Chapter 11
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all that it entails belong to JK Rowling, except for Miss Leila Mae Potter.
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Leila sat on the window bench with her knees curled up to her chest watching the dawn break over the horizon. One week had passed. One week since she had been taken captive by Lord Voldemort, one week since she had kissed Draco, and one week since her whole world seemed to come crashing down. She turned her attention once more to the creeping dawn which was about the only hope she had these days. Dawn meant breakfast was fast-approaching, a breakfast with Draco. Not that she particularly enjoyed having breakfast with her former boyfriend. Usually they ate in an awkward silence, but if he did speak he gave her what information he could about her brother. So far, he had only told her that there was no news on Harry's whereabouts. If she trusted the words coming from Draco's mouth that meant the Death Eaters had no clue to where Harry was which meant he was safe at least for now. The Death Eaters, specifically Snape, hadn't figured out that her brother and best friends were hiding out at the former headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. All Leila wanted for her brother was to be safe and sound; and it would be nice if he was down a Horcrux.
As the sunlight streamed through the window panes, Leila threw herself back onto her four poster bed. She quickly dug through her beaded bag, which still held its Undetectable Extension Charm, searching for the Chocolate Frog cards she had received from Dumbledore in his will. One by one she pulled out each of the four Hogwarts Founder's cards: Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, and Rowena Ravenclaw. Then, she spread them out on her bedspread to look at them all together. They were the pieces to the puzzle that Dumbledore left her, but whatever they were supposed to mean she hadn't a clue. She knew these cards to be very old and that because they were in a set they would be very valuable. Dumbledore wasn't one for monetary worth, so their value likely meant nothing to the puzzle. Leila groaned in frustration. Leave it to Dumbledore to leave her a puzzle to which she wasn't exactly sure how to solve. She raked her fingers through her messy brown hair when her eyes focused on the card of Godric Gryffindor. Her hand reached for the card to further examine it. Upon first glance, it wasn't hard to miss the man's rugged appearance. His appearance somewhat reminded her of Hagrid, which caused her to chuckle. Imagining Hagrid as a descendant of Godric Gryffindor was a ludicrous idea, but the thought soon caught a lump in her throat because she realized how much she missed her giant friend/professor. She missed them all: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred…
Her hands flew to her face in attempts to stop the tears from streaming down her cheeks. She thought she had a better control of her emotions. Any moment now, Draco would be walking through that door to escort her for some breakfast; but the tears wouldn't stop. She missed them all so much. It didn't matter that she had once thought Draco Malfoy to be the love of her life, she didn't want him. She wanted her friends, the comfort of the Burrow or Hogwarts, and most of all she wanted her brother. Harry had always been the braver twin. He always walked beside her through life's terrors, yet here she was very much without the person she needed the most. Leila hopped off the bed and walked toward the window. She needed some fresh air, even though she was quite positive the window wouldn't open. She fiddled with the window trying to open it, but it wouldn't budge. The tears came down harder and she felt as if she was going to suffocate when a firm knock came at the door.
"Go away, I'm not hungry!" Leila cried.
Leila heard the door hinge creak as the door swung open. She refused to turn and face Draco in her emotional state. He took a few steps into the room and looked to Leila's back which was toward him.
"I said I wasn't hungry," Leila said coldly.
"You hardly touched your dinner last night, so I don't believe you," Draco commented.
"I don't care if you believe me or not," Leila sneered.
"Leila," Draco sighed.
She folded her arms across her chest still facing the window where she could easily she the morning sun rising higher into the sky. Draco took a few more steps closer to Leila when his attention was drawn to Leila's bed. On the bed's rumpled blankets was the beaded bag he had taken and given back to her as well as four Chocolate Frog cards. He looked at the cards in slight confusion. The whole time he had known Leila, he had never known her to be a collector like her blood-traitor friend Ronald Weasley. In fact, if he remembered correctly, Leila usually stayed away from Chocolate Frog's, because he had given her one as a get-well gift at the end of their first year of Hogwarts.
"I don't recall you collecting Chocolate Frog cards," Draco said.
"I don't," Leila hissed.
Leila's head instantly flung in the direction of Draco and a scowl spread across her face as she saw his hand reaching for the cards.
"Don't touch them! They're mine!" Leila shouted.
"You just said that you don't collect them," Draco retorted.
"They were given to me," Leila quipped.
"By whom?" Draco asked.
"A friend," Leila commented.
"Who was it Leila?" Draco asked again.
"I don't have to tell you," Leila responded.
"Then it looks like I'll have to take them for further examination," Draco said as his finger grazed over Slytherin's card.
"Fine! Dumbledore left them to me in his will," Leila said.
"Dumbledore? Why would he leave these to you in his will?" Draco asked with an eyebrow raised.
