Disclaimer- Harry Potter is not mine. Nor is any other character, place, or idea related to J.K. Rowling's work. So please, don't sue.
A/N: Just so you all know, I started this story last summer but kind of stopped adding to it. So, you just might recognize it. I have made many changes to it though and promise that this time I will try to regularly update it, though I am awful busy with school and work. I just like where this story is going and wanted to give it another shot. It's a bit slow in the beginning but I promise, it won't stay that way for long. Hope you enjoy! And review!!
Who Are You?
Chapter One
Janine pressed her foot a little harder down on the peddle.
"Come on, Come on," she said to herself as she sped down the road.
She was late. Terribly late.
Janine was your average 17 year old girl. She was a bit tall for her age and also a bit to skinny, which, was strange considering all that she ate. She had short and straight brown hair that just reached her shoulders and bangs that always seemed to fall over her big, brown eyes.
Janine pulled into her drive way and turned off her headlights. She got out of her car and ran to the door. At the front door Janine paused for a moment, trying to catch her breath. If she was paying more attention to her surroundings, she may of noticed that something wasn't right then, but being that she was in a hurry, she didn't bother to look up at the sky.
Maybe, she thought hopefully, I'll be lucky and they are already in bed. It didn't seem likely though. Janine remembered back to earlier that day when she first asked her parents for permission to go to the party.
"Will there be boys there?" Was the first thing out of her mother's mouth.
"Of course not," Janine replied, rolling her eyes, "It's nun party."
After a quick scolding about her sarcasm, her father then started to question about the appearance of drugs and alcohol.
"You guys should trust me!" Janine answered, a bit hurt. "I am not going to do anything wrong.
Well, after much begging she finally convinced them to let her go, on one condition, she had to be home by ten. Danielle knew that leaving the party at ten would be horrifying. Here she was, a 17 year old with a ten o'clock curfew. How embarrassing! But, of course, she agreed to it.
At the party, things were going great! She was having the time of her life. She even met a really hot guy who asked her to dance twice! They ended up hanging out all night and the next thing she knew…
Janine glanced down at her watch again. 11:34.
Not only was she late, she was VERY late.
Silently, Janine put her key in the door handle to unlock it. The door just slid right open.
Strange, she thought when she realized the door was unlocked already, mom and dad always lock the door, even in the day time. Janine always told them that they were to paranoid for doing things like this. It's not like anyone's going to try to break in, she would always say.
Janine shrugged it off and went inside. Everything was pitched black, which was a good thing because that meant that no lights were on, which meant, her parents may already be asleep.
As quietly as she could, Janine made her way up the stairs that lead to her room and her parents room.
I could just tell them that I got caught in traffic, she thought. Then, she realized how unbelievable that would sound, being caught in traffic for over an hour, at this time at night, on a ten minute drive home.
I'm so dead, Janine thought unpleasantly. Well, there's still the chance that they didn't wait up for me.
Slowly, Janine walked toward her parents room, where, much to her horror, she was greeted with the sound of the television.
No! They must still be awake!
The door was open a crack so she peered inside the room. From the dim light coming from television she could just make out the outline of her parents lying on their bed. She couldn't tell if they were asleep or not.
Janine squinted her eyes in hopes to make them out better.
It didn't look like they were moving at all.
A sigh of relief escaped Janine's lips. They must of feel asleep while watching the TV. They never would of fallen asleep if they knew that she was out past her curfew. Her mom would be way to worried and her dad would be way to mad at her to go to sleep.
A small smile spread across Janine's face from her luck.
I am so good! She thought happily to herself.
She was about to go to her own room when she stopped. She suddenly got a horrible feeling. Something wasn't right. It just didn't feel right. She looked back at her parents lying on the bed. They were just so still. Almost, unnaturally still. She couldn't even make out the rise and fall of their chests.
Forgetting her fear of getting caught, she called out quietly.
"Mom? Dad?"
Nothing.
"Mom! Dad!" Janine said much louder know, feeling fear creep through her.
Still, nothing.
Panicked, Janine reached over to the light switch and flipped it on. She looked over at her parents and screamed.
******************
"Arthur! Arthur! Wake up!"
Arthur Weasley slowly opened his eyes.
"What time is it?" he asked groggily.
"Almost five," came his wife's answer.
"Five? I'm going back to sleep." Arthur said, closing his eyes and rolling over.
"Oh no you don't," Mrs. Weasley said sharply. "Fudge needs to talk to you. He's at our fireplace now."
"Fudge!?" Arthur said, getting up immediately. "What could he possibly want at this hour?"
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Molly said. "He says it's urgent so you better hurry."
Reluctantly, Arthur got out of bed and quickly threw some clothes on. He was about to head out to the fireplace when Molly grabbed hold of his arm.
"It's your day off, remember?" Molly said "You promised the kids that you'd take them to
Diagon Alley to pick up their school supplies."
"I know Molly, I know," Arthur said. "Just let me see what he wants."
