Mother Earth
Once you will know my dear
You dont have to fear
A new beginning
Always starts at the end
Jenny
8/28/10
4:29 p.m.
Lupin hadn't lied, the mysterious and hideous orange tea had helped with the stiffness. It had helped a lot, actually, but Madam Pompfrey refused every request I had to get up and at least walk around the room. Not that it mattered, all my energy drained quickly away as I started to try to remember everything Hermione told me about the Wizarding world. It was all incredibly fascinating, but I was tired, and a photographic memory didn't help when all the information was in a narrative.
"Ok, let me get this straight," I said, holding up a finger. Hermione was trying to teach me about the wizards one sport, Quidditch, and she was failing miserably. "The…keeper guards the hoops, and you score with the Quaffle?" I asked with my eyes closed, trying to picture a game and trying not to laugh.
"Um, I think so." Hermione said, and checked the book on her lap. "Yeah, you're right. Keepers guard the hoops from Chasers with the Quaffle." She sounded like she was trying to memorize it herself, and it didn't help my confidence.
"So it's kind of like basketball?" I asked and Hermione looked at me strangely.
"In a way…you know what? I need a guy to explain this. HARRY?" She bellowed, and I winced. I didn't realize she could get so loud. A moment later, and a cracking noise, Harry appeared at the end of the bed. I knew that wizards could travel like that, (Apparating? I think that's it) but that didn't stop me from freaking out every time they did it.
"You rang?" He asked sarcastically.
"Ok, so I'm trying to teach her Quidditch, and then she asked about basketball, and I have no idea how to compare the two," She stopped talking as Harry got a gleam in his eye. Hermione told me that he was a Quidditch player, the Seeker I think, but I didn't realize he was a fan.
"It's sort of like basketball, yeah, but you obviously aren't dribbling, and you are on a broom." Harry looked thrilled that he was discussing Quidditch.
"Oh. Right." Hermione said, almost to herself, and I laughed at her, then gasped as almost every boy in the house either Apparated or came in.
"Did we hear a Quidditch discussion?" One of the twins asked innocently, and Hermione smacked her forehead, and muttered something that sounded like 'here we go.'
"You did…but I don't know all the rules yet, so you can't just go blithering on about brooms and… and stuff." I failed to think of another Quidditch related topic, and it made Ron howl with laughter.
"Ok, so there are four positions in Quidditch, Keepers, Beaters, Chasers and Seekers. Each name is similar to what they do. Keepers guard the hoops that you score through, Beaters hit balls around," Charlie had started until Fred and George howled with laughter, adding to Ron's.
"Hitting balls around?" one of the twins choked finally, and Charlie rolled his eyes and continued explaining thoroughly to me the rules of Quidditch, and how much of a phenomenon it is, and the best and worst teams, which sparked another whole debate. After dinner that was forced on me by Mrs. Weasley, I begged and bothered Madam Pompfrey until she agreed to let Hermione take me up a few flights of stairs.
After painfully climbing out of bed and stretching out, Hermione took my arm and led me slowly but carefully out of the room. It wasn't that my legs were weak or unsure, but they hurt with every step. But I wasn't about to stop; I climbed all the staircases in the house, until we were on the top floor, and we stopped to talk with Kingsley, who was sitting calmly crosslegged in front of a door.
"You're up?" He asked, sounding surprised, and I just nodded and leaned against the banister. My thighs were burning from the effort, but I was happy. My curiosity had been spiked about the whole house, and I wanted to see every inch of it, if I was going to be living here now. I pushed away the thoughts of my parents, and what they must have found when they came home. "You should really go rest, the house isn't that interesting." He said in that deep calm voice, and I laughed.
"It's interesting to a Muggle." I reminded him, and he stood and cracked his neck, making me wince. I hated it when people did that. "And besides, it's not like this house is dangerous or anything." I said, then jumped when there was a loud bang from inside the room Kingsley had been sitting in front of, and he rolled his eyes, and motioned for us to back up. Hermione held my arm carefully, looking apprehensive as Kingsley opened the door and yelled; I saw a flash of red, and after Hermione shrieked and tore her arm from mine, Kingsley was thrown against the back banister. His wand rolled off the landing, and after a long moment, it clattered to the floor some four stories below, and the pale boy from my kitchen stepped out of the room, a long thin shank-like knife in his hand, and I put two and two together. He must have stabbed Kingsley.
