Chapter 9

My First Exiled Night

When I finally got to breathe, I was in an alley and I crumpled to my knees, bawling.

How was I supposed to know if anyone from the wedding came out all right? Bill, Fleur, Luna, Arch, She-Cat, Ivy, Hermione, Ron, Harry? I was so emotional I couldn't think straight.

I shuddered and stood up straighter "Stop it, Potter." I scolded myself "You have to be strong, or you'll never survive." I said, dropping my backpack onto the floor and pulling out my wallet that I got from Dudley when I was ten, half hoping that I'd find some loose Muggle change to call a taxi, then Obliviate the driver when I got to my destination.

I gaped when I saw a large sum of Muggle money in the paper slot with a note. I opened it and read:

Hannah,

Something told me that you could use this more than me and Dudley do. Use it well.

Love,

Aunt Petunia.

I gasped, closing my wallet and stuffing it into my pocket as I got up. My stomach growled.

"Skinner." I mumbled. "I guess I didn't eat much at the wedding." I said before I dug into my backpack, hoping for a bite to eat and pulling out Ivy's grandmother's cookies that I got the night I escaped Privet Drive.

I smiled, taking one and biting into it, sighing when the taste of chocolate exploded in my mouth.

I finished the cookie quickly and wished I had managed to steal some drinks from the Burrow.

"Well, I guess I could always buy something." I said, patting my wallet in my hand as I walked out into a busy Muggle street, my backpack slung over my shoulder as I walked into an all night diner amongst wolf whistles from assholes that were most likely just coming from happy hour at the nearest pub.

"Hey, pretty lady!" the drunkest of the men said "Want to have a good time?"

I shivered, thanking Skinner that I had some pepper spray in my pocket to protect me the Muggle way as I rushed into the diner, which was vacant bar the waitress and chef and a couple of workers in one piece black suits, who were muttering quietly to each other.

"Hi, sweetie, what'll it be?" the waitress asked with a kind expression and a friendly Southern American twang.

"I'll have a Coke and a grilled cheese sandwich with fries." I said, mirroring her motherly smile.

"Coming right up, darlin'." the waitress said, writing down the order and handing it to the chef, who started cooking it right away "So where're ya from?" she asked.

"I'm from Little Whinging." I said with a smile. "Where are you from?" I asked.

"I'm from Southern Oklahoma." the waitress said "I moved here a while ago. So, what're ya doin' here in those fancy threads?" she asked.

I muttered "Skinner." I had forgotten to change in the alley. "I just left a wedding and I didn't eat." I said.

"Oh, why's that?" the waitress asked, putting a large glass of Coke in front of me.

"Thanks. I meant to." I said honestly "But…" I said, looking down to drink my Coke.

"But what, darlin'?" the waitress asked, tying her blonde hair back into a ponytail.

"Let's just say there is a gang after me and my brother." I said "They crashed the wedding I was at to track me down and kill me."

"Oh, you poor dear! And you just ran?"

I nodded "I ran with the clothes on my back and whatever was in my backpack." I said. "I keep it with me for just such an emergency."

The waitress smiled. "That's a lot of courage you're showing there, girly, down in Broken Arrow, I'd've tipped my hat off to ya. Tell me about your brother. Is he older? Younger?"

"He's my twin." I said "I'm younger by a day. My mum had a hard time giving birth to me, and so I was delivered by C-section a day after Harry, my brother was born."

"Where's your mama now?" the waitress asked.

"Dead." I said, lowering my head. "Both my parents were killed by the same gang that's out for me and Harry."

"Poor dear, you must be crushed. How long've they been dead?" the waitress asked.

"Since I was one, so sixteen years. I lived with my aunt and uncle for most of my life." I replied.

"Oh, that stinks." the waitress said, setting my meal down in front of me as I dug around for my wallet "No, darlin', this one's on me."

"No, no, I really can't do that to you, what would your manager say?" I asked, taking out some money.

"I am the manager, sweetie, I say who's gotta pay, and who gets a meal on me, you may need that money for a while, so, I'll make it last longer for ya." the waitress said, grinning "So, tell me more about your brother, is he like you?"

I shook my head. "No, we look almost exactly the same, except Harry's eyes are emerald green, like my mum's." I explained "Otherwise, him and I are totally different."

