Chapter 3

New Family, New Me

Hello to all my lovely readers! I am so, so, so very sorry for being absent from all my stories for so long. I got quite a bit busy with school and just forgot about them. I'm sure you're all tired of my excuses, and I really am tired of making them.

But I will work to change that and hopefully I'll be able to stick to a new updating schedule.

Also I was wrong when I said I had part of chapter 3 written somewhere. So everything here is brand new.

Now, onto chapter 3!

Narrative

When we last saw our Nyx, she had told off her grandmother, sat in a Weasleys lap, met her father, and moved in with said father. Now she must come to terms with her new life and integrate into an already set family. But what is Nyx hiding? Why does her mother really hate her? Will Nyx be able to fit in with this new family? Or will she be left on the sidelines for the rest of her life?

Nyx POV

I spent my first night in my new home tossing and turning in fear of my mother storming in and taking me back. By the time the sun rose in the morning, I was exhausted and there were dark circles under my eyes.

I finally gave up on sleep and got up to start the day.

Grabbing my messenger bag, I summoned a pair of light wash jean shorts, a light green loose fitted crop top with lace across the neckline, and a pair of brown strappy sandals.

As I changed, I patted myself on the back for deciding to put my entire wardrobe into the messenger bag, leaving only the clothing that mother insisted I wear out.

Once dressed, I used my wand to take all the clothing out of my bag and put it away in the drawers and hang the dresses in the closet. I pulled what few sentimental items I had out of the bag as well, putting them on top of the dresser and on my small nightstand.

"I will definitely need to get some decorations for this room." I said to myself as I slung my bag onto my bed and made my way out the door.

As soon as I opened my door, the smell of bacon and eggs wafted up the stairs and made my mouth begin to water.

Bacon and eggs had always been my favorite meal, though I hardly ever got to eat it. I discovered the meal during my years at hogwarts.

I made my way down the stairs and to the kitchen to find my father reading a newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee.

"Good morning Sirius." I greeted as I dished up some food and sat across from him.

"Good morning Nyx. Did you sleep well?" He set his paper down and smiled at me. It was a toothy grin, and I recognized it as the same smile that had been captured on my face the few times I had a reason to be happy.

"Please, call me Nikki. And I slept as well as can be expected." I gave him a small smile before tucking into my food.

Sirius gave me a concerned look, but seemed to decide against saying anything as he went back to his newspaper.

We sat in silence while I ate, though I would have preferred mindless chatter than being left to my own thoughts.

Once I was finished, I stood to take care of my dishes, only for Sirius to chuckle and take my dishes out of my hands.

"Kreacher will take care of them, you don't need to worry about it." Sirius smiled as he placed my dished back on the table.

"Kreacher?" I questioned and tilted my head slightly to the left in confusion.

"My house elf." Sirius stated simply before neatly folding his newspaper under his arm. "So, Nikki, I will be heading out for a bit to run a few errands. I don't particularly want you here alone, but I also feel you will be far too bored if you go with me." Sirius continued as he looked thoughtful for a second. "I was thinking you could spend the day at The Burrow with the Weasleys. I know Molly would love to get to know you, plus the whole Weasley clan is there."

