Hey everyone! I got a review that said that my story is hard to read on ff.net. I realize this and I haven't the foggiest idea why because on my computer it always looks very different. But I will try to brake up my paragraphs more (God, you should see my English paper's). I'm very sorry this chapter has taken so long to get here but I had a TEN PAGE English paper that I had to do OVER THE SUMMER (growl). I'm still working on a detailed past for my characters and if you have any interesting ideas for me put them in a review REVIEWS MAKE ME VERY VERY HAPPY!!!!!!! Ummmmmmmmmmm, yea, well on to the story I guess but hold on a minute while I go take my medication OK!!!! ALL BETTER NOW ONTO MY BRAIN CHILD!!!!!!!! Oh and another note the dashes (- -) indicate a dream sequence.

Family Matters

Chapter 16-

"You mean all of those things have happened to you girls before?" Dumbledore asked. "Well, yes and no. It's just confusing." Lauren said looking at Mackenzie. Mackenzie looked at Dumbledore then looked at her hands. "Damn me all to hell. Why did I even open my mouth?" Mackenzie thought to herself as she felt all the eyes in the room focus on her. "Mackenzie would you care to tell us what Lauren is talking about?" Dumbledore said his eyes focused on the top of Mackenzie's head because she was looking down at the table. "Well. this is hard to explain." Mackenzie said looking at Dumbledore. "Please try." Dumbledore said simply. "Well it's always been this way for me. I've always thought I was off my rocker and the only one I've ever told these things to is Lauren. I see things that no one else seems to see and I hear things no one else seems to hear. I can pick up other people's emotions sometimes and most often I can feel when someone's lying to me. And between Lauren and me there's like a connection I guess. We can read each other's thoughts sometimes you know, like I say something that she was just going to ask me about or I answer her question before she even asked it. There have been a few times too, where I was really upset and I threw a lamp across the room- but I didn't even touch it. I just kind of swung my arm and around and it was airborne." Mackenzie paused a moment to catch her breath because she had said all of these things in a rush. She continued in an under tone, "I didn't tell anyone but Lauren because I didn't want to be considered a freak or something. And I was scared I guess." Mackenzie said looking at her hands still folded on the tabletop.

There was a long pause in the room that seemed to last an eternity to Mackenzie. Lauren just looked at her with worried eyes while she also waited for some sort of a reaction from anyone else in the room. "Well Mackenzie there is no need to be scared and you won't be considered a freak here at Hogwarts." Dumbledore said while everyone else nodded. "And we must get on to one more matter that I would like settled this evening. Mackenzie and Lauren's existence must not be known to anyone except those that are in this room. It is imperative to their safety that they are kept a secret since we don't know yet why exactly they are here. Does everyone understand that?" Dumbledore asked looking around and receiving nods as an answer to his question. "Good. Both you girls will be staying here for a while I believe so you should make yourself comfortable. They are staying in that room over there so if any of you need to speak with them for any reason I believe this is where you most often will find them." Dumbledore said standing up. "You girls will eventually get a tour of the castle and where some important places are but not at the moment. I believer this meeting is now adjourned." Dumbledore finished while everyone else stood up. Everyone said goodnight to the girls and Dumbledore and Harry promised Lauren he would see her again while Draco said almost the exact same thing to Mackenzie.

With everyone gone the room seemed a lot bigger and somewhat colder. With a wave of his wand Dumbledore restored everything to normal and bid the girls pleasant dreams while he opened a door behind one of the bookcases. Mackenzie and Lauren went into their own bedroom and changed into their pajamas. Both of them were snuggled in bed and Lauren was sound asleep in five minutes. Mackenzie was asleep also but she wasn't dreaming the things Lauren was dreaming.

- Mackenzie was standing in a kitchen. A kitchen she didn't recognize. In front of her was a woman with long red hair that was lighter than hers. She turned around from the sink where she was washing dishes, Mackenzie could see that she was obviously pregnant, and looked towards the door. Mackenzie turned and saw the man with the dark hair walk in, "Lilly and James" Mackenzie thought as James walked up to Lilly with some flowers behind his back. "Oh James they're beautiful!" Lilly said when he presented the flowers to her. "Some Lilies for my Lilly." James said with a smile as he leaned over to give his wife a kiss on the cheek. Lilly went and found a vase in a cupboard over the sink and put the flowers~ which were bright yellow day lilies~ in the vase. "Lilly, Voldemorts getting stronger." James said abruptly looking at his wife from where he was seated at the kitchen table. Lilly looked at him and touched her stomach in a protective sort of way and said "I know. But what do we do James? It's May and I'm due in July. I don't want to do anything that could put our child in harms way." Lilly said looking at her beloved husband with eyes that showed what she was feeling at that moment, helplessness. "I know dear and neither do I. Of course it would be much easier if I had Olivia to talk to." James said looking at his hands. "James I don't think Olivia is associated with us anymore." Lilly said putting down the flowers.-

Mackenzie woke with a mild jolt. She sat up in bed and looked at her watch: 4:33. She didn't know why she was awake because nothing horrible had happened in this dream, this one was just confusing. Mackenzie had another question on her mind now, who was this Olivia person James was talking about?



BUM BUM BUM!!!!! There you have it the pivotal 16th chappy. You are probably wondering why this is pivotal and well I'm not going to tell you. So there. Well if you have been following the story line you might be thinking some things right now and you probably want to know who this Olivia is that has suddenly popped up. Well I'm not going to tell you who she is. Another so there. Neener neener neener. Well review if you don't mind and wait for the next installment of my creation from the inner depths of my mind (man you really don't wanna know what goes on in there!). Tootles to you!! : )

Yours truly,

~Mongoose