Chapter 11: - Reflections
The rain had now begun to fall. The dark, murky sky made 4.30 in the afternoon, look like 8.30 at night. A young man lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, but instead of seeing pure white, he saw her smiling face staring back at him. These last few days have definitely taken there toll on him. All he could think about was her, how long has it been since he caressed her cheek, or kissed her?
Shaking those thoughts from his head, he sat up, abruptly, making the covers slip down to his bare waist. Looking over at the blond woman, sleeping beside him, he frowned and wondered if he really loved her, or was he lying, to her and to himself. Silently, he got out of bed, pulled on his robes and walked out of the room.
The rain was falling heavily now, as he made his way upstairs, to what he called his 'quiet place'. It was otherwise known as the attic and no one really ventured up there anymore, just him. The only person, he ever took up there was 'her'. It was a spacious room, with obsidian floor tiles; it had cobwebs hanging from the walls since he hadn't been up there in a while. Even the fireplace had become blackened with soot. He hadn't found the time to clean it. As a matter of fact, he hadn't found the time to do anything lately. He was always out with his soon-to-be wife, making wedding plans or meeting some of her friends. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a decent chat with his mum, over tea, or even a talk about Quidditch with his dad.
Sighing, he sat down at his desk and took his pensieve out of the top draw. He had an important meeting later and had to clear his mind to hide anything that would be deemed as a weakness, especially her.
Raising his wand to his forehead, he pulled some silvery fluid from his mind and placed it in the pensieve. Memories of past birthdays, his first day at Hogwarts, being sorted into Ravenclaw, graduation...but he stopped at the last happy memory, the night he proposed to her, no, not his present fiancée, his ex-girlfriend. All this constant thinking about her, made him come to a quite obvious realisation, that he, Jason MacCartney, was still in love with...
...Alexandra Walker-Black sat by the window in her room, watching the rain pound against the glass. It had been raining for over two hours now. Pulling her knees to her chin, she turned and stared into the blazing fireplace. A lot of things were on her mind lately, especially the night that he proposed, not knowing that miles away, he was thinking about the same thing.
She quitely closed the door and dropped down on her bed, her training session went a bit odd. Today, she was practising hexes, a bit of a review of the past few weeks, then, she went upstairs to study for an upcoming test on transfiguration. Her mum seemed extremely nervous today, she was supposed to be brilliant and blocking curses but she was hexed 5 times, before coming to her senses and fighting back. Sighing, she got up and walked over to the bureau when she noticed a letter on the floor. It was from Jay.
Hey,
I got something important to show you, come around 8. Mum and Dad aren't home and Blaise is with friends.
Jay
Frowning, she put the letter on the bed. 'What's so important that I must see him now? In this weather?'
Giving it a second thought, she walked towards the open window and climbed down - she couldn't drive without her mother not realising the absence of her car, the consequences would be severe. 'This better be important.'
She apparated into the woods near his house and unfortunately, she had to sprint the rest of the way, because she forgot her umbrella. Breathing heavily, she went to knock on the door, but it swung open. She stepped inside as the door clicked behind her. The house was dark now and the only light that was illuminating the interior, lit by the lightning flashing. She walked over to the adjacent wall, in the living room and flicked a light switch. It didn't work.
"Great!" she muttered as she lit her wand.
"Hello?" she called, "is anyone here?"
She walked into the kitchen and looked through the glass door. As the lightning flashed, something caught her attention. It looked like the silhouette of a man. Gripping her wand, she went outside to investigate, but a strong arm around her waist made her stop. She felt a warm breath at the back of her neck, sending shivers down her spine.
"Lexie." whispered a voice, as the arm pulled her closer to the source, making her feel more fearful than she already was. Closing her eyes, she kept the vice grip on her wand.
'If they wanted to kill me, they would've done so by now.'
The arm released her now and she slowly turned around to face the owner of the arm but she saw no one. Sighing, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, again.
"What a night," she said out loud, "first he asked me to come here and he's nowhere to be found and on top of that, I'm soaked."
