Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.

A/N: Thanks to everyone for the reviews!

I'm so so sooooo sorry this took so long! I went to Florida for like 7 days, which is no excuse to be this late, but I'm going to try to get to at least monthly updates I swear! Starting Sunday I'm going out of town for two whole weeks so don't expect an update during that time.

Again, I am so sorry!

Chapter 51

"Abbey, where'd the bruises on your neck go?"

"He got off, he got off, he got off –!"

"What? Oh –"

"Lucius Malfoy," Mr. Weasley interrupted me quickly. "He was there, he was talking to Fudge before going off to his office."

"He got off, he got off, he got off –!"

"What does that have to do with Abbey's bruises?"

"He got off, he got off, he got off –!"

"Fred, George, Ginny, that's enough!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed. "When he saw us, he offered to heal it –"

"Well you don't just let him!" Father yelled. "You don't just let a dark wizard 'heal' somebody, especially the daughter of two people he absolutely loathes!" Fred, George, and Ginny finally stopped their chants at the sound of Father's raised voice.

"The Minister was there, and he told me to, I would've lost my job and –"

"I don't care about your fucking job! You could've gotten a little girl killed –!"

"I am not a little girl!" I snapped, suddenly remembering that I could actually talk again without being in pain. Father glanced a me but otherwise ignored me.

"Everybody out!" Father said, pointing to the door.

"Sirius –" Dad started calmly, but Father continued.

"Everybody but Arthur, Molly, Remus, and – and Abbey, go up to your rooms!" he said. Everyboy stared at him, shocked and confused, for a moment before Hermione pushed Ron and Harry out, and Ginny followed downheartedly. Fred and George stared at Father for a minute before he barked, "Out!" again, and they ran out quickly, not wanting him to get mad at them too.

"Sirius, calm down –" Dad tried again, but Father had already turned on Mr. Weasley.

"What spell was it?"

"What?" Mr. Weasley asked. Father narrowed his eyes.

"What spell did Malfoy use to 'heal' her?" he repeated. Mr. Weasley shook his head slowly.

"I didn't hear it – he used it nonverbally!" he said, trying to defend himself. Father glared at him for a moment before turning on me. At first I flinched, scared that he was going to yell at me too, since I wasn't sure exactly why he wanted me to stay in the room, but his eyes softened almost immediately. He waved at me to come closer.

"How does your neck feel now dear?" he asked when I stopped right in front of him, pushing my chin up slightly so he could look at my skin closely.

"Like I'd never had those bruises to begin with." He rose his eyebrows. "I mean, it's a little tender but otherwise it feels completely fine." Father was pushing on my neck lightly.

"Does that hurt?" he asked.

"No, but it's not very comfortable," I replied honestly. He leaned back, still looking at my neck.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Look, Abbey, can you wait upstairs in your room for just a few moments, okay?" I shrugged as I left the room.

I didn't want to "wait" in my room, I wanted to go to my room. I wanted to take a nap, I was so worn out. But I knew that as soon as I got to that room, Riley would be asking me questions – if she was there, that is. She was probably with Harry and Ron and Hermione. I kind of hoped she would be.

When I pushed the door open, I found that I was lucky – she had gone to talk to them, so I could lie down and rest. I just couldn't sleep.

As I lay, though, I realized I probably would fall asleep if I didn't find something to do. So I sat at the small desk in the corner and pulled out the enchanted journal that Draco had given me for my birthday and flipped it open.

I was surprised to find that there had been several new notes from him since the last time I had checked it. The most recent one said, "Abbey, are you okay?" I was confused until I checked the rest of them.

Hey babe, haven't heard from you in a while, what've you been up to?

You there? Abbey?

Guess not.

Father just told me he saw you today at the Ministry of Magic.

Why didn't you tell me about the Dementors?

Is your neck okay?

Will you please reply?

And then he went on to say several very similar things.

I felt horrible. I should've checked it more often; I should've known he would want to keep in touch more than we were. But instead I got lost in my own little world and left him alone, probably worried that I was really hurt or something.

I grabbed the nearest quill and ink and started to write back to him immediately.

Oh my gosh, I'm soo sorry! I've just been so busy lately and Father is really watching me after I snuck out to visit Harry and it just all sucks. I'm fine, I swear, my neck hurt before but then your father fixed it up.

I paused and decided to add, "Be sure to tell him thank you for me, alright?"

