Lose and Gain
Like I said in the last chapter. Leah's gonna lose something, but also gain something in return…at least for a while anyways. I don't wanna make her life too happy…ish.
Leah, Hermione and Ginny all sat on a snow covered picnic table with Harry, Ron, Bill, Fred and George got into a snow ball fight.
"If you guys throw one more snow ball at us, you will pay dearly!" Leah said, after George had thrown a third snowball in the girls' direction. She looked back at Ginny and Hermione. "So…what were you saying Mione?"
"I was saying…were you going to join us in going to Headquarters on Christmas Eve?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah. Just cause mom's in a coma doesn't mean I shouldn't see her." Leah said. "Besides…I wanna see what I can find that I can bring to the school."
"Did Dumbledore ask you to bring stuff?" Ginny asked.
"No…Dad's Will did." Leah said. None of the three girls talked for a minute. A snow ball hit Leah in the back. She looked around to see Fred laughing. Leah made a snow ball and threw it at Fred, hitting him in the head. Everyone cheered, except Fred.
"Looks like you were wrong." Bill said. "She does have good aim." Fred threw a snow ball at Bill.
"DINNER!" Molly shouted from the window. Everyone trooped inside. The guys and Leah went to change clothes. All the snowballs that got thrown at the table were thrown at Leah. The guys didn't manage to get her to join in the game so they were bugging her about it. When they got back and Leah sat down between Ginny and Ron, Fleur put a plate in front of her.
"Umm…what's this?" Leah asked.
"You will like it." Fleur said. "Trust me."
"Trust…something I'm not good at." Leah said. She looked at Ron who was giving the plate a skeptical look. Leah sighed and picked up her fork before tasting some of the food. "Hey…this is pretty good."
"That settles it." Ginny said, starting to eat the food.
"I don't want you lot staying up too late tonight." Molly said. "We have to leave early to get to Headquarters on time tomorrow." Leah sighed. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. Ron had lied. He said they'd go to Headquarters only on Christmas but it turned out that they were going to go there from tomorrow until New Years. Ron had successfully avoided Leah for the first few days of holidays.
"Leah eat something." Hermione said. Leah looked across the table at her. She started eating. Leah was madder at George then she had ever been. On the first night after he and Fred showed up, Leah wasn't eating anything. So George just 'accidentally' let slip that Leah was anorexic. Now everyone knew and, surprisingly, even Fleur was forcing her to eat stuff. Fleur looked at Leah then, after seeing her eat, went back to talking with Bill and Molly about the wedding.
Leah had spent twenty minutes arguing with Fleur but wound up losing. Fleur wanted Ginny and Leah, along with her own sister, to be bridesmaids. She had said that Bill said that Leah was practically family and on more then one occasion he had called Leah his sister before getting corrected. Leah had argued that she did not want to wear a dress but Bill eventually stepped in with a solution that made both girls happy. He said that Leah could wear a dress that didn't go any farther then her knees and Leah just sighed and agreed.
Now Fleur and Bill were talking about who should be the groomsmen.
"We must have 'Arry." Fleur said.
"What?" Harry asked, looking up.
"Fleur wants you to be part of the wedding." Bill said.
"Uh…oh…ok." Harry said. Leah smiled slightly and shook her head.
By the time everyone was done eating and was sitting in front of the fire, somehow talking turned to Leah.
"I have not heard you sing." Fleur said. "I have only just found out from Bill."
"Well no one really knew until like…a bit after Halloween." Leah said. "Only Fred and George knew before then."
"Yeah…and we kept it a secret." Fred said.
"Yes you did. Do you want a treat?" Leah asked.
"Heck no." Fred said. "For all I know you could give me one of our creations." Leah smirked evilly.
"I want to hear you sing." Fleur said. "Anything is better then this." She waved her hand at the radio where some of Molly's favourite music was playing from. Molly just gave Fleur an evil look.
"I don't know." Leah said. "I mean…I need music and all."
"Say no more." George said. He ran up the stairs. Leah looked confused until he came back down with a box. She sighed.
"You all planned this didn't you?" Leah asked.
"Well…we planned on somehow making you sing. But Fleur just made it easier." Fred said. Leah rolled her eyes. "Come on Le. The only people who have heard you sing…live…is pretty much just the Hogwarts students."