"I would love to spend time with them." I smiled at him, even as I felt the nerves begin to set in.

~~~~~~~~~~~Time pass~~~~~~~~~~~

(Because I'm lazy)

Sirius had just dropped me off at The Burrow, and I could hear the ruckus inside the strange looking home.

"Oh! Hello dear. How long have you been standing there?" Molly called as she stood up from her crouched position in her garden.

"I didn't even notice her there, was I really that distracted?" I thought as I smiled at Molly.

"Only a minute or so, Sirius dropped me off so he could run some errands." I then made my way to her.

"Ah, yes. Well, you're welcome to stay for the day, the whole family is here, so you can make some friends." Molly smiled at me before turning her attention back to her garden, or at least what was left it.

What looked to have once been a beautiful garden, was now a brown and dead space. The flowers were wilted and vegetables were molding, even rodents wanted nothing to do them.

"You know, I used to be quite the gardener, but ever since the war… Well, let's just say my green thumb isn't so green anymore." Molly paused for a second before continuing, "The garden was beautiful before the war, but I got so distracted and busy that I no longer had the time to care and maintain it. I've tried everything to bring the garden back to life, but at this point I'm afraid I may just have to rip it all up and start over." Molly had a sad look on her face at the thought of having to start all over on the garden she seemed to love so much.

"I know I can help, but what if she has the same reaction as mother did?" I wondered to myself as I looked at Molly. "Screw it. She'll be happy to see her garden alive again." I made my decision before stepping forward.

I didn't notice that we had an audience though.

"Molly, I think I may be able to help bring some life back into your garden." I spoke softly, with a slight tremble in my voice.

"And how do you expect to do that? My garden is dead, I don't think anyone could save it at this point." Molly said matter-of-factly, her mind set.

A small, sad, smile crossed my face as I spoke, "My mother didn't always hate me. She used to love me, she cherished me, I was her special little girl and she truly loved me." Molly gave me a confused look, but I ignored her look and continued, "She loved me until the day I turned 10. My only birthday wish was to play in the garden, she never let me in the garden because she was afraid I would hurt the plants. But, since it was my birthday, she allowed me to play in there, with supervision of course." There was a sad note in my voice as I spoke and I crouched down in front of a dead flower before continuing. "My mother and I were walking through the garden when we came across a dead trumpet lily. Trumpet Lilies were my mother's favorite flower, so she was sad to see the flower dead. I, being a little girl with a single parent, hated to see my mother sad, and I suddenly felt determined to make her smile. So, I stepped forward, towards the dead flower, and on instinct, I reached out and touched the flowers wilted petals," As I said this, I reached my hand out and buried my finger in the soil at the base of the flower, "When my fingers touched the petals, I felt a rush of magic, and suddenly the flower was alive." After I finished speaking, I felt a rush of magic once again, and I watched as the magic flowed through the garden and brought life back to it in waves.

Molly said nothing as she just stared at the now beautiful garden.

"After I brought that first flower back to life, my mother stopped loving me. She called me a freak, said that it's unnatural for even a witch to be able to influence nature. So now she hates me, hates my magic and hates my blood." I stood and wiped my fingers on my shorts, turning to look at Molly, and finally noticing the twins who stood behind her, equally shocked and amazed as their mother.

"Well-I- Wow. Just wow. That is a truly amazing gift Nyx." Molly gave me a kind hearted and genuine smile as she beamed at her garden and at me.

"Please, call me Nikki. All my friends call me Nikki." I blushed slightly at the look she was giving me.

"Well Nikki, let's get you inside so we can introduce you to the rest of the family." Molly smiled and grabbed my hand, and I was surprised when I didn't flinch away.

"Maybe I'm getting better all ready." I thought as I smiled and let her drag me inside, passing the twins on my way in.

The room seem to silence when Molly entered with me in tow as everyone stopped bickering and turned to stare at me.

We all stood in the kitchen and it seemed to be filled to capacity, mostly with gingers.

To the far left stood a tall man with shoulder length hair and scars down the side of his face. Next to him stood a slender blonde woman who went up to about his chin. His arm was wrapped around her waist and there was a ring on her finger, I could only assume they were married.

On their right stood another tall man, he looked burly and tough, a faint scar on his neck from what looked be a burn.

