Chapter 14 – The First Face Off

Disclaimer – If you don't know by now then where the hell have you been?!?!

A/N:-  There's some mild language in this chapter.  You have been warned.

Reviewers

A.Dee:  It is a little complicated but it's going somewhere.  It's all linked to the title.

Alison:  Please don't get hyperventilated!  I can't go loosing any readers, who'd

            review?!?!

Narcissa Malfoy:  Wow!  Thanx for that, talk about a boost in confidence!

**********************************

            As suddenly as the lights in the great hall had gone out they returned full force.  There was a few seconds of squinting for everyone as eyes adjusted to the return of the bright light.  It took a minute or two before anyone noticed the visitors at the back of the hall, in fact the first time anyone paid any attention to them was when the first one spoke.

            "What is no one going to offer us anything to eat?  That's very rude don't you think, especially after we came all this way to visit you."

            All faces turned in the direction of the voice.  A group of seven stood at the back of the hall, all of them dressed in death eater robes.  The one in the front seemed taller than the other six and it was obvious that he was the one in charge.  Strangely enough there was no sign of Voldemort anywhere, this confused Harry and made him wonder why his scar had hurt so badly if Voldemort, or Mouldy Voldey as Draco called him ('I'll have to remember to ask him where that one came from' thought Harry) wasn't around.  He soon put the thought out of his mind and turned to more important matters.

            "What do you want?"  Dumbledore addressed the group who were slowly making their way towards the head table.  "Why are you here?  Leave now before I make you."

            Caz noted that that twinkle in Dumbledore's eye that she had already become so accustomed to seeing was missing and the only tone in his voice was that of malice,

            "You know very well what we're here for," Stated the leader, whom Draco had already identified as his father.

            Draco suffered a sudden burst of confidence at that point and decided that it was finally time to do what he'd always wanted, to stand up to his father.  After all, what could Lucius possibly do to him in front of the rest of the school?  "Well we don't always get what we want, so piss off."  It was the first thing that came into his head and he realised how stupid it was as soon as he'd said it, however it was too late.

            "What."  Lucius didn't raise his voice, he didn't need too, the tone he spoke in said it all.  Draco cowered away from him momentarily before regaining his bravery,

            "I said we can't always get what we want.   Plain and simple.  We know who you want and you aren't getting them, we're all happy and staying right here so why don't you go and tell your Lord and Master tha-"

            Lily cut Draco off at that point, not wanting him to anger Lucius more than he already had.  She could see the visiting death eaters fingering their wands, all of them ready to attack in a second.  "I think what your son is trying to say in his own not so subtle way is that you would all do well to leave.  Now."

            Lucius just laughed at that.  "Why don't you make me, sister dearest?"

            Everyone recognised that as the threat it was.  Immediately James, Sirius, Remus, Jen and Abbi had their wands trained on Lucius and his death eaters as did Harry, Caz, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Draco.  Lucius looked at them all with contempt.

            "And what do you think you can do about anything?"

            At that point Dumbledore decided to take control of the situation before it got too out of hand.  Whilst Lily and Draco had been keeping the attention of Lucius and his death eaters the heads of houses and house prefects had managed to get all the pupils out of the hall.  By this point the only people remaining were the four defence professors, James and Lily, the six members of the house of the Phoenix and Dumbledore himself.  Still they had the comfort of knowing that they had the death eaters out numbered by two to one.

            "Lucius.  Perhaps you and your friends should go back to Voldemort, as Draco suggested, and explain to him that those people on his most wanted list are staying here and that if he wants them, he'll have to come himself."

            James gasped at Dumbledore's statement, just what in Merlin's name did he think he was doing?!  The next sentence also served to shock the occupants of the room,

            "Oh I'm not interested in the people on Voldemort's hit-list.  I couldn't care less at the moment about that. What we are interested in is the traitor I have for a son," he paused and looked at Draco who turned deathly pale.  Then he turned to Caz, an evil glint in his eye that Draco, James and Lily all recognised as a very bad sign, "and the dirty whore that is my daughter."  He paused to take in the shocked expressions on everyone's faces, and then completed his speech.  "it's a shame you're so much like your mother's side of the family."  He stated, "Still, we'll soon see if we can't teach you to be a Malfoy."

