"So what all did you learn while you were in the States?" Ginny asked Tori excitedly, "Is the Salem Academy anything like Hogwarts?" Tori shrugged before replying.
"I wouldn't know if there were any similarities, being I didn't go to Hogwarts. But I'm pretty sure it's your average magic school," Tori said, sitting on Ginny's bed, "Well, it was. Up until everything with Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and all those horrific deaths." My brother, Jake, was one of the most recent, she thought vehemently. Ginny shuddered when she said Voldemort.
"Come now, Ginny. Don't tell me you're still saying he-who-must-not-be-named?" Tori said noticing her shudder.
"Well-," she started. Tori waved her hand. She didn't need to hear anymore than that. She knew well enough that the Weasleys did not like the mention of Voldemort's name. But what did they prefer she call him? Tom Riddle? No, she knew that they would reprimand her for that one. He was no longer Tom Riddle. He was no longer human. Not in her eyes, nor anyone else's for that matter.
"So you're Hermione Granger, I take it?" Tori said shaking her thoughts from her head. Hermione nodded.
"Awfully quiet for someone who knows a lot about magic," She said and smiled, "But I'm positive that you do not know more than myself." Hermione smiled back softly and replied, "Are you sure about that?" Tori nodded.
"Quite." A devious look passed over her face and she heard Hermione think, we'll see about that.
"And that we will," She muttered softly under her breath.
"What was that? I didn't quite hear you," Ginny, who had been muttering to Hermione, said looking once again to Tori.
"Hm?" Tori said looking up, "Oh…nothing you need worry about."
"So what're we going to do about this then?" Remus said looking to the other members of the Phoenix that had been able to make it. Moody's odd eye swiveled about in its socket before he replied, "I don't know. I think that we should give this more thought. We can't just act like that. It would be ignorant."
"I agree," Arthur Weasley chimed in. Harry sat at the top of the stairs where they could no longer see him within sight. This isn't right, he thought. I should be down there as well. Only he and Tori hadn't gone to Fred and George's shop. Their excuses were the same. They weren't feeling well and felt it was best that they stay put in one place until they did.
"Damnit," Harry muttered under his breath, as the voices below had gotten lower.
"Everything that they are saying now are of very little to no importance to you," he heard a voice whisper in his ear. He quickly turned around, whipping out his wand. He saw nothing but knew that he had heard that voice before.
"Of course you've heard my voice before, you dolt," the voice continued lowly, "You just met me earlier today. Don't worry. I have no ill intentions. But I suggest that you put down that wand before I force you to use it against yourself." Harry slowly lowered his wand.
"What're you still doing here…? Tori, was it?" he said looking at the empty space next to him. She removed the hood of her cloak of invisibility.
"The same thing as you," she replied matter-of-factly, "Trying to find out what the next move is." Harry looked at her floating head.
"Um…could you? Well you know…"
"Oh. Of course," she removed the rest of the cloak and laid it next to her softly on the stair. He had never realized just how odd it looked to see someone's head floating in the air until then. She smiled softly and traced her wand tip through the air, softly mumbling, "Flagrate." She drew a heart in the air. The heart continued to burn slowly in the air. She waved a hand over it. In her mind she said "Evanesco," making it disappear.
"I take it that you're good at Occlumens," Harry said watching the heart disappear. She nodded. She felt that he didn't need to know just how good she was.
"This isn't going to be easy, you know," she said, reminding him faintly of Luna Lovegood. He nodded.
"I mean. He's taken so much from every one of us. Everybody has lost someone or something to him. You lost your parents, your godfather, friends, and people you knew. I lost my mother, five of my seven brothers, and my sanity," she said the last part softly. Harry looked at her, a look of curiosity quickly passed over his face. She looked away; she didn't feel like explaining everything over again. All the pain she had felt then, she knew would come back if she tried. So she ignored the look.
"What's your reason for wanting Voldemort dead so badly, Harry?" she whispered not wanting to get caught by the adults downstairs whose voices had gotten even quieter.
"You listed the reasons yourself," he replied, "He killed the people I knew or loved. Or most of them anyways. I just want this all to end. I don't want anymore people to have to suffer." Tori continued to look at the stairs.
"I know you heard about Dumbledore's death," he said quietly. He didn't like talking about it and hadn't really wanted to until now.
"How could I not?" Tori replied, "He was my godfather. It's kind of hard to miss something like that." She hadn't meant to sound vindictive, but she couldn't help it. She knew that both of their hearts were quite bitter. And there was no way of getting around that.
"I-I'm sorry," Harry said also looking at the stairs.
"Don't be," she said, "There was nothing that you could've done. I know what happened the night of his death." Harry looked up at this, "You do?" She nodded her head. He sighed. Somehow that had made him feel about a million times worse. She smiled, then stood up and stretched.
"Well, I'm off to bed. And I suggest that you do the same, Harry. There's gonna be a lot of work to do tomorrow," she said and then added, "Don't stay up thinking about it. You can't change the past or so I've been told." She rummaged around in her pocket and eventually pulled out a very small porcelain doll.
"Here," she tossed the doll to him as she made her way towards Ginny's room, "It'll hold off the nightmares if you let it." He watched her disappear behind the corner. He looked at the stair where she had been sitting and realized that she had left her invisibility cloak behind.
"Oh well," he said to himself softly, "I'll give it to her tomorrow." He picked it up and slowly made his way up the stairs and into the attic, which had been deemed Ron's room. She really did remind him of Luna. Odd.