Chapter 3 ~ Beautiful
The summer passed by relatively quickly as Tiera and Harry became closer than ever. Tiera also befriended George and Ginny Weasley (as well as their parents, who had unofficially adopted Tiera as one of their own), but she never became any closer to Fred than she'd been the first day she arrived. It saddened her, but a voice in the back of her mind that she usually referred to as her conscience kept telling her it was better if he didn't get too close.
Early one Sunday morning, Tiera padded quietly downstairs to breakfast (pancakes, bacon, and sausage if her nose served her correctly). She had just seated herself between Harry and George when Ginny uttered a small noise of surprise. She blushed when everyone looked at her, wondering what was wrong. She gulped.
"Um . . . there's another letter here . . . only . . ." She couldn't bring herself to continue, so she shoved the letter into Ron's hand. His brow furrowed as he read the envelope.
"Er . . . It's addressed to KJ."
"What?" Tiera asked, mouth open as she gaped at him.
"Let's see, Ron," Mr. Weasley said, taking it from him. "Hm . . . You're right. Well open it, Tiera, and find out what it's all about."
Tiera took the envelope and opened it. The parchment inside was almost too much for her to handle. It informed her that she was due on the Hogwarts Express with the other students on September 1st. She frowned; that couldn't be right. She kept reading, finding that Professor Dumbledore himself had invited her. She did not, however, find out why he wished her to be there, or how long she'd be staying.
"Kay?" Fred asked, finally.
She looked up at him. No one had ever called her that--had they?
"Um . . . I'm supposed to go with you . . . to--to school. I don't know why . . . but . . ."
"Oh dear . . ." Mrs. Weasley said, almost worriedly, gazing into space.
"I don't think I'm going as an actual student, though . . . It says I need to be there, and then go straight to see Professor Dumbledore. I don't have a supply list either, so . . ."
"Great!" George said, grinning suddenly. "You can help us with some new . . . er, projects at school."
Mrs. Weasley gave him a warning glare and he smiled innocently at her. She just shook her head; Tiera noticed that she was trying to hold back a smile.
"Speaking of projects," George said, elbowing Fred, "Remember that project we told you about? The one that needs your voice?"
"Um, yeah . . .?"
"Well, we haven't worked on it yet. I thought you might like to do that before we start . . . preparing . . . for school."
"Oh. Sure, I mean, if you're sure you wanna use *my* voice."
"Course we're sure," he said, winking--again.
Fred continued his sentence quietly. "You've got a beautiful voice." When he was answered with gaping stares he shrugged. "What? She does."
Blushing, Tiera shifted in her seat. "Um . . . I think I'm gonna go outside for a while."
The only replies she got were nods and smiles, so she stood and, after taking her plate to the sink (to Mrs. Weasley's tut-tutting about how she should have left it), walked outside to the garden. She decided to lie down in the grass for a few minutes, soaking up the sun. She got tired then, and sat up, afraid to fall asleep on the ground in someone's backyard.
Laughing at herself, she began to pick flowers, lazily weaving them into a sort of makeshift crown as she'd done so often when she was younger. As she did so, she began to sing.
I try, but I can't seem to get myself to think of anything but you.
Your breath on my face, your warm gentle kiss.
I taste the truth, I taste the truth.
You know what I came here for, so I won't ask for more.
I wanna be with you, if only for a night;
To be the one who's in your arms, who holds you tight;
I wanna be with you. There's nothing more to say,
There's nothing else I want more than to feel this way.
I wanna be with you, yeah
So I'll hold you tonight, like I would if you were mine to hold, forevermore.
And I'll savor each touch that I wanted so much
To feel before, to feel before.
How beautiful it is just to be like this.
I wanna be with you, if only for a night;
To be the one who's in your arms, who holds you tight;
I wanna be with you. There's nothing more to say,
There's nothing else I want more than to feel this way.
I wanna be with you.
O-oh, baby, I can't fight this feeling anymore;
Drives me crazy when I try to.
So call my name, take my hand;
Can you make my wish, baby, your command?
