"Blimey, Nikita! You should have at least told us that your mom nearly sent Snape to Azkaban!" said Ron at dinner as they settled at their usual seats at the end of the table.
Nikita was quiet "Its not something I like to discuss."
"But...but why didn't you tell us?" pressed Hermione.
Harry saw Nikita's expression was one he recognized well. One that clearly said 'leave-me-alone'. But before he could nudge or poke them into stopping, Hermione went on "So, what's the story behind that then? How did she catch him?"
"Yeah, it sounds like a great story... do tell us!" said Ron eagerly as he stuffed his mouth with lambchops.
He never saw anyone react so fast to a particular situation. Her eyes blazed as she looked at Hermione and hissed "I am not going to talk about a man who had my mother KILLED! But of course, YOU sitting over THERE blessed with BOTH parents will push on and on and ON!"
Hermione clamped her fingers to her mouth and looked down horrified, obviously ashamed of what she had said, Ron stared at his plate, his face as red as his hair.
"Nikita...Hermione and Ron didn't mean to"
Harry tried to calm Nikita down, but she was far from done. She stood up and pointed one finger at Hermione and Ron, screaming now.
"YOU LIVE A PERFECTLY NORMAL LIFE! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW MANY SECRETS I HAVE TO HIDE! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO WATCH THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THIS WORLD DIE?!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE NIGHTMARES EVERY NIGHT ABOUT YOUR PARENTS DEATH?!! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LIVE IN A PLACE, WITNESSING THE MAN WHO HAD YOUR MOTHER MURDERED WALKING AROUND A FREE MAN???!!!"
Without looking at Harry, or the rest of the tables where everyone was staring at her, she turned on her heel and strode out of the great hall, fuming all the way while the Slytherins sniggered at Hermione and Ron.
McGonagall got up to go after her but Dumbledore stopped her. Instead he looked at Harry who was already standing.
"Harry, go after her. And tell her that the house elves will bring her something to eat later."
He looked at the teenager through his half moon glasses as Harry began to stride out of the hall after Nikita. His eyes could see the boy looked as troubled as his sister was at the moment.
Hagrid leaned over and muttered to Dumbledore "Jus' like 'er brother, isn' she, Professor..."
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He found her in the common room curled up in a protective fetal position on the couch in front of the fire. Her eyes were blank and she was staring into the flames trying hard to soak in the warmth of the fire.
But the fire wasn't giving her any warmth...
Harry settled himself next to her.
"Er...are you okay?"
She shook her head slowly.
Harry scratched his head and attempted to say something to make her feel better.
"Um...Dumbledore says that the house elves will bring you something to eat in a while."
"Okay." she whispered, still staring at the fire. She got up very slowly not taking her eyes off the flames. Harry shifted over a little before talking again.
"Hermione and Ron are sorry, Nikita...they didn't mean that."
"It's not their fault...I over reacted..."
That surprised him. He didn't expect her to feel sorry for her actions. He knew for a fact that he himself had lost his temper with his friends before, not quite differently from her.
Then she spoke again.
"Certain phrases make me want to laugh.
'I have issues' is one.
'I feel your pain' is another.
'I know how you feel' is one which made me laugh the hardest of all.
Well at least it used to. Maybe they don't anymore because I've been through a lot lately. Or maybe I'm just finally growing up... Or its the fact that the past few days have been...well...pretty much turning my entire world upside down.
But those phrases don't make me laugh anymore."
She took a deep breath and let it out with a hiss as she rested her head on her brother's shoulder. "Have you ever felt like that Harry? Like nothing seems right anymore?"
Harry stroked her hair and said "This may sound crazy but I know how you feel."
She looked at him now the sparkle back in her eyes and they laughed.
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The news of the gorgeous Nikita being Harry's half sister and her mother being the Auror who put Snape to trial spread like wild fire.
Snape was soon looking was excuses to dock points from Gryffindor and give detention to Nikita every chance he got. Much much more than Harry.
But unlike Harry, she kept her temper in check and control and performed each of her potions so patiently that Snape had no choice but to leave her alone. Or at least pretend to ignore her.
The other day in potions class, Snape ran his fingers through his greasy hair and told the class "Today we shall be making Crustimenal Potions. It's the anecdote for the Cruciatus curse. Before insanity, of course. " He muttered as he passed by Neville Longbottom who went red in the face with anger and looked down at his cauldron, his previous potion a murky brown instead of an emerald green.
As he reached Nikita's table he said "And what exactly are you making Miss Potter?"
"Gill." she said through gritted teeth.
"Ah yes...James never did marry your mother did he? I daresay it was beneath his, skin color perhaps?"
Nikita looked up at him just as Harry lay a hand on hers don't rise... he communicated to her mentally. She looked at his face once and then smiled sweetly up at Snape.
"I didn't know that you judged by skin color, professor, which is purely 5 millimeters thick. The fact is the woman you are referring to, caught you red handed. It's not very professional to mix your past with your present or your career with your personal life for that matter. Just a word of advice... professor..."
Snape took a few moments to come out of shock.
Hermione and Ron gapped at her open mouthed. Neville gave Nikita a thumbs up, and knocked his cauldron down in the process turning his frog, Trevor, yellow. The Slytherins shuffled uncomfortably.
Harry grinned at her as she continued to glare at Snape, waiting for her punishment.
Snape spoke slowly and softly, his fury only evident from the two points of red which had flared on his cheeks "Miss. Gill. Congratulations. Your speech has just earned you a week's worth of detention. Meet Filch and Hagrid tonight at 8 'o' clock."
"You mean Professor Hagrid. Sir."
Snape chose to ignore her last comment.
But Nikita had already accelerated herself to the position of a heroine in the eyes of the students of Hogwarts.
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If Harry thought people had made a big fuss of him when he arrived, he was clearly wrong. His sister could not seem to be alone anywhere without a group of guys surrounding her.
Harry did not like it at all. Especially the fact that usually he was the one doing all the rescuing without any help from Ron and Hermione... Even the twins had deserted him! And even that wasn't the worst. The worst was the fact that Malfoy had taken it into his stride to corner Nikita whenever he got his chance.
And Harry was getting the feeling that it wasn't just to annoy him.
Malfoy had taken one hell of a liking to his sister...and he wanted it to stop. NOW.
The only plus point about the situation was that Nikita HATED Draco far more than him. She couldn't stand any of the Slytherins just because Snape was their housemaster, and add to that she knew why they were friendly with her.
It wasn't odd to Harry the fact that Nikita and he were getting closer and bonding far more, just as siblings should. In fact a few mornings ago in divination class when Firenze asked for his homework, she looked at him and said "Um...I have his homework. And my own. He accidentally left it on the desk this morning."
Harry raised his eyebrows at her and she just winked.
Ron grumbled about "Lucky buggers who have psycho sisters that don't get enough homework."
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"Hey listen you guys, I have to go. Detention awaits." she said sarcastically with a flourish. Harry got up and said, "We'll walk you down."
"With Filch around?" she said with one elegant raised eyebrow "I don't think so."
Harry looked at Ron, Hermione, Fred and Ginny who were sitting at the study table with him. Ron shrugged.
"She's got a point, mate."
"They're prefects, Harry you can't bring them along."
Harry sat down again. He looked at the 2 foot long essay that Snape wanted by tomorrow.
Nikita walked away heading down the castle steps, a particularly rude farm boy in a portrait whistled at her as she walked by. She rolled her eyes.
And then a sharp bolt of pain struck through her again causing her to double over in pain.
She opened her mouth to scream but no voice came out...
Only a stream of crimson blood.