Paying for your actions

Wow, she can be a bitch at times thought Harry as Icicle continued to the castle. Ron was trying his best to comfort Ginny; Hermione had her hands over her mouth in shock, but George worried Harry the most. He just sat their holding Fred's hand looking as if he was lost in his own world. Not knowing what to do, Harry looked up at Remus who sighed, "We should probably make sure Icicle isn't destroying the castle."

Harry nodded and they both plus Snuffles followed her. Once inside Snuffles picked up Icicle's sent and followed it to the kitchen. Remus tickled the pear and sure enough there sat Icicle next to the wall, holding a glass of orange juice and looking blankly in front of her. There was a pop as Sirius resumed his normal form and then enveloped Harry into a hug. "Sirius I am fine really," insisted Harry.

Icicle mumbled, "Except for a broken arm."

"Like you have room to talk losing half your blood from that gash," shot back Harry.

Sirius stepped in, "Both of you are so stupid! What possessed you to go up against Voldemort and his whole army ALONE!"

"The need to be famous," replied Harry dryly.

Icicle took a swig of her juice, "Yes because you know we crave attention and lots of it. Plus that was not his whole army; he must have at least 100 more death eaters by now."

Sirius rubbed his temples, "You all are going to cause me to have a heart attack."

"Ahh Padfoot," soothed Remus as he smirked, "You know they would never want that."

Sirius pushed Remus playfully, "We need to get you to the hospital wing and cured so you'll be up and around for when Dumbledore comes back."

Icicle moaned, "He is going to kill me… I have disrespected Fudge for weeks and probably got expelled today. I always seem to be in trouble with Dumbledore."

Remus took Icicle's arm like a gentleman and lead her out of the kitchen, "You'll be in even more trouble if he finds out that you didn't go to the hospital wing and get that fixed."

"I'm coming aren't I?"

"With me dragging you along."

Harry and now Snuffles followed the bickering two. Harry couldn't help but to sigh in content. He has survived another year, was spending time with his godfather and best of all, Dumbledore was coming back.

* * * *

Harry was sitting in his regular hospital bed flipping through a book on several different types of curses. Madam Pomfrey had mended his arm in a short amount of time compared to the lecture that he and Icicle had received about gallivanting around a battlefield. Sirius and Remus had left to go see if Dumbledore was on his way back and Madame Pomfrey was in her office when he heard someone coming down the hall. "She isn't going to let us in to see them."

"Sure she will we'll just have to grovel for a while."

Harry watched as Hermione and a upset looking Ron walked into the hospital wing. "The coast is clear," whispered Harry, "Pomfrey is off somewhere."

"Harry! Icicle! Are you guys okay?" asked Hermione as she gave each of them hugs.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, "This is nothing compared to other injuries I have had."

Icicle chewed her lip as if she was debating to say something or not. Finally she carefully got out of bed and walked over and gave Ron a hug, "What we really should be asking is how are you Ron?"

Ron shrugged and mumbled, "Fine."

"Why does everyone reply fine when they are obviously not?"

"I don't want to make everyone worry."

Hermione lead Ron over to Harry's bed so he could sit down, "Ron we all worry about each other all the time. In case you haven't realized it, we all attract danger all the time."

With everyone on Harry's bed Ron finally spoke up again, "Icicle, did you know that this was going to happen today."

Icicle looked into the distance for a while and replied, "Yes… I knew."

"Then why didn't you stop it before Fred died!"

"I only knew the outline of what was going to happen. Reading the future is hard because there are always over 100 different ways that things can happen. No one is sure when or how fast a person will react so I didn't know exactly who would die."

"You could have still stopped them from going after Harry!"

"Do you think that I know that I could have stopped Fred from dying?  It is tearing me up inside too, but don't you see that there was a good chance that I was going to die today or that the whole school could have died. If Harry hadn't reacted fast enough I would have been worm food and if Hermione didn't have down that charm then everyone else would have been goners."

"So you picked your life over Fred's, I see."

"Ahhhhh! My life was not in my hands! Ron, I can't stop everything bad from happening because I am not God; hell I am not even Dumbledore! I am far from perfect. Shit happens so deal with it."

"Well you are pretty near perfect. Your grades in the subjects that you try are top notch, you have Dumbledore as a father and from what I see you have a lot more power then even Harry has."

"My life is far from perfect. I think it is time that you guys got to know me a little better. I was born into a dark arts family. My mother was a South American beauty that was actually a good person who ended up in a bad position. My dad on the other hand would probably be considered the death eater of death eaters. He was very devoted to the dark arts and purifying the magical blood. When I was born everyone saw that I was a "special" baby. I learned faster and displayed magical potential sooner then any other magical infant to date. At the age of one, my loving dad wanted to leave me with Voldemort because good old Voldie wanted to start my training personally. Of course my mom refused so on my birthday I watched my dad murder my mother."