            Throughout this speech Lucius had slowly advanced towards Caz.  Upon his last word he reached the table and gently ran a finger down her cheek.  She flinched away from him.

            "You're NOT my father."  She spat venomously, "I have no father."

            Lucius looked at her with contempt.  "Just like your mother aren't you.  She was a hard one to crack.  But we did it.  Had her crying like a baby.  Just wait my girl.  You'll see."

            He turned to Dumbledore.  "We have to be going now," then he added, with dripping sarcasm, "thank you SO much for your hospitality.  I'm sure we'll be back soon."

            Finally he turned to his son.  "I'd sleep with one eye open Draco.  Voldemort doesn't like traitors but what he's got planned is nothing compared to what's going to happen to you when I get my hands on you.  I couldn't care less about you refusing the mark, what really upsets me is how you turned on your own family, think about it."

            With that the seven death eaters did the impossible.  They apparated right out of the great hall.

*****************************************

            Two hours later a group of very sombre people sat round the fire in the lounge room of what had now been named 'The Marauders Maison'.   They had been sat there since soon after breakfast, hardly speaking a word to each other except for the conversation which had led to the naming of the suite.  Dumbledore had cancelled the day's lessons as soon as he had left the great hall, knowing full well that none of the students would feel like working and none of the professors would feel like teaching.

            Finally deciding that two full hours of silence was more than enough Harry spoke.

            "Are we gonna sit around here moping all day?  We're acting like what happened this morning was the end of the world.  Newsflash:  It wasn't.  Now I don't know about you lot but I don't intend spending the rest of my life waiting for a bunch of crazed lunatics to kill me!"  He paused for a second. He had been growing steadily louder throughout his outburst and he sat catching his breath.  After a couple of seconds of allowing himself to breathe he turned to everyone else again, "Sorry. I didn't mean it, I just really needed to yell at someone."

            James smiled at his son.  "Don't worry about it."  He said.

            Caz on the other hand thought differently.  "You don't get it do you?  You aren't the centre of this anymore.  The whole world doesn't revolve around you Harry!  So what if Voldemort wants to kill you!  You've got out of there before and you can probably do it again!  What about the rest of us?!  For once in your life stop thinking about yourself and consider someone else for a change!"

            With that she got up and stormed out of the room.  Draco was the only one to see the tears in her eyes as she left.  His brotherly instincts kicked in and before anyone else had the chance to respond he got up and ran out of the room after her.  Harry looked around the room,

            "What the hell did I say?!"  He asked incredulously "How the hell did I provoke that one?"

            All the males in the room looked about as confused as Harry sounded.  The five females looked at each other, each with amusement in their eyes. Jen, seeing panic rising in Harry's eyes decided to enlighten him,

            "Don't worry Harry, she isn't mad at you.  Just give her a while to calm down; what happened this morning was one hell of a shock for her, it's going to take her a while to calm down."

            "Fir the life of me I will never understand women."  Said Harry dejectedly.

            "Welcome to the club."  Sirius, James and Remus all chorused before bursting into fits of laughter.  Very soon all the others had joined in and before they knew it the looming dark mood of five minutes earlier had passed, leaving them all in extremely hyper moods.

************************************

            Caz ran.  She didn't have a clue where she was going, just that she needed to get away from everyone.  She needed to be alone, to think, to cry, and just to let all her guards down, to be herself for a while and not the person she was pretending to be. 

            Sure, she had them all convinced that she was fine.  That she was coping with everything, that Lucius Malfoy didn't scare her, that she didn't feel somewhat threatened by all the new people around her.

            Eventually she found herself in the astronomy tower.  As soon as she was there she collapsed against the wall, sobs racking her body as she cried her heart out.  She didn't hear the footsteps on the stairs or the door creaking open.  The first thing she knew of Draco's presence was when she felt his warm embrace surround her.  Then she heard him whispering in her ear, comforting her, telling her not to cry.  Slowly she calmed down and looked up into his eye's, the eye's of the big brother she'd always wanted,

            "Thanks."  She said, followed by a sniff.  Eventually she spoke again, "Why did you follow me?"  She asked.

