Haunted

By Be Boring

Chapter 9: Off to the Burrow

Necia's entire morning had been filled with cries of: "Hurry up!" and "Where is my copy of something-or-other?" (usually heard from Hermione), and now she couldn't have been more relieved to be lining up in the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade so she and Ginny could use Floo Powder to travel to the Weasley's house. Because Ginny wasn't old enough to Apparate and Necia hadn't taken the test, the others had decided to be sympathetic and travel with them at least to the inn. Hermione was standing at the back of the group, angrily clutching her copy of Hogwarts, A History against her chest lest she lose it again. Lavender had been hiding it from her all morning just to piss her off, although Hermione never did manage to find out that she was the one doing it.

Ginny was the first to step into the fireplace, and to her surprise everyone but Necia shoved their bags in with her and waved cheerfully. As soon as she was gone, everyone spread out slightly from each other to concentrate. Before they Disapparated, Necia threw in a handful of Floo Powder and stepped into the green flames, clearly stated, "The Burrow!", and quite suddenly she found herself stumbling out of the fireplace into a very homey living room. Suddenly, a plump little redheaded woman came bustling into the room at the exact moment that Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked through the door after Apparating in the front yard, looking surprised that the kids were already there. At the same time Ginny was kicking the luggage into the middle of the room sulkily, glaring at the others.

"Very funny, you guys. You actually let me believe you were coming here like me."

Ron grinned and picked up his bags. "Necia came here like you. As for us, we never actually said that we were using the Floo Powder, we just agreed to come with you to the Three Broomsticks. Besides, this way we could actually all get here at the same time."

Mrs. Weasley looked around the room helplessly. "I was really hoping that the cleaning would be done before you got here. Did you even eat breakfast at the school?"

Ron looked as though he couldn't believe those words had actually left her mouth. "When you make the best pancakes ever? No offense to the house-elves at the school, but I would rather eat your cooking. Did you happen to get anything ready for us?"

She sighed, crossing her arms across her chest. "Actually, I did suspect you would do something like this, so there's plenty for everybody."

A cheer rose among the group and they hurried for the table, leaning back as their dishes and silverware flew almost angrily to their places, and soon everybody was digging in. Necia had never tasted anything so heavenly. The pancakes seemed to melt on her tongue like butter, and occasionally she discovered a melted chocolate chip that had been hidden inside. By the time she had finished her first plate, Ron and Harry were already halfway through their second helping and didn't look as though they'd be slowing down anytime soon. She had to wonder if they were even chewing or swallowing their food, or if it was simply flying down their throats. They certainly hadn't had enough time to do much more.

After stuffing herself to the bursting point, Necia grabbed her bags and followed Ginny up to her room. Hermione followed a few seconds later, still stubbornly clutching her book to her side. When the door was closed behind them, Necia and Ginny both burst out, "So?"

Hermione paused and looked at them both as if they had sprouted extra heads. "What?"

"What happened after the ball last night between you and Ron? You weren't in the room when I came back," Necia elaborated.

Hermione's eyes darted down to her feet as she mumbled, "Nothing, we didn't really do much. It was boring."

Ginny crossed her arms. "Now why don't I believe that?"

Her eyes widened innocently. "I'm perfectly serious right now, we didn't do anything. We got bored and walked outside to get some fresh air, and because Snape was terrorizing everyone who happened to be outside of the ballroom and he was always between us and the door, we went to Hagrid's hut. He was at the ball, so we ended up drinking tea and playing with Fang, always looking outside to see if we could get back to the school yet without Snape giving us fifty detentions. In fact, we talked about you and Harry more than anything else," she said pointedly to Necia. "Believe me, nothing happened along the lines you are thinking of."

Necia was slightly disappointed, but it was obvious that Hermione was telling the truth, so she didn't push it. Instead, she turned her attention to Ginny. "So, how did it go with Neville?"

Her friend's face took on a rather sour expression. "Bloody awful. He's not any better at dancing than he used to be, and when he walked me to the stairs up to our tower, he actually tried to kiss me goodnight, which turned into a complete disaster. I had no interest in kissing him, so just before he reached me I jerked back and he nearly fell right on me. I tipped over and twisted my ankle really hard on the first step, and in the fall he ended up getting handfuls of things I didn't really want him to touch. So, as you can see, it was terrible."