Fuming, she made her way into the house and up the stairs to find a towel. The gas lamps on the walls were lit, but the house was still quite dark, she assumed that they came on automatically, since no one was at home. She had never been in this part of the house before; she'd mostly been downstairs, tutoring Jay. As she looked down, she noticed something red on the floor. Squatting to get a closer look, she discovered that it was a trail of petals, red and white rose petals to be exact. Smiling to herself, she followed them until she reached a door at the end of the first-floor landing. She put her hand on the knob but hesitated, 'Of course, it could be a trap' she thought, ' but then again, the wizarding community completely ignored her family, even though they co-owned some companies'. Shrugging, she opened the door, to see dozens of rose petals falling from the ceiling, but it's source was unknown and in the midst of it all, was a smiling Jay.
Jay was brought back to the present with his fiancée, shrieking for him, one floor below, rolling his eyes, he put away the pensieve and stalked through the door. While miles away, Alex was interrupted by a hurried knock on the door.
"Come in." she called.
The head house-elf, Dixie, scurried through the door, holding a newspaper.
"What's wrong?"
"Sorry to disturb you, Mistress, but this has just been delivered for you."
Alex took the item out of the elf's hand, her brows furrowed.
"We've never gotten the Evening Prophet before, why now?" she said aloud.
She opened the newspaper and as she read the front page, she smiled.
At the same time, in Number 12, a tired Arthur Weasley sat down after a rough day at work, to have some tea and read his paper. He rocked back in his chair, brought his cup up to his lips and began to read. A short time afterwards, all of the occupants of Number 12 heard him scream as he fell out of the chair and scalding hot tea spilled into his lap.
"What was that?" Mrs. Weasley asked Remus and Tonks, who both shrugged at rushed out of the parlour.
This scream also jostled the twins who were testing their latest experiments.
"What in Merlin was that?" was the look Fred gave to his brother as they too rushed downstairs.
Also, up in the boys' bedroom, Harry Potter was interrupted from telling his friends the thing that plagued him for the entire summer.
"Bloody hell!" said Ron, "what was that?"
They all ran to the kitchen to see a dishealved Mr. Weasley on the floor
"Arthur, what happened?" said Molly, rushing to help her husband.
"Have you seen the Prophet?" he said thrusting it at her.
As she read, her eyes widened, while the others gathered around her, trying to see what the fuss was about.
LORD MALFOY RELEASED
Hogwarts School Governor, Lucius .D. Malfoy, was offically released from Azkaban today. Mr. Malfoy, who had been accused of being the right-hand man of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, was acquitted by the Wizengamot. When asked why, the newly reinstated Chief Warlock, Albus Dumbledore gave no comment. On the other hand, an overwhelmed Lucius Malfoy said, "If you think this is a shock for you, you have no idea how it feels for me." Anxious to get back home, he rushed away, giving no further comment. Sources say that he will be back to work Tomorrow.
Above this was a picture of Lucius Malfoy before he was incarcerated.
"They can't be serious." mumbled Hermione.
"They're actually letting that monster out on the streets?" said a fearful Mrs. Weasley.
"We caught him red-handed," said Mr. Weasley, fuming, "we caught Lucius Malfoy red-handed and they let him go!"
"Look, on a brighter note, Fudge was sacked." said Tonks.
"How do you know?"
"This afternoon, Scrimegour strutted into the office today with a smug look on his face, he stood up on a desk and said he had an announcement." said Tonks, bitterly, "he told us that Mad-Eye will be the Head of the Department, while he would be permanently fulfilling other duties. We all stood there staring at him, wondering why he couldn't send a memo and then he said, 'well, aren't you going to applaud your new minister of magic?' "
"Well why are you so bitter then?" asked Hermione.
"Do you know what's having that old coot, running the department?" said Tonks, "he'd make us insane."
Hermione took Harry's arm and pulled him into the hall.
"What?" he grumbled.
"What were you going to tell me?"
"I'll tell you later." he turned to go into the kitchen but she held him back.
"No, Harry, tell me now."
"Herm-
"Harry, I'm worried about you, especially after last night, you've got to tell me what's on your mind."
"I know and I'm sorry." he stared at the wall, for what seemed to be a long time before speaking again, "I'll tell you what, you go get the others and meet me upstairs."
Nodding, Hermione turned and walked away as Harry trudged upstairs.
It was coming around to midnight, as Alex walked out of her room after hours of silent brooding. With the book in her hand, she walked to her mother's study, well it was hers now. She walked towards the fireplace and took a container from the mantelpiece. Stopping, she smiled at the pictures there, with her and her mother at a soccer game at Old Trafford and another one with her and her godfather at his house. She took a pinch of the powder and threw it into the fireplace.
