(GoF) CHAPTER EIGHT: The Singing Saviour
When Ellie woke up, she was on the sofa in the living room of the Burrow. Fred was sitting on the floor, head rested on the edge of the sofa, seemingly half-asleep, with two of his hands holding one of hers.
"Blimey, Fred," she joked weakly. "Tell me I don't look as bad as you."
Fred's eyes flew wide open as he sat bolt upright and scanned her face carefully. "Are you okay? How do you feel?"
"Like I probably do look as bad as you," she admitted, lifting her free hand to rub her head. It wasn't just her head that hurt; it was her entire body. "And sort of like I've been hit by a bus."
Fred shook his head, looking frustrated and confused. "We took you to St. Mungo's initially, but they claimed nothing was physically wrong with you. I knew it, though—saw the pain in your eyes before you passed out. You never should have done that, El—gone after those Muggles like that."
Before she could answer him, Molly and Arthur rushed into the room, accompanied by none other than Serena Prince—Ellie's mother.
"Oh, thank goodness," breathed Molly as she ran over to Ellie and threw her arms around her. "We were so worried. Honestly, Ellie, what were you thinking, intervening with a group of drunken Death Eaters are your age?"
Ellie glanced nervously up at her mother, who was frozen at the entrance to the living room. Deciding to give her mother all the time she needed, Ellie glanced back at Molly and asked, "Death Eaters? That's who they were?"
"Just the drunken, racist kind," said Harry as he, too, entered the living room. Ron and Hermione were shortly behind him. "But we reckon there might have been someone there that night who was the… er… more concerning kind."
"Now, now," tsk-ed Molly. "There's no need to discuss such things here, especially with Ellie still recovering."
"No—I'm fine," said Ellie impatiently, sitting up straight. "Are you talking about that mark in the sky, Harry? Did that have to do with Voldemort?"
Everyone in the room, save for Harry, shuddered at her use of the Dark Lord's name. Harry nodded gravely. "It's his symbol—called the Dark Mark. And they used my wand to do it—after I dropped it while we were running."
"Pinned it on a house-elf called Winky," added Ron. "She belongs to Barty Crouch. Belonged, anyway—he sacked her on the spot."
Ellie was struggling to keep up. "A house-elf put the Dark Mark in the sky?"
"She was found with his wand," Hermione explained. "But, no—surely the poor thing was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We don't know who did cast it, though."
Serena cleared her throat at that, and everyone in the room fell silent. "If you all don't mind," Serena told them, "I'd very much appreciate a few minutes alone with my daughter."
They all scampered off at that as Serena strode over to the couch and took a seat next to her daughter.
"Two days," Serena told Ellie. "That's how long you were out. In case you were wondering."
Two days? She had assumed, when Fred mentioned St. Mungo's—and when she saw the daylight trickling in through the windows—that it had been at least a half-day or so. But two days was… excessive. "I'm fine, Mum," she promised. "Sorry for scaring you."
"You know," said Serena, "over the past few months, I've actually allowed myself to consider forgiving your father. I had my doubts about his story, of course, like Severus. But I know you, and I knew you wouldn't have gone off with him if he wasn't trustworthy."
That was nice, wasn't it? Ellie hadn't strongly considered the possibility of her parents getting back together before, but she had seen and felt the love Sirius had for Serena in the Pensieve. "Well, thanks Mum. He really is—"
"But then this happened," Serena interrupted, "and I realized that even if I can forgive him for getting himself arrested, I can never forgive him for what he did to you."
"What he did to me?" Ellie repeated, dumbfounded. "Mum, the Perelli charm is the best thing that ever happened to me. I'd be dead if not for it. I'd—"
"No," Serena interrupted firmly, "you'd be cautious. No other fourteen-year-old girl in her right mind would ever have pulled a stunt like that at the Cup—going up against a group of full-fledged Death Eaters. You've become reckless, Ellie. Fearless."
"I was helping people," Ellie said firmly. "It worked, didn't it?"
"Oh, it worked, all right," said Serena through gritted teeth as she pulled something out of her back pocket. It was a crumpled-up copy of the Daily Prophet. "Worked to make you the most targeted young witch in the entire world."
Ellie's eyes bulged when she saw the cover article—The Singing Saviour: Rumoured Daughter of Sirius Black Saves Muggle Family At World Cup.
"The Minister of Magic followed you to St. Mungo's, and even back here. Gave up after the first ten hours or so and left," Serena continued as Ellie scanned the article. It was filled with a detailed description of her use of the Perelli charm to save the Muggle family, with absolutely no mention of the twins or Cedric. Luckily, despite mentioning the rumours about Ellie's parentage, it was unable to offer up any proof.
