Chapter Sixteen: Damn Little Birds
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: I'm back! Please see the end of the fic for a complete author's note.

As the month of January ended, Reagan heard little news on her father or what he was up to. Her mother didn't have any news to give, the Daily Prophet didn't report anything on why that specific Auror unit had left suddenly in the night and Professor Elierson was little help, though she was a good Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Reagan did her best to keep her thoughts to a minimum in Defense Against the Dark Arts, though Professor Elierson hadn't made mention of being able to hear what she was thinking. The new teacher seemed a bit flaky, but she knew her stuff. Professor Lockhart had worked them more on solving problems, using logic and seeing through deception; Professor Elierson's lessons worked them on spells and jinxes. They did more magical dark art defenses and Reagan came to realize that there was a lot more to Defense Against the Dark Arts than she originally thought.

Reagan woke one morning and thought that her room was on fire. Pulling back her hanging from her four poster bed, she realized that her bed was surrounded by not flames, but flowers.

"Pretty aren't they?" Josie asked from her bed. She was sitting against her head, a book propped open on her lap. "It was rather funny to see them all brought in. It took four house elves three trips to get them all in here."

"You were awake when they brought them in?" Reagan asked, looking around for a card. "Did they say-"

"They told me they weren't allowed to say," Josie said. "It was sweet of Trevor to do though."

Reagan looked at her. "I don't think Trevor would have sent me all these flowers. This would have cost a fortune. Besides, Trevor and I aren't like that."

"Whatever you say," Josie replied. "But then who would have sent them?"

Reagan thought for a moment. And then, a warm comforting feeling swept through her body and she smiled, realizing who they were from.

"Thank you Daddy," she whispered.

"Hum?" Josie asked, looking at Reagan oddly.

"Nothing," she said quickly and got up to dress, careful not to knock any of her flowers over. There were voices all along the floor, of all shapes and sizes, surrounding her bed, along the window, lined atop her trunk, and covering her bedside table. Beautiful vases, some glass, some porcelain, all filled with roses of every possible color. As the sunlight spread onto the rose petals, it filled the room with color and light, reds, pinks and yellows cascaded along the walls.

"Reagan what are you burning?" Caitlin asked sleepily from her bed. She poked her head out of her hanging and goggled at the amount of flowers Reagan stood in the middle of.

"Whoa," her cousin said and Reagan smiled at her. "Did Trevor send you those?"

"Why does everyone think Trevor would send me flowers?" Reagan asked.

"Well, because its you and Trevor," Caitlin replied. "If Trevor sent you those then Nicky is in big trouble."

"There was no note," Reagan replied. "But I'm pretty sure that Trevor didn't send them. So don't go hurting Finch-Fletchy before he has a chance to give you your Valentine's Day present."

Reagan knew that the flowers weren't from Trevor, though she wondered if he was going to get her something for Valentine's Day. She had spent hours coming up with her gift ot him, and she hoped he would like it. They had never officially said that they were going to get each other gifts for Valentine's Day, but Reagan decided that she was going to give him her gift even if he didn't get her anything. She tucked the gift in her book bag and set off to breakfast with the other Gryffindors.

Nick Finch-Fletchy had a box of chocolate frogs with a red bow tied across the box waiting for Caitlin when she sat down at the table. After the mail came, Reagan, Ethan, Caitlin, Paul and Darenn each got a box of fudge from their Grandmum, and Darenn and Reagan each got a Valentine and a box of sugar quills from their mother.

As Reagan finished her breakfast, another owl came and dropped an envelope on her lap. Curious, she opened it and read:

All girls should receive flowers on Valentine's Day! Love, Dad

Reagan smiled and read it again, before showing it to Josie, who smiled and awed a bit falsely. Reagan put the note into her bag and got up to leave. She looked around for Trevor, wondering why she hadn't seen him yet and caught sight of him standing by the door. He smiled at her and motioned for her to follow him.

"I'll see you in class," Reagan said to Josie and headed off towards Trevor.

"Good morning," he said as she got closer.

"Morning," she replied. "Did you miss breakfast?"

"Yeah, but I don't really eat that much for breakfast anyway." He smiled at her and took her hand. "Come on, I want to show you something."

"Trevor, I have Charms in five minutes," Reagan protested.

"It won't take that long," he replied. She walked quickly beside him down the hall and up the stairs towards the library. He stopped just outside the library doors.

"I didn't want to give this to you with everyone around," he said, handing her a silvery box.

"What is this?"

"Happy Valentine's Day," he said.

"Trevor, you didn't have to--"

"I know," he replied. "But I wanted to. Open it."

Blushing, Reagan opened the small silver box. Inside was a silver locket but it didn't appear to be on any sort of chain.

