I sat, silent and sad as George presented me with his gift. Christmas had come and gone but I had missed out. Da took me with him to hunt down some object that had something to do with Voldemort. I tried to find out more about it but Da wouldn't tell me. I was sad because I had missed Christmas with the Weasleys and also because I hadn't been there to stop Katie Bell from getting cursed or Ron from getting poisoned.
"Come on Dee. Cheer up. Go ahead. Open my present." George encouraged with a grin. I smiled sweetly at him and looked down at the package. It was green and red stripped with a big red bow on it. I ripped off the paper quickly and laughed. He had gotten me a muggle "spy kit". He grinned at my reaction.
"You're silly." I told him.
"Oh, wait. I almost forgot. I got you another present." He dug in his pockets, which seemed to have an undetectable expanding charm on them. He finally found it and handed me a small flat box. It was beautifully wrapped in silver paper with a little green bow on it. I raised an eyebrow, curiously. I opened it slowly. Inside the box lay a beautiful silver petaled flower. It looked to be made of metal. I looked up, smiling at George.
"It's beautiful. Thank you." I said. He beamed.
"Wait til you see what it does. Kiss it, in the middle." He instructed. I brought it to my mouth slowly and kissed it.
I felt the magic burst and shimmer around it as I watched the metal flower take on life. Each petal turned a beautiful shade of purple and silver lettering appeared on each petal. More petals sprung out of the flower as the magic spread. I looked closely at one petal, it said; Aberforth Dumbledore. Another petal said; George Weasley. I read each petal, seeing names of people I love. I reached one petal, however, that remained silver and hard even though it was in scripted. The name on it was Delilah Rookwood. I frowned and looked up at George.
"Isn't it brilliant? I created it myself. The petals turn the kisser's favorite color and inscribe with the names of the people you love." George explained. I looked at the flower again and noticed another silver petal that wasn't hard metal but hadn't turned purple.
"What about these petals?" I asked, pointing to the silver ones. He looked closely at the petals and read off the names.
"Delilah Rookwood…. Cedric Diggory…" He frowned. "When someone you love dies, the petal will turn back to solid metal." He explained. "Look. I have one too." He added and pulled out his own. It was smaller than mine with mostly only his own family members on it. All his petals were bright red except one. I looked closely at it and read my own name. I frowned. "It's not hard metal, but it didn't turn red like the other petals." George mused.
"Why is that?" I asked, feeling weird. Why was Cedric's petal silver but not metal and my petal on George's flower silver but not metal?
"I don't know." He replied softly and pulled me into his arms in a tight embrace.
B~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~B
I tripped him as he came out of the room. He stumbled to the floor and looked around for what or who had tripped him. I smiled to myself. Nasty, evil git! I scowled at him. I knew it had to have been him behind Katie getting cursed and that mead being poisoned. I triumphed in the small victory of tripping him. However, my smile quickly vanished as he ran off. Where was he going? What was he up to? I growled in frustration and hate. Much to my bad luck, Filch came around the corner just then.
"Eh! Who's there?" Filch glared. Professor Trelawney shuffled past just then. She looked irritated and a bit sad. I felt sorry for her. She's been in an emotional state since Da allowed Firenze to stay on as another Divination instructor. She stooped to a large vase and started pulling glass bottles out. "Oh! It's just you Professor…" Filch mumbled, grumpily in disappointment. Professor Trelawney looked up startled and confused, dropping the glass bottles to the floor. Filch scowled at the empty liquor bottles that the Professor was obviously trying to hide. Filch stomped off, leaving Trelawney scrambling to gather all the bottles. Inwardly, I sighed in pity for her. Poor woman never gets the respect she deserves. I wished Da would get back soon. He claimed to have a special trip he and Harry needed to make together. He nearly tried to make me do an unbreakable vow with him. He had made me promise to stay and guard the students and the castle while he was gone. I didn't want to stay. I wanted to go with him and Harry, but finally I promised to stay.
I wasn't the only one prowling the hallways, guarding. Professor McGonagall, Snape, Ana, Remus, Tonks, Mad Eye, and Bill Weasley were also on guard. It worried me that Da would leave and have so many Order members on defense. If he was suspecting something bad to happen, why was he leaving? I was very frustrated, to say the least.
I sank against the wall for a moment. Tonks quietly walked around the corner startling me. She looked suspiciously around as she heard my gasp.
"It's ok. It's just me, Dee." I whispered. Her face lightened and she gave a weak smile in my direction before heading off. Time passed slowly, my heart hammering nervously for some reason. I knew something bad was going to happen. I could feel it in my gut.
I heard loud, running, footsteps a little later. Around the corner came Draco Malfoy. He kept running before abruptly turning back and then again until the door to the room of requirement opened again. Where had the run off to, only to return shortly later? I wondered. He dashed in, the door closing behind him before I could follow in behind. I sank back to wait again.
The door burst open again, five minutes later. Draco's pale, ugly face was expected but what followed wasn't. Instead of being alone, he had the evil, pale, sneering face of Bellatrix Lestrange following him. My eyes widened in shock and I was frozen for a moment. In that moment, I watched her run out, and be followed by a couple more Death Eaters, who I didn't know well, and Fenrir Greyback. My heart felt ready to explode with fear. I took off after them, hoping they weren't after the students.
"Petrificus Totalus!" I shot at the male Death Eater that I didn't know. It missed, shattering a nearby window.
"Eh! Who's there?" I heard Filch demand from somewhere before one of the Death Eaters stunned him. Bellatrix laughed, her cackling hag laugh, as she kicked Filch and kept going. Where are they headed? I wondered.
Suddenly McGonagall and Mad Eye blocked their path.