"The Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts." she said, only sticking her head in the fire.
Soon enough, Dumbledore's office came into view.
"Good evening, Headmaster," she said curtly, "I hope I didn't disturb you."
"It's quite alright, Professor Walker, what can I do for you?"
Wordlessly, she showed him the book.
"Ah, yes, I assume you know how to destroy it."
"I would have to look for a spell."
"Well, maybe I could assi-
"No, that won't be necessary."
Dumbledore frowned, "Why?"
"Because I was told to do it alone."
He nodded. "Well, if that is all,"
"No, actually, I would like the lesson plans for first to seventh year students."
"That would be mailed to you tomorrow."
"Thank you, Professor." as she moved her head out of the fire.
She sat at the desk staring at the objects in front of her. At this point, there were only three lingering questions on her mind.
1. What do I do with this book?
2. Who was Randall Grimm?
3. Are the two connected somehow?
First off, she figured that she'll start with finding out who was Mr. Grimm. He shouldn't be very hard to find if she knew where to look, right? Also, she wondered if Harry had the same dreams as she did. Probably his were more in depth, Dumbledore told her of Voldemort's little mind games which was why the Occulmency was so important. She remembered the look on the old man's face when he heard the name that Harry mumbled during his nightmare. He knew more than he was letting on, but then again, that's always the case with him. This tactic certainly did more harm than good.
Picking up some parchment and a quill, she quickly made her way downstairs to her Grandfather's study. The books in there would hopefully give her results. The kind of books that were in the library certainly wouldn't help her, since her mum had to fill it with muggle type books with her meddling muggle friends. Magical books would look too suspicious. Chuckling to herself, she doubted if any of the cows knew how to read. Her grandfather, on the other hand, had an interesting selection of books, but she was forbidden to touch them, further more go into his study, even when he died, her mother forbade it. As she remembered, the last person who went down there unwelcome was nearly killed. But now, both of them were dead and the house was hers, even though her grandmother was alive.
Christian Black's study was located under the kitchen, it occupied the entire basement actually, and it hadn't been used for many years now. Of course, her grandmother never ventured down there but her mum loved to go, she even had some dark arts books of her own and she was someone who swore the family had nothing to do with this sort of magic. She walked down the stairs of the kitchen and was swallowed by the dark.
"Lumos." she muttered.
The farther she walked, the lower the temperature dropped, luckily, she was wearing robes and a cloak. She soon came upon a large steel door bearing the Black Family Crest. As she said the password, all of the torches on the walls became lit and the door swung open. The walls were decorated with what looked like gold writing, when she looked closer, she saw the family tree, linking the families Walker, Black and Malfoy. But it looked different; it did not look like the one in the parlour. She decided that she'll ask about it later.
"Harry?" asked Ginny worriedly, "what is it that you wanted to tell us?"
Harry looked up and stared at his friends, there was so much to tell them, so much to say, but he didn't know how. He felt someone touch his shoulder, turning; he saw Ron's concerned face looking down at him.
"Are you alright, mate?"
Nodding, he slowly retold what happened in Dumbledore's office, not leaving out anything. At the end, he sat on the floor staring at the same spot on the carpet, waiting for them to digest what he said, as the same words replayed in his head.
"Neither can live as the other survives." echoed Ron.
"Meaning that-"
"Either you kill him or he kills you." said Ginny from the window.
None of them spoke for a long time, just staring at the wall.
"What are you going to do, Harry?" asked Ron.
Finally looking up, Harry sighed.
"I don't know."
It was nearly six in the morning when Alex finally came out of the study. Unfortunately, her attempts were futile, she's found a few things but they were irrelevant. When she looked in to the records, and rechecked the shelves, she realised that there was a book missing. It was time she had a talk with her mother and grandfather. In the meantime, she had to get dressed. She walked up to the kitchen to find all the house elves and the human servants standing around idling.
"What's wrong with all of you?"
Dixie, the head house-elf stepped forward.
"We has nothing to do, we can't cook because Young Mistress hasn't eaten anything since your mother died."
The rest of the staff nodded.
"Alright, I'm sorry, but I've been busy," she stopped, completely shocked at what she said, her godfather would have died, "to make you happy, I would like some breakfast, but I won't be here for the rest of the day."