            He smiled at her.  "Figured you might want a shoulder to cry on."  He paused, "It's a typical Malfoy trait you know."

            "What is?"  She asked after a few seconds.

            "Bottling up all your emotions.  Showing the world a tough exterior whilst you're dying inside.  Kidding everyone into thinking your happy when really all you want to do is cry yourself to sleep every single night."  He looked thoughtful for a second, considering if he should carry on or not, finally he won his inner battle. 

"I always used to think that I only did it because it was what I was taught.  Father always used to tell me emotions were a weakness, one we didn't need.  And I believed him.  Like a fool I believed him.  But I realised something just then, when I saw you like that.  It isn't what I was taught that made me that way.  It's something deeper; you just need to learn to control it.  It's ok to cry in front of people, to let them see who you really are.  It's not a weakness at all."

With that said, for only the second time he could remember doing it in front of someone else, Draco Malfoy broke down and cried.

****************************************

            30 minutes later the door of The Marauders Maison swung open and Draco and Caz walked in.  In actual fact Draco swaggered in slightly ahead of Caz who shuffled slowly with her eyes trained on the floor.  As the door slammed shut Caz looked up and her eyes met Harry's.

            "Sorry."  She said in a near whisper.  "I didn't mean to yell at you, I just lost it for a moment.  I didn't mean any of that."  Before Harry had a chance to respond she turned to Jen, "Mum, can we talk?"  She asked.

            Jen looked at her daughter and smiled.  "Yeah, come on then."  As Caz and Jen left the room for the privacy of Jen's own room all eyes turned to Draco.  He stood there looking at them for a second, taunting them by withholding the answers they wanted.  Finally when he realised they were getting impatient he spoke;

            "What?!  She's my sister, she was upset, I went after her, we talked, we cried, we came back, everyone's happy."  With that he flounced off towards the boys dormitory leaving some very shocked people behind.

            "Did he just say what I think he just said?"  Asked Ron after a moment's silence.

            "I dunno, what do you think he said?"  Asked Hermione.

            "Believe it or not you lot."  Interjected Lily.  "At times, Draco has been known to cry."  Then more quietly, almost as if to herself she added, "Although I never thought I'd see the day he admitted to it in front of this many people."

*******************************************

            Jen sat down on the edge of her bed, patting the spot next to her for Caz to sit there with her.  Caz sat, avoiding her mother's gaze for all she was worth.  She wasn't sure what she was going to say or how she was going to say it but Draco was right, she really needed to talk to her mum.

            "Mum," She started, figuring it was a good place to begin.  "You know that…thing…I do?"  She paused, waiting for her mum to acknowledge that she knew what she was talking about, upon getting no reaction she continued, "You know, when I bottle everything up and don't tell anyone what is bothering me for ages then spend hours crying over nothing?"

            Jen smiled at her daughter, "Yes I do.  Come on then, what's bothering you?" she knew something had been wrong, she'd been waiting months for this conversation, ever since Sirius had shown up on their door step back in January, fresh from Dumbledore's missions and looking for a place to hide out.

            Caz looked at her mum, eye's full of tears once again.  "I don't know; everything and nothing."  She sighed; this was going to be harder than she thought.  "I guess I should start at the beginning shouldn't I?"

            Jen grinned at her, "It's a very good place to start."  She said, a hint of humour in her voice.

            Caz rolled her eyes.  "You've seen 'The Sound of Music' one too many times."  She commented, "I guess this all started when Uncle Sirius showed up in January."

            Jen nodded.  "I thought so.  Alright, tell me everything and I promise not to interrupt until you're done."  That said she put an arm round her daughter in a protective parental manner and waited for Caz to begin.

            "As I said, it started when Uncle Sirius showed up.  It sounds really childish but I was jealous.  I was used to getting all the attention from you and Uncle Remus but then uncle Sirius was there as well and he needed your attention and I felt pushed out.  I was just getting over that and getting used to having all three of you fussing over me when you decided that Harry had to come stay as well."  She paused.  She already felt really guilty for feeling like this.  She looked at her mum and realised that she needed to continue. 

