Chapter 52.
"Kreacher!" Magnolia called as she entered the Drawing Room.
She had already checked half the house in search of the House Elf, so far with little success. Everyone else was asleep; Mrs Weasley had returned a couple of hours ago and explained that although it was awfully close to going the other way, Mr Weasley was alive and ok. The Weasley's, Harry and Magnolia would be visiting St Mungo's later that day to see him for themselves, but he would need to stay in the hospital for at least a few more days which meant that they would all be staying at Grimmauld Place for Christmas.
Magnolia couldn't decide whether she was happy about that or not. Initially, she had been thrilled to spend the holiday with her Godfather, but her excitement had quickly turned to worry when she thought of the other place she needed to be this break. She had been laying in bed, listening to Ginny's deep breaths, trying to figure out a way to get herself out of the house for a day to get to Malfoy Manor. She had been staring at the cobwebs in the corner of the ceiling when inspiration had struck.
However, so far she was yet to find the source of that inspiration. Kreacher hadn't been seen since he had been kicked out of the kitchen earlier that morning. Magnolia couldn't think of any other way to get a message to Draco, so she wasn't going to give up until she had found the House Elf.
"Kreacher, stop hiding!" She whisper-shouted, "I need you to get a message to Malfoy Manor!"
A faint pop sounded from behind her, causing Magnolia to spin round quickly worried that someone else had heard what she had said. Instead, she saw the small creature grimacing at her.
"There you are!" Magnolia stepped towards him, "I need to do something for me whilst everyone is asleep."
"Miss Potter wishes for Kreature to take a message to Malfoy Manor, Kreature heard. Who does Miss Potter wish to speak to?"
"I need you to tell Draco Malfoy something for me, he's expecting me one day this break, but we need to come up with a plan to get me out of here for a day."
"Hmm, is it truly Master Malfoy that Miss Potter wishes to communicate with? Kreature knows who else resides in the Manor. Kreature knows he is waiting for you."
"Kreature!" Magnolia reprimanded, as his voice grew, "This needs to stay between you and me. I need you to tell Draco that I need a way to get to the Manor. Maybe Floo Powder? I'm sure one of the fireplaces here is linked to the Floo Network, we've spoken to Sirius before. I need a date, and a time. Once Draco has given me that, I can create a plan."
"Yes, Miss Potter. Kreature will give Master Draco your message."
"Good." Magnolia began walking away, before turning back to the House Elf, "Oh, and Kreature? Do not leave Malfoy Manor without a date and time for my arrival there. I don't care what you have to do, this meeting has to happen."
Magnolia quietly made her way back up stairs to her bed, slightly worried about the task she had given Kreature. It had seemed too easy. Kreature despised everyone in the house, why would he help her so willingly? Magnolia could only think of one reason: Walburga Black. The Black's had been loyal followers of Voldemort's cause, maybe Kreature believes he is really helping his departed mistress by getting Magnolia to meet him.
Later that day, Magnolia was sat in the kitchen cradling her cup of tea and relishing in the quiet. They hadn't long been back from St Mungo's where they had seen Mr Weasley looking much better than she had expected. Everyone had dispersed to separate rooms as soon as they got back after they had heard Mr and Mrs Weasley, Tonks and Mad Eye Moody discussing Harry's dream.
Magnolia had been sure that Harry had been hiding something when he'd told them about the dream. And now she knew for sure. She sighed; things were even worse between the twins then she had thought if her brother wouldn't even tell her about the dream. Footsteps coming down the stairs pulled Magnolia out of her stare, and she turned to see her brother walking in looking sheepish.
"Oh. You're here."
Magnolia nodded slightly, gazing back towards her tea. She heard her brother pull the seat across the table across the floor and sit down. They sat in silence. Awkward, uncomfortable silence. The type of silence that the twins had never sat in before.
"So, you dreamt of Mr Weasley being attacked?" Magnolia mumbled.
"Yeah, I told you earlier."
"And it was exactly how you told us, right?"
Magnolia glanced up to see Harry shrug.
Magnolia sighed, "Harry, don't hide things from me. Tell me about the dream. Was it like last year?"
"You're one to talk." Harry scoffed, "Where did you get the Slytherin Quidditch top?"
Magnolia paused; she wasn't expecting Harry to bring that up again.
"I'm in Slytherin, Harry."
"You aren't on the team, though." Harry retorted, "So, who gave you the top?"
Magnolia turned to her brother, her face set, "Draco. Draco gave me the top to sleep in when I was up late in the boys Dorm one night. I never gave it back, it's comfy."
