Chapter Four
"So what is this all about?" Granger asked.
I pulled myself from my memories and looked at her.
"My good friend Blaise here seems to think I have issues," I drawled, removing any malice from the words.
"You spent the better part of three months under a heavy duty love spell and then the object of said spell tries to kill you and your new love dies to save you. Yeah, you have no issues," Blaise drawled.
Granger's eyebrows skyrocketed at this. "I haven't heard this story," she said.
I sighed. "If I tell you this, will you tell me one thing?"
"Name it," Granger said, sounding like she was lusting after the story.
"Tell me if you've heard anything from Fred Weasley."
She jumped slightly in shock. "No. Why? What do you know?"
I lowered my head. I hadn't wanted it to be true but I kept flashing back to that night in the infirmary…
((I had no idea what she was doing up here or better yet why I was here. Well, I had a decent idea for the first. Clearly she was here to steal potions ingredients from the infirmary. Which really didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was that I was here…helping her.
I hadn't meant to find her in the middle of a heist. In fact I wasn't sure why I had come here in the first place.
I had been pissed when she kissed Blaise and Theo like that. Sure it was just on the cheek, but it meant something. Meant something to me.
"Why are you stealing ingredients from up here?" I asked. "Doesn't Slughorn have them all?"
She shook her head at me, her crimson locks falling to her face. "Bella confiscated them."
Bella Lestrang. The only woman in the world that just creeps me out. She's also incredibly scary but I don't admit that often. For reasons I don't even want to think about, Snape put her in charge of the infirmary.
"Isn't she going to know who took them?"
She shook her head again and once again I had to resist the urge to play with those pretty strands of hair. "She'll suspect, but unless I use magic, she has no way to know for sure."
I was mildly impressed and even more so when she pulled out what looked like bobby pins and picked the lock. I whistled softly just to see what she would do.
She glanced at me with a faint smile on her face. "Hush, you," she commanded and I grinned, holding up my hands and apologizing.
Things were going as well as could be when who should show up, but darling Peeves. I hadn't seen the ghost kid in several years but here he was, making trouble.
"What's here?" Peeves said. His voice was low and I knew he would only get louder. "Ickle Firsties?"
"Peeves," I hissed. "Shut up!"
Then Ginny Weasley proved to me again one of the many ways she was better than Gray.
"Peeves," she snapped calmly. "Shut up."
Peeves's eyes widened and he nodded so hard he nearly flipped over. I looked at Ginny with respect, a smile forming on my lips as she dictated to him what she needed. He seemed to be more than happy to help and in a few moments we had all that she needed.
She nodded like she was releasing him and he fairly sprinted away.
I watched him leave. "Holy shit," I muttered, forgetting myself for a moment.
Ginny turned to me with a smile but before she could say anything, a light flickered on beneath the far door. Before I knew what was going on, I was backed into a corner, Ginny before me, her hand pressed to my mouth. She snatched a wand up and cast a quick spell that I assumed was an illusion.
This close to her, I could smell the heady wine scent that rose lazily off her. I was having trouble remembering what Ehnola smelled like. Certainly she didn't smell as good as Ginny did.
That was when the far door opened and my Aunt Bella strode in followed by none other than my father.
"What is it, Bella? You know I don't have much time."
"I thought I heard something in here."
"It was probably just Peeves playing tricks on you, Bella. He didn't like you even in school," my father drawled. Then to my utter disgust, he snagged her waist and drew her close to him.
"You have a wife, Lucius," Bella said though she didn't sound too protesting.
"That's true. But she's quite a ways away."
Fury rippled through me. Sure I hated my father and Aunt Bella was a horrid woman who deserved anything horrible that came her way. In a way they were suited for each other. But he was cheating on MY MOTHER. With HER SISTER.
I wasn't aware I'd moved or anything until Ginny wrapped her arm around my neck. I tried to relax even as Lucius and Bella made out sloppily. I could probably take down my father but Aunt Bella was just crazy enough to be unpredictable.
To my immense relief, Bella broke it off. "There will be time for that later, Lucius," she finally snapped. "You have to be elsewhere."
Thank God for that.
Unfortunately, my luck wasn't lasting tonight and Bella continued. "And while I have you here, check and see if you can find any other magic."
My father sucked on her face for a second then waved his wand.
"Just Pomphrey," he announced.
My anger subsided enough for relief to creep in then Father got closer to us. "That's odd," he said.
"What?" Bella asked.
"I have a trace here. Feels like a Weasley..."
I felt tension settle into Ginny and slipped my hand into my pocket to finger my wand. I could take them down if I had to. Bella was fucking certifiable but nothing like a body bind to level the playing field.
I was halfway through an elaborate scenario where Ginny and I ran off to the Malfoy manor in St. Thomas and spent our days weatherproofing houses down there when my father turned away and announced that it was one of the twins.
I relaxed but I could feel the tension remaining in Ginny. My father and my skank aunt left and we remained still until Ginny finally said "Let's go."
I followed her out into the hall and to a staircase. I looked over at her, my eyes finding the wand she'd stolen.
FW. I could only guess whose wand that was.))