Reflexively, I jumped, twisted, and kicked the knife right out of his hand, then followed through and kicked that asshole right in the side of his face, making him stagger into the banister. The pain and stiffness came roaring back in my legs, making my face twist as I unwillingly bent in on myself with a gasp, gritting my teeth. I heard Hermione shriek again, and then a fist connected with my face, knocking me over. I heard him start to advance, so I spun on the floor, kicking his legs out and then brought an arm down across his stomach, and the sound it made sent satisfaction up my spine as the kid turned a nasty color. "Nobody move!" Tonks yelled suddenly, and I froze, even though I was lying right next to the kid, within striking distance; but I think that he had learned his lesson, judging by his face. "Stand up, Malfoy." She sounded incredibly dangerous, and after a painful moment, he staggered to his feet. Tonks prodded him back into the room and slammed the door, locking it as I heard feet on the stairs, then a crack of a wizard Apparating.
"Merlin's beard, what happened?" Lupin sounded pissed off as I sat up, no longer afraid of Tonks cursing me and felt the sore and now bleeding side of my face as I stood to see Tonks handing Hermione her wand and going over to Kingsley as more feet started up the stairs.
"There was a noise in the room, so Kingsley opened the door to stop him from whatever he was doing, and he had some sort of knife. He stabbed Kingsley and then…" She glanced at me, and I shrugged, wiping blood off my cheek, trying not to grimace.
"I reacted, foolishly I might add. I did a double spinning kick and kicked the knife out of his hand, then kicked him in the face. It…hurt, so I stopped, and he punched me." I was about to stop there, but Hermione shot me a look, so I continued with a frown. "I heard him move, so I drop-kicked him then chopped his stomach." I said this flatly as Mrs. Weasley and Madam Pompfrey appeared behind everyone on the stairs. "But what I want to know," I added, feeling a sick hot swoop of anger smack me in the face, is what the hell is he," I pointed angrily at the door, ignoring the twang in my shoulder, "doing here?"
"Would you rather that we had just let him mosey on home?" Tonks snapped, but she was looking really pale. I felt bad for her for a second, but when I remembered how he did nothing to stop Greyback, my temperature increased.
"Did you ever stop to think, 'Hmmm, the girl he attacked is three floors down, maybe we should let her fucking know?" I yelled, ignoring the photoframes on the walls that were gossiping on my use of language.
"We didn't want to bother you with it-" Tonks started defensively, but I ran her over, furious.
"You didn't want to bother me with it? You found it easy enough to give me the ultimatum you did, you were just fine casually dropping by to say, 'Hey! You're a fucking werewolf now, sweetie!' You said I had no options—"
"Enough." Mr. Weasley said with surprising forcefulness, shouldering his way through people and coming to put two light hands on my shoulders, and didn't move them when I flinched. "You were given enough on your plate, we didn't tell you for that very reason. We want you to feel safe here because you are, and knowing that so early would have scared you." He said calmly, watching me with a piercing gaze I didn't know he was capable of. Guilt flashed through me as I remembered as if from a dream everything these people had done for me.
"I'm sorry, that was so wrong of me, to react with violence, and to yell at you all. I just didn't want anyone to get hurt." I wrapped one arm around my midsection and cupped my forehead with my other hand, trying to trace my reaction. Was I not normal after the change after all? Was I slowly going to lose myself to the monster within?
"Your reaction was perfect. That's what you'll have to do to protect yourself. Once you are feeling up to it, we'd love to see what you can do." Kingsley said after Madam Pompfrey healed the gash in his stomach as he stood up.
"…I can't. I'd need someone to fight against, and I won't attack anyone here. I would need a target." I said distractedly, not liking the idea at all. Yes, spies were fit and good fighters, but now that I had started seriously using my skills on other people, I suddenly didn't want to. I felt so close to losing who I was in this new world.
"You can use the ferret boy in there." Kingsley said casually, brushing dirt out of his pants.
"Sorry?" I asked in disbelief, sure I had heard him wrong.
"You can use the Malfoy boy. If you could attack him twice now, you can do it again." Kingsley said easily, taking his wand back and cracking his neck again.
"Absolutely not! All of my fights have been evenly matched and necessary, I can't just beat him up for you! He's your captive, not your-"
"You aren't in a position to negotiate. You work for the Order now, and an order is an order. When you're fit enough, you will show us what you can do on ferret boy so we can assign you a mission." Kingsley said, and suddenly, I didn't feel safe with him at all, as I glared at him, then stiffly pushed through the crowd of Aurors on the steps, passed the kids waiting a few steps down, then stalked back into my room. I was backed into a corner, and Hermione had been right, I had no options.