Chapter 11 – The Hogwarts Express
With one last look at the Alps, the high mountain peaks and a breath of crisp air, Remus, Tonks, and Lizzie apparated to Kings Cross to catch the train to school. Molly had brought her trunk from the Burrow, and they landed directly on the platform in time to be seen off by eldest of the Weasleys and receive huge hugs from Molly and the twins.
Hermione was starting to get worried something happened to them but it was Remus's idea to get there in the last moments in case there was anyone waiting to head them off. Aurors patrolled Platform 9 3/4 as students boarded the train being watched by anxious looking parents.
Lizzie had forgotten the blonde hair she fashioned in Switzerland. "New look?" Charlie asked.
"Hey!" She said, happy to see him and reaching out for a hug. "No, the Switzerland look... Tonks gave me some pointers. Rejoining the ginger ranks for school though, I liked the blonde best though," she said, shaking her head as it turned back to the slightly redder than auburn hue she naturally sported. He laughed to himself.
"You look much better overall, travel suits you...excited for the term?" He asked, his hands buried down in his pockets and looking awkward as Remus shot him an uneasy look.
"Apprehensive is the better word, but yes, the wild goose chase has been exhausting," she responded.
"Wish I could tell you to write me but they're telling us not to, just in case. Should you need anything though," he said as the train engine started. "Good luck, Lizzie," he said, and gave her a hug before turning his attention to Ron and Ginny.
"I've got so much to tell you," she whispered to Hermione excitedly, but lingered back to say goodbye to Tonks and Remus.
With a gracious smile and sigh of relief, Lizzie practically fell forward into Remus's hug. "Thank you," she whispered, and he kissed the top of her head.
"You need to stay out of trouble this time. You're being heavily protected but if you do anything stupid you will not hear the end of my wrath, I cannot even promise I wouldn't wring your neck," he said in a stern fatherly tone but his lips curled up in a smile nonetheless.
"I'll try," she said with a light laugh. "Where are you headed?" She asked worried.
"Mission for Dumbledore and I can't say, I also can't write... but I will be back by the holidays, I promise," he assured.
"Please be careful," she said her eyes looking glassy and fearful.
"Don't worry about me, get to school. You'll be safe there," he said reassuringly.
"Yeah it has a great bloody track record for keeping me safe," she said sarcastically, he raised his eyebrows at her and gave her one last hug.
Lizzie turned to Tonks with a lopsided smile on her face. "I could kiss you, you know?" Lizzie said, and Tonks rolled her eyes.
"Well save your smooches, because lucky for you, I am coming with," she said, grabbing her hand, squeezing Remus's fondly and jumping aboard on the train as it started to move.
"Well?" Hermione asked as they settled into a compartment after breaking free from the prefects area. Lizzie looked diligently out the window, had spent the entirety of the trip alone so far deep in thought.
"What?" Lizzie asked, not looking at her, mentally distracted by being back in familiar surroundings. She looked up at Hermione who was looking at her intently.
"Sorry, it's a habit now CONSTANT VIGILANCE, what's up?" Lizzie asked finally giving her full attention.
"Well, where did you go?" Hermione asked incredulously like it was obvious what they would be eager to know about.
"Oh! Right, duh," Lizzie said, feeling like an idiot.
"Well, we stayed a month with Charlie in Romania. I finally understand his obsession with dragons. We rode Norbert! THE Norbert! The one that lost us all those points! Best month of my life bar none," Lizzie said, smiling around the memory.
"Tonks taught me how to change my appearance with metamorphagy. Limited since it's not hereditary, but it worked, no need for hair dye at least," she continued.
"We started traveling after my birthday. Never stayed anywhere more than six days so that we never left on the same day of the week. First was Bulgaria, stayed with Viktor," she explained, looking for Hermione's reaction.
"How is he?!" She asked excitedly.
"Oh like you don't know - I know you still write him," she said with a grin but Hermione went pink and glanced at Ron nervously.
"We went to Fleur's in Paris after that. She's, well...she's a lot. Remus refused to let us explore, but Bill proposed there," Lizzie explained. Ron rolled his eyes at that.
"We heard," he said with a long drawl and Hermione narrowed his eyes at him. "He's just jealous of his brother, go on," Hermione encouraged.
"Then we went to Egypt with Bill. Bloody hot, but it was amazing. I know why you all raved about it. Bill's friend that we stayed with had some insight on the Ophidian Curse. Heinous bit of magic if you can stomach the read, Egyptian roots," Lizzie explained, handing Hermione the book which she took nervously.
"Then Ireland, stayed with Oliver. Talked my ear off about professional leagues. We flew to Shirkin Island. Absolutely gorgeous," she continued. "I went on a short relatively uneventful mission with Dumbledore to land a new professor. He's taught here before for many years, Horace Slughorn," she added. Hermione looked up interested but then started examining the boon.