"Not true. She did a concert in America five weeks ago." Hermione said.
"Well the point is…no one apart from Hogwarts students have heard that Year Ago Today song." George said.
"Only because I wanted to sing it to test it out. I'm not officially releasing it until June." Leah said.
"Well sing us some Christmas songs then." George said.
"Yes…please do." Fleur said.
"Alright…if it'll get you guys off my back. Two songs." Leah said.
"Ten." George said.
"Three." Leah said.
"Seven." Fred said.
"Five." Leah said.
"Deal." The twins said.
"Ok then." Leah said. She wound up singing ten songs anyways then Molly saved her by saying it was getting late and that everyone should get to bed. Leah sighed in relief then headed up to Ginny's room with Ginny and Hermione.
"You sound so cool when your voice isn't magically magnified." Ginny said. "You sound cool then too but it sounds better when like…you're at a normal volume."
"Yeah…but now my throat hurts." Leah said, rubbing her throat slightly. Hermione laughed. "What's so funny?"
"I don't know." Hermione said. "You just seem to be…well…happy." Leah tilted her head. "Don't get me wrong. Happy is good…but…I didn't expect you to be this happy." Leah shrugged and pulled on her pajamas. "Hey! What's that?"
"What's what?" Leah asked.
"On your wrist." Hermione said.
"A wristband." Leah said.
"Under the wristband." Hermione said.
"Nothing." Leah said, trying not sound convincing. Hermione gave her a slightly worried look but just shrugged and nodded. They went to sleep without further talk.
The next morning Leah woke up first and went downstairs. Fleur and Bill were in the kitchen with Molly.
"Hey Le. Not get much sleep?" Bill asked.
"Since when have you known me to get a lot of sleep?" Leah asked, sliding into a seat next to Bill.
"Umm…never really." Bill said. "Just haven't seen you in the morning for a long time."
"Yeah I know." Leah said. She looked at Fleur. "How do you do it?"
"Do what?" Fleur asked.
"Sleep but still look exactly the same in the morning?" Leah asked.
"It's the Veela blood." Fleur said.
"Of course." Leah said. She sighed and put her head on the table but lifted it back up when Molly pushed a plate full of bacon, eggs, sausages and toast in front of her. Leah looked at the three people around her before sighing and picking up a fork before starting to eat the food. Molly gave a triumphant smile and went back to cooking. Fleur continued to watch Leah.
"Honey leave her alone." Bill said.
"Yeah Fleur. I'm eating alright." Leah said. "It's not like I'm gonna stop the instant you look away." Fleur gave Leah a look before turning her attention to her own plate. Leah did stop eating, slightly. She slowed down. She finished when everyone else had come down.
Harry and Ron looked at her for a minute then started eating. Leah took hers, Bill's and Fleur's plates to the sink before going up to the girls' room. Sitting on the window ledge was Starr with an envelope in her beak.
"What ya got there?" Leah asked, walking over to the owl and taking the letter from it. She opened up the envelope. There were only four words on it.
Red or Blue?
Draco
"Red or blue? What's he talking about?" Leah muttered. She sighed but wrote back two words.
You pick.
She gave Starr the reply, then gave her a treat. Starr flew out the window and Leah watched her for a while before she heard footsteps on the stairs. She quickly changed into jeans and a red tank top with 'Pure Brat' written across it in gold. Leah had just swapped wristbands and was brushing her hair when Ginny and Hermione came into the room.
"Better hurry up with Mione's hair. Mom wants us to leave soon." Ginny said.
"Let me change first." Hermione said. Leah smiled and pulled her hair into a ponytail. Hermione had changed into black pants and a grey t-shirt. Leah quickly did the minor work to straighten Hermione's hair before french braiding it. She wound up doing Ginny's hair as well. By the time they got downstairs, everyone else was ready and waiting.
"What took so long?" Fleur asked.
"Leah was doing our hair." Ginny said.
"Well let's go. Come on." Molly said. Leah didn't have to ask how they were getting there. Waiting outside were two cars. Leah looked at them then at Molly with a questioning look. Hermione joined her in looking at the cars.
"Umm…Molly." Leah said.
"Yes?" Molly asked.
"Uh…these are muggle cars." Leah said.
"Yes dear I know." Molly said.