Molly sighed and let go of his arm.
Arthur went up to the fireplace, where he saw Fudge's head looking rather impatient.
"There you are!" He said when he spotted Arthur. "I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get you up at this time in the morning. Hope I didn't wake you up."
"Of course not," Arthur said sarcastically. "I'm always awake at the wee hours of the morning."
"Well, that's good." Fudge said, not noticing the sarcasm.
"Well, what do you want?" Arthur asked with a yawn.
"There's been another attack."
Arthur froze. Even though Voldemort had been back for over two years now it still shocked him when ever he heard of an attack.
"Wh-Who?" Arthur managed to croak out.
"A muggle family. Happened last night. Unfortunately, we only found out about it about an hour ago. Some ministry workers went over there already. There were reports of a dark mark in the sky."
"Were there any survivors?" Arthur asked.
Fudge's face went into a sad expression.
"Just one. The child. Apparently, she was out late and got home to find her parents lying dead in bed. Janine is her name. Janine Harris. She didn't call the cops or anything, thank God. A couple of our men found her sitting by the door of her parents room when they went to check out the house after seeing the mark. She seems to be in shock."
"How old is she?" Arthur asked.
"Only 17."
"Oh God, that's horrible." Arthur thought about Ron. He was 17. It must be such a horrible experience.
"Did she see anything?" Arthur asked Fudge.
"Well," Fudge said, "That's what we need you for. Like I said, she's in shock. No one could get any straight answers from her. I need you to go over there and try to reach her. You have a special knack when it comes to muggles and I though you'd be able to get some answers."
Arthur sighed. Molly wouldn't like this but he had to.
"Okay, I'll be right over."
"And there's one more thing," Fudge added.
"What?" Arthur said curiously.
"There's been reports that You-know-who himself may have been the murderer."
"But he usually leaves the muggles to his death eaters and deals with the important stuff
himself. Why would he waste time with muggles?" Arthur asked, truly baffled.
"I don't know," Fudge said with a sigh. "Maybe he just got bored but see if you can find out any reason why you-know-who would attack these muggles himself."
A couple minutes later Fudge was gone.
Arthur stood there for a moment, trying to let everything sink in. The dark lord attack
these muggles and he was supposed to get through to a shocked girl to find out why? This
was not going to be easy.
Suddenly, Molly entered the room, making Arthur jump.
"You're leaving, aren't you?" she said.
"Molly, I have to. There was another attack and they need me."
Molly sighed.
"I don't know why they always insist on calling you to do things outside your own
department. And on your day off? Don't they realize that you have a family to?"
Arthur smiled.
"I won't be long. I promise."
"Alright. Just be home for dinner."
"I promise" Arthur said and before another word was spoken he was gone.
*****************
Arthur arrived at the house of the attack shortly within minutes. There was already about five ministry workers at the scene. They all looked tired and a bit annoyed.
"Arthur! I'm so glad that you came."
A rather pudgy ministry worker, Sam Rosenberg, came running up to Arthur.
"I was hoping that they'd call you. We've been doing everything we could for the past hour, trying to get this girl to tell us something. This girl will just not talk."
"So I heard," Arthur said, heading towards the door to the house. "Where is she?"
"Up the stairs. She's in her parents room. She's just staring at the bodies."
"You mean to tell me that you didn't remove the bodies yet!?" Arthur asked.
"Well, yeah. I mean, we don't want to move them. You know, we might destroy evidence or something." Sam fidgeted nervously.
"So, you just thought you'd let an already shocked girl continue to stare at her dead parents." Arthur said annoyed.
"Yeah, but…" Sam couldn't think of an argument. "I'll have them removed."
Sam turned around and ran into the house.
This is going to be a long day, Arthur thought unhappily.
Arthur looked up at the house. There were no visible signs of forced entry. Everything looked like a normal Muggle house should look.
Slowly, he made his way into the house. The inside was the same as the outside. No sign of an attack at all.
Arthur walked up the stairs and down the hall, looking in the rooms he passed, looking for the girl. As he pasted the third door down he saw her. She was sitting on the floor of her parents room hugging her knees and was rocking back and forth. She was indeed staring at the bodies of her parents who still lay on the bed.
Her parents lay there, with their eyes open and looks of pure fear on there face. Arthur couldn't believe that the ministry workers would just let her stay here with them. No wonder she wasn't talking.
Well, here goes, Arthur thought as he walked up to the girl. Even though he went in front of her she made no indication that she knew he was there.
"Hello," was all that he could think of to say. "You must be Janine."
She just gave him a blank stare.
"My name's Arthur Weasley." He said.
She just continued to stare.
"I'm going to ask you to step outside with me please."
She didn't move.
Slowly, Arthur reached down to grab her arm. She flinched but that was all. He pulled her up and led her out of the room. He walked her to the living room where they sat down on a sofa.
"Janine," Arthur said gently, "I need to ask you a couple of questions if I may."
