Cordelia walked down the long hallway leading to the potions class room. She couldn't figure out why for the life of her she was listening to Draco Malfoy, she figured him for nothing more than an arrogant know it all. But, her curiosity was getting the best of her on this one. She reached the potions door and gave it a slight push. Just as Draco told her, it was open. She pushed it open more and looked into the dark room. She wondered what she should have been looking for. She didn't see anything at first glance into the room, so she walked in further and slowly walked between the tables when a light caught her eyes. She walked to the other side of another long table to see bowl sitting on a shorter table. She walked closer to the bowl and saw that it looked as though it was full of hard boiled eggs. She was drawn closer to the bowl and before she knew it, she felt as though she were falling into it.
"Calm down, Severus." Dumbledore calmly told him, "Where was the last place you saw it?"
"It was in my office, where it always is." Severus snapped in aggravation, "That's where it stays because no one can get in there but me."
"So if you're the only one that can get in there, Severus," Bellanne started, "How can it be missing?" Snape shot her a look that could kill.
"I don't know?" Severus growled at her, "Maybe you have it?"
"Dream on," Bellanne laughed, "like I want to see your
memories."
"Bell, this really is no laughing matter." Remus sternly told her.
"I'm well aware of what is probably in that Pensive." Bellanne replied, "I just think it's funny that he wants to blame me."
"I do not think he is placing blame, Bellanne." Dumbledore cut in, "Severus, it cannot have gone far. Where have you looked?"
"My office, the potions room, my houses common room and all the rooms of the students in my house, which leads me to believe that it is someone from another house," Severus said glaring at Remus.
"I will instruct the heads of the other houses to do a full check of their student's rooms and common rooms in search of your pensive." Dumbledore said, "But for now, Severus, calm down, and we shall enjoy dinner."
"How can I remain calm when even you know what is in that Pensive?" Severus argued.
"All the students will be at dinner tonight," Dumbledore told him, "I'll have the house heads detain the students in the Great Hall while they search their houses." Severus grumbled knowing that Dumbledore could pull off what he suggested.
Cordelia suddenly found herself standing in front of the Whomping Willow that stood in front of the School grounds. It was suddenly much darker outside as the moon was about to rise. She stood there wondering what had happened. She was about to run back into the school when she saw someone walking towards the willow.
"Dad?" she said in confusion. She ran up to the man who she knew to be her father, although much younger, as he walked over to the willow and touched a notch on it. She stood back as a hole formed in the roots of the tree and watched her father climb into the hole. She was confused as to what was going on, because shortly after her father left she watched a much younger version of her Uncle Sirius walking with a younger version of her house head.
"It's just over here, Snivillus." Sirius told him as he lead Snape to the Whomping Willow.
"What's going on?" Cordelia said to them as they reached the tree. But no one answered her. She watched Sirius creep away from Snape as he touched the notch on the tree and the hole opened again. This time she followed Snape into the hole. She followed him through the tunnels leading into the Shrieking Shack where she saw her father sitting in the middle of a room. Snape was hiding behind the doorway, but Cordelia wanting to see the younger version of father much closer, walked into the room. She smiled as she saw him sitting on the floor. He tensed as he heard a squeak in the floor from behind. Remus turned to see Snape smirking from the door way.
"SNAPE!" Remus yelled at him, "GET OUT OF HERE!"
"Or what?" Snape smiled, "You're out of bounds."
"GET OUT OF HER…" Remus yelled again, but was cut off when his transformation began to take over. Remus doubled over in pain as his ears began to grow and a slew of grey fur began to grow all over his body. His robes ripped from his body and in his place stood a full grown Werewolf.
"WHAT!" Cordelia shrieked, "NO! NO! NO!" Cordelia ran to the back of the room and hid in a corner as she watched the beast stalk towards Snape. With in seconds, she watched another young man push Snape out of the way.
"SEVERUS GET OUT OF HERE!" The other guy yelled at him before he turned into Stag. A few seconds later, Sirius walked in and turned into a large black dog.
"WHAT IS GOING ON?" Cordelia yelled as she stood up and ran from the room following Snape out of the Shack. As she ran, she suddenly felt herself being pulled upwards and within seconds she suddenly found herself standing in the potions classroom again, with a very furious looking Professor Snape behind her.
"What do you think you're doing?!" He growled venomously at her.