"Then Switzerland. The son of one of Dumbledore's old friends let us stay out near the Alps. Jacob Scamander, his father was the author of Fantastic Beasts. They had a so many creatures, Hagrid would have died of excitement. His son Rolf, just a few years older than us, huge enthusiast... Jacob had some insight about obscurus afflictions, his father studied them immensely after an encounter with one my age in New York closer to the turn of the century. We were there up until well twenty minutes ago, apparated straight to the platform," she finished explaining.
"Sounds amazing, you look - better - a lot better..." Ron said with a faint smile.
"It was a good distraction from... well from Sirius and... what happened. I've recovered mostly but I have a ton of phantom pain from the curse. Freedom from the obscurial really makes everything feel lighter - not to mention -" but she stopped unsure of how to tell them about the rest. Hermione caught the hesitation.
"You don't mean to say you were glad your family got attacked did you?" Hermione asked nervously.
"They weren't family, Hermione," Lizzie said sharply. "Petunia and Dudley are fine. But yes I am relieved my uncle died. I'd also appreciate if you kept it between us that I'm the one who killed him," she explained.
Hermione's eyes widened into saucers. "What!?" She whispered harshly.
"He was going to die anyway," Lizzie reasoned. "I went there wanted to explain to him how absolutely evil he was. I originally just wanted to make him think I was going to kill him but it wasn't enough to bring any closure..."
"Lizzie!" Hermione said still horrified.
"Hermione, he raped me for ten years," Lizzie said sharply, it was the first time she'd ever said it to the pair of them out loud and there was pure silence. Lizzie leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. "You don't just get to get away with that," she said quietly. Hermione nodded and wiped away stray tears. She'd have had tea parties with her parents at six years old, while her best friend was waking up from near drug overdoses unable to walk through the pain from her waist down. The real extent of the abuse hit her like a stray bullet.
"How did you do it?" Hermione asked with a break in her voice.
"I added a little bit of rat poison to his IV. The same amount they'd give me for eating without permission or put in my sacrament so I'd think God was disgusted by me. I used to throw up violently but injecting it was enough to stop his already weak heart. The things he did nearly killed me. What he turned me into got me tortured and might as well have killed Sirius. I... well I wanted to be the last person he saw before he died," she explained, looking out of the window.
Hermione nodded in understanding but looked frightened. Lizzie didn't want to tell them about Damien because what made her do that scared her too much to say out loud. She decided she might take that to her grave.
They changed the subject and talked about the happenings since she started traveling. Handed her a packet of prophets.
"Lucius Malfoy was formally imprisoned," Ron said reassuringly. Lizzie felt a wave of relief and contentment and then wondered what that would mean for Draco.
"We saw Draco and his mother in Diagon Alley and then he split off to enter Borgin and Berks. Didn't hear much except he was interested in something there, said he had a connection with Greyback and wanted to intimidate Borgin into doing something for him," Ron explained.
"Do you think he's one of them... took his father's place?" Lizzie asked.
"Doubt it," they both said almost simultaneously.
"Why?" Lizzie asked incredulously.
"Well, come on, Lizzie. What would You-Know-Who want with Draco Malfoy?" Ron asked.
"Inside Hogwarts, obviously," she retorted. The thought gave them both pause and they sat quietly for awhile. Hermione started reading the Ophidian book and Ron was trying to catch up on transfigurations homework he lagged on.
Curiosity killed the cat, Lizzie thought but she couldn't resist, feeling annoyed that she missed out on stalking him in Knockturn Alley. When Ron and Hermione were preoccupied, Lizzie left the compartment, discretely slipped on her cloak and headed for where Draco and his crew were sitting.
He looks ill, she thought, peering through the window of his compartment, but knew she needed to slip in to be able to hear anything. With a wave of her wand the area they were in went pitch black and she hoisted herself up onto the suitcase rack under the cloak before illuminating the area. The slight panic that ensued surely would be worth it.
"They really think having the aurors patrolling is going to help don't they?" Draco scoffed, looking around. Pansy was sitting up next to him, Blaise Zabini across from him, and Crabbe and Goyle on the edges.
"What a pathetic excuse for a school," he added. Blaise laughed lightly.
"How long do you think before your father is out? It's making you particularly toxic, he wont give up the others will he?" Blaise said with a reproachful undertone.
"No, he was advised not to, they'd all do time for torturing Potter, and the more the better to hunt her down, not that it did any good," Draco said scornfully.
"Well they did a public service torturing Potter, true they raped her too? Hope she's a borderline vegetable maybe she'll be less insufferable," Pansy said with a sickening amount of satisfaction that made Lizzie want go claw her eyes out.
"I don't know what they did," Draco said dismissively.
"Of course they did Parkinson, have you seen her? Not to mention just out of prison," Blaise laughed.
"What? You're saying you're attracted to her?" Pansy said reproachfully.
"Who isn't, I mean I'd never, but she's you know... intriguing..." he said slowly with a sinister undertone. Draco glared at him.
He looked up when Lizzie inadvertently nudged the suitcase overhead and frowned suspiciously. "Her days are numbered," he said with contempt. Lizzie's blood boiled at the conversation. Entitled chauvinists, she thought cynically trying not to remember Malfoy Manor because it turned her insides stone cold.