Arthur was hoping that with the absence of her parents bodies that she would at least show some sign of hearing him, but she didn't.
"I know this must be very hard on you," Arthur said, "But we need to know what happened. We can help you if you just trust us…"
Janine had a far away look on her face. She wasn't even looking at Arthur. Her mind was obliviously elsewhere.
Arthur looked at her with great pity. He couldn't even imagine what it would have been like to find your parents like that. He just didn't know what to say.
"Janine, please. We can't help if you don't talk to us."
It was then that he noticed what she was looking at. Sitting on a table next to the sofa was a picture of Janine with who must have been her parents. Arthur picked the picture up and held it in front of them.
"Is this your parents?" he asked Janine.
Janine nodded.
I got a response out of her! Arthur thought happily.
"They look like nice people."
"They are," Janine said quietly. "They were great parents."
Arthur looked at her. Now her face showed emotion at least. He could see tears forming in her eyes.
"They *were* great parents," Janine repeated to herself.
"Janine," Arthur said gently. "I want to help you but you must tell me everything you-"
"What happened to my parents?" Janine interrupted quietly, looking up at Arthur. "They just look so unnatural. I don't understand."
"Janine," he said as gently as he could. "We believe that a mad man did this."
"Why?" Janine asked, tears welling up in her eyes. "Why would anyone want to hurt them?"
"I-I don't know," Arthur said truthfully. "That's what I need your help to figure out. Can you please let me know what happened last night?"
Janine went silent. Arthur feared that he lost her again but finally she answered.
"I came home late from a party." she said. "I found them, I found them dead."
Tears started to fall from her eyes.
"It's okay," Arthur said to her.
"Oh God!" Janine said, tears falling hard now. "I wasn't even supposed to be out so late. I should have been there for them! I should've…"
"Janine, there's nothing you could of done." Arthur put a hand on her shoulder. "You being at that party probably saved your life. Now Janine, I need to ask something that might sound strange. Did you ever see anything happen around them? Anything out of the ordinary?"
Janine just stared at him for a moment. Then she started to open her mouth as if to
speak when…
"Hey Weasley!"
Arthur groaned as he saw Sam enter the room.
"Wow! I see you got her to talk!"
"Yes Sam, now if you could please…"
"Well, we removed the bodies like you said and are nearly done searching the house. We just have to…"
"Please Sam," Arthur said angrily. "Please let me and Janine alone for a while. Just go and..and question neighbors or something."
"Alright," Sam said, looking slightly hurt. "I'll go see if any neighbors saw anything."
Arthur watched Sam leave and turned back to Janine.
"Now, where were we?" he asked.
"You asked me if I've seen anything out of the ordinary around my parents. The answer is no. I haven't."
************
Sam walked down the street to go to the next house. He had already been to three of the neighboring houses with no luck. Everyone seemed to have been asleep at the time of the attack and most of the neighbors seemed annoyed by him asking questions.
Sam stopped at a place a couple of houses down from the Harris' house. He knocked on the door and an old lady answered.
"Hello dear," she said in an old cracky voice. "Are you selling something?"
"No mam," Sam said. "Just need to ask you a few questions."
"Why certainly," said the old lady. "Won't you come in?"
Sam walked into the house and sat down on a chair next to the women.
"My name's Sam by the way," Sam said to the lady.
"Well, Hello Sam! My name is Martha. Martha Miller."
"Well, Martha," Sam said. " I just wanted to ask you if you've seen anything strange happen last night or seen any weird people around lately."
"I can't say that I have." Martha said.
"Oh," said Sam, disappointed. "Well, thank…."
"There was that one man who stopped by 2 days ago." Martha said suddenly.
"Really?" Sam asked. "What did he want?"
"Well, he seemed to be very interested in the Harris' down the street."
Bingo, thought Sam. Finally, he was getting somewhere.
"What did he want to know?"
"He asked lots of questions about them. I had made him some tea and we sat here for probably an hour talking about them. He wanted to know every last detail. Who was in the family. Names, ages, that sort of thing. He did ask me quite often if they had any other relatives. I told him no."
"Is there anything else you can think of?" Sam asked.
"Well, he did seem awfully interested in the girl, Janine I believe her name is? Well, he mentioned her a lot. Don't know why though. Then he said something about putting the Avaka Kedada curse, or something like that on me but then said that since I was so useful in giving information and since I made such wonderful tea, he would let me go this time. Such a nice man he was! A little crazy maybe, but nice."
"Thank you Martha," Sam said, getting up. "Your info was most useful."
And it really was. Sam hurried back to the Harris' house. From what he learned from Martha, it seemed that Janine was Voldemort's target last night which meant that Janine was not safe.
A/N : What'd you think? I know it was slow but believe me, it will get moving very soon. Next chapter should hopefully be up in a week. I already have most of it done. The next chapter will have much more of the Harry Potter characters that we all love. Until then, please review. Reviews are what encourage me to write more!