I unconsciously laid my burnt hand on my hip, where another burn scar sat, though this one had been worse and was given to me courtesy of my grandmother.

I quickly dropped my hand and continued looking about the room.

The next person I noticed was shorter, with curly red hair and know-it-all look on his face. I could already tell I wouldn't like him.

Next to him stood an average height man, with red hair and a bit of a gut. He had a brutish look to him, leading me to believe he didn't have much in the way of brains.

To his right I finally saw another girl. She had long, brown, curly hair and brown eyes that hinted at great intelligence and a kind heart.

Another girl sat in a chair next to her, this one with long red hair and slender shoulders that lead to strong biceps.

Behind the redhead stood a man with black hair and round glasses, the only person I recognized in the room. Harry Potter.

"Okay everyone, this is Nyx Black." Molly stated proudly as she put her hand on my shoulder.

I gave a small smile and waved, "Please, call me Nikki." I offered before my shyness got the better of me and shifted my weight nervously.

"No one's saying anything, they must hate me already…" I thought as I looked at my feet.

"I'm Bill, this is my wife Fleur." The man with the scar, Bill, smiled kindly at me, as did his wife.

"I'm Charlie, the handsome brother." The man with the burn on his neck, Charlie, gave me a wicked smirk that caused me to blush slightly as a few of the other males scoffed.

"I'm Percy." Was all the curly haired man said.

"I'm gonna call you curly." I declared to myself.

"Names Ron." The average man said as he nodded at me.

"My name is Hermione, it's nice to meet you Nikki." The girl with brown hair smiled at me, I of course smiled back.

"My names Ginny, the only sister of the Weasley boys." The redheaded girl spoke up and I couldn't stop myself from saying something.

"Oh you poor woman." I said, this caused Ginny to laugh and the Weasley men to grumble.

"My names Harry." The last of the group spoke, offering a kind smile.

"And you already met us." I heard one of the twins say from behind me as they pushed past me to the group in front of me.

"Oh the poor girl, got the entirely wrong impression of this family if you two were the first she met." Bill said as he gave me an apologetic look.

The twins looked offended as everyone around us laughed, except Molly who rolled her eyes and left us to our own devices.

"Actually," I spoke up and everyone turned to look at me, "They saved me. No bad first impressions of this family for me." I gave a kind smile as looks of confusion passed over everyone's faces.

"What do you mean they saved you?" Ron scoffed, apparently he had no faith in his brothers.

"Exactly that. I was in trouble and they intervened." I said simply, Fred and George could tell I didn't want to talk about it, but knew that their siblings would push until I told.

"What kind of trouble? If I may ask." Charlie said as he gave me a look that resembled a mixture of concern and curiosity.

I sighed before delving into the story of the pervious night, telling them the summary of mine and my mother's relationship and how the twins had knocked her wand away from her which in turn stopped the crucio she had thrown at me.

Once I had finished with the shortened version of the story, I looked around to gage everyone's reactions.

Mostly concern showed on their faces, but there was also pride for the twins stepping in.

"Well, look's like you got a good first impression thanks to our twin pranksters." Bill chuckled before he clapped one twin on the back.

We all sat and talked for a while, and every now and then I would catch odd looks being thrown my way by Ginny, who would immediately look away when she would realized she'd been caught.

"Nikki, may I ask you something?" Ginny suddenly interrupted the noise as she looked at me with a determined look in her eyes.

"Sure, what is it?" I looked at her with an expectant look on my face.

"Did you go to Hogwarts?" Ginny folded her hands on top of the table and leaned forward slightly squinting her eyes at me.

"Yes, I went to Hogwarts." I said, confused at the random question.

"What house were you sorted into?" Ginny questioned further.

"Slytherin. Why do you ask?" I stated hesitantly, I was very much aware of the stereotypes that followed those associated with my house.

Suddenly Ginny shot up out of her chair, slamming her hand on the table and pointed her finger at me, a wide grin on her face.

"Ah-hah! I knew it! You're the Slytherin who defended me against a Ravenclaw boy in the library in my first year!" Ginny grinned at me and realization hit me as I too stood.

"Now I remember you, you're the kid I took a punch for! A punch that broke my jaw might I add." I smiled at her as her brothers looked at us.

"Hold on," Charlie stood and pointed his finger at us, "Why did Nikki take a punch for you, why did she need to protect you from a Ravenclaw boy? What have you not told us?"

Ginny sank into her chair and looked down at her lap.