When the train came to a halt in Hogsmeade, everyone but Draco left the compartment rather quickly. Pansy lingered slightly waiting for him but he gestured her off indicating he'd follow.
He grabbed his things but flicked his wand to lock the door. Lizzie held her breath sensing something was wrong but also didn't dare move.
"You really are incorrigible aren't you, Azalea?" He hissed, and she crashed down to the ground. The fall knocked the wind out of her and she tried to get up. Draco pulled off the rest of her cloak, kicked her wand out of reach, and pinned her to the ground.
"Eaves dropping? Really?" He whispered her ear.
"Get off me," she said breathlessly, his whole weight was on her body. He released weight and flipped her over, then hit her hard across the face, cracking her cheek bone.
"Fuck you," she spat, holding her face.
"That's for my father," he hissed. Before she could get up, he cast a petrifying curse and her body froze. "They're waiting for you in London, enjoy the trip back," he said with contempt but also a twinge of apprehension. Then he kissed her swelling face, threw the invisibility cloak back over her, and left the train.
Lizzie laid there paralyzed and felt beyond idiotic. Curiosity killed that cat. What doesn't kill cats? She thought. Remus is going to kill me... I didn't even make it to school...
Then the thought of being back in Voldemort's control made her heart hammer violently. Is Draco serious, are they waiting at Kings Cross? She thought of how reasonable that was, how he could have possibly planned a train assault on her with the aurors, and how likely it was that death eaters could just show up at the station.
The train was surely empty when she heard the trunk section close and latch. Then footsteps came down the narrow hall. Aurors were checking the train.
"Revelio," she heard a familiar voice mutter and the cloak shot off around her.
"Merlin, what the hell, Lizzie?" Tonks asked sharply helping her up and out of the paralyzed state.
"Malfoy," she muttered contemptuously. Tonks was looking at her face. "He broke your cheekbone," she said softly. "What happened?"
"I was eavesdropping," Lizzie admitted reluctantly. Tonks gave her a reproachful look.
"Well hold still," Tonks said sharply.
"Why?" Lizzie asked nervously.
"Because I'm going to break the other cheekbone. YOU ARE NOT THIS STUPID," Tonks yelled and Lizzie cringed.
"Don't tell Remus..." Lizzie said, shaking her head as she stood up and balanced herself.
"Of course I'm going to tell him. He's going to chew you out, maybe literally if you catch him on bad day, if you know what I mean," Tonks snapped back.
"I know you're mad, I know it was stupid. I'm sorry just..." but Lizzie stopped abruptly when Tonks held her shoulder steady.
"What are you doing?" Lizzie asked nervously. "AGHOWW" She yelled as the bone readjusted sharply.
"Come on the train is about to leave. Can't even make it to the castle before getting attacked... Lord help you," Tonks muttered in frustration but stopped partway up the platform.
"He didn't -?" Tonks said suddenly, looking her over for signs of fowl play.
"No, just backhanded the life out of me, I'm fine," Lizzie said sharply catching the worry.
They had to walk up to the gates where Tonks sent a patronus for a professor to come down. After they were searched, a figure came down the path Lizzie couldn't make out at first in the dark. Tonks gave a hesitant sigh and muttered an apology to Lizzie in her ear before leaving for her post. When Lizzie saw who it was, she grabbed for Tonks's robes in protest but she was already off on her way.
"Oh, decided to grace us with your presence then?" Snape hissed with contempt, and shone a light in her face.
"What happened to your face?" He asked noticing the swelling.
"It saw you and got a head start," Lizzie growled reproachfully. Snape's eyes flashed mean and pulled on her wrist to head up to the castle.
"Fifty points I think, don't you?" He said mercilessly.
"I don't care," Lizzie sighed reproachfully.
"Then detention perhaps," he added.
"Still do not care," she retorted. He stopped her abruptly in her tracks.
"I didn't expect you to change much, but I'd think -" he started to say but she frowned harshly and cut him off.
"Thought what? You want a thank you? THANK YOU for coming back AFTER the raging psychopath raped me. Thank you for suggesting I be taken to the ministry, it only got my godfather murdered. You're really very helpful. Forgive me but I still don't trust you," she hissed.
"You're free of the obscurial are you not?" He asked with a snide undertone.
"Sure, one parasite that was eating me alive, just replaced by what do you know? Another parasite that will eat me alive, excellent trade off," she sneered sarcastically.
"None of that was my idea," Snape said shortly.
"Oh sure, but what I don't get is why he didn't trust you with his plans for me. Does he think you have some sort of soft spot for me?" She asked condescendingly.
He flashed a look at her she couldn't read.
"The Order's prerogative is to keep you alive, Azalea. Obviously, he knows I can't do anything that would make it seem to them that my allegiance has wavered. It is a tight line drawn," he explained in a low growling tone as though he resented her immensely for being in the predicament.
"Right. Convenient," she said curtly.
"Get changed and to dinner before I assign detentions or put Gryffindor further in the negative," he said. Lizzie frowned at him and marched off.