Necia and Hermione were both diligently trying to restrain giggles, but they were saved the trouble when two twin redheads suddenly popped quite literally into the middle of the room, identical wicked grins on their faces. Necia stared at them blankly for a moment until Ginny made the introductions.

"Necia, these are my brothers, Fred and George. Fred and George, this is Necia Holt."

Both young men bowed old-fashionedly, looking her up and down. "How did our brother and sister manage to make friends with someone who looks like you?" Fred asked cheerfully.

"Yes, after all, none of them are particularly attractive. We inherited the looks in the family," George added, not dissuaded at all by the severe blush in Necia's cheeks. "You must have received every possible attractive quality from your family."

Necia couldn't even speak for a good deal of time, unsure if they were joking, honest, or a little of both. "Er…" 'Sure, very attractive.'

Ginny stepped in to save her friend. "You guys, stop fooling around. She just got here, cut her some slack. She's not used to your weirdness yet."

"Weirdness!" the twins cried indignantly. Before they could continue, Ginny had grabbed George's arm and was dragging him to the door, Fred following along to save his brother from exile. "Get your hands off –" George managed to get out before she slammed the door in his face. With a sigh of relief she turned back to the other two girls.

"Right. Now that that's over, let's get unpacked in peace."


Snape approached the tiny building on the outskirts of Hogsmeade with more trepidation than he had felt for a long time. Lucius was in there somewhere, and he wasn't sure how he would be received. Dumbledore had finally decided that it was probably safer to know Lucius's plan before he tried anything, so here Severus stood.

He saw a quick flurry of movement inside the house as he approached, so he was surprised when someone actually answered the door. He would have thought they'd be hiding right now. It was Nott who actually opened the door for him.

"Is Lucius here?" Snape asked calmly, as though the prospect had no effect on him. In reality, Lucius Malfoy was one of the last people he ever wanted to see again. After Voldemort, that is.

"Right this way," was the cold reply, and Snape was led through a series of winding corridors that he couldn't believe were confined within the walls of this house, until he realized that they were heading slightly downwards and by now were below ground. Lucius's door didn't look any different from the others, which surprised him, because his old school friend normally greatly enjoyed elevating himself above others. When the door swung open, Severus found himself standing alone in the hallway, Nott had already gone.

"Who is it?" Lucius's drawling voice called out from inside.

"It's me," he replied quietly, knowing that the other man would easily recognize his voice. By the look on his face, Lucius had been far from expecting a visit of this kind, but he recovered quickly and greeted him with a smile.

"So, my old friend, what brings you here, and how did you know where I was?"

"Dumbledore has long suspected that you are no longer hiding in your mansion, and I thought that if you still had designs on seizing the Holt girl, that you would position yourself nearby. I thought this was as good a place as any to look for you."

A faint smile lingered on the senior Malfoy's lips. "Very clever of you, Severus. At any rate, I'm glad you're here. In fact, you're one of the few people I gave permission for Nott to open the door for. You're the only person in a good enough position to tell me just how talented the girl is at Potions. You have been working with her for months now, you must have a better idea of what she's capable of."

Snape inclined his head slightly. "You're right, she's even better than I first realized. I work with her privately now, and she is much better than any student I've ever dealt with before." At the sudden excited look on his friend's face, he cut him off before he could speak. He realized already that Lucius would want his help in obtaining the girl. "I won't help you, Lucius. It would compromise the perfect position I have at Hogwarts. Where else are you going to get information like mine?"

The other man's eyes glittered dangerously. "The last time we spoke, Severus, you made it very clear that you were unwilling to help me. What changed your mind?"

He hesitated for a moment, then reached into his robes and pulled out the gold figurine that Cassandra had left for him. "I was reminded of old times."

Lucius took it greedily, half in shock as he turned it over to look at his initials. "I lost this just before we graduated from Hogwarts. I remember my parents were so furious that they refused to make me another. Where did you find this?"

"Cassandra left it for me. I found it a few weeks ago."