"Why did he follow me?" Ellie asked when she finally tore her eyes away from the article.
"Because of the Perelli charm, Ellie. It's highly illegal—should have been registered with the Ministry ages ago. The only reason he didn't take you straight to Azkaban was because we told him it was done to you when you were a child, and you had no control over it. But he still insisted that you should have self-reported."
She didn't much care what Cornelius Fudge thought. "Well, d'you reckon he's coming back, or—?"
"That's not even the point, Ellie!" shouted Serena, sounding exasperated. "You revealed to the entire wizarding world that you are the only living person with the Perelli charm—one that renders you borderline invincible. Do you have any idea what a target that makes you?"
She thought of Tom Riddle then—Voldemort's younger self who had appeared in the Chamber of Secrets at the end of her second year. He had warned her about this—about how her shield would put a target on her back. Sirius had, too.
And yet… who else could have saved those Muggles? Hadn't she done the right thing, regardless?
"It's worse than I ever feared, you know," Serena said sadly to her daughter. "I knew that this world was dangerous, but I never could have dreamed the trouble you'd get into."
Ellie crossed her arms, starting to scowl. "Leave, then. Isn't that what you do best, Mum? Slink back off to the Muggle world and forget all about me?"
She hadn't intended to hurt her mother quite as much as she did. It was clear from Serena's expression, though, that she had.
"I will leave," Serena said then. "But I can't keep doing this, Ellie. I can't keep rushing back to the wizarding world, wondering whether my daughter is living or dead."
"Then don't!" Ellie nearly screamed. She couldn't help it. Why did Serena always do this to her? If she wanted to stay away, why couldn't she just stay away already?
"Come with me," Serena whispered. "Get away from all this. Please."
But they both knew what Ellie's answer would be.
A few minutes later, Serena left. This time, Ellie suspected she was gone forever.
"She was right, you know," Harry said a few minutes later after coming back inside and taking a careful seat on the edge of the couch. Ellie spotted Fred in the kitchen, sneaking anxious peeks at her every few moments, and suspected that Harry had asked him for a moment alone with her. "But I still think it's wicked that you did it."
"Thanks, Harry," she said, but she got the feeling that wasn't what he was here to talk to her about. "What's on your mind?"
"It's my scar," he admitted, frowning. "Started hurting this summer—before that, it hadn't hurt since…"
Ellie nodded, understanding. Since Voldemort.
"I was hoping it didn't mean the worst," Harry continued. "Like maybe there was some other explanation. But then that Dark Mark appeared in the sky, and it started feeling a bit more likely."
"Not necessarily. There are all sorts of possible explanations for that mark. It may even have been a good witch or wizard, trying to scare off the other, 'fake' Death Eaters."
"Maybe," he said. But he didn't look convinced.
"Dad told me I could send Woodstock his way on the first of September," she told him. "Why don't you include a letter to him, as well? He'll know what to make of your scar hurting—be able to give you some proper advice."
He seemed to like the sound of that. "All right," he said, then grinned slightly. "I reckon you might want to prepare yourself for a Howler in response, though. When he finds out what you did at the Cup, he's bound to lose it."
"Are you sure you're up for this?" Fred asked Ellie a few days later when they appeared in the Leaky Cauldron fireplace via the Floo Network. "It's only been a few days. Maybe—"
"Fred," she interrupted, rolling her eyes. "I'm fine. Good as new."
"I still can't believe you did that," said George from her other side as they headed out of the Leaky Cauldron toward Borgin and Burkes for this year's books. "I still can't believe we did that."
"Well, I'm glad you did, even if your mum wasn't," said Ellie. "I don't reckon I could have rescued all four of them on my own. How did she take it, by the way?"
"Not great," admitted George. "Though, surprisingly, she seemed less upset about it than she was when she found out we've been selling fake wands and other magical paraphernalia. I reckon she was a bit proud of us, honestly."
"And of you," added Fred. "Pissed as hell, but proud. Same as me."
Ellie smiled at that.
"Don't start making a habit of it, though," Fred warned her as he took her hand and guided her into the store. "If I had it my way, you'd never use that blasted shield again."
Well, OBVIOUSLY she's going to use it again... but how will being an internationally recognized powerful entity affect Ellie from here on out? Only one way to find out, and that's to keep reading - and keep reviewing, if you're so inclined. Thanks for reading!