"For Merlin's sake, they're Chocolate Frog cards, Draco; not a manual on how to defeat your precious Dark Lord," Leila sneered.
Draco's hand snatched all four Chocolate Frog cards before Leila could reach him. He pocketed the cards while Leila attempted to fight him to get them back. Leila put up a good fight, but it wasn't a fair match, Draco could easily keep her away. She screamed and shouted at Draco to give them back but he made no movement to return them.
"If you stop screaming I'll make a compromise with you," Draco shouted.
Leila froze and slightly backed away from Draco, but continued to glare at the boy she had once called hers. Draco nodded at Leila's silence before continuing to speak.
"If you come eat breakfast with me I'll let you keep your Chocolate Frog cards after I examine them while we eat. They'll be in your view the entire time," Draco said.
Her emerald eyes narrowed at Draco before she stormed past him toward the door. His icy eyes followed after her in confusion. She was almost to the door before he spoke again.
"Where do you think you're going?" Draco asked.
"Breakfast, you prat; are you coming or not?" Leila retorted.
With the Chocolate Frog cards in hand, Draco curtly nodded his head before following Leila into his sitting room where breakfast would be served. He attempted to hide a smile as he watched Leila's curly hair sway across her back as she stomped over to the table. She plopped onto a chair and stared blankly at the wall before her as she waited for Draco to join her. He slowly strode across the room before taking his seat. Once seated, he snapped his fingers for the house elves to bring their food. Two plates of scrambled eggs, hash browns, and bacon appeared as well as a plate with two scones appeared. Leila watched him intently as he set the cards down on the table before picking up his fork.
"Well, go on and look at them," Leila commanded.
"Part of the deal was that you had to eat," Draco said before taking a bite of eggs.
Leila rolled her eyes before picking up a piece of bacon with her fingers. She roughly tore off a bite of bacon, chewed it, and swallowed.
"Happy?" Leila questioned.
"Keep eating," Draco said.
"That wasn't part of the deal," Leila hissed.
"Then it looks like the cards remain in my possession," Draco said.
His eyes locked with Leila's. She muttered some profanity before picking up her fork and stabbing at her eggs. Draco knew that this wasn't the right way to go about things with Leila, but she didn't leave him much of a choice. He watched as she took another bite of hash browns as he read Slytherin's Chocolate Frog card. The card was practically identical to the one he had in his room, except the card was worn. It was obviously old, but Leila had said that it was once in Dumbledore's possession. Looking over the cards, he knew that there was nothing suspicious about them, but what Draco couldn't figure out was why they were so important to Leila. Draco's eyes turned back to Leila when she set her fork back down on the table. She had eaten about half her eggs, most of her hash browns, and all her bacon. Usually, he knew Leila to be somewhat of a bottomless pit when it came to food; but he supposed that it must be hard to stomach food in her position. Draco cleared his throat before speaking once more. During his breakfasts with Leila, he told her what he knew about her brother and friends.
"I just wanted to tell you that there was no news of your brother, Weasley, or Granger," Draco said lightly.
"Thank you," Leila whispered.
Leila breathed a sigh of relief because Harry was still safe, but she knew it only to be a matter of time before the Death Eaters went knocking at Grimmauld Place. Once the Secret Keeper of a place under the Fidelius Charm died, everyone who had been permitted entrance became a Secret-Keeper of sorts, which made for a messy situation with Snape. Draco simply nodded and reached for his goblet of pumpkin juice when another house elf popped into the room. The house elf bowed low holding out envelopes and a paper out to Draco.
"Master Draco's owl bring these and Mistress told me to bring them to Master Draco," the house elf said.
The house elf bowed lower as Draco reached for the papers. Once the papers were in hand, Draco snapped his fingers for the house elf to return to his duties, without so much as a word of gratitude. Leila shook her head in disgust. She may not be Hermione Granger on the matter of house elves, but they still deserved to be treated kindly. Well, except maybe for Kreacher who was an annoying pain. Leila looked once more to Draco who was looking at the envelopes before him.
"Our Hogwarts letters came," Draco said lightly.
"What do you mean our," Leila retorted.
Draco held up an envelope that had her name on it with her address being Malfoy Manor.
"How do they know where I am?" Leila asked.
"It's not exactly a secret," Draco shrugged.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Leila questioned.
"You received a letter, didn't you?" Draco responded.
"As if Voldemort is going to let me go back to Hogwarts," Leila scoffed.
"Don't say his name, Leila. Besides, you don't know the Dark Lord's plans," Draco answered.
"And you do?" Leila questioned.
"Of course not; he knows of our past and isn't stupid enough to tell me," Draco responded.
"That doesn't mean he's going to let me return to Hogwarts," Leila quipped.
"He's been very gracious to you so far. Except for your arrival, you've been living in comfort; so you never know," Draco said.