Magnolia could see her brother's mind whirring. His eyes had tightened, his lips pinched momentarily. This was the closest she had gotten to telling her brother about her relationship with Draco, and he wasn't taking it very well. Magnolia needed to move the conversation along.
"So, what didn't you tell me about the dream?"
Silence.
"…Harry."
"I was the snake."
Harry's words tumbled out of his mouth so quickly that Magnolia almost missed them. It took her a few moments to comprehend what he had said. Magnolia sat and listened as her brother explained to her what had really happened in his dream. He had been sliding along the floor, he had seen Mr Weasley, he had attacked him again and again until Harry had been forced awake by the boys in his Dorm.
"I'm the weapon, aren't I?" Harry muttered after a few more minutes of silence, "The weapon that everyone was telling us about in the Summer. The weapon that Voldemort is after, that he didn't have last time. It's me, isn't it?"
Magnolia sat in silence as her twin stood and started to pace around the kitchen as he vented.
"What did he do to me that night? He killed our parents, he tried to kill me… what else did he do? Was he preparing me this whole time to do his killings for him? Has he been watching everything I've seen in the Order, in Hogwarts, all year? What is he planning for me?"
"…You know he kept me alive too, right?"
"So? This isn't about you, Maggie. You're not the one having dreams about Voldemort."
Magnolia bit her lip. Now was not the time to bring up her own dreams. Harry was already worked up and tense, if she were to say anything else it would just end up in an argument. Magnolia wasn't in the mood to deal with an argument in this house; she had none of her own back up, it would be her against every single Gryffindor in Grimmauld Place.
It was another two days before Magnolia saw Kreacher again. She was sat among the hay in Buckbeak's room when she heard a small pop sound from behind her. Kreacher bowed deeply before approaching Magnolia herself.
"Kreacher, you're back!" Magnolia smiled, "Tell me, how did it go?"
"Miss Potter, Master Malfoy was angry that you sent Kreacher, but Kreacher did as you told him and did not leave Malfoy Manor until a plan was in place."
"Wonderful, what's the plan?"
"Miss Potter is to meet Miss Parkinson and Miss Greengrass at Diagon Alley on the day after Boxing Day at 10am. They will then escort you to the Knott's residence, where Master Malfoy and Master Nott will escort you to the Malfoy Manor. You will do the reverse on your way home. Master Malfoy also told me to let you know that your cat is currently with him."
Magnolia nodded and sent Kreacher away again. She leant back on Buckbeak, resting against his warm feathered body. It was really happening. There was a plan. She was going to go to Malfoy Manor in less than a week and come face to face with Tom Riddle for the first true time.
She wasn't sure how she felt about it. She was nervous, about being in Malfoy Manor, and about getting there, but a part of her was excited. She was going to meet him. She was going to meet the man that haunted her dreams, the man that had ordered her protection last year, the man she never knew whether to fear or admire.
When Magnolia reluctantly moved away from Buckbeak, her stomach rumbling, she followed the sounds of voices into the kitchen. Sirius saw her immediately and pushed his own sandwich towards the hungry girl. Magnolia smiled at him as he chuckled and kissed the top of her head before excusing himself and leaving the school children on their own.
"So, how are you feeling, Harry?"
"Fine."
"Oh, don't lie, Harry." Hermione snapped, "Ron and Ginny say you've been hiding from everyone since you got back from St Mungo's."
"They do, do they?"
"Well, you have!" Ginny cried at Harry's snippy tone, "And you won't look at any of us!"
"It's you lot who won't look at me!"
"Oh, stop playing the victim!" Magnolia snapped.
Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron stopped suddenly and stared at Magnolia as if they had forgotten she was there completely. Magnolia could see Harry turning darker shades of red before Hermione jumped in.
"I think what Maggie meant was, for you to stop feeling misunderstood. Everyone has told me what you all overhead on the Extendable Ears-"
"Yeah? All been talking about me, have you? Well, I'm getting used to it." Harry snarled.
"We wanted to talk to you, Harry." Ginny stressed.
"I didn't want anyone to talk to me!"
"Well, that was a bit stupid of you, seeing as you don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels."
Magnolia sat in silence as she listened to the Gryffindors, but she was thinking more about herself. They rallied around Harry even when he was acting so angrily, but they couldn't do that for her. The only people who did were the Slytherins. Eventually, Magnolia moved out of the kitchen, unnoticed by the other students.