I was surprised when he replied almost instantly with only one word. "Abigail." I blinked. At first I was confused as to why he used Abigail instead of Abbey, but I decided to wait and see what else he would say. But after several minutes of him not saying anything else, I sent another one.

Yeah?

Why didn't you tell anybody? Why didn't you tell me?

I had to think for a moment. What was he talking about? Then I realized; he was probably talking about my neck. How it still had been hurting me, but how I hadn't told anybody. Shit, I thought. He probably thinks I didn't trust him enough to just tell him…

After several moments of contemplation, I started to write back slowly, "I didn't think I was supposed to. I mean, it's a pretty big deal that Harry was attacked by Dementors, and I didn't think they just wanted everybody to know about it."

Okay, he wrote back. Fair enough. But then why haven't you replied to any of my messages?

I haven't seen them. I told you, I've b

But before I could even finish, he started writing and I stopped to read what he was saying.

Please don't say you've been busy and then not even tell me with what.

I sighed, running my fingers through my hair stressfully. He really did know me too well.

I just…I can't. I can't tell you. You have no idea how much I want to, but with your father and his position, he could come across this anytime and if Father or Dad or anybody ever found out it was my fault they'd skin me alive.

It was killing me to not tell him. I needed to tell him. About how we had left my house, and why, and about the Dementor attack that I was still shaken from. I just couldn't…I knew I could trust Draco, but somebody could've found this, could be impersonating him. Or they could force it out of him somehow…

I understand.

I sighed, rubbing my face. I just knew he must be feeling like I didn't trust him. I would feel that way too.

I miss you, I wrote after a couple of moments.

I miss you too.

Before I could reply with a message that I couldn't seem to say how I wanted, a light knock came on the door and Dad poked his head in.

"Can I come in?" he asked. I nodded, closing the journal and pushing it away from me. Dad closed the door behind him lightly and sat on the bed close to me.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, slightly worried when I saw the apprehensive look that crossed his face.

"Sirius is very…upset with Arthur –"

"He's pissed, isn't he?" I asked. Dad laughed lightly, looking down at his hands and nodding.

"To sum up his reactions, yes, he was pissed," he replied. He paused. "You don't feel anything in your neck then? No pain, no throbbing, no numbness…nothing?" I shook my head.

"No, it feels completely normal," I answered. "Why?"

"We're just…worried."

"About what?" He sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"Dark Magic." I blinked. "We're worried that whatever Lucius did to your neck cured it for now but will come back and…be even worse later. That's why Sirius is so upset with Arthur. He's pissed, yes, but he's also just very worried about you."

"What…what could it…y'know, what could happen because of it?"

"Anything from a light pain to complete control of your actions to…"

"To death," I finished for him, already having known the answer. He nodded. I took in a sharp death breath, terrified but not really wanting to show it.

"Abbey, look at me." I didn't. "Look at me," he repeated, a bit more forcefully. I looked up slowly. "We're going to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen, okay? To make sure none of that happens, that the Dark Magic gets out of you if it even is in you."

"How can you do that?"

"There's a charm," he answered. "You have to take a bit of blood, use a charm on it, and it changes specific colors based on how much Dark Magic is in the body. If there is any at all, we'll have to speak to Dumbledore about getting it out."

"When are you going to do it?"

"As soon as Sirius calms down," he said. "You have to be knocked out to do it."

"Lovely way to put it," I muttered. Dad smiled slightly.

"Just sedated is all," he corrected himself. I made a face just as the door pushed open and Father entered. He looked at Dad, who nodded slightly, and then at me.

"Ready?" Father asked. I made another face, scrunching up my nose in distaste, but nodded nonetheless. He motioned for us to follow him, and we did so, Dad bringing up the rear.

I expected him to take us downstairs, but to my surprise he started up the stairs.

"Where're we going?" I asked. He didn't answer and merely said,

"Just follow me." I was still confused, but I ignored it and followed him all the way to the top floor and into the room he had grown up in, the room he and Dad were sharing now. Before entering, I glanced at my uncle Regulus's bedroom door, suddenly remembering that I had forgotten completely about the locket Kreacher had entrusted to me.

As soon as Dad had closed the door behind him, Father pointed to the bed and told me to sit down. They sat on either side of me.

"Do you feel completely okay?" Father asked. I nodded. "No pain anywhere, no nausea?" I shook my head.

"I feel completely normal. A little worried, but that's normal right?" He nodded simply.

"Alright, if you're sure, lay down on the bed." Bewildered, I laid down with my head on the pillow that I knew was Dad's, pushing my feet under the covers.

