CHapter 13: A long Forgotten Past
He knows something I don't, I just know it. And why did he call my the Key? Does that mean he knows what the Key is? And he said he could tell me about my past, does that mean he could tell me how my parents died? I have to ask him.
She looked at the clock, four forty five. She swung her legs over the bed, grabbed a heavy robe, and headed out of the dormitory. When she got to the common room, she noticed Dobby putting logs on the fire. "Hello, Miss Willow." He said bowing so low that his nose brushed against the carpet.
She quickly waved and walked out the portrait hole leaving a shocked looking Dobby behind.
Willow finally got to Tom's hut and pounded on the door with her fist "Tom, open up! I have to talk to you!"
"You're making enough nose to wake the dead, O'Connor," said Tom coming from behind the cabin, Wendell trotting closely behind. He let out a playful bark and trotted up to her. He lifted himself up on his hind legs and rested his forepaws on her shoulders, licking her face enthusiastically. "Down, boy. So, O'Connor, what did you want to talk to me so bad that you came in the middle of the night?" he asked with a lopsided smirk.
"You know something about me that I don't, and I want to know what it is." she answered, "I wanna know why you called me the Key. I wanna know what happened to my parents. " The smile faded from Tom's face. "I knew I'd all come down to this," he said taking a seat on the fence. "So you know then, what happened to them?" she questioned sitting next to him, hugging her cloak tighter. "Do you really want to know?" he asked looking her straight in the eye. She nodded and pushed her hair up behind her ear.
"Follow me," he stood up and started towards the cabin door. Willow followed with Wendell jogging closely at her side. The cabin was filled with warmth and the aroma of burning logs. The dog closed the door behind her. "Have a seat," Tom said gesturing towards the couch. "Would you like a cup of tea?"
"I want to know what happened to my parents." she repeated. He set a mug of hot tea in front of her and sat in the chair across from where she sat. Wendell plopped down on the couch next to her with a biscuit in his mouth.
Tom opened the drawer of the desk next him, looking for something. Willow made sure he wasn't looking and took a sip of tea. The warm liquid heated her insides. "Here we go," he said taking an old dusty book from the drawer. "Here, open it," he said handing it to her. How can this tell me how my parents died? she wondered, but she knew not to question anything in the wizard world.
She opened it, revealing it's old tattered pages. "Turn it to the date of May eighteenth, nineteen ninety one." Willow saw dates in the top right corner of every page, it started with the date of her birth, September twenty-fourth, 1988, to this very day. She turned to the page labeled: May 18, 1991.
"What now?" she asked. "Just wait." Suddenly the pages of the book began to vibrate. She was blinded by a bright light emitted from the book, so bright she was blinded.
When the light faded, she was no longer in Tom's cabin. "Oh my gosh," she whispered to herself, "it's my house." Willow was no longer in Europe, she was back in America, standing in the kitchen of her old house that she used to call home. She saw a man with fiery red hair sitting at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper. "Da? Da, it's me." he ignored her as though he couldn't hear her. He stood up towards her and smiled, his brown eyes twinkling. She went up to hug him, but when she tried, she fell gracefully, almost gliding, right through him, like she was a ghost to this world. She turned and saw who he was smiling at. Her face lit up with excitement, it was her mom. There was a sleeping child in her arms, about three years old, it was Willow as a baby. Her mom's vibrant blue eyes seemed sorrowful and her thick, dark, red hair fell in her face. "Sirius said that he is getting closer, that we might have to leave... again." Her dad ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Morgan, we already left Ireland, I don't want to leave again, we're not going to! I'll protect you and Willow, we're not going to flee from Voldemort. I don' see why we have to, the prophecy said that you have the power to defeat the darkness. I don't see why you have to run from 'im."
"Because of Willow, she is destined to be the next Key. Voldemort isn't trying to kill me, he's trying to kill her. And I'm not going to let 'im get me baby. If he gets any closer I will fight 'im, but Willow will 'ave to stay at the orphanage until we can come back and get her. Voldemort will never find her there."
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. When her dad answered it, she saw a tall, handsome man with shoulder length black hair. "Morgan, John, you have to get out of here, he's already near Lily and James. But I have the feeling he's going for you first. Lupin saw him in Godric's Hollow. Grab Willow, and leave," the man panted pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Thanks Sirius, I'll see you around." Her mom gave him a quick hug and her and Willow's dad ran down the road. The present Willow following them.