"Well…there's really no space problem but…driving problem…" Leah said.
"We don't have one of those." George said.
"Why not?" Leah asked.
"Because you, Harry and Hermione have all been raised around muggle cars." Fred said. "And Me, George and Ron have flown dad's car back when you lot were in second year."
"Yeah…flying and driving are different way different." Leah said.
"Yeah and besides…I've never driven a car." Harry said.
"My dad let me move the car in and out of the garage and…I kinda took it for a…joy ride one time." Hermione said.
"Ok then." Leah said. "Hermione can drive one car, and I can drive the other."
"But…" Hermione said.
"Don't worry…just follow me." Leah said. She looked at the others." Luckily there's only ten of us. Each car can only fit five."
"So how we gonna do this?" Bill asked.
"Bill, Fleur, Molly and Ron go with Hermione." Leah said. "Harry, Ginny, Fred and George come with me." She grabbed Hermione as the others went to the different cars. "Sorry about sticking Molly with ya. I just know that she would yell at me or something if she came with me."
"It's ok." Hermione said. "Just lead us there safely."
"Will do." Leah said. Molly, Bill and Fleur sat in the back seat of Hermione's car, while Ron sat in the front. Harry, Fred and George sat in the back of Leah's car while Ginny sat in the front. The drivers got into their cars before starting the engine and driving. Leah kept looking back to make sure Hermione was still following her. She had the slight suspicious either Molly, Bill or Fleur did a joining spell that made it so the two cars couldn't get separated.
After about half an hour or so, they got to headquarters and out of the cars. Leah stopped just after she got out of the car, suddenly remembering what Sirius and Lilly told her.
Don't stand in the way.
It was going to happen today. She knew it. Hermione was talking and Leah looked at her.
"Huh?" She asked.
"I said are you coming?" Hermione asked. The house had appeared and the others had gone inside already. Leah nodded and went inside with Hermione. The first thing she saw was a huge Christmas tree in the middle of the room with dozens of brightly wrapped gifts under it. The next thing she saw was Tonks and Remus…holding hands.
"Whoa…when did this take place?" Leah asked, waving her hand at the joint hands.
"Ummm…" Remus said, going very red. Leah laughed and just shook her head. "Good to hear you laughing in here."
"Ah…I get it." Leah said. "Putting all this together so I won't look miserable the whole time. Good plan."
"Did it work?" Tonks asked.
"Maybe." Leah said. "Nice job on the tree."
"Dung brought it in." Remus said. Molly made a disapproving sound.
"Simon, Remus and I decorated it." Tonks said. Simon was Leah's grandfather's name.
"Wow." Leah said. "Been a while since I heard someone say his actual name. Normally you all just call him my grandfather."
"Yeah." Remus said.
"You lot talking about me again?" Grandpa asked, coming down the stairs. Leah had no hesitation in guessing that he was just checking on Sabrina. She started wondering what the bad thing is that would bring something good. How could something bad bring something good? "Leah, we have to stop by the house for a while, pick up some things."
"Ok." Leah said.
"Want someone to come with you?" Remus asked.
"It'll only be two hours." Grandpa said.
"You sure?" Remus asked.
"If we're not back in three hours…come get us." Grandpa said. He said it like it was a joke. Leah forgot about the warning and smiled at how silly her grandpa was. "We'll be fine. You ready Leah?"
"Yeah…I just got here. How can I get…well…not ready?" Leah asked.
"Not sure." Grandpa said. They left and got in grandpa's car that was parked around the corner. He let Leah drive after hearing about how she drove them from the Burrow. It took about hour and hour to get to the house.
"What are we getting?" Leah asked.
"Just some stuff. Can you see if you can find that box your grandma gave you for Christmas last year?" Grandpa asked. Leah nodded and went up to her room. She found the jewelry box after about fifteen minutes of looking. She went back downstairs to find grandpa in the kitchen.
"Why do you want my jewelry box?" Leah asked.
"Because we need to get the gem out of it." Grandpa said. Leah looked at the large blue gem on the lid of the box. She put the box on the table and Grandpa took five minutes to get it out. Leah put the gem in her pocket. There was a small silence.
"Well…we've been here almost an hour." Leah said. "You told Remus we'd be back in two hours…"
"Yeah…it takes half an hour to drive back there." Grandpa said.