She walked towards the door and turned, "Also, I am expecting four house guests tomorrow night, so I want you to prepare four rooms on the second floor."
Upstairs in her room, she found a suitcase on her bed, it was already packed. On top of it, were two letters. The first and the heaviest, bearing the Hogwarts School Crest and the other one bearing the Malfoy Family Crest. She opened that one first and recognising the cursive writing of her Aunt Narcissa.
Alexandra,
Please bring a gown and a nice set of dress robes for tonight. I'm having a little surprise party for your Uncle Lucius. If you don't have any, I'll be happy to take you shopping.
N.M
Looking at a picture on her desk, she smiled and picked up a quill.
Aunt Narcissa,
Don't worry, I have something.
Alex.
She handed the letter to a waiting owl and went downstairs to breakfast.
Harry woke up with a start, but not because of a dream. Turning over on his side, he looked at the clock - 6.30 am. It was the first time he slept this well in months. He looked across at Ron, who was still asleep, with a crooked smile on his face.
He must be thinking about Hermione.
Smiling slightly, he crept downstairs towards the kitchen when he heard voices. It sounded like Dumbledore and McGonagall.
"Albus, are you sure?"
"Very sure, Minerva, very sure."
Minerva McGonagall pursed her lips. There were many thins that she berated Dumbledore for, inwardly of course, and this particular situation was one of them.
"But we already have-"
"I know."
"So why do you need another one?"
"Because this particular one is on the inside."
"Hmph, well I should be getting back to the school." she huffed away, not waiting for his reply.
Hearing footsteps, Harry ducked back upstairs and waited until it was clear, then he walked quietly into the kitchen.
"Mornin'"
"Good morning, Harry, I'm glad you're awake because we'll be leaving in an hour." Harry stared at him for a bit then it finally clicked.
"So you're taking us to Godric's Hollow?"
"Yes, I'm looking forward to it since I haven't been there in years."
Harry nodded and took a cup of tea from the counter as silence consumed them.
"Remus?"
"Hmm?"
"Can I ask you a question?"
"You already did."
"Well, why do you think Mr. Malfoy was released?"
He sipped his coffee and thought quietly for a while.
"I don't know."
Seeming satisfied, he went upstairs to wake the others.
She apparated in the forest, on the grounds of the Malfoy Manor and walked the remaining mile up to the house. If there was anyone in the wizarding world who had everything and more, it would be the Malfoys'. The main house was a large Jacobean design, built of stone. It probably dated back to the 16th Century. To the rear of the house a courtyard which led into the gardens and to the left of the gardens, were the stables. After which, were acres of lush green grass, a lake, and last but not least, a Quidditch pitch. Of course, not everyone could simply apparate onto the grounds, the house was guarded by several charms, some even more powerful than the ones at Hogwarts. Persons in positions of trust were allowed to apparate onto the grounds, while others had to be welcomed, by the master and mistress of the house.
Alex walked up to the door, with her trunk hovering behind her and rang the doorbell. The butler answered the door.
"Good morning," he said in a dull tone, "how may I help you?"
"Good morning, Handel."
"Why, Miss Walker, I haven't seen you in ages, how are you?"
"Could've been better."
"Suppose we all feel that way," he said airily, "do come in."
"Where is everyone?"
"Mr and Mrs Malfoy are at breakfast and Young Master Malfoy is still in his room. He should be down any minute."
Echoing footsteps on the stairs paused their conversation.
"Well I guess he's here." murmured Alex.
"Alex, you're here." he said, embracing her in a tight hug.
"Hey, Drake."
"Handel, will you take her bags upstairs, please?" he nodded to the butler, as he took Alex's hand and dragged her towards the dining room.
"What's the rush?"
"I'm just glad you're here, that's all, I mean, Mum is always busy and it's hopeless talking to Father. Since he got back, he's locked himself in his study. At least now I'll have someone to talk to."
"Ah."
"Good morning mother, father." he said as he opened the door.
"Hello Aunt Narcissa, Uncle Lucius." Alex nodded.
Lucius only mumbled from behind his paper and Narcissa smiled.
"Back to his old ways, I see." Alex mumbled to Draco, who smirked.
"Ron, Ginny," yelled Hermione, "it's time to go!"
"We're coming."
Hermione turned to look for Harry and saw him standing by the window. She touched his shoulder, "Are you alright."
"I'm fine." he said without looking at her.