After running about fifteen minutes, they stopped at a tall building with peeling blue paint. Her mom dropped her baby self on the porch and took something from around her neck. "The pendant," said present Willow. Her mom put it around her baby selves neck. "Now, I want you to know, that me and Da love you, and we'll be back as soon as we can. But never take that pendent off your neck." she kissed her forehead "May the Lord and the Protector of the Key be with you." Her dad also bent down and kissed her forehead.
With a pained look her parents took one last look at their daughter and ran into the trees, Willow running after them. They got to a small open field and stopped, in front of them was a hooded figure with red snakelike eyes glowing from beneath the hood. "Ah, Key, you finally decided to give in," hissed an evil voice from beneath the hood. "The Dak Lord," she breathed to herself.
"Never, Voldemort!" her mom shouted. "Foolish girl, you think you can stop me? Lord Voldemort! You end here. ABRA KEDEVRA!" he shouted, a green light shot out of the end of his wand and engulfed her parents. He let out a maniacal laugh. "You should have joined me."
"I wouldn't have joined you for all the money in the world!" came her moms voice. The green light disappeared and her parents were standing there in an orb of green light. "Noo!" screamed Voldemort. " IREDUS REWOPERUS!" her mom yelled pointing her palm to Voldemort. A beam of blue light shot out of her palm towards him. He pointed his palm towards hers and whispered something she couldn't hear. As soon as the beam reached him it bounced off his hand and headed towards her parents. "Watch out!" Willow yelled completely ignoring the fact that they couldn't hear her. The beam hit her parents, and then they were gone, nowhere to be found.
The scene before her slowly faded away, and the last thing she heard was Voldemorts cold, cruel laugh, echoing through the darkness. Suddenly she found herself back in Tom's cabin with Wendell's head resting on her lap. "After that, Voldemort moved on to kill Harry's parents, where mysteriously, he was unable to kill Harry and was robbed of his powers, leaving him weak. Forced to take over others peoples bodies and drink unicorn's blood to live. Three years ago he was brought back by his deatheaters and is now more a threat than before.
"Willow, you are the Key and the only one who can truly stop him." Tom said, never looking up at her. Willow was slowly stroking Wendell's head as he spoke. She looked up at him and shook her head. "It can't be," she breathed to herself, "this is all happening to fast, you've got the wrong person."
Slowly she stood up and walked out of the cabin and up to the castle. Wendell got up to follow her but Tom stopped him. "Just give her some time," he said, still staring at the floor.
As she walked questions raced through her head. How does he know this? Why does he know all this? How does he even know who I am? By the time she got to the common room her head was pounding.
She fell on her knees in front of the fireplace and stared int the flames. Her mind drifted as she sat. In the morning when everyone was awake she still sat, still trying to grasp everything she had heard the night before. Unaware of what was going on around her. She heard, but she didn't understand. She saw, but, she was blind.
She heard voices though they seemed distant. "Willow, Willow! Can you hear me? What's wrong?" she heard someone say. "Go get McGonnagal, quickly."
In Tom's Head
"Maybe we shouldn't have told her, Wendell," Tom said as he walked down the corridors to the Great Hall with his large white dog. Wendell growled and nipped his hand firmly. "Ow," said Tom rubbing his hand, "fine, maybe I shouldn't have told her." The dog grunted in approval.
He heard running footsteps echoing through the stone halls from behind him and turned around. Running towards him was a girl with bushy brown hair who looked vaguely familiar. Oh right, she's in one of my classes, Hermione Granger I think it is. he thought to himself. She was about to pass him when he grabbed her by the shoulders. "What's wrong?" he asked her. Her eyes kept darting down the hall as though expecting to see someone walk down the deserted hall at any moment. "McGonnagal, where's Professor Mcgonnagal?" she managed between breaths. "I'm right here, Granger, what's the matter?" said McGonnagal walking up from behind Tom. "It's Willow, somethings wrong with her!" she answered.