"How so? One of y'all get better grades than the other?" the waitress asked.

I laughed "You could say so. I do a bit better than him. And we both play football…or soccer, as you would say in Oklahoma." I said.

"Oh, really? You play the same position?" the waitress asked.

I shook my head, biting into my sandwich, which was delicious "No, I play forward and he plays defence. I was one of the best forward that our boarding school had ever seen." I lied. I mean, I couldn't tell a Muggle about Quidditch, how stupid would that be?

"Oh, really? What school?" the waitress asked.

I swallowed and thought "It was a school in Brazil, and we only went a year."

The waitress smiled "You know, ya can tell me that ya go to Hogwarts, I'm not a Muggle."

I paled "You're a witch?" I asked.

"Yep!" the waitress said. "I first came here from Oklahoma when I was eleven to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I stayed after my seventh year and got an apartment in Dundee. What house are ya in?" she asked.

I looked down and mumbled "Slytherin. And were you a Hufflepuff?" I asked.

The waitress was shocked "How'd ya know?" she asked.

I shrugged "It's just your behaviour, you show qualities in a Hufflepuff." I admitted.

"Thanks, darlin', I actually had you down as a Gryffindor, the Slytherin thing is rather shockin'. What's your name, anyways? I'm Rae-Anne." she asked, sounding a lot like Draco did when I met him again in Madam Malkin's before my first year.

"Potter," I muttered "Hannah Potter."

Rae-Anne went wide eyed. "Hannah Potter!?" she asked. "Here?! So, you're wanted by those Death Eaters, right?" she asked.

I nodded, feeling as if I was being watched "Uh-huh." I said before I felt someone stand up.

"Found her!" one of the black clad workers shouted "Stupefy!"

Rae-Anne gasped and pulled me out of the crossfire of the spell, ducking me behind the counter as she drew her own wand. "One thing they teach us in Oklahoma," she said as she sent a wordless spell to the chef "is that you keep your friends close, and your enemies closer!"

"That makes no sense!" I said, drawing my wand, in which Rae-Anne snatched with a wicked sneer.

"Remember when I said I was a Hufflepuff?" she asked.

I nodded.

Rae-Anne held her wand up to my throat "I lied." she said "I was a Slytherin, like you! Except I wasn't some Nancy boy that decided to fight for the Light. I chose the Dark Lord." she said, her friendly Okie twang turning into a harsh trailer-trash sound. "So, therefore, that means I chose to fight against you!" she said, starting to mumble a spell.

"What you don't know is, Rae-Anne…" I said, grunting to summon up enough power to control fire. "Is that I can get out of this…with just the thought of you burning!" I said before she screamed, dropping my wand and backing away from me, her wand pointed at my heart.

"That was cute, Potter." she said in mock admiration. "But cute isn't what saves your backside in this war, it's results. And we're about to get some." she said "Right, boys?"

"Right." the two workers mumbled idiotically.

"Now, Potter, there's just one little question I have left for ya." Rae-Anne said, coming close to me with a dagger "Where would you like this?" she asked, lowering the knife dangerously close to my shoulder "How about HERE!?" she asked, pludging it in and making me scream in pain, falling to the ground gripping my shoulder.

I snatched the dagger out of my shoulder "How about here?!" I grunted, pushing her off me and throwing it, catching her in the shoulder of her wand arm and shouting "STUPEFY!"

Rae-Anne slumped, unconscious to the floor as the other two Death Eaters charged over to me.

I took a deep breath and held my hands out, waiting for an opportunity to arise when I could use my elements to save my ass.

And it worked, I sent a jet of pure water flowing from my palms and making both male Death Eaters fly into the wall.

"Bitch!" the one muttered as the other one slumped unconscious. The brunette one lunged for me, a dagger in his teeth as I grabbed my own.

"Here!" I said, plunging his dagger into his leg and drawing it out nice and slowly before Stunning him.

"Don't mess with me." I said, glaring at him as I took a calming breath and pointing my wand at his forehead, thinking quickly. "Obliviate."

I took care of the other Death Eater and Rae-Anne and the Muggle chef before turning out the lights, cleaning the diner up. I pulled the daggers out of Rae-Anne and the other Death Eater and tucked them away.

"Better I have them then they do." I said to myself.

