Trust

I had finished unpacking a few muggle outfits for myself and for Michaela when I heard a knock on my door. I grabbed my wand from its resting spot on the patchwork quilt of the bed, and peered through the small peep hole in the door. I gasped and quickly jumped back, aiming my wand at the door and dragging Michaela, who had toddled over to me, behind my body. HE was here, the man with the long red hair, from the bank. He must have followed me here. Damn.

"Go away! Leave us alone! I'm.. I'm armed!" I practically shouted at the door.

"Nadira, I'm not here to hurt you…" He said patiently.

"How do I know that, and who are you?!?"

"My name is Bill Weasley. Dumbledore sent me." I jumped at Dumbledore's name. But I had to protect my daughter, I couldn't just believe him on his say so. Weasley, Weasley, I have heard that name before. Doesn't matter though, any wizard can go bad. He continued, "Please just let me in, so we can talk."

"How do I know Dumbledore sent you? How do I know you're not going to hurt my daughter," I felt myself going into hysterics but I couldn't stop myself, "I'm not letting you into this room, go away! Just leave us alone… I just want to be left alone…"

"Nadira, listen to me, I'm not going to hurt you or your daughter. Dumbledore sent me to help you. I just want to talk."

"How do I know?!?" I almost screamed at him. "How do I know," I muttered to myself.

"Dumbledore told me how to find you, he got your owl."

"You could have just followed me! You're not getting into this room. Just please go away."

"Nadira, the muggles are going to start noticing me here, then we are going to have a problem and…"

"I'm not letting you in here!" I cut in.

He was quiet for a moment, but then said, "Here, I'll slide my wand under the door. You'll have my wand and yours, I won't be able to hurt you. Just let me in so we can talk."

"NO! I'm not letting you in here! How do I know you are alone?!?"

"I'm going to slide my wand under the door, then just look through the hole. I'm alone and I'll be unarmed." I wanted to trust this man, but I had to consider my daughter. I couldn't let him in here, what if something happened…

I jumped as I saw his dark polished wand appear in the crack beneath the door. "Michaela, go to the bathroom."

"Mommy?"

"Go Michaela… here take your blanket."

"But Mommy…"

"Michaela," my voice was quivering. My daughter turned and headed through the door at the back of the room. I picked up the wand from the floor, running my hands over it for a moment.

"Nadira?" came the questioning male voice from the other side of the door.

"How do I know?" I asked quietly to myself. I turned and placed a quick shielding spell on the bathroom.

"Nadira, please, I need to talk to you. You have both of our wands, I can't hurt you." His voice was quiet and patient. I looked through the peep hole once more checking for other people in the hallway, then quickly unlocked the deadbolt on the door. I opened the door just enough for him to squeeze through, and then quickly shut and locked the door again once he was in. He headed towards the bed, but I pointed at a rickety chair on the left side of the room. "Sit." I commanded, trying to keep my voice from shaking. I stood on the other side of the room, in front of the brick fireplace that was showpiece of the room.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"My name is Bill We.."

"I know that's what you said! Your name is Bill Weasley, but who are you!" My fright was making me rude and jumpy, but I still had no reason to trust this man.

The man sighed. "I use to be a curse-breaker, for Gringotts. I recently transferred to a desk job, on Dumbledore's request. I've been helping him out on a few things." My eyes narrowed. Dumbledore's request, yeah right. He must have found out where I live from the bank, saw me get into the taxi. He watched me closely, but continued, "Dumbledore sent me here to warn you. You need to go back to London, to a safe house. I have a note from him for you…" he reached toward a side pocket.

"Stop! Put your hands on the arms of the chair!" I had no idea what he could have in that pocket, but, if he was telling the truth… I pointed my wand at him and he latched his hands onto the chair arms. His eyes grew big as I didn't lower my wand.

"Now, Nadira, please don't jump to…"

"Accio Parchment!" A small scroll flew from his pocket and into my hands. It was sealed with Dumbledore's crest. 'Probably faked.' I thought as I broke the seal and unrolled the letter. I kept one eye on the man who said his name was Bill, and scanned the letter quickly. The letter was about three-fourths of a page long in Dumbledore's loopy handwriting or a close forgery of it. I remained highly skeptical of the entire letter, until I reached the last line. "Asythica gollo dura awe kisko qui aitee creveee."

Tears came to my eyes and I gave my full attention to the letter, reading that last line over and over. In my fourth year at Hogwarts a group of my friends any myself created our own language. Dumbledore had known of it, of course. He knew everything that went on at Hogwarts. We had written a dictionary, a book of the language, and we had made only three copies. Of the four total books, two had been destroyed while we were still at Hogwarts, and the remaining two were split between the boys and the girls dormitories. I had held the copy for the girls, since I was the least likely among my friends to set it aflame accidentally. Michael had kept the other copy until his death. I looked at the trunk resting at the foot of the bed. I had both copies. No one else could have known the language. "Asythica gollo dura awe kisko qui aitee creveee." Trusting comes hardest to those who have been hurt.

I walked over and sat down on the trunk, wiping the tears from my eyes. I looked up, when I felt Bill in front of me. "Nadira? Are you alright?"

"Here," I said, giving his wand back to him. I stared at the last line of the letter, still under going a small amount of shock. Michaela ended up bringing me out of it. She had left the bathroom after hearing the room go quiet.

"Mommy?" she asked looking up at me.

"This must be your daughter," Bill said. I nodded and picked her up.

I hugged her tightly before saying, "She's the only thing I have to live for." I sat quietly for a moment. I wasn't quite sure what to feel at that point. "How did you find me? I didn't tell Dumbledore where I was going."

"I have no idea how Dumbledore knew, but he did. He said you were taking the muggle bus and he gave me the time it would arrive if it was unintercepted. I was very worried when it arrived half and hour late. I didn't want to approach you in the street, since Dumbledore told me you would probably be easily frightened."

I simply nodded. If he had approached me in the street I would have turned him into a big pile of charred rubble and not looked back. "Are you ok, Nadira? Has anyone approached you, made any threats, anything?"

"I'm fine. There's been nothing yet."

"Ok," he said, "Let's get you and Michaela to somewhere safe, first, and then we can talk."