He looked absolutely incredulous. "You can't possibly mean that you've heard from her?" The pale look on his face made Snape reply immediately.

"No, she left it for me a long time ago, I just didn't discover it until recently." Severus couldn't understand why Lucius had reacted so strongly. After all, it wouldn't be so strange for Cassandra to contact him, despite the way things had ended.

After recovering himself, Lucius set the figurine off to one side and looked at the other man's face carefully. "Am I to assume that your newfound willingness to help me is based on old feelings for my cousin?"

"It's not quite like that, but not far off either. When was the last time you heard from her?"

Lucius glanced at the clock distractedly. "Oh, probably that class reunion we all went to. We were never close, she never wrote me after that. I have no idea what she's doing now."

"Are you telling me that you haven't heard anything, not even from other relatives?"

"No, she cut herself off rather well. It's just as well, I suppose. She's not exactly one of the finer specimens of a Malfoy, is she? But let's not talk about her right now, I'd rather talk about the girl you've been teaching. What's her name again?"

"Necia Holt."

"Yes, that's right. Do you know if she's showed any signs of remembering her mother's death?"

Severus shook his head. "If she has, I haven't noticed, and that's not something I think she would be able to keep to herself for very long. I would have heard about it through the staff if she were remembering anything. Seeing as how I can't help you, what are you going to do?"

Lucius shrugged. "I haven't decided yet. Is she still at the school for the holidays?"

"No, I believe she's at the Weasleys' home. I wouldn't attempt much there right now, though. That family may seem like a disgrace to the wizarding world, but they know what they're doing. Even those despicable twins are quite good with magic, otherwise they wouldn't be so successful." Although he knew Dumbledore wouldn't like it, he didn't think it was a good idea to talk about Necia so much without offering some helpful suggestions to the Death Eaters, otherwise they might suspect his reasons for coming here. He would tell Dumbledore about everything that passed so they could be ready, and with Dumbledore's help there would surely be no harm done. "Actually, you might be better off waiting until her next Hogsmeade trip. At least then she's out of Hogwarts, but you'll still have to worry about her friends. She never goes far without Potter behind her these days."

Lucius folded his fingers and smiled chillingly. "That doesn't concern me, I can work around the boy. Just let me know when the next Hogsmeade date is and I will be ready."

Snape nodded, allowing the other man to lead him back to the front door. "If anything changes, or if she decides not to go, you will be the first to know."

"Oh, she'll go," was the eerie parting line he was left with as the door closed. He pulled his cloak against him more snugly, trying to shut out the cool breeze. There was plenty to warn Dumbledore against now.


Everyone was laughing uproariously at dinner that evening when Fred and George decided to give a demonstration of their newest creations. In the time she had been friends with Ginny and Ron, they had never specified just what the twins did for a living, but she soon found out they were inventors of the most dangerous kind. She tentatively took the taffy that George offered her and slowly put it in her mouth, thankful that at least it didn't taste strange, but suddenly a very squeaky hiccup escaped her throat. Even more surprising was the purple bubble that sprang from her lips. Now the hiccups were coming in rapid succession, and with each one was a new surprise. Sometimes nothing more than colored bubbles came out, but the rest of the time an interesting array of animals floated through the air, making their respective noises and attacking each other randomly. Soon Necia and Ginny were having a bubble battle, seeing whose bubble creations could defeat the other's when they hiccuped in each other's direction.

Harry had found a much more troublesome invention, however. It was a caramel chew that immediately made the eater a magnet for anything they touched. Currently, both Ron and Hermione were stuck hopelessly to Harry's back, and Fred was taunting him with the chew that contained the antidote, forcing him to drag his friends around as he struggled to reach Fred's outstretched hand, which was always slowly and steadily moving away from him. Mrs. Weasley watched the scene with the air of someone who thought they were above the current situation. That's what made it so funny when she took her next sip of tea and discovered that her lower half had turned into a gorilla. Apparently Fred and George had some liquid inventions as well.

As everyone finally settled down for the night in the living room, Necia found herself alone on the sofa with Harry. She smiled sheepishly at him, unsure of what to say. After last night, it was hard to know what to do from here on. "Are you still sticky?"