"Unless I drive fast." Leah said. "Well…faster then I did driving here." Grandpa smiled but it faded almost instantly. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing…It's just…" Grandpa said. He sighed. "Nothing. Don't worry."
"That's what I do best." Leah said. "You can't be lead singer in a hot band and not worry."
"That's true I guess." Grandpa said.
"It totally is true." Leah said, smiling. Grandpa smiled and this time it stayed. Suddenly both of them laughed for no reason. The laughing lasted a while.
"Well…isn't this just the happy scene?" The voice of Lucius Malfoy said. Leah and grandpa instantly stopped laughing and looked at where Lucius stood. He was in his death eater robe and mask. "Too bad I'll have to break it up." He started to raise his wand.
"You are not going to hurt her." Grandpa said, pulling Leah behind him.
"Her? Who ever said I was here to kill her?" Lucius asked, laughing. Leah remembered, again, what Sirius said. She didn't care that he told her not to stand in the way. "Oh no…the dark lord wants her to stay alive…for now."
"If you want my grandpa dead then you'll have to kill me too." Leah said, fighting against her grandpa's hold.
"Why kill when I can just stun you?" Lucius asked. Grandpa's hold became stronger and he pulled Leah directly behind him. "Good man. Face death head on won't you."
"If you're going to do it…do it without delay." Grandpa said.
"Now where's the fun in that?" Lucius asked.
"No! Grandpa don't!" Leah said, still fighting to get around in front of him.
"Be quiet you stupid girl." Lucius said.
"Make me." Leah said.
"This has gone on long enough." Lucius said. Leah finally managed to get to grandpa's side just as Lucius' wand arm rose. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" Leah covered her eyes as the green light shone through the house. As soon as it was gone, Leah opened her eyes to see grandpa's dead body next to her. Lucius raised his wand, muttered another spell, and the dark mark flew out from his wand, out through an open window and hovered over the house.
"You…" Leah said, looking up at Lucius. She glared at him with tears in her eyes. Her necklace started glowing again and soon Lucius was screaming in agony. There was a pop and the glow died away. Lucius was gone. Leah fell to her knees next to the body and started crying with her head on the chest of her dead grandfather.
Leah didn't know how long she was there and like that. She didn't know how much time had passed. She didn't pay attention to the yells that were coming from outside her house. All she knew was that she was crying the whole time. The door banged open and Leah turned her head slightly to see Remus, Arthur and Bill run into the house.
"Leah!" Remus said, running over to her. He sighed in relief when Leah lifted her head slightly to look at him. "Oh god, Leah."
"He killed him." Leah said, weakly.
"Who? Who killed your grandfather?" Remus asked.
"Malfoy." Leah said. "He showed up…grandpa held me back…" Leah couldn't talk anymore. She felt too weak to.
"Come on Leah. There's nothing we can do." Remus said, helping Leah to her feet. He found out that she was too weak to stand so he picked her up. "What do we do now?" He was talking to Arthur and Bill.
"New Years." Leah said quietly.
"What?" Remus asked, softly.
"We have to bury him on New Years." Leah said. "That's what he wants. He always said that no matter how or when he dies, he wants a ceremony done on New Years."
"Ok…we'll do that." Remus said. He looked at Arthur and Bill. "I'll bring her back to Headquarters."
"Ok." Arthur said. Remus left with Leah still in his arms. She was half way between awake and asleep.
"How'd you know?" Leah asked.
"Know what?" Remus asked.
"To come." Leah said.
"Well your grandpa did say that if you weren't back in three hours…" Remus said. "It's been longer then that since you guys left. We came to find you and saw the dark mark. We feared the worse but, luckily, it wasn't as bad as we thought."
"It was bad. My grandpa's dead." Leah said. She either fell asleep or fainted then.
By the time Remus had got back to headquarters, Leah had woken up. Remus put her down and Leah walked the last few steps herself. When they got into the house, Leah went straight up to Sabrina's room.
"What happened?" Harry asked.
"Her grandfather's dead." Remus said. Everyone had mixed looks of relief and sadness on their faces. They were relieved that Leah was alive, but devastated that her grandfather was dead…and killed right in front of her too.