"IT'S A LIE! ALL OF IT, IT'S ALL A LIE!" She screamed at him trying to struggle from his grip, "LET GO OF ME!" She screamed even louder.
"CORDELIA!" He snapped at her, "Where did you get this?"
"I didn't take it, someone told me to look here for it." Cordelia snapped back at him with tears in her eyes, "I don't care what it is, IT'S ALL A LIE!"
"It's not a lie!" He snapped at her.
"LIAR!" She screamed as she kicked him in the shin. He let go of her and she ran like a bullet from the room. She ran as fast as she could down the hallway and up to the Great Hall where she knew Draco would be. She shoved the doors open, slamming them against the back wall. Every student in the hall looked at her frantic state as she walked in. She looked to her table to see Draco with a smug look on his face. She stalked over to him and pushed him off the bench.
"I see you found our little secret." Draco smirked from his position on the floor.
"YOU LIAR!" Cordelia screamed at him, "YOU WORTHLESS LIAR!" She looked at the rest of her table, resting her eyes on Pansy Parkinson, "YOU'RE ALL LIARS." Just then she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Cordelia." A voice came from behind her. Cordelia turned around to see her father's worried face.
"YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME!" She scowled at him as she smacked his hand off her shoulder, "YOU MONSTER!" She screamed as she ran out of the hall. Remus stood staring down at Draco Malfoy while he heard his daughters cries from outside the hall.
"So this was your great revenge?" Remus questioned, "I hope you enjoyed it. I hope that everyone enjoyed this little show." Remus now addressed the silent student body, "Curtsey of Draco Malfoy and if I had to guess right I'd say Pansy Parkinson as well."
"I'm sorry, sir." Pansy quietly spoke with her head down, "I'm so very sorry."
"What was that?" Remus calmly questioned, "You're sorry? I never thought that I would live to see the day that a student of Slytherin house would apologize for anything they've done." Remus was silent for a moment, "Well Pansy, now is a little late for sorry. Besides you should be apologizing to Cordelia, not me. She considered you a friend." With that Remus turned around to leave, but instead came face to face with Snape, "That's some prize student you've got there, you should be proud." With that, Remus walked around Snape and out the hall doors.
Remus walked into the hallway to see Bellanne holding their daughter in her arms. Bellanne stroked her daughter's hair as she cried into her mothers arms. Remus stood at the far end of the hallway, unsure if he should proceed towards them. Bellanne looked up with tears of her own in her eyes and she sighed at him. Cordelia noticed her mother's movement and looked to see who entered the hall. Frightened, Cordelia ran from her mothers arms to the far end of the hall.
"Cordelia." Bellanne softly spoke, "How can you still be
afraid?"
"Fourteen people, two of which were pregnant and six were children." Cordelia sobbed, "That's how. It could have been me; it could have been you!" Remus put his hand over his heart listening to his daughters words, "Now I know why you've stayed away my entire life!" She spat out.
"Cordelia, you don't mean that." Bellanne told her, "This is your father, this is who he is. I wouldn't have it any other way."
"How can you stand it? Knowing one day he may attack you." Cordelia sobbed.
"I have been." Bellanne told her, "Twice."
"TWICE!" She shrieked, "And you still love him?"
"With all my heart." Bellanne told her.
"As long as he lives with you, I'm not!" Cordelia spat out, "I've never been more humiliated in my entire life. I can't believe you would do this to me."
"To you? To you? How dare you?" Bellanne scolded her, "You think your father enjoys being what he is? You think it's fun? It's been hell on him since he was a child and you ask how he could do it to you?"
"I'm sorry you had to find out like this." Remus finally
spoke, with tears in his eyes, "I hope one day, you can learn to forgive me for
something I've had to live with since I was child. I never asked for this, but I have to deal
with it."
"Don't you speak to me." Cordelia said, "Don't you ever speak to me again!" With that Cordelia ran off towards her common room, leaving Remus broken hearted in the hallway. Bellanne looked to Remus and finally understood what he had been afraid of for so long.
"I'm sorry too, Remus." Bellanne whispered about to cry herself, "I should have listened to you." Remus didn't say anything as he walked closer to his wife.
"What are we going to do now?" Remus asked her. Just then the hall doors opened and Harry, Ron and Hermione walked out.
"We should have told you what was going on." Harry started instantly.