Ye-ah
I wanna be with you. There's nothing more to say,
There's nothing else I want more than to feel this way.
I wanna be with you,
Ooh yeah, I wanna be with you.
Wanna be with you, yeah.
I wanna be, I wanna be with you, yeah.
Yeah, I wanna be, I wanna be, baby.
I wanna be.
I wanna be with you, yeah.
"I wanna be with you," she ended the song originally sung by Mandy Moore in a whisper.
Little did she know, a redhaired boy was standing just outside the house, listening to her song while he watched her intently.
"Thinking about Fred again?"
Startled at hearing George's voice so abruptly, she turned to face him, eyes wide. "What?"
"The song. You were thinking about him, weren't you?"
All Tiera could manage in the matter of a reply was a stare and a stutter that wouldn't seem to stop. He continued, walking towards her. "You do have a really beautiful voice, you know."
She stepped back when he was within a foot, but he kept walking. Tiera kept backing up, not knowing why. George was keeping eye contact, and, try as she might, Tiera couldn't look away.
"A beautiful voice for a beautiful girl, eh, KJ?"
"George, please don't," she said, the all-too-familiar look on his face and in his eyes beginning to scare her.
"What's wrong, KJ?" he asked, still moving toward her. She realized that she needed to get back into the house with the others and slowly circled around so she was backing up into it. It would be a long walk, though.
"You just . . . shouldn't be . . . It's just . . . wrong!" she said, at a loss for words.
He smiled. He actually *smiled.* "You needn't be frightened, Majesty. I won't hurt you--that is, unless you want me to, of course."
She knew this routine too well, and if she didn't get into the house soon they both would regret it. Just as she thought this, her groping hand felt the door behind her and she slipped in quickly, running straight into Fred with a gasp. He took one look at her and led her quickly to the couch. As they sat down, the door opened once more, and George entered, still looking as if in a trance. He ignored his twin (who sat staring at him) and passed by to Tiera once more. As she was sitting on the couch she had nowhere to go. She leaned back as far as she could, pulling her knees up to her chin.
George sat beside her and placed the flower-crown she'd made on top of her head. Then, to her horror as well as Fred's, he kissed her forehead, then kissed her again, and again, and again, traveling slowly down toward her lips. Tiera was too shocked to move, but Fred (after realization set in) glared and roughly pushed him forward onto the floor.
"What do you think you're doing?" they asked simultaneously. Tiera shuddered.
"Boys!" Mrs. Weasley yelled as she entered the room. When her mind registered the scene before her, her eyes narrowed. "What's going on?"
Fred was seething and knew he didn't dare try to speak, lest something he didn't mean come out of his mouth. George was sitting on the floor, looking on the other three in bewilderment. Tiera was the only one who knew anything, apparently, so Mrs. Weasley rounded on her.
"KJ?"
"Um . . . He . . . Er, well . . ." she began quietly, biting her lip. She cleared her throat nervously. "Um . . . George . . . He, uh . . . sort of went berserk on us."
"What? What do you mean by that, eh, KJ?" George asked defensively.
"Oh, it's not . . . It's just . . . Well, I'm not sure what happened," she said, returning her attention to Mrs. Weasley. "One minute he's teasing me about-- . . . Well, he heard me singing and he um . . . Well he was teasing me about something, and the next he's . . . Well . . ."
"He was putting a move on her!" Fred declared suddenly, face as red as before.
Molly Weasley looked at her son in shock. "George, I thought . . . Well, I thought that you weren't . . . erm, interested in Tiera? This isn't another of your jokes is it? Because if it is--"
George began to protest, but Tiera cut him off.
"Mrs. Weasley, trust me, it's not a joke. It's . . . Well, it's happened before."
"It's what? George--"
"Not George. Just . . . other guys . . . One minute they were my friend, and totally nothing more, and the next . . ."
"Oh, dear . . . Well what . . . what . . ." Mrs. Weasley seemed to be at a loss for words. "What brings this about, dear, do you have any idea?"