He reached out and picked up her hand, letting go of it the next second so that it slid gently back onto her lap. "Nope, I guess not." He smiled back, looking down at his hands uneasily, then tried another strand of conversation. "Are you sleeping in Ginny's room?"

"Yeah. Are you in Ron's room?"

"Mm-hmm. It's right next door to the twins' room, so it should be a fun night. They really seem to like you."

"Fred and George?"

"Yeah."

She shrugged. "I think they're just trying to flatter me because I'm Ginny's friend. I get the feeling she doesn't often bring someone home like this."

"No, she usually just sticks with us," he commented, glancing over at the youngest Weasley. "It will probably be hard on her next year when we're gone. She finally found a best friend in you this year, and you'll be leaving too." After yet another long moment of silence, he lifted his head quickly. "Did you know Lupin's coming for supper on Christmas? Ron told me this morning when we were getting ready. He's become good friends with the Weasleys, and he's a lot more fun to be around outside of school. He's still pretty bookish, though. Hermione will probably be a lot like him when she's older."

"Where does Professor Lupin go during the holidays? Does he have any family?"

"No, and all his friends are gone now too. He used to be best friends with my dad, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew's the one who betrayed my parents to Voldemort, and Sirius and my dad died, so it's only him left."

Necia felt a pang of sympathy for her professor. "Why didn't he ever marry? I realize that being a werewolf isn't the greatest attribute, but he's so nice, there has to be someone out there for him."

"I don't think he's really comfortable with dating, although I've never asked and I don't really plan to. I think he's really embarrassed about being a werewolf. I think it would be great if he got together with someone, but maybe now he's just too set in his ways to be with anybody. So long living alone probably hasn't helped anything."

Necia grinned, hoping she could lighten the mood a little. "Wouldn't it be weird if he and Tonks went out?"

Harry couldn't have looked more horrified if she had paired Lupin and McGonogall, which was a much scarier thought. "Why would you say that?"

"It's just that even though they have quite a few years between them, it isn't too extreme, and I think she could really help him loosen up. I think they would be cute together. Why do you keep looking at me like I'm talking about something as scary as Hagrid and that woman he's been dating? It's not such a ridiculous thought. Tonks is very attractive, and Lupin—"

Harry's hands shot up in the air as though he were surrendering. "Please don't give me any opinion on what Lupin looks like. Can't you have this conversation with Ginny? Why me?" He looked so helpless and cornered that she had to laugh.

"Because you're so cute when you're uncomfortable." He blushed, but Mrs. Weasley interrupted everything with a cheery announcement.

Brandishing a letter in the air, she declared excitedly, "I've just received an owl from Tonks. She didn't come right out and say it, but she was hinting at wanting to eat here with us, so I invited her to dinner tomorrow. As long as we're already making extra for Remus, I thought it would be nice to set another place for her too. Actually, I've sent out invitations to a lot of our old friends from last year, so I guess we'll see who responds."

A devilish smile immediately sprang to Necia's face. Harry eyed her suspiciously. "Oh no, what are you planning?"

Her eyes widened innocently and she wiped the smile off her face. "Me? Why would I be planning something? If anything's meant to be, then it will happen."

"But you'll give it a little help, right?" he said slightly accusingly, but with some amusement in his voice.

"Harry, you're so paranoid. I won't be doing a thing. Fred and George will."

"What?"

Her eyes darted over to the pair, who were whispering conspiratorially in the corner. "At least, they'll be partly responsible," she teased with a smile.


Snape eyed the pie in front of him warily. He had never been a fan of anything to do with pumpkins, but he was hungry enough to at least consider eating the pumpkin pie in front of him. Dumbledore smiled in his direction.

"Are you worried your food will attack you, Severus?"

The other teachers that had decided to stick around at least one day longer, McGonogall, Flitwick, Hagrid, and Lupin, all looked up from their plates, where their half-eaten slices of pumpkin pie waited to be finished. If he had been the sort of man to blush, he would have. Instead, his color drained slightly. He hated having everyone's eyes on him. "I'm just not sure how hungry I am."