I took what was left of my dinner and put it in one of those to-go containers and walked out, locking the door behind me as I smirked.

"That was eventful." I said, smiling as I ran into another alley to finish my meal on a nearby rooftop under my Invisibility Cloak. Thankfully, it was still warm.

"I think I'll like this city." I said looking around at the innocent Muggles walking around. "It's quiet, not a lot goes on, there's easy food if you charm the wait staff…but, I guess you gotta move on. But where exactly?" I thought before grinning.

"I know just where to go!" I said, grabbing my backpack and Apparating away.

When I touched down again, I was in the clearing of a large forest that wasn't far from Little Whinging.

"Perfect." I said, Summoning the tent that Emily had packed me in my rucksack and prodding it. "Erecto!" I said, making the tent set up perfectly. "I love magic." I said, starting to walk around in circles and chant protective charms around me to keep from Death Eaters finding me.

"Perfect." I said when I was done, stowing my wand away with Slytherin's dagger and my two bloody ones as I crawled into the tent and threw my stuff on one of the bunks, taking out Hermione's blanket, Alejandro (my teddy bear) and the stuffed dragon Draco gave me.

I smiled, tears falling down my face as I looked at the dragon. My dragon had risked his life to save me from being kidnapped by Death Eaters. I owed Draco everything.

I had a vision, blocking my sentimental thoughts:

Draco was writhing in pain, screaming at the top of his lungs as Voldemort stood over him.

"Where is she?" Voldemort hissed, sending another wave of pain through Draco's body.

"Even if I knew, I'd never tell!" Draco yelled, growling in his master's face.

"Lies, Malfoy!" Voldemort growled "You were the one to tell her to run, now, you will tell me. Where. Did. She. Go?"

"She never told me!" Draco shouted "Please! She never told me!"

"YOU LIE!" Voldemort growled, spitting in Draco's pale, exhausted face before smiling sickly sweet "But no matter…we can always…lure your precious Hannah back here, can't we?"

"She'll never fall for your trap! She's too smart for that!" Draco said, screaming at another wave of unbearable pain.

Voldemort smirked at Draco's twitching and convulsing body "Oh, you'll soon see what love can do to a person. It makes them weak, vulnerable, useless."

"You lie." Draco rasped. "Love makes you stronger. Go ahead, try and break me, you won't be able to!"

Voldemort sneered, mischief dancing in his eyes "You know something, Malfoy? Maybe your little Potter can see and hear us now? Maybe she's having a vision, could she?"

"Whatever he says, Hannah, don't listen to him!" Draco said, falling to the floor when Voldemort sent an unknown spell his way.

"Yes, Hannah, I've got your little Romeo. And don't worry, I'll keep him alive…for now. All you need to do is turn yourself in, give yourself up to me and I'll let the Malfoy boy go."

"DON'T LISTEN TO HIM, HANNAH! PLEASE JUST DON'T!" Draco shouted, tears falling down his face "I almost lost you once," he said quietly "I don't want to lose you again. Not now. I love you too much to let you die."

"I think, perhaps, Potter, a taste of what befalls your love should you not come is in order?" Voldemort said before snarling "CRUCIO!"

Draco screamed, writhing and convulsing on the floor as tears fell down his face fast.

I snapped out of it when I felt a stabbing pain in my heart, so strong that I doubled up, clutching my chest and sobbing.

He was going to kill him. That bastard that killed my parents was going to kill the last thing I had to fight for if I didn't surrender to him.

I sobbed uncontrollably. Why did all this happen to me? Why do my loved ones have to suffer for me?

"Oh, Draco, I'm so sorry!" I bawled into my pillow when the pain stopped "I'm sorry!"

I bawled "I'm sorry!" for hours on end, apologizing to everyone I could think of. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ivy, Sheila, She-Cat, Luna, the Order, Dumbledore, Sirius, my mother, my father…Draco.

When I stopped crying, I managed to curl up in bed and pull the covers over my face, still sobbing, but no tears were falling.

I buried my face in Alejandro's soft fur and sobbed into the back of his neck. "Please," I begged, my pleas muffled from fur "let everyone I love be ok." I thought as I fell asleep, having nightmares of all my friends and loved ones being murdered, Draco appearing most often of them all, even more so than Harry.

Man, was I in for a long exile.