"Well come on then, we have to go."
Sighing, Harry turned and followed Hermione into the kitchen to find the others there waiting for him.
"Now that Harry's here, we could go." Remus held out an old newspaper and looked at everyone, "well, you know what to do, touch it."
As soon as Harry touched it, he felt the familiar tugging feeling at his navel as he was jerked forward. A rew seconds later, he landed, painfully, in a field of dry grass, in what seemed to be an abandoned area. Getting up, he looked around him for the others, who landed a few feet away.
"Everyone ok?" asked Remus, dusting off his coat, they nodded.
"Alright then, let's go."
Silently, they walked up the stone pathway into the village. There were quite a few houses located there, along with a few shops, but none appeared to be open as yet. Harry walked behind everyone, taking in as much as he could. Many of the houses needed repairing - the roofs were about to cave in, the windows were broken and some of the doors were rotted. It appeared that no one has lived here for years. Up ahead, Remus turned and looked at them.
"Just to let you know," he began, "this isn't Godric's Hollow."
Hermione stopped walking, "Then where are we?"
"We're in the village just outside it." He too stopped, just outside a little house, which seemed to be in better condition than the others.
"Why've you stopped?" asked Ron.
"To wait for someone."
"Who, Dumbledore?"
"No."
"Then, who?"
Before he could answer that question, the door creaked open and out came an eccentric, dumpy, little old man, with a shock of white hair so long that it made Dumbledore's look like cut grass. They watched with amusement as he trudged towards them, while trying not to trip over the beard at the same time. He wore old black robes and dragon hide boots.
" 'ello!" he said.
"Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, let me introduce to you, the former caretaker of the Potter Estate, Earl Flynn."
"Hello Mr. Flynn." said Ginny.
The little old man squinted, "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
"That's just rude." murmured Ron.
"That's Ginny Weasley, Mr. Flynn not Lily Potter." said Remus calmly.
"Oh, my apologises, Miss. Weasley, the eyes aren't that good you see." he explained, "now, you're Mr. Lupin, right?"
Remus nodded.
"Well, come on then."
They walked on for a while, looking at all the houses which seemed to have been boarded up in a hurry.
"Are we in Godric's Hollow, sir?" Ginny asked.
"Yes and i s'pose yur wondering where everyone else is?"
"Well-
"I think it started a few days ago, up at the old house."
"You mean the Potter Mansion?" said Harry.
"Yeh, there were tremors you see."
"Tremors?"
"Yup, shook the whole place. But before that, they thought they heard chanting."
"Chanting?"
"Yeah, they thought it was some sort o' summoning spell."
"What else happened?"
"The people got scared and to make things worse, the whole house was filled with blue light, with a lot of fog y'know."
"You can't be serious!" Hermione exclaimed.
"I bloody well am!" said the old man, "I saw the lights m'self. Everyone thought it was weird, since the occupants of the house were dead for fifteen years. So I went up to the house, with a couple of the men and it was just as Dumbledore left it."
"No damages?"
"None."
"But what about the other houses?"
"That's the weird part, there were no damages to them either, as a matter of fact, no one down here felt it."
"So that's what made everyone leave? But this is the magical world, weird things are supposed to happen."
"Yes, but these different times." the old man took out an old cricket ball from his pocket and held it out.
"What is that for?" asked Ron.
"Well, y'don't expect to walk up there, now do you." he nodded to the large white house on the hill.
As they touched it, the familiar tugging feeling came again.
The rain was coming again as she stood on the balcony of the room. In her opinion, it was ideal weather for reflecting - thinking of all the mistakes that were made and how they could've been avoided.
With a wave of her hand, the balcony doors closed behind her. She sat on the floor as the rain began to let the tears flow from months of frustration. She liked it better this way since no one could tell that she was crying. She felt so lost now, without her mum, without Jay. She didn't have any friends...well, friends her age. Her only friend, whom she considered her best friend, was her 41 year old godfather, an infamous, sadistic death eater. She remembered when she used to go to the park and watch everyone else, just having fun with their friends, not having a care in the world. She scowled then jumped, when she heard a cold voice.
"You're going to catch a cold, sitting out here in the rain." Lucius Malfoy stood in the doorway staring at her.
A.N: - it's been a while since i updated this but...i've been quite busy with exams and all...i hope you like it. Much thanks to my betas, rocks-my-socks and jade...