"This could have been prevented." Hermione added.
"We're really sorry." Ron finished.
"It's not your fault." Remus told them.
"Thank you for all you've done to prevent it though," Bellanne smiled at him.
"We'll talk to Cordelia tomorrow, and see what she has to say. We'll keep you posted." Hermione said.
"Thank you." Remus replied. With that the three walk away, looking almost broken hearted as they did.
The next day didn't prove to be so well for Cordelia either. She didn't come out of the bathrooms all night, and neglected to attend her classes the following day either. Once the sun rose she moved to her dormitory since none of the other girls would be there. It was roughly noon when Pansy Parkinson came into her room to try and talk to her.
"Cordelia." Pansy said softly, "Cordelia?"
"GO AWAY!" Came a growl from across the room.
"Please, talk to me."
"What's there to say?" Cordelia said, "This was none of your business, but you and the rest of your clan decided that it was. I was happier in the dark."
"At the start of the year, I felt the same way about you that Draco did; tainted product in a pure blood line." Pansy started.
"Please stop, the love is overwhelming." Cordelia sarcastically spat.
"But, the more we hung out and talked about Magical Creatures and things, the more I really began to like you. Face it, Cordelia, you're not like the rest of here. You may be cunning and deceptive, but you're also kind hearted and loyal, and that something I've never had in a friend before."
"That's so sweet." Cordelia started, "I'm getting a tooth ache." She spat out.
"You can take these words however you want, but I'm trying to apologize for this horrible wrong I've done you." Pansy said, "I wanted Draco to stop his plan, but he wouldn't. I didn't want to lose your friendship."
"Are you done?" Cordelia said.
"I guess." Pansy sighed.
"Good. Leave." Cordelia spat as she sat up and pointed at the door. Pansy slowly walked out of the room and shut the door behind her. Cordelia fell back on her bed and stared at the ceiling.
Pansy walked out of her room to see Goyle standing on the landing with a plate full of food in his hands. Pansy looked at him and shook her head. Disheartened, Goyle took the plate back down the stairs and instantly tossed it into the fire. He slumped into a chair with a guilty look on his face. Pansy took the chair across from him. The only two people in the common room, yet they were completely silent until the aggravation got the better of Goyle.
"How long am I going to let this go on?" Goyle growled as he stood up, "If I had just once stood up to Draco, we wouldn't be here; just once." Goyle sighed at his own defeat.
"Greg?" Pansy said to him, "I never knew you felt this way?"
"You and I could have prevented this." Goyle said.
"You think I don't know that?" Pansy sighed.
"You knew what his original plan was, but he didn't let me in on it until after I helped him steal that pensive." Goyle said, "If I had just confessed to Professor Snape, Cordelia would be in class instead of crying."
"You actually care about someone other than Draco?" Pansy smiled. Goyle scratched the top of his head with slight smile, which soon faded.
"Cordelia will never trust us again, so whether or not I care about her is pointless now." Goyle sighed as he sat back down.
"I guess."
A week had past, turning November into December, and neither Bellanne nor Remus had heard a word from Hogwarts concerning their daughter. With the holidays coming soon, they knew the house would be full of people, their hopes, however, laid in the return of Cordelia for the holiday. Remus wasn't getting his hopes up. It was early evening on a Friday when Snape barged into the house as he usually did. Remus was reading a book by the fireplace when he walked in.
"Is there something I can help you with, Severus?" Remus asked with very little emotion.
"Where is Bellanne?" Snape asked him.
"Out," Remus told him, "What do you need?" Asking only because Snape never requested to speak to Bellanne.
"Cordelia's run off." Snape told him.
"What do you mean run off?" Remus said as he closed his book and stood up, "Hiding in the castle, or off grounds."
"The girls of her dormitory said that they hadn't seen her
since last night, and she was gone when they woke this morning." Snape told
him, "They figured she was down at breakfast, so no one thought anything was
wrong until she didn't show up for any of her classes today."
"Where could she have gone?" Remus wondered as he pulled his broom from the front closet, "Her home is here, and she won't come here."
"Where are you going?" Snape asked.
"Where do you think I'm going?" Remus snapped, "To find my daughter."
"Shouldn't you wait for Bellanne?" Snape asked curtly.
"I don't know where she is or when she's coming back." Remus said as he headed out the door.