Flitwick looked down at his toes, which were sticking straight out in front of him seeing as how they weren't long enough to even bend normally over the edge of his chair, then looked pointedly at Snape. "I think everyone here is a bit curious about how your visit with Lucius Malfoy went."

He set his fork to the side, deciding that he didn't feel like pumpkin pie after all. "Is this really the time to discuss that?"

McGonogall finished chewing her last bite of pie and leaned back in her chair. "I don't see why not. I'm leaving tomorrow, along with most of us here, and I would like to hear about it before I go."

He glanced at the others, and upon seeing their expectant faces, sighed with some exasperation and related the events of earlier that day to his deeply attentive audience. The only thing he left out was their brief discussion of Cassandra, but he was easily able to avoid it. By the time he had finished, everyone was done eating and they were all thoughtfully staring down at the table, considering everything he had said.

Lupin was the first to speak. "How can we hope to protect her at Hogsmeade? It's hard to follow anyone with all those students running around, although that may be to our advantage, because it will make things more difficult for the remaining Death Eaters to keep an eye on her. It's not like she's a disruptive enough student to give a needless detention to without raising some suspicion."

Suddenly, something occurred to Snape that he had been deliberately putting off. "She still has a detention to make up for me from the beginning of the school year. I've had a full schedule and haven't made arrangements yet for her to serve it. I could schedule it for the next Hogsmeade date."

Lupin looked at him suspiciously. "Why did you give her a detention?" Before he could answer, Lupin added, "And why did you wait so long? Just because your schedule is full didn't mean you couldn't make her serve her detention under someone else's supervision."

Severus chose to ignore the second question. Although he was sure everyone at the table suspected it, he hadn't taken Lupin's route because he wanted her punishment to be particularly unpleasant, and he wanted to be there to see it. "She received a detention because she got into a fight with Draco Malfoy on the very first day of classes. I nearly forgot about it with how busy my schedule was at that time. Hagrid knows what the situation was."

Hagrid looked surprised that the other man had allowed him to serve as his testimony. They were hardly on speaking terms. "Tha's right, it 'appened outside of me hut. Don't really seem like her, but that was a hard time on everyone, not jus' her. Couldn't imagine her doin' somethin' of the sort now."

McGonogall nodded in agreement. "I'm of that opinion as well. She doesn't have the highest marks in my class, but she seems like a sensible girl. What were they fighting about?"

Snape shrugged. "I don't remember anymore, but I'm sure they were both to blame. From what I've seen, they don't get along well." He didn't really want to tell the story about Draco's sexual harassment. While he despised the boy's father, he would always prefer the Slytherin students, and Draco was prominent among that group.

"If I remember correctly, young Mr. Malfoy has a long history of problems with other students, and Necia isn't any different from the rest. I'd be more worried if he fought with Potter. The enmity between them is stronger. We would have more than likely found someone missing an eye," Minerva commented coolly.

Dumbledore had listened to everything in silence, but he couldn't remain quiet anymore. "I'm afraid I think we should call this little meeting to a close," he said quietly. "It's late, and this is supposed to be a happy time. The next Hogsmeade trip isn't for another month, so let's revive this subject at another time. I'm sure most of you are tired." Everyone nodded their agreement, and as they were rising from the table, Snape heard him ask Lupin lightly, "You will be dining at the Weasleys' tomorrow, will you not?"

Lupin nodded. "Yes, and I can't wait. Molly is an extraordinary cook and I always have a good time at their house. Although I'll need to beware what I eat, you never know when Fred or George will add an extra ingredient to your food."

Slipping away from the others and heading for the steps down to the dungeons, Severus pushed all thoughts of that day out of his mind. What was done was done, and as Albus had said, the Hogsmeade trip wouldn't be for another month. Instead, he chose to focus on tomorrow. It was time to relieve some stress, and he knew exactly how he would be doing it over the holidays.


Necia paced the hallway silently, stalling for as much time as possible before she had to go back to Ginny's room. She had left to go to the bathroom, but she had really just wanted some time to herself. It had been a very full day and she needed time to process everything. As she slowly made her way down the stairs again, a door opened just to her left, revealing Fred's smiling face. "How nice of you to drop by!" he exclaimed quickly, just before grabbing her arm and dragging her into the room. Harry and Ron had joined the twins, so at least she wasn't alone with them. At this point, she wasn't sure if she was ready for that yet.