"Comfort? You think that this is comfort? Try living hell, Draco!" Leila screamed.
"And you think that it's any easier for me?" Draco growled.
"It's not your brother or best friends that are in danger!" Leila shouted.
Draco's right hand clutched his left forearm.
"I have to go. I'll leave your letter and Chocolate Frog cards on the table," Draco said through gritted teeth.
Draco set the envelopes and paper onto the table next to the Chocolate Frog cards before he rigidly stood up and walked to the door. Saved by the Dark Lord Leila thought. She reached across the table for the Hogwarts envelope marked with her name. Leila scoffed once more at the thought of Voldemort allowing her to return to Hogwarts for her seventh year. The thought seemed outrageous! Besides, even if on some odd chance he allowed her to return, things wouldn't be as they should be. Dumbledore should be headmaster and Hermione should be Head Girl. Those two things would never happen because Dumbledore was dead and Hermione was on the run with Harry. Her eyes then glanced over to the Daily Prophet that lay on the table. She hadn't read that paper in a long time, but it had also been a week since she had any news from outside Malfoy Manor. She knew that she would later regret reading the confounded paper, but she longed for any news. So she reached across the table for the paper and gasped in horror as she let the paper fall open. Plastered on the front page was her face from a picture at Slughorn's Christmas party with a caption of Traitorous Twin. Leila's eyes flickered to the author of the piece, none other than Rita Skeeter. She knew she shouldn't read the lies being spread about her by that nasty woman, but these were the lies the Wizarding World was also reading about.
Leila Mae Potter, The Girl Who Lived; twin sister to Harry James Potter, The Boy Who Lived and Undesirable No. 1; daughter of the infamous deceased James and Lily Potter; is believed to be in the good graces of You-Know-Who himself. Miss Potter was last seen with Draco Malfoy, her ex-boyfriend (is he really?) and a member of a family known for its allegiance to You-Know-Who, at the wedding of Bill and Fleur Weasley only a week ago. It is rumored that her allegiance has changed to that of You-Know-Who. For years she fought along-side her brother, but why the sudden betrayal? It is believed that Miss Potter is looking to survive in this new era rather than face execution should she remain with Undesirable No. 1, who is believed to be in hiding while his sister is convening with You-Know-Who.
Leila crumpled the paper up and angrily threw into the fire.
"That's utter rubbish!" Leila shouted.
"There's a reason I've been hiding them from you," Draco said.
Leila instantly turned around to find him standing near the door. She had no idea he had returned from whatever it was he had to do with Voldemort. She hadn't even heard him come back into the room. With her eyes narrowed she marched over to him.
"You should have told me!" Leila hissed.
"Told you what? That the Prophet's writing about you again? You're no stranger to this," Draco said.
"You still should have said something!" Leila screamed.
"As I recall, fifth year you said…" Draco began.
"I don't care what I said then! People I care about could be reading this rubbish!" Leila said.
"Then if those people care about you as much as you think they do, they won't believe it," Draco commented.
"Leave me alone," Leila growled.
Leila's back was soon to Draco as she walked away from him.
"You didn't leave me alone last year when I told you to," Draco called to her.
"Things were different. Last year I tried to help you and then you betrayed me," Leila said coldly.
"I didn't have a choice, Leila. He was going to kill me. He still could," Draco said.
"You always have a choice. I asked you to come with me and then Dumbledore offered you protection. You had two times to make the right choice, Draco. Two times! You chose wrong both times!" Leila hissed.
"Leila, I—I…" Draco stumbled.
"I'm done with your excuses so stay the hell away from me!" Leila shouted.
Stomping across the room to her own room, Leila avoided further eye contact with Draco. Once she was inside her room, she slammed the door hard hoping that Malfoy would take the hint to leave her alone. Leila threw herself onto her bed and buried her face in the pillows. She was so mad that she could scream. How could that woman insinuate such things that were so far from the truth? That article painted her in such a light that made her look like she was now a follower of Lord Voldemort and that she and Malfoy were still together. Her heart ached for Fred whose own heart could be shattered by the article. What if Fred never spoke to her again? What was to happen with the two of them now? Would he move on with his life because he assumed that she had moved on with hers? And what if Harry somehow got a hold of the paper? What would he think of her? Would he remember fifth year and all the lies spread? Would he believe that she could possibly betray him? Another knock came at the door.
"I said to stay away from me, Malfoy!" Leila screamed.
Leila watched the door waiting for it to open, but it never it did. Instead the four Chocolate Frog cards that had once been on the breakfast table were slipped one by one under the door.
"The Dark Lord will want to see you later," Draco said through the door.
Leila didn't respond. She didn't want to see the Dark Lord. All she wanted was to be as far away from her prison as possible.