"Its a locket," he explained. "Its a magical locket. I was going to get you flowers but I had a tip that you would be over your head in flowers this year."

"Yeah, I am. My dad, he went a bit overboard. This is beautiful," she said. "Does it open?"

"In a way," Trevor said taking it from her. "It opens, but instead of there being a picture, there is a..."

As he opened the locket a miniature image of two people dancing. The boy was twirling the girl around who was laughing.

"Is that us?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "A three inch memory of us dancing at the Winter Ball."

"That is so cool," she said taking it from him. She watched the image of them dancing, twirling and her laughing replayed a few times before pulling his gift out of her bag.

"Whats this?"

"Your Valentine's Day gift," she replied.

"Reagan, you didn't have to get me anything," he said.

"I know," she said and closed the locket. "But I wanted to get you something even though I wasn't expecting anything from you."

"Well thank you," he said. He opened the velvet red box and pulled out a silver watch with a black leather band. The rim of the face of the watch was a sliver snake and the numbers were an emarald green.

"Reagan, this is cool," Trevor said looking at it and then at her. "Where did you find it?"

"Not telling," she replied. "However I did get some odd looks when I bought it. I mean I signed Potter on the slip and was wearing a Gryffindor scarf."

"I can see how that would earn you some sidewase glances," Trevor said and smiled. "Thank you Reagan, this is perfect."

"I'm glad you like it," she replied. "Thank you for my locket," she said.

"You are very welcome," he replied. She smiled at him and before she knew it, she was putting her arms around him and hugging him. He hugged her back and whispered, "Happy Valentine's Day, Reagan Potter." And for a moment she wondered if everyone else saw what she and Trevor seemed oblivious too.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the first Saturday in March, which was particularly snowy, Reagan sat with Trevor, Cal and Josie in the library, working her way through Professor Elierson's essay on jinxes that made you bleed (In your opinion which are the best jinxes that cause a person to bleed, why is this your opinion and give a detailed description of each, at least five jinxes must be discussed). Cal had his nose buried in a Transfiguration book, finishing an essay he had put off, and Josie was muttering an Erasing Charm under her breath every thirty seconds as she worked at an Arithmancy problem.

"Oh come on Reagan," Josie said, exasperated. "I don't understand this problem, please just let me see your paper!"

Reagan shook her head. "Josie, you won't learn it. Thats why you don't understand it because I always let you see my paper. I'll explain it to you, but I'm not helping you if I just tell you the answers."

Josie glared at her friend. "Its Arithmancy, Reagan. I'll never understand it. Its just the way it is."

"You could try," Reagan suggested.

"You could let me see your paper," Josie replied.

"Josie, just try," Reagan pleaded. "I've already explained it to you, just work through it and think about it."

Josie huffed and went back to her paper, giving Reagan dirty looks.

"I still don't understand why you kept Arithmancy," Cal said from inside his book.

"Because I thought I'd have a friend to help me through it," she replied cooly, not looking up form her parchment.

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Reagan cried. "Josie I will not let you cheat off my paper!"

"Fine, don't be any help!" Josie cried back at her. "Don't tell me the answer! It doesn't matter, you don't tell me anything any more!"

"Josie what are you talking about?" Reagan asked. "What don't I tell you?"

Josie ignored her, pushing her book and parchment into her bag, cramming her quill and ink bottle on top.

"Oh think about it Reagan!" Josie replied. "Or is your father too far away that he can't tell you that answer either?"

Reagan gapped at Josie as she threw her bag over her shoulder and stormed out of the library. Reagan looked quickly at Cal and he was putting his books into his bag also.

"She has a point, Reagan," Cal replied. "I'll see you at dinner."

Reagan rounded on Trevor. "What-?"

"Don't start on me, Reagan," Trevor said. "I didn't breath a word. She probably figured it out on her own."

"I don't believe this," Reagan said. She packed her book bag quickly, and giving Trevor an apologetic look she left the library.

As she reached the portrait of the fat lady, Darenn came out, holding a letter.

"Reagan, I was just coming to find you," he said.

"Not now, Darenn," she said.

"Whats wrong?" he asked.

"I don't know, I think Josie and Cal know about my Connection."

"Did you tell them?" Darenn asked and Reagan shook her head.

"Josie said something about Dad being too far away to give me answers and then stormed out of the library. Cal agreed and followed her. So I came to find them and, I don't know, I guess tell them everything."

"Well good luck," Darenn said.

"Why did you need to find me?" Reagan asked.

"Oh, Mum sent us a letter with news on Dad."

"What does she say?"

"Here," Darenn said and handed her the letter.