"What are you guys doing?"

Ron held up yet another small candy in his hand. "Helping them test out some new products. The stuff you tried earlier is already on the market, this stuff is still being fine-tuned." With that, he popped it into his mouth and screwed his face up miserably at the taste. In seconds all of his hair was standing on end, and when George reached out to poke him, everyone heard the loud and apparently painful shock he received.

George shook his hand to get rid of the stinging sensation and grinned at her. "We're trying to harness static electricity into a snack. I'd say it worked well."

Ron spat the candy back out into his hand, his hair promptly falling back down over his forehead. "It works alright, but it tastes bloody terrible."

"That's because we haven't bothered with flavoring it yet, we just wanted to know that it would work," George informed him cheerily.

Ron scowled at the candy in his hand. "You could have told me that before I let it touch my tongue."

Fred stepped sideways in front of Necia, offering her what looked like a short piece of licorice. "Go on, try this one."

At the eager looks on the twins' faces, she asked nervously, "And just what is it supposed to do?"

"It just makes you feel good," was the only vague reply she received. She glared at them.

"Feel good, how?"

To her surprise and very soon to be horror, George stepped forward with a very mature and instructor-like attitude and explained, "We all have those senses which we enjoy: those that tell us we're eating a scrumptious meal, or that a bouquet of flowers smells nice. However, there is one sensation that is undisputedly a favorite among humans, and that is of arousal." Harry and Ron evidently had been just as much in the dark as Necia had been, judging by the stunned looks on their faces. "We've been developing a more mature line of items for adult wizards only. This one is especially designed for women, but we haven't been able to test it out yet. It just wouldn't feel right asking Mum or Ginny to try it; besides, Ginny's underage, and I don't think Hermione would be very open to the idea. How about you?"

Necia could only stare at him in shock. "But you've only known me a day, and you already think we're on good enough terms to give this to me? I don't think I'm that comfortable here yet."

She tried to give them back the licorice piece, but neither one would accept it. "You can just hold onto it. If you don't feel like trying it in front of us, that's perfectly understandable, so we'll leave it with you to try it at your own convenience."

So embarrassed that she was no longer able to look at any of them, she quickly opened the door. "I think I've stayed up late enough as it is. I'm going to bed." As soon as she was away from their room, she shoved the treat into her pocket. Although she had no intention of using it herself, it seemed a waste to just throw it out. Maybe she'd hand it off to someone else later who would appreciate it. Just before she reached Ginny's room, someone grabbed her arm. She whirled around to find Harry standing directly behind her. After looking around them for anyone listening, Harry pulled her into a corner.

"Listen, we never got the chance to talk about last night, and earlier I felt like it was really affecting everything we said to each other, because nothing really felt the same. I just want you to know that if it freaked you out at all, I'm perfectly okay with us just being friends." While his words were noble, she could tell by his eyes that he didn't just want to be friends with her. Beyond all physical attraction, he genuinely cared about her.

"Harry, I have no intention of going back to being friends right now. Yes, I'm still a little uneasy about what happened last night, but we're both pretty mature, so I don't think it will take long to get over it. Don't worry, with how much fun this holiday is going to be, it'll be the last thing on my mind. Well, not the last thing, but you know what I mean."

He smiled and kissed her on the forehead, squeezing her shoulders gently in relief. "I guess I'm just not good at handling stuff like this. You can probably tell it's not something I usually do."

"It's the same here," she replied. 'Okay, this is really awkward,' she thought queasily as they stood and stared at each other anxiously for a minute. "I really should get to bed."

"Me too." After hesitating slightly, he leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips, whispering "Goodnight" before he headed back down the hall. She smiled and entered Ginny's room. As strange as that was, it really had helped her. The fact that Harry didn't really know what he was doing only made her feel more comfortable with the situation, because she felt like she wasn't so alone in her feelings. Hopefully by tomorrow things would be back to normal like she had told him.