane. I need you to go to the Ministry Of Magic and see if Mr Weasley is there. If so I need you to notify St. Mungo's." The man and woman nodded before somehow walking off and disappearing from sight.
If the paintings are of the dead does that really make them dead? Does simply making a painting of a person make them said person? Are some souls chosen? Or simply an image of who the person once was?
Then before Harry (or Bella) could speak, Dumbledore and Minerva started another conversation. Muttering things quietly and ignoring the pair of them.
"Will somebody tell us what's happening?" Harry pleaded, however they carried on to be ignored.
I watched Bella carefully; in moments she had scrunched her hands into fists that lay at her side. Her nails were digging into her flesh and I think she was drawing some blood. There was this look of fury again and it was like what had happened in the bedroom, she snapped and flexed her neck round.
"Listen to me!" Harry screamed in fury and everyone besides Bella turned to face him all seeming shocked other than her, "What is happening?" He spoke but this time in softer tone.
Dumbledore's eyes widened before speaking. Snape walked forwards as he had just entered the room. "Snape we can't hold off 'till morning, you're going to have to do it now. You know what to do." Snape then grabbed them both by the shoulders, still shaking, and took them outside; down to his potion room.
"Wh- what are you doing?" Bella asked with a shudder.
"Be quite." He shushed her without turning to even look at her. The way down to his room was short however in the dark seemed longer; the stairs which led down were skinny and narrow and seemed unsafe. When they made it down to Snape's potion room, he pushed them down onto a free chair and began speaking to them.
"Now, you and The Dark Lord seem to share a connection that allows you to see into one another's mind. So Dumbledore has ordered me to teach you the art of Occlumency. This allows you to keep him out."
"Ohh. What do you think they're going to do?" Emmett asked enthusiastically but loudly.
"Shush!" We all said to him and then turned back to face the scene happening in front of us.
"Is now really a good idea?" Esme pipped up softly, "I'm sure they both could do with some rest, they both look terrible." Despite the returning colour to their cheeks they were still flushed red, hair flattened down onto sweaty foreheads.
"Occlumency? Sir what's Occlumency?" Bella asked quietly.
"This. I want you to fight to keep me out. Do not stop!"
He then muttered a spell under his breath and flicked his wand; in an instant we were being pulled forwards again but this time going from memory to memory. Being chased up a tree by a younger Dudley, winning the house cup in 1st year, Lilly Potter being murdered, Cedric dying, fighting off hundreds of Dementors as Sirius lay unconscious at her feet.
We were brought back by the sight of Bella screaming for him to stop, her hands gripping onto the sides of her chair. So hard that her hands were turning an angry bright red.
"Whatever you're doing stop it!" Harry screamed at him as he held onto her sister's shoulders and tried to calm her down. But when he refused to do anything he took out his wand (which I can't fathom why he would have with him considering it was the middle of the night) and yelled, "Expelliarmus!"
Snape's wand flew out of his grasp and he stumbled backwards into his desk. Steadying himself he looked frenzied, intensely furious as he waited seconds to resemble any kind of calmness.
"What exactly is the point of this... Occlumency?" I asked, "And why was Bella screaming so much? There was nothing painful involved."
"Snape is invading her personal memories, bringing some back up which are obviously painful. The same reason why she has so far refused to come with us." Carlisle explained.
I briefly stopped to look over to Edward who was stood there with all emotion absent from his face. He was looking down at Bella who had now stopped screaming, only soft exhausted whimpers remained.
Finally after moments of silence, Snape began to talk. "That was weak. I can only hope that your useless brother can do better." And with that double insult, he was doing the same thing with Harry.
"That's it! I am sick of him, he is just so rude." Alice said with a sour face.
"Yeah!" Emmett said agreeing with her, "How is this guy allowed to teach children when all he does is yell at everybody."
But as we pulled apart from our conversation we realised that we were no longer stood in the dark corner of Snape's potion room but instead the Weasley's crowded kitchen. On the table was remains of feasts of food and the kitchen was surrounded in tinsel and in lights. It must be Christmas.
"Look, it must be Christmas!" Esme said with a glowing face, happy to move from one extreme to a much brighter one.
Sat at the very end of the table covered in bandages was Mr Weasley surrounded by his wife four youngest kids and Hermione.
"So the dream was real then." Jasper stated, "How does that work? How are they connected?"
"And in toast to Bella and Harry Potter, who without I would no longer be here." Mr. Weasley toasted as he raised his glass in the air where the two stood awkwardly. The rest of them followed in his toast as they all called out, 'To Harry and Bella!'