Dear Darenn and Reagan,
Your father is well and sends his love. There now you can both breath. We can't know where he is, no one can. Aunt Hermione knows, but she won't tell Uncle Ron and he's in a right state about it. He's been here twice this week ranting about how she follows rules too much and she should throw the rule book out the window. Anyway, your father is well, and sends word from Professor Lockhart. He says that Professor Elierson wasn't his first choice, and hopes she isn't too creepy. Lane Elierson went to school with Uncle Bill, and he says she's as consistent as the wind, whatever that means. I have never met the woman, however I have had my share of horrid teachers, so just bear with it. Reagan, your father also says to stop worrying, stop stressing and stop prying. Hope you two are doing well in school, keep your marks up! Good luck against Ravenclaw for the Cup! All my love,
Mum

Reagan felt a bit better after reading the letter and she handed it back to her brother before entering the Gryffindor common room. She scanned the room for her friends, and not seeing them, went upstairs to her dormitory.

Josie was sitting on her bed, Cal at the base and neither one was saying anything. Cal looked up as Reagan came into the room, and then glanced at Josie, still not saying anything. Reagan went to her own bed and set her book bag down before taking a seat on her bed.

None of them spoke for a few minutes until Reagan broke the silence.

"How did you find out?"

Josie huffed. "A little bird told me."

"Honestly, Josie," Reagan said, rolling her eyes.

"What does it matter how I found out?" Josie asked. "The point is you didn't tell me. You didn't tell Cal."

"Leave me out of this one for now," Cal said.

"Fine," Josie said. "You didn't tell me."

"Josie I'm sorry," Reagan said. "It wasn't something I wanted everyone to know. It was never the right time to tell you."

"For the past four years you haven't found any time that you could have told me?" Josie asked disbelieving. "Reagan, I'm your best friend. There is no right a wrong time to tell me something."

"Are you mad that I didn't tell you, or are you mad that it exists in the first place?"

"Well I can't be mad that it exists," Josie said, and Reagan felt a little better. "I mean, its nothing that you could have controlled. I wish you would have told me. It would have made somethings easier."

"What would it have made easier?" Reagan asked.

"Well for one thing I wouldn't have thought you were going insane," Josie said. "I wouldn't have gone to my dad and told him about how you were hearing voices and spacing out in class."

"You went to your dad?" Reagan asked and she realized who Josie's little bird was.

Josie nodded. "When we came back to school, you weren't as, well, as weird as you were last term but there have still been times when you've been a bit out of it."

"Its not like I space out or anything," Reagan said. "My magical senses are just a lot keener than yours, or anyone else's for that matter. I pick up on time waves. Thats what usually happens when I space out."

"I know, I've read about it," Josie said. "I looked it up in the library, I've done the research."

"How much do you know then?"

"Enough," Josie said, sniffling. "Enough to know that I don't have a Connection with my father and you do. Enough to know that logically I should have one with my father."

"Josie thats one of the reason's I didn't tell you," Reagan said. "I didn't want-"

"You didn't want me to feel more out of place in my own family," Josie burst out. Tears were flowing down her cheeks now. "You didn't want to rub it in that I shouldn't be a Malfoy. I'm in Gryffindor for heaven's sake! What respectable Malfoy gets sorted into Gryffindor. Everything makes sense now. My father always said that the Potters were perfect and that nothing ever bad happened to them. Perfect Harry Potter with his Perfect Auror resume and his perfect wife and his perfect family and his perfect Connection of Three with his daughter. Perfect Reagan Potter who is good at everything and makes the Quidditch team and who has a perfect boyfriend-"

"Trevor is not my boyfriend," Reagan pleaded, tears filling her eyes."

"-Perfect Reagan Potter who was nice to the bad seed Malfoy girl who got sorted into the opposite house as the rest of her family. You are the exact opposite of me. You don't know what its like being hated by your family, having them rub it in your face constantly that you are a screw up and the you should have never been born!"

"Josie, I don't think they think that about you-"

"Being me is horrible! You wouldn't know because you are a perfect Potter! You don't know what its like feeling out of place your entire life. Before Hogwarts, I never got along with my family or my brothers because they were different than I was, they were mean. And I came here and I wanted to be sorted into Slytherin so badly. And you know what the Sorting Hat told me? It said Oh look, a Malfoy, but this one is different than the others. I told it I wasn't, that I didn't want to be different and it told me that I was and that I to learn to love with it. It told me I wasn't meant to be in Slytherin that I wasn't a Slytherin in my heart. And it put me in Gryffindor. I was terrified. My brothers glared at me, and the sorting Hat confirmed what everyone I knew had told me all along. I was different! I wasn't meant to be in Slytherin! I wasn't good enough for Slytherin! I wanted to be put in slytherin so badly, to show my father that I was worthy of being a Malfoy!"