"Don't get me wrong.  I've got nothing against Harry.  It just took me a while to get used to it.  I've always been used to being an only child.  Suddenly Harry was there and I was sharing my attention again and I felt threatened by it.  I figured at least in September he'd come back to school and I'd have you all to myself again."

Jen smiled.  "It didn't work like that though did it?"  She asked.  "I'm really sorry love.  We should have told you a lot sooner that we'd enrolled you in Hogwarts.  And we should have told both you and Harry that we were teaching.  I'm sorry."

Caz shrugged her shoulders and looked into her mum's eyes.  "Why should you be sorry?  All I wanted since I was 11 was to come to Hogwarts with other kids my age, to make friends, to just be normal.  Now it's happened and I'm SO happy.  I'm surrounded by people who love me, I've finally met my brother and he's accepted me.  I don't know why I'm so upset!"

She paused for a second, blinking back the tears that threatened to pour down her cheeks.  "I'm so messed up."  She sniffed.

"Never say that again."  Jen interrupted.  "You are anything but messed up."

Caz sniffed again and shook her head.  "But I am messed up.  I know I am, why else would I be so confused?" 

Jen shook her head, thinking that Caz was speaking rubbish.  Caz looked thoughtful.  "Draco recons that this is hereditary."  She looked into her mum's eyes again and realised that once again Jen didn't have a clue what she was talking about.  "The whole bottling up emotions thing.  He recons it's a Malfoy thing.  Maybe he's right, I dunno.  When I ran out earlier, he followed me.  We ended up in the astronomy tower.  We talked for a while.  Both of us ended up crying.  It felt so good to be able to talk to someone who understood."  She grinned through the tears that were now slowly making their way down her cheeks.

Jen smiled at her daughter and hugged her closer.  "I was worried about the two of you meeting."  She admitted eventually.  "You know Remus taught him in third year.  From what he'd told me and from what Sirius said Harry'd told him I thought you'd hate each other.  I didn't know what was going on with him really."

Caz looked teary eyed at her mum.  "You needn't have been."  She started.  "Where's he going to go during the school holidays?"  She asked.  "There's no way that he can go home.  You heard Lucius threatening him earlier."  Then in a quieter voice she added, "He told me earlier, Lucius used to beat him when he was little.  Not just the regular smacks on the backside like most kids get either.  He told me that Lucius used to use the unforgivables on him if he stepped out of line."

Jen gasped.  "Don't worry.  He's not going back there."  She reassured her daughter.  "Whatever happens he won't be going back there."

**************************************

A/N:-  All right, I admit it.  Caz is based so much on me, in this chapter she practically is me!  She has the same problems I do (Except my father is NOT Lucius Malfoy and I have a father who does love me, even if he has a wired way of showing it.  Oh yeah, and I'm not an only child.  My need for attention stems from the fact that I have a little sister who thinks she's the centre of the universe and manages to convince my parents of that nine times out of ten.)  One thing that she has got better than me is the fact that all the people around her are willing to listen to her and try and help her sort it out.  Everyone around me is more interested in their self-pity than in mine (OK, I'll stop sounding so sorry for myself now!)  Back to the point.  Caz is a very unstable person.  That'll come through more in later chapters. 

A word of advice for all you kiddies out there – Never let everything get on top of you.  Feeling suicidal because you're too proud to show anyone that you're human and cry in front of them is a really stupid idea and it only causes deeper problems, believe me.  I've been there and I've got too many friends who have tried to do stupid things like that.  (I didn't try it, I just thought about it.)

This chapter wasn't quite as long as the last two but I'm having writer's block.  I know where this is going, I'm just not sure how I'm getting there yet.

I was lacking in reviews last time.  SOMEONE SEND ME SOME REVIEWS!!!!!  And while you're at it I could do with some advice.  What do you want to see happen here?  I'll do you a deal.  If I get 5 reviews by the weekend, I'll update once a fortnight during my study leave (Which starts next week.)  10 reviews by the weekend, once a week.  20 reviews by the weekend = twice a week etc etc etc.  The more reviews the more the updates. 

Katie-Catherine

    -x-x-x-