"Lead the way," said McGonnagal. Though before she could finish her sentence Tom was already running up the steps to the common room. But not before getting his leg stuck in the sinking step. He pulled on his leg firmly and shook it loose from the step. He sprinted to the portrait and then stopped. Why am I in such a hurry? He thought to himself, why do I care so much about Willow? Is it because she is the Key? That's it, it must be that. He tried and forced himself to think that but, for some reason deep in his mind he knew that wasn't right. He knew he shouldn't care for a student that way but he couldn't shake the feeling. He just, couldn't explain it.
"Dragon breath," said Hermione from behind him cutting his thoughts short. The portrait swung open and they all stepped inside. Over by the fireplace was a small group of students huddled in a tight circle and looking down at something in a state of pure awe. "Right over there," said Hermione pointing to the group.
The crowd parted as McGonnagal hurried towards them. "We better get her to the hospital Wing," said as she gazed down at Willow who was staring into the dying flames of the fireplace with her eyes wide with, what looked like, fear. "Wha-what's w-w-wrong with her? She's going to be OK, right?" Tom managed. "Thomas, she'll be fine. Can you do me a favor and take her down to the Hospital Wing. I need to contact the headmaster." She looked quite flustered as she walked out of the portrait hole.
Tom picked Willow up with ease. Her eyes were now closed as he began to walk down to the Hospital Wing with Harry Potter and Hermione following closely. He looked down at her an and her head rolled to the side and rested against his chest, sending an unexpected warmth through him.
When they got to the Hospital Wing Dumbledore was already there. "Thank you, Thomas. If you may, set her down, please." he said motioning to the bed. Tom nodded and set her down. Her eyes were now open again but they were glossed over and had a ghastly haze that sent chill up his spine. Wendell walked up and set his head on her bed.
The Headmaster walked over to her bed and examined her closely. Sometimes his long nose was almost touching her. He straightened up and drummed his long fingers on his chin. "She doesn't seem to be under any sort of spell. I think she's just in an utter state of shock." he concluded, "she should be around in time for the dance, which is what, three days away, is it not? Though I do suggest that we all go down to the Great Hall to get some food in us. I am particularly famished." With that he strode out of the room followed by Harry and Hermione who took one last worried look at Willow.
Tom walked over to her bedside and looked at her. He gently swept a piece of hair from her face and slowly walked out of the room.
He knows something I don't, I just know it. And why did he call my the Key? Does that mean he knows what the Key is? And he said he could tell me about my past, does that mean he could tell me how my parents died? I have to ask him.
She looked at the clock, four forty five. She swung her legs over the bed, grabbed a heavy robe, and headed out of the dormitory. When she got to the common room, she noticed Dobby putting logs on the fire. "Hello, Miss Willow." He said bowing so low that his nose brushed against the carpet.
She quickly waved and walked out the portrait hole leaving a shocked looking Dobby behind.
Willow finally got to Tom's hut and pounded on the door with her fist "Tom, open up! I have to talk to you!"
"You're making enough nose to wake the dead, O'Connor," said Tom coming from behind the cabin, Wendell trotting closely behind. He let out a playful bark and trotted up to her. He lifted himself up on his hind legs and rested his forepaws on her shoulders, licking her face enthusiastically. "Down, boy. So, O'Connor, what did you want to talk to me so bad that you came in the middle of the night?" he asked with a lopsided smirk.
"You know something about me that I don't, and I want to know what it is." she answered, "I wanna know why you called me the Key. I wanna know what happened to my parents. " The smile faded from Tom's face. "I knew I'd all come down to this," he said taking a seat on the fence. "So you know then, what happened to them?" she questioned sitting next to him, hugging her cloak tighter. "Do you really want to know?" he asked looking her straight in the eye. She nodded and pushed her hair up behind her ear.
"Follow me," he stood up and started towards the cabin door. Willow followed with Wendell jogging closely at her side. The cabin was filled with warmth and the aroma of burning logs. The dog closed the door behind her. "Have a seat," Tom said gesturing towards the couch. "Would you like a cup of tea?"
"I want to know what happened to my parents." she repeated. He set a mug of hot tea in front of her and sat in the chair across from where she sat. Wendell plopped down on the couch next to her with a biscuit in his mouth.
Tom opened the drawer of the desk next him, looking for something. Willow made sure he wasn't looking and took a sip of tea. The warm liquid heated her insides. "Here we go," he said taking an old dusty book from the drawer. "Here, open it," he said handing it to her. How can this tell me how my parents died? she wondered, but she knew not to question anything in the wizard world.