Bella smiled and stood with her hands in her pockets. She was wearing washed out ripped jeans and a baggy, oversized red jumper. Her hair was curled and pulled up into a messy half up/down updo.
Mrs. Weasley was now walking around the room, passing out parcels as she did. One to each person in the room. "Here you go." She smiled as she passed them a large colourfully wrapped box.
"Thank you Mrs Weasley." Harry smiled back as he hugged her before Bella followed in his suite. Gleefully she waltzed back over to her family as they opened their Christmas presents. Bella's contained a bright orange and red wool hat, and Harrys was a scarf.
Everyone else had hand knitted things as well. Fred and George received jumpers with their initials on it, Ron had a scarf, Ginny a hat similar to Bella's and Hermione a set of gloves.
Emmett grimaced sourly, "Look at how ugly that scarf is. And they're all knitted."
"Emmett!" Esme cried, slapping him with the back side of her hand, "Don't say that! Not everyone has a handful of hundreds wafting around in their pocket. And just for that your Christmas present from me this year will be a hand knitted jumper." She scowled at him.
"But mom…" He whined.
"No buts, this discussion is over."
The rest of them down at the table carried on their conversations without distraction whilst Harry and Bella stood silently watching the group wearily with their new clothes. The sound of footsteps coming from behind turned the duo on their heels. Standing there was a man in a dark grey suit and shaggy hair that reached his shoulders.
It was Sirius.
"Sirius!" They both cried as they went into hug him, the smile on Bella's face seemed to widen.
"Come with me." Smiling himself he directed them up the stairs and into one of the empty rooms on the left. In the room was a single unmade bed and a rusty cupboard that was falling apart from years of use. The walls were green and the carpet was a mixture between peach and a rotten yellow. Cobwebs hung on the ceiling and dust rested in each speck of the room. On the wall to the left was what looked like a family tree, painted pictures of the family sculpted on. Some came with names, but others speckled throughout had the pictured scratched out.
"That's my family tree, and there's my mother." Sirius said, smiling sadly as he pointed to the picture of a big headed woman with a frowning face and cold eyes, "She scratched me out when I left home." He was only one of few that had been removed from the wall.
"Where did you go?"
"Well, I went to your dad's house; I was always welcome at the Potters. Your grandparents were great people, it's a shame you never got to meet them."
The two of them smiled fondly Bella's brows furrowed in confusion as she showered the walls. "Wait a minute. You're related to the Malfoys?" She said with wide eyes.
"Sadly I am, Bellatrix is my cousin."
"Sirius is a Malfoy by relation!" Emmett coughed, "Ooh."
"Poor him." I muttered darkly before the name relation at all settled. Bellatrix Lestrange the image in black read proudly. The same women, the same death eater, who had tortured Neville's parents? And poor Sirius was related to her whilst the godfather of the two children who her 'boss' had attempted to kill numerous times over. Complicated family history.
None of them said anything for a while.
"Your parents were wonderful people." Sirius grinned with a gleam in his eyes, "And so are you."
"Well that may not be entirely true." Harry mumbled in a quiet voice before looking back up Sirius, "Ever since we got back I'm always angry… all the time and maybe, maybe I'm thinking that me and Voldemort… we're not that different after all. I feel like we're becoming… him." His voice broke.
Sirius looked concerned but didn't say anything, "You too?" He asked Bella who nodded meekly.
He walked closer over to the two of them and crouched slightly so he was at their level.
"Listen. You are not bad people; in fact you two are two of the best people I know. No one is born entirely good and nor is anyone born entirely evil. We all have light and dark inside of us, but it's the side we choose to be that matters. You're far from being bad people, just people who bad things often happen to." He stood up straight and patted them both on the shoulder, "Now, I want you to forget about this and go enjoy your Christmas." He smiled.
Hermione walked round the corner and poked her hair through the door looking apologetically for interrupting a moment, "It's time to go." She said softly.
"Bye." She mumbled into his chest as the two of them hugged him; either one of them on each of his arms. They looked like a family.
Thanks beta.
I just want to say that the last memory of this year will be in Edwards POV because I want to show what he was thinking during it. Also 6th year will be Jasper and the last year will be split into Esme and Carlisle.
A few different people asked for it so... I decided Bella's going to go with them in sixth year.
I would just like to thank all of you who read this story and leave the nicest reviews. It means a lot.
2018 - UPDATED