Magnolia made her way through the House, past the bedroom she shared with Ginny and now Hermione, up the stairs. She passed Sirius' room, and his brother's room, on her journey to Buckbeak. Before she could walk up the final set of stairs, she saw an emerald door with three silver letters topped by a silver tiara sat in the centre. Magnolia moved towards the door in a trance, her fingertips reaching out to softly run over the M.L.P emblazoned on the door.
Her other hand reached for the silver doorknob and turned it easily, opening the door and showing her the room behind it. A four poster bed stood against the wall in the centre of the room, draped in emerald and green curtains. An antique dresser was directly opposite the foot of the bed, the mirror took up the entire dresser, and was bordered by beautifully carved and painted flowers. Magnolia dropped into the plush chair just in front of the dresser, tears pricking at her eyes as she gazed over the photo's that adorned the dresser.
The smiling faces of her mum and dad holding the twins, of the Marauders in Hogwarts, all of them on her parents wedding day stared back at her. Magnolia smiled as a single tear dropped onto her cheek as she picked up the largest photo; her mum and dad, Remus and Sirius were all sat on a picnic blanket in a large garden laughing with each other and waving at the two babies that were crawling towards them.
Magnolia brushed the tear aside, moving around the room to see more of it. By the window was a comfortable looking armchair, flanked on one side by a small table and on the other next to the window a tall bookshelf. Magnolia immediately sunk into the armchair, pulling the silver fluffy blanket that hung over the back of it around her shoulders.
The following morning, Magnolia awoke to a pile of presents on the end of her bed. It took her a moment to realise that she was still in the room she had found the previous evening. She could remember yawning in the armchair, rereading the same sentence in her book about seven times before she had put it down on the table and stumbled sleepily to the bed.
She smiled at the colourful paper of the presents; she could immediately tell which presents were from whom. She ripped through her presents eagerly, smiling at the range of gifts she had received. Her Slytherin friends had bought her more beauty potions and gorgeous clothes. The Gryffindor's had bought her sweets and treats for Kaida.
The last present was obviously from Draco, a small rectangular box wrapped in a shimmering green paper. Magnolia ripped through the paper, and excitedly opened the box. Inside, cushioned on a pillow of velvet was an emerald snake charm to place on her bracelet. Magnolia ran her finger over the charm and quickly placed it on her bracelet.
Magnolia's door burst open, Sirius bounding through singing Christmas songs. He jumped on Magnolia's bed, bouncing up and down like a child, making Magnolia giggle. Once again Sirius was giving Magnolia memories that she never thought she would have.
"Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas, Sirius."
"I see you found your present and made yourself at home by the looks of it." Sirius grinned, bigger than Magnolia had ever seen him smile.
"Christmas was your mum's favourite holiday, you know." Sirius continued, "Especially after you and Harry were born. She had massive Christmas day's… invited everyone to dinner, sometimes we had to bring our own chairs because there were so many of us."
Magnolia smiled up at her Godfather as he barked with laughter and told her stories about her parents. Her favourite was the Christmas she and Harry were born; her mum had woken late for the first time since the twins were born and worried at the quiet. When she had gone downstairs, Lily had found baby Magnolia playing with a huge shaggy dog, and baby Harry practically hanging off a deer's antlers.
Sirius shuffled Magnolia aside and wrapped his arm around her. She leant into Sirius' side happily as he leant back against her headboard and handed her a soft parcel. Magnolia ripped into the red and silver paper to find an old soft plush toy of a fluffy dog.
"That was the first thing I ever bought you." Sirius explained, "Everyone thought it was hilarious when it became obvious that you preferred cats."
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you." Magnolia joked.
"You could never disappoint me, Princess."
Magnolia cast her eyes down, glad that Sirius couldn't see the pained look that crossed her face. She was sure that if he knew what her and her friends were doing, he'd be more than just disappointed in her. If he knew that a part of her wanted to meet the Dark wizard that killed her parents, his best friends… he would never be able to look at her again.
She couldn't keep hiding everything from him. She couldn't tell him the entire truth, she knew that, but he had created this beautiful bedroom for her in Slytherin colours- a place for her to go when she had nowhere else. She couldn't lie about everything, she had to give him something.
"Hey, Sirius… When I thought Harry and I were staying at The Burrow over Christmas, a couple of my Dormmates and I made plans to meet in Diagon Alley the day after Boxing Day." Magnolia began quietly, "Can I still go?"
Magnolia felt Sirius sigh and tighten his arms around her, dropping his chin onto the top of her head. She nuzzled into his hug, once again relishing in the fatherly feeling Sirius engulfed her with.
"Yeah, Princess, you can still go."