"Avada Kadavra!" Bellatrix shouted, aiming at Mad Eye. He growled as he ducked. I directed shielding charms on a group of students who had heard the ruckus and came to see what was going on. The charms held but that made Fenrir happy. He grinned evilly and ran at the students. We were now gathered below the astronomy tower. Bill Weasley showed up and stunned Fenrir momentarily, effectively drawing his attention from the students. I shot silent stunning spells around but many missed. I was scared to try anything else though. I was afraid that, if they missed, they would hit the nearby students. The Death Eaters seemed determined to get up the astronomy tower. McGonagall and Mad Eye head them off good though. A shout drew my attention back to Bill and Fenrir, who were just outside the door up to the tower. Bill now lay on the ground, blood seeping from his face as Fenrir grinned a bloody smile. He turned to help continue helping fight to get up the tower. Where are Tonks, Remus, Ana and Snape? I wondered, worried. My question was answered quickly as I heard more shouting behind me.
Remus, Ana, Tonks and Snape were headed towards the tower at a run with three more Death Eaters on their tails. My heart stuttered with fear and anger as I caught a glimpse of my Uncle's ugly, pock marked face.
"Tonks! Get those students away from here!" I shouted. She turned immediately to the task, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the cruciatus curse, shouted by my Uncle.
The battle raged. Snape made it into the tower. I hoped he'd be able to handle whatever he encountered up there. Lupin and I were forced out into the courtyard beneath the tower.
"Well, well, if it isn't my dear sister again." Rookwood sneered at me as I became visible. "Crucio!" I blocked the curse and used one that George had taught me.
"BallyWobble!" Rookwood's face contorted in pain as he grabbed his groin and fell to the ground. I smirked, satisfied. A shout from above caught my attention. I looked up to see a robed body falling, lifeless, from the top of the tower.
As the body thudded to the ground, the white beard and moon spectacles caught my attention. Everything seemed to go into slow motion. People were running away and more shouts sounded around me. All the chaos was like a muffled dream that I wasn't paying attention to. My mouth was agape as I slowly walked towards the body. When I got closer, I saw. It was Da… Someone was screaming. The sound was painful as it was filled with deep anguish. I dropped to my knees on the ground beside Da and stared down at him in shock and pain. NO! NO! NO! It's just a nightmare! This isn't real! Someone slapped me across the face and the screaming stopped. I guess it was me who was screaming… I looked up to see Professor McGonagall. Her eyes were sad, full of tears, but determined.
"Deirdra! You must go invisible. You must not be seen by anymore people." She commanded. I looked back down at my lifeless father. I could bring him back! I thought suddenly.
"NO!" Growled Mad Eye, who was now beside me. "He wouldn't want you to." He said, answering my unspoken thoughts. "Go invisible now girl. Leave! Go somewhere you can find comfort. But go now!" Mad Eye ordered. I looked to him, begging. He shook his head roughly no. "Don't make me have to curse you." He warned. With one last look down at my Da, feeling pain as I looked at his lifeless face, I disapparated away.
I fell in a heap, sobbing. The darkness was around me, blanketing me in silence. I heard soft footsteps above and then a loud crack. The room lit up around me. Toys started making noises and a few small explosions across the room broke the silence as well.
"Who's there?" Sounded Fred's voice. My sobs wracked my body and when Fred spotted me he knew something was wrong. "George!" He hollered. Another crack sounded.
"What is it Fred? Decoy detonators acting up again?" He asked sounding annoyed and sleepy. Silence fell and soon I heard shuffling of feet and then felt George's arms around me. "What's wrong Dee?" He asked while I cried into his chest. A long moment passed before I was able to answer.
"Da's dead." My watery, cracking, voice sputtered out. I cried and cried and cried…
*** Ok… Sorry, for the long wait for an update. I've had writer's block and just finished writing this chapter today. School starts tomorrow, so I failed in getting this finished before schools starts. Lol. All well. I will keep writing as much as I can. Hopefully things go faster from here. I was just dreading writing Dumbledore dying. In honor of his death I will be giving away a prize. The details will follow this A/N. I will be starting a 2nd story that will co-exist with this story. I don't know what I'm going to call it yet. It is going to be a Cedric/OC story. So those of you, who were worrying about what's going to happen to Cedric, worry no more. I have the 1st chapter of this 2nd story almost finished. It will probably go up in a week or so, depending on how the next few chapters of this story go. Thanks everyone for Reading, Reviewing, Following and Favoriting. I love you all for it. To prove it, here are the details for the contest so you can win this prize!:
~~~The prize for this little contest is in honor and remembrance of Dee's Da, Professor Dumbledore. I know some of you probably thought I would let him live or have Dee bring him back to life... Sorry. Not happening. The prize is a Dumbledore bookmark and a pen shaped like his wand, the elder wand.
To enter to win this, you must do these three things in a review of this chapter.
1.) Write a review for the chapter.
2.) Write what you think Dumbledore would have written or should have written in a letter to Dee that he left for her before he died. (This can be in a paragraph form from your POV or in an actual letter form; i.e. Dear my dear, ... love, Da.) (I'm hoping to see letter forms though)
3.) Tell me your favorite scene from this story so far.
Just make sure you aren't copying anyone else on the letter part. If it seems like you copied, I most likely won't pick you. Though, I understand if there are similarities. I'm talking about literal copying, word for word or close to it. It's just not cool. The one I like best will win the prize and I'll PM you for your mailing address. I will post who the winner is and their answers at the end of the chapter I update after I choose. This contest is only open to people who have Fan Fiction accounts, since obviously I can't PM you for your address if you don't have an account. So if you don't have an account and want to win this prize, you'll have to create an account. Sorry if you don't like this, but it's only logical.