She opened it, revealing it's old tattered pages. "Turn it to the date of May eighteenth, nineteen ninety one." Willow saw dates in the top right corner of every page, it started with the date of her birth, September twenty-fourth, 1988, to this very day. She turned to the page labeled: May 18, 1991.
"What now?" she asked. "Just wait." Suddenly the pages of the book began to vibrate. She was blinded by a bright light emitted from the book, so bright she was blinded.
When the light faded, she was no longer in Tom's cabin. "Oh my gosh," she whispered to herself, "it's my house." Willow was no longer in Europe, she was back in America, standing in the kitchen of her old house that she used to call home. She saw a man with fiery red hair sitting at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper. "Da? Da, it's me." he ignored her as though he couldn't hear her. He stood up towards her and smiled, his brown eyes twinkling. She went up to hug him, but when she tried, she fell gracefully, almost gliding, right through him, like she was a ghost to this world. She turned and saw who he was smiling at. Her face lit up with excitement, it was her mom. There was a sleeping child in her arms, about three years old, it was Willow as a baby. Her mom's vibrant blue eyes seemed sorrowful and her thick, dark, red hair fell in her face. "Sirius said that he is getting closer, that we might have to leave... again." Her dad ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Morgan, we already left Ireland, I don't want to leave again, we're not going to! I'll protect you and Willow, we're not going to flee from Voldemort. I don' see why we have to, the prophecy said that you have the power to defeat the darkness. I don't see why you have to run from 'im."
"Because of Willow, she is destined to be the next Key. Voldemort isn't trying to kill me, he's trying to kill her. And I'm not going to let 'im get me baby. If he gets any closer I will fight 'im, but Willow will 'ave to stay at the orphanage until we can come back and get her. Voldemort will never find her there."
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. When her dad answered it, she saw a tall, handsome man with shoulder length black hair. "Morgan, John, you have to get out of here, he's already near Lily and James. But I have the feeling he's going for you first. Lupin saw him in Godric's Hollow. Grab Willow, and leave," the man panted pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Thanks Sirius, I'll see you around." Her mom gave him a quick hug and her and Willow's dad ran down the road. The present Willow following them.
After running about fifteen minutes, they stopped at a tall building with peeling blue paint. Her mom dropped her baby self on the porch and took something from around her neck. "The pendant," said present Willow. Her mom put it around her baby selves neck. "Now, I want you to know, that me and Da love you, and we'll be back as soon as we can. But never take that pendent off your neck." she kissed her forehead "May the Lord and the Protector of the Key be with you." Her dad also bent down and kissed her forehead.
With a pained look her parents took one last look at their daughter and ran into the trees, Willow running after them. They got to a small open field and stopped, in front of them was a hooded figure with red snakelike eyes glowing from beneath the hood. "Ah, Key, you finally decided to give in," hissed an evil voice from beneath the hood. "The Dak Lord," she breathed to herself.
"Never, Voldemort!" her mom shouted. "Foolish girl, you think you can stop me? Lord Voldemort! You end here. ABRA KEDEVRA!" he shouted, a green light shot out of the end of his wand and engulfed her parents. He let out a maniacal laugh. "You should have joined me."
"I wouldn't have joined you for all the money in the world!" came her moms voice. The green light disappeared and her parents were standing there in an orb of green light. "Noo!" screamed Voldemort. " IREDUS REWOPERUS!" her mom yelled pointing her palm to Voldemort. A beam of blue light shot out of her palm towards him. He pointed his palm towards hers and whispered something she couldn't hear. As soon as the beam reached him it bounced off his hand and headed towards her parents. "Watch out!" Willow yelled completely ignoring the fact that they couldn't hear her. The beam hit her parents, and then they were gone, nowhere to be found.
The scene before her slowly faded away, and the last thing she heard was Voldemorts cold, cruel laugh, echoing through the darkness. Suddenly she found herself back in Tom's cabin with Wendell's head resting on her lap. "After that, Voldemort moved on to kill Harry's parents, where mysteriously, he was unable to kill Harry and was robbed of his powers, leaving him weak. Forced to take over others peoples bodies and drink unicorn's blood to live. Three years ago he was brought back by his deatheaters and is now more a threat than before.