"Josie, the Sorting Hat didn't make a mistake, you are not a Slytherin. You have never acted or shown any characteristic that the Slytherins do," Reagan said.

"Trevor is a Slytherin. He doesn't act like one."

"Trevor is in Slytherin because he is incredibly ambitious. The Hat made its decision based on his blood line. Trevor didn't know enough about his parents to know he shouldn't be in slytherin."

"My entire family has been in Slytherin," Josie said. "Every one but me. EVERYONE BUT ME! All Malfoys have been put into Slytherin but me. I'm not worthy enough to be a Malfoy because I got put into Gryffindor. I'm not worthy of being in Slytherin. I'm not worthy of my father's love because I don't have a magical connection to him like you do with your father. I get better marks that Sabin and Mathias and still my father finds something to complain about. I get better marks than he did when he was in school and still I'm not good enough. I can't beat you on a single test or project because you perfect Potter. And you're so damned good at everything because you have a magical connection that allows you to know things."

"Hang on just a minute now," Reagan said. "I'm good at things because I study and I read and I practice. My connection with my father does not effect that I know. It may allow me to pick things up faster but thats it. If you want to pick things up faster, take a Memory Enhancement Serum, it does the same thing. It has the same effect. Don't go assuming that I am only the way I am because of my connection. Both my brothers are good at things before I was and they don't have a connection. I'm good because I want to be, not because I have two older brothers and a good relationship with my father."

"But your Connection has made things easier for you," Josie said.

"Easier?" Reagan repeated. "How did it make things easier? I hear voices in my head. I see my father's memories walking down the hall. I get pulled into the past to watch what goes on. The only thing that is made easier is when I'm playing chess and my father is standing behind me and he can think what move to make and I'll think the same thing. And he's bad at wizard chess so in reality that doesn't help much. Having a connection has been hard a a pain. I spent my Christmas break watching my father watch people die in his memories. I've seen what he's seen, I've seen the same people die that he has because we have a connection. Do you think I enjoy watching people die? Do you think I enjoy seeing a fifteen year old ghostly figure of my father and uncle walk down the hall past me? Do you think I like hearing voices in my head? At first I thought I was going insane. My connection is more of a burden than a blessing. And if my father dies then I die too because then our connection would be broken and one cannot live without the other."

Josie stared at her, her eyes wide. Reagan regained control of her breathing and realized that she had tears flowing down her face as well.

"I didn't realize it was like that," Josie said. "I thought you got to talk to your father telepathically and cheat on tests and stuff."

"Having a connection alters my magical ability. Its amplifies it, but not enough to matter; it makes it stronger, but its only stronger because it has my father's magical powers supporting it and that makes it much more perceptive of what is going on around me. Like time waves, sounds and solutions. I can figure things out a little quicker. I'm not a better witch because I have a Connection of three with my father. I work hard to be good. The Connection doesn't make me good."

"I'm sorry I didn't realize it was so hard on you," Josie said looking at the bed.

"And I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about my Connection."

Josie sighed. "Are you mad at me?"

Reagan laughed. "That depends, are you mad at me?"

"No," Josie said.

"Then no, I'm not mad at you either," Reagan replied.

"And I'm not mad at you either," Cal said.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you either Cal," Reagan said.

"Nah, don't worry about it. It didn't bother me as much. I didn't grow up with magic so these kind if things don't mean much to me and I don't understand them. So no harm done. I don't really understand what this Connection thing is so I don't know what I've been kept in the dark about, so it really doesn't bother me that much."

Reagan laughed and turning to Josie she asked, "Are we okay now?"

"Yeah," Josie nodded. She got off her bed and threw her arms around Reagan.

But the moment Josie touched Reagan, Reagan saw an image as clear as day, a platform in the air with four sets of stairs leading up to it, but not down, and Josian Malfoy falling off the top.
A/N: I am so incredibly sorry about the enormous gap in-between the posting of the last chapter and this one. I moved to a different state, got a job and haven't had internet access until tonight. And this is the first thing I am doing!!! I hope you all don't hate me for posting this late, and I assure you I do intent to finish this fic along with its sequel. Besides, we have no Harry Potter movie to look forward to this Thanksgiving so writing will have to make up for it!!

Also since I have been out of the internet world for sometime I was upset to see that Gryffindor Tower is no longer running. Can anyone let me know why????

Okay, now for the fic stuff. The note that Reagan got with her flowers that said "All girls should get flowers on Valentine's Day" was actually written by my dad. Thats really the only thing that I didnÕt make up, well aside from all the stuff JK Rowling did.

I'll post again soon, I PROMISE!!!!!
Love,
~Erica