Tiera shrugged helplessly. "All I know is that it's normally after they've heard me sing--oh goodness, that sounds so terrible of me, doesn't it? I don't mean to sound conceited about it or anything, it's just . . . it usually *is* right after they've heard my voice."
"KJ, I remember hearing you sing about F--" He stopped short when he received her glare. "I remember hearing you sing, but I can't remember anything else until Fred pushed me down here on the floor--for no reason that I know of," he said accusingly.
"I pushed you because you were--" He stopped himself mid-sentence and Tiera could have sworn she heard him growl.
"Guys, it's no big. It's happened before, it'll happen again. Okay?"
George shrugged, but Mrs. Weasley and Fred looked unsure. Fred sighed and looked at Tiera.
"Kay, if anything like this happens again . . . Tell me, all right?"
She nodded her consent, somewhat confused, and Mrs. Weasley left the room shaking her head. There was an awkward pause.
"Sorry, KJ. I don't know what came over me," George said finally, glancing at Fred when he said the latter.
"It's all right George. Like I said, it's not the first time. It just kinda scared me, you know?"
He nodded as Fred got to his feet. He helped his brother stand, also, then turned to KJ. "Remember, if *anything* else happens . . ." At her nod, he began toward the stairs saying, "I'm off then, to finish work on . . . on something."
A few minutes after Fred exited, George finally took a seat. "Can I tell you about the latest project now? The one you said you'd help with?"
"Sure."
"Well the idea is . . ."
Fifteen minutes later, Tiera was staring at him in shock. "You can do that?"
"Sure. Course we've been at it for years, but we've got it all worked out now. It'll be our best invention yet."
"You're right, it will. That's really really cool, George!" Tiera said, smiling.
He smiled back at her. "And it'll be great for getting around Hogwarts this year. It's our last year at school, you know. You came just in time."
"I know." She grinned. "Though I'm not sure I wanna help you get around Filch. For all I know you could use it to prank me!"
"Never! Tiera Kay-Jordan McKenzie, I thought you knew me better by now!"
"I do. Like I said, for all I know, you probably *will* use it to prank me!"
They broke out in laughter until Tiera's phone rang. She sighed and answered, sounding tired and frustrated. After listening to what the other person on the line had to say, she narrowed her eyes, glaring at the wall behind George's head. He watched her worriedly.
"What? That can't be right. . . . Lucy, there has to be. How could I not-- . . . That would mean I like . . . pretty much didn't exist. And I totally do, so something's wrong. . . . Well how am I supposed to know? . . . I told you, I grew up there. . . . No."
She sighed. "Of course that's my real name. At least, that's the only one I ever knew. . . . They said what? . . . Why would I have been wearing a tiara? . . . I was almost three? . . . Well, that's odd. I don't remember anything from before the group home. . . . How am I supposed to know what you're gonna hafta do? . . . Are you serious? . . . But they *can't* track my parents--I've had them try before. . . . Okay. . . . I guess so. . . . Yeah, I'll see what I can do, too, all right, Luce? . . . Kay. . . . Bye."
She hung up with another sigh and put her head in her hands. George put his hand on her shoulder and she flinched. She scooted a bit to her right, away from him.
"Sorry," he said. "All right, KJ?"
"I don't know. I just found out that I have no birth certificate, and I don't even know my own name. Except Kay is my middle name, really. They said I wouldn't tell them anything but that when I was little. I guess I eventually forgot, and they had given me a new name anyway." She gave a slight laugh. "Apparently they called me 'Tiara' cause I was wearing one."
"When you were three years old? Not a real one, right?"
"Yeah, a real one. Actually, a real one would be a crown, I guess." She frowned. "That's strange. Why would I be wearing a crown? Especially at three years old."
"I don't know, KJ. I honestly don't know. Come on, let's get your mind off this and go upstairs to work on that."
"Okay. Thanks for listening, George."
"Oh, it's nothing. Come on, then," he said, standing and making his way to the stairs.
She smiled and followed him, shaking her head. They went up to the twins' room and worked, then, something that, throughout the next two and a half weeks, became a daily routine. By then it was time to go to Diagon Alley.