A tear ran down Hermione's face, "You remember that?"

Icicle looked off into the distance, "Yeah, that was the last time I ever cried. I guess that nothing has hurt as much when compared to the loss of my mom."

"What happened next?" asked Harry.

"From there I went to spend a lot of time with Voldemort. He taught me all the dark curses, dark charms and how to be an amungi. By the age of two I was regularly torturing and killing people that Voldemort captured and brought home for me. On October 31 Voldemort told me that he was attacking the Potter's and they had a boy about my age that he wanted me to kill. Voldemort was very protective of me so I was excited that I was going to actually get out of the mansion. Well I went skipping down the hall to my baby sitter of the hour, which happened to be Snape. I told him what I was going to do and just gave me a sad smile. We played for a while and he started asking me questions about the Potters. Things such as how tall are they, how many are there and what their favorite food was. Well when he left me because my other baby sitter had shown up for her shift, I was curious. I wanted to find out exactly who the Potters were. So I took the poor fool's wand and stunned her. I then some how snuck out of the mansion in my bright red dress and appreciated to Godric's Hollow. When I got there James, Lily and Harry were all outside playing in the leaves. It was Lily that eventually saw me and called me over. They wanted to know what my name was and where my parents were. I told them my name and that was it. So I ended up playing with you for the next few hours. When the sun sat I got up, said bye and appreciated away. I bet I gave your parents quite a shock but, by the time I got back I had decided that I didn't want to kill Harry. The whole family had been so nice and I had so much fun that afternoon. So I did something that I had never done in my life. I threw the biggest tantrum right in the middle of a death eater meeting. I screamed and threw things and kicked people. Voldemort wasn't very happy with me to say the least so he picked me up, put me to bed early and told me that since I threw the tantrum I couldn't go but he would take me out when I decided to behave better. Well he never came back that night but Dumbledore did. Dumbledore stunned my baby sitter and came over and picked me up out of my crib. He gave me lemon drop and he told me that he was going to take me away and I was going to live in a nice home far far away with a new mom, dad and older brother. So he took me to America and left me with the Vera's after putting a curse on me that blocked my magic and repressed most of my memories, " Icicle looked at Ron, "And that is my perfect life."

Ron just stared at his feet.

Harry spoke up, "If you hadn't thrown a fit I probably would have died that night…….."

"Maybe, or the curse might have rebounded back on me leaving the world with a Dark Lord still in full power. I think though, that if I had the chance to relive that part of my life I wouldn't have changed a thing. Because things could defiantly be a lot worse then they have been."

Madame Pomfrey bustled in and saw everyone, "What are you two doing in here and what are you doing out of bed Miss Vera?"

"Visiting," replied Icicle meekly.

"Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger please leave and Miss Vera back in bed or I will tie you down."

* * * *

A few hours later Harry looked up from the homework he was working on and chuckled, "Where do you think you are going?"

Icicle was digging under her bed for her shoes, "Leaving. I have some things to do. Tell Madame Pomfrey thanks for everything and I will see her again sometime."

"You know she'll hunt you down."

Icicle started tip toeing past Harry's bed, "She'll have to catch me first."

"Or I'll have to catch you." said a familiar voice.

Harry leaned sideways to see who had spoken and there in the doorway stood Dumbledore with Remus and Sirius behind him. Both Harry and Icicle jumped to their feet and hugged the Headmaster. "Thank God you're back!" exclaimed Harry.

Icicle nodded, "We missed you so so much."

Dumbledore's eyes sparkled, "I missed all of you too. I've heard from Remus, Sirius and Fudge that you both have been very busy while I have been gone. Let's sit down and I want to hear what you have been up too."

For the next two hours they both filled Dumbledore in on what had happened. The power surge, dream scene with Voldemort, quidditch games, the ball, the pranks and finally what had happened that very day. Dumbledore eyes grew dark, "So now everyone knows that you are an illegal animagus; you used an unforgivable; and told off the Minister of Magic."

Icicle nodded.

"You are grounded for the rest of the school year. No Hogsmeade trips, no going out in muggle towns or anything like that. You will come up to my office when you get back from dance and I will be timing you to make sure you are not off doing other things."

"What and I going to have to do in your office?"

"Read all those books that you refuse to read for class. You will study and study and study for your OWLS especially in those subjects you blow off such as diversionary, herbology, and charms."

There was a long pause, "I'm sorry."

Dumbledore's face softened, "I know you are but I am going to have to work really hard to keep you out of trouble. And I told you when I left not to pull any stunts that could land you in Azkaban."

"Headmaster," spoke up Harry, "When are the Weasley holding Fred's funeral?"

"On Monday I believe. You two are allowed to attend because it is going to be in the evening. Now I must leave you two to start reviewing for your OWLS with Sirius and Remus."

After Dumbledore left, there wasn't much studying.

* * * *