"We're just going to knock you out with a spell for a couple hours, okay?" Dad said. "So we can take that blood we need to test it." I shrugged.

"Okay," I said, as if it didn't bother me.

But it did.

I wasn't afraid of the spell that would knock me out. I trusted Dad and Father both equally, I knew that no matter what the spell was it wouldn't hurt me. I was afraid of what might happen when the blood was tested. What if I did have Dark Magic in me? I didn't care what would happen to me – I cared what would happen to those around me. They would all worry about me, waste a lot of time trying to get it out, and I just…didn't want that.

Father waved his wand, muttered a few words, and I found myself falling asleep…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I felt like I was only asleep for a few seconds when I cracked my eyes open again.

"She's been out all day, how strong did you put it on her?" a voice I knew but couldn't place asked.

"I put how much I should've for two hours," another voice replied.

"For an adult! She's half the size of a full grown adult! Didn't you think of that?" I could finally place the voices. Dad was upset with Father, both of whom seemed worried, because Father had put too much strength into the spell.

But before I could really think too much about it, I found myself falling asleep again…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

When I woke up next, the clock across the room told me that it was four in the morning. I rubbed my eyes groggily, knowing that after over 12 hours of sleep I would not be falling back to sleep anytime soon.

I wanted to get up, but when I rolled over to crawl off the bed, I realized that I had been pushed into the middle of the bed and Father and Dad were sleeping soundly on either side of me.

This was the first time this had ever happened to me. I wondered if it was something most kids grew up with – crawling into bed with both of their parents whenever they had nightmares, or scared of something pointless, or merely couldn't sleep. I had never gotten the chance to sleep with even one of my parents – if I had a nightmare, I had to crawl into bed with Sam or, when she got older, Riley.

Maybe that was nice, so I got to grow up with a closer relationship to my siblings than I otherwise would have, but I still would've wanted the opportunity to sleep in the same bed as my fathers.

Instead of getting up, I decided to let myself lay there until one of them woke up, so I rolled onto my side and rested my head on the shoulder of whichever dad was on that side. He moved his arm so it draped down my back, running his fingers through my hair a few times before stilling. I wondered briefly if I had woken him up, but if I had he didn't say anything and just went back to sleep.

I tried to do the same.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Is it strange that I couldn't wait for school to start? And because of it, the next few weeks seemed to go by so slowly.

Maybe that was because nothing really happened. I spent a lot of time trying to listen in to conversations and trying to figure out what to do about the locket Kreacher had given me, sometimes consulting him about it.

"It's obviously not just a normal locket," I said once while I was sitting at the desk in my room and he was just standing in the doorway staring at me.

"It's not?" he asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Obviously not, or why would Voldemort be protecting it?" He just looked at me a second before walking away. "Thanks for the help," I muttered to myself, getting up and pulling the door shut.

When I sat back down, I picked up the locket again and tried to pry it open. To no avail. Annoyed, I threw it at the wall as hard as I could.

"What is it with you and that locket?"

I looked up to see Phineas Nigellus Black looking down at me, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I want to know why it won't open." He looked at me skeptically.

"Is that really the only reason you like it?" he asked.

"Whether it is or isn't, that's none of your business." He huffed, crossed his arms, and stomped out of the portrait like a child. I rolled my eyes and picked up the locket, finding absolutely no damage done to it at all.

A few days later, the very last day of the holidays, our booklists finally came in. I didn't really care, except that Hermione and Ron got appointed Prefects. I knew Harry was kinda upset that he didn't get it and Ron did, but I overheard Riley telling him about how stupid being a Prefect was anyways, and he let it go.

"Besides, don't worry," she had said. "Dad was Prefect, but nobody else in our family is going to be. Sam wasn't, I'm not, and obviously Abbey won't be."

Mrs. Weasley was pretty annoying when Ron got it, though.

"I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Oh, Ron, how wonderful! A prefect! That's everyone in the family!" she exclaimed. I looked over to Fred and George, who were staring at her open-mouthed.

"What are Fred and I, next door neighbors?" George asked indignantly. I laughed.

"Wait until your father hears! Ron, I'm so proud of you, what wonderful news, you could end up Head Boy just like Bill and Percy, it's the first step! Oh, what a thing to happen in the middle of all this worry, I'm just thrilled, oh, Ronnie –"

And that was only the beginning of her rant about how great Ron was now that he's a Prefect.

I rolled my eyes yet again and made my way downstairs.

I couldn't wait to get out of that house and to Hogwarts the next day.