"Willow, you are the Key and the only one who can truly stop him." Tom said, never looking up at her. Willow was slowly stroking Wendell's head as he spoke. She looked up at him and shook her head. "It can't be," she breathed to herself, "this is all happening to fast, you've got the wrong person."
Slowly she stood up and walked out of the cabin and up to the castle. Wendell got up to follow her but Tom stopped him. "Just give her some time," he said, still staring at the floor.
As she walked questions raced through her head. How does he know this? Why does he know all this? How does he even know who I am? By the time she got to the common room her head was pounding.
She fell on her knees in front of the fireplace and stared int the flames. Her mind drifted as she sat. In the morning when everyone was awake she still sat, still trying to grasp everything she had heard the night before. Unaware of what was going on around her. She heard, but she didn't understand. She saw, but, she was blind.
She heard voices though they seemed distant. "Willow, Willow! Can you hear me? What's wrong?" she heard someone say. "Go get McGonnagal, quickly."
In Tom's Head
"Maybe we shouldn't have told her, Wendell," Tom said as he walked down the corridors to the Great Hall with his large white dog. Wendell growled and nipped his hand firmly. "Ow," said Tom rubbing his hand, "fine, maybe I shouldn't have told her." The dog grunted in approval.
He heard running footsteps echoing through the stone halls from behind him and turned around. Running towards him was a girl with bushy brown hair who looked vaguely familiar. Oh right, she's in one of my classes, Hermione Granger I think it is. he thought to himself. She was about to pass him when he grabbed her by the shoulders. "What's wrong?" he asked her. Her eyes kept darting down the hall as though expecting to see someone walk down the deserted hall at any moment. "McGonnagal, where's Professor Mcgonnagal?" she managed between breaths. "I'm right here, Granger, what's the matter?" said McGonnagal walking up from behind Tom. "It's Willow, somethings wrong with her!" she answered.
"Lead the way," said McGonnagal. Though before she could finish her sentence Tom was already running up the steps to the common room. But not before getting his leg stuck in the sinking step. He pulled on his leg firmly and shook it loose from the step. He sprinted to the portrait and then stopped. Why am I in such a hurry? He thought to himself, why do I care so much about Willow? Is it because she is the Key? That's it, it must be that. He tried and forced himself to think that but, for some reason deep in his mind he knew that wasn't right. He knew he shouldn't care for a student that way but he couldn't shake the feeling. He just, couldn't explain it.
"Dragon breath," said Hermione from behind him cutting his thoughts short. The portrait swung open and they all stepped inside. Over by the fireplace was a small group of students huddled in a tight circle and looking down at something in a state of pure awe. "Right over there," said Hermione pointing to the group.
The crowd parted as McGonnagal hurried towards them. "We better get her to the hospital Wing," said as she gazed down at Willow who was staring into the dying flames of the fireplace with her eyes wide with, what looked like, fear. "Wha-what's w-w-wrong with her? She's going to be OK, right?" Tom managed. "Thomas, she'll be fine. Can you do me a favor and take her down to the Hospital Wing. I need to contact the headmaster." She looked quite flustered as she walked out of the portrait hole.
Tom picked Willow up with ease. Her eyes were now closed as he began to walk down to the Hospital Wing with Harry Potter and Hermione following closely. He looked down at her an and her head rolled to the side and rested against his chest, sending an unexpected warmth through him.
When they got to the Hospital Wing Dumbledore was already there. "Thank you, Thomas. If you may, set her down, please." he said motioning to the bed. Tom nodded and set her down. Her eyes were now open again but they were glossed over and had a ghastly haze that sent chill up his spine. Wendell walked up and set his head on her bed.
The Headmaster walked over to her bed and examined her closely. Sometimes his long nose was almost touching her. He straightened up and drummed his long fingers on his chin. "She doesn't seem to be under any sort of spell. I think she's just in an utter state of shock." he concluded, "she should be around in time for the dance, which is what, three days away, is it not? Though I do suggest that we all go down to the Great Hall to get some food in us. I am particularly famished." With that he strode out of the room followed by Harry and Hermione who took one last worried look at Willow.
Tom walked over to her bedside and looked at her. He gently swept a piece of hair from her face and slowly walked out of the room.