"You never told them? They could've helped. Probably helped more than I could." I said sadly as I looked at her.

"Ok, Gin, what is she talking about? What haven't you told us?" George said as he gave his little sister a look of concern.

Ginny looked up at me and shook her head, fighting back tears. "I can't, it's too hard."

I sighed as the boys' attention turned to me.

"Ginny is the only Weasley daughter, so when she arrived at Hogwarts, some of the boys in Ravenclaw and Slytherin made bets on who could bed her first, they chose a "champion" from each class in the two houses. They didn't care that she was a "blood traitor", they wanted to bed her and ruin her." Her brothers all looked angry, and Harry had his arm around her shoulders. "There was one Ravenclaw in my year, 3rd year, who was determined to win the bet, whether Ginny was willing to help or not." I could see looks of murder in all the brothers faces, all except Ron, who looked pissed, but not murderous. "Well, one day I went to library and heard some commotion coming from the back, and when I walked back there, well what I saw made me see red. The Ravenclaw boy, Gideon, was on top of Ginny with his hand over her mouth. I pulled him off of her and punched him. He punched me back, breaking my jaw, but because I hardly flinched, I scared him so he shouted about how I wouldn't get away with interfering before running off. I took Ginny to the nurse, where we both got checked out and she made me promise not to tell anyone. I spent the night there, and Ginny was released within a few minutes. I thought she would have told her family… The boys were after her that whole year, I did what I could to protect her, but there wasn't much I could do…"

Ginny had her head down and silent tears running down her face.

Before anyone could say anything, Ron suddenly stood up and slammed his fists on the table, looking up he gave me a murderous glare.

"Are we just going to ignore the fact that we have a SLYTHERIN in our home?!" Ron yelled, causing me to flinch and take a step back, starting to fold in on myself.

"Yes, a Slytherin who went out of her way to save our sister." Bill glared at his younger brother.

"She's still a Slytherin, she fought for HIM." Ron practically snarled at me.

I heard the voices raise, yelling at Ron for assuming that, I heard Molly come running in asking what was happening.

"She's a Slytherin! How much do you want to bet that someone she's related to is a death eater?!" Ron shouted, his face red as his family and friends looked at him in disappointment.

"Ron don't assume-" Molly started but was cut off by my harsh laugh.

"No, he's right about that. My mother's brother, my uncle, was a death eater. He was one of The Dark Lords trusted few, so I was privy to meeting him once." I looked up with tears welling up in my eyes. "I was so terrified that I locked myself in my room, claiming I was ill and didn't want to get HIM sick. I earned a beating from my mother for that. She hated when I was rude to guests, especially such honored guests like The Dark Lord. You know, that's why I ran away yesterday? Mother had guests, some of which were the few death eaters who either evaded capture, or were pardoned for their crimes. And mother had me show one death eater around the garden, and you wanna know what he did? Do you want to know what he did to me?!" I was hysterical by now, yelling at Ron, my face blotchy and red, "He shoved his hand up my skirt! Pushed me against a tree and tried to force himself on me! I barely managed to get him off me! I was so scared that I ran further into the garden! By the time I returned to the party, he had already spun a story to my mother, telling her I tried to force myself on HIM, and when rejected, I ran off." I took a breath and noticed the shocked looks on everyone's faces, but I wasn't done, "I tried to tell my mother what really happened after the party was over, but she wouldn't listen, so you wanna know what my punishment was?" I lifted my burned hand up and unwrapped the bandage that had been wrapped around my hand the previous night. I turned it to them and I saw the horror on their faces at the sight of the mangled flesh that hadn't quite healed. "She turned on the stove and burned my hand! Said that I needed to learn how to keep my hands to myself!" I took a deep breath before dropping my hand and glaring at Ron. "My Hogwarts house does not determine who I am or who I fought for in the war. I'll have you know I fought for the Order, for the Light! I fought against family. Don't assume you know me, Ron." I gave him one last glare before rushing out the door, not noticing the sound of two pairs of feet trampling after me.

Hey all! Hope you liked this chapter! I know I enjoyed writing it.

So, I took a creative writing class this last school year, so I will be writing longer chapters with more content and character building.

Don't forget to review! I'll start doing shoutouts and answering any questions next chapter.

That's really all I have to say, so I love you all and I'll see you all in the next chapter!

-Ginger