Leah sat on the bed, holding Sabrina's hand. The something bad that Sirius told her about had happened…so where was this something good?
"Mom…grandpa's dead." Leah said softly. "He stopped me from helping him. I'm sorry." The silence was broken by the clunking of Moody's wooden leg.
"Sorry to hear what happened." Moody said, once he got to the room.
"Dad said something was going to happen." Leah said. "He said something was going to happen around Christmas when I was alone with grandpa. He told me not to stand in the way because something good would happen from that something bad."
"When did he tell you this?" Moody asked.
"A month ago or something like that." Leah said. "In a dream. Him and Lilly." Moody didn't say anything. Leah looked at Sabrina. "Hey…did she change somehow?"
"What?" Moody asked.
"Just now." Leah said. "When I got here, she didn't look as…peachy."
"Peachy?" Moody asked. He walked closer to the bed. "Hmmm…how that you mention it…she does look different from the last time I saw her. Which was about five hours ago."
"You don't think…" Leah said. She shook Sabrina slightly. "Mom?"
"What?" Sabrina grumbled. "Let me sleep."
"Sleep? You've been unconscious for like seven months." Leah said, jumping on Sabrina and hugging her. Sabrina groaned but laughed and hugged Leah back. "This has to be that something good dad mentioned." Neither Sabrina nor Moody questioned her. In fact, Moody went to the door and yelled something. Next minute, practically the whole household was up in that room.
The day went by at a good pace. Sabrina and Leah were left alone to talk about what had happened between the time that Sabrina had gone into a coma because of Sirius dying, to the time that grandpa had died. The day was filled with tears for both of them. That night they were lying side by side in Sabrina's room. Sabrina was talking about some random subject and Leah fell asleep. Sabrina had slipped out of the room and went down to the kitchen were Remus, Tonks, Moody, Kingsley, Bill, Fleur, Molly and Arthur were all sitting around talking.
"Leah told me about you getting engaged." Sabrina said, looking at Bill. He smiled and nodded, wrapping an arm around Fleur. "God I can't even imagine how much you've grown up. I remember you being a little kid.."
"Sabs…" Bill said.
"And running around all the time na.." Sabrina said.
"SABRINA!" Bill said loudly. Fleur was giggling and Bill was blushing. "Don't start on that please. At least mom's been nice enough to not mention anything."
"Yeah…because that's my job." Sabrina said. "I'm the one that's supposed to embarrass you." Bill gave her a pleading look. "Oh fine. Ruin my fun." Sabrina sat down on Remus' other side. "Tell the truth…how badly did Leah take it after Sirius…"
"Pretty badly. I mean…you saw her." Remus said. "Last time you saw her…"
"She was dressed in regular clothes." Sabrina said. "Now she's all punk like or something."
"Well…before Halloween, she had her hair exactly like yours used to be." Molly said. Sabrina took a second to understand what Molly was saying before smirking. There was a silence before Bill and Fleur announced that they were leaving. Sabrina got her chance of embarrassing him by calling him the childish nickname she had given him. Bill went redder then a strawberry while Fleur just laughed and laughed.
The next few days and the funeral went by without incident. Leah bolted as soon as the ceremony was over. Sabrina, Hermione and Ginny found her sitting in a tree.
"Hey babe. Wanna come down?" Sabrina asked. Leah shook her head. Sabrina looked at the other two girls. They nodded and climbed the tree while Sabrina stayed on the ground.
"You ok Le?" Ginny asked.
"I will be." Leah said. "After a while. I'm kinda starting to get used to this. The dying and all that." She sighed and looked at the sky.
"You ready to get down from here?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah…let's go." Leah said. Hermione and Ginny climbed down. Leah jumped and landed, surprisingly, graceful.
The day they got back to Hogwarts, Leah stayed as close to her friends as she could, and as far away from Draco as physically possible. She stayed with Hermione and Ginny mostly, choosing to stay away from the guys most times. Every time she saw Draco, she would grab Ginny and Hermione and pull them into a different direction.
Ok, just so you people know, Leah is not going to talk to Draco…Leah is not going to even confront him about anything. Leah won't even do any form of acknowledgement towards him in any way, except in the halls when she sees him and goes in a different direction to avoid him. Draco's not gonna know that his dad killed Leah's grandpa for a long time.