Wow...you guys are awesome reviewers! You rock! I don't own Harry Potter.
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Ch. 13: The Passage of a Lonely Child
##
It was a long time before he moved at all. His position on the ground was comfortable, but he sighed nonetheless.
Aya's face was still buried in his chest, but her breathing was slow and mellow. He reached up and stroked her hair, placing his chin on her head.
It's nice to just hold her like this.
"Aya," he whispered in her ear.
She didn't respond, only moved closer to him.
"Aya," he whispered again. "How are you feeling?"
"My head hurts," she replied, her voice muffled slightly. "And I'm a little thirsty."
She looked up at him, and his heart nearly split in two as he saw the saddened, glazed look in her eye. "Well, you should be thirsty, I guess," he said with a laugh, barely able to look away. "But, I'm...I'm glad you talked to me about this."
She looked away. After a long moment of silence, she whispered, "I'm sorry...I'm sorry I got so mad. I didn't...mean to take it out on you."
"Sorry? You didn't take anything out on me, you silly girl!" he cried as he grabbed her around her waist and drew her closer. "That was healthy, what you did just then. You're supposed to tell stuff like that...trust me, my mom knows a lot of stuff about that. If you hadn't, it would've driven you insane. Believe me. Besides, the ones who should be sorry are those pleasant little Umbridge bitches and those schoolchildren. The jerks. Aya, what they did was wrong. Do you understand? Wrong. I know you're the type of person who's forgiving and all, but dammit, there comes a time where you've got to draw the line! Okay, maybe there's something wrong with those kids who beat you, but there's no excuse for the Umbridges at all! They were wrong, and you know it. Besides, it was about time somebody told them to shut up. Listen, Aya...I love you very, very much, with all my heart. To see you so sad breaks my heart to pieces, but I want you to tell me stuff like that! Lily, James, Sirius, Peter...they all love you to pieces because they're your friends. I want you to be happy."
He hugged her close, kissing the top of her head as she clutched at his robe.
"Let's not go back to class," Remus said, closing his eyes in bliss.
"What? Why?" she asked, looking up at him again.
"Because you just went through a traumatizing experience and need a bit of a rest," he replied matter-of-factly.
"Okay...and what about you? You don't have a valid excuse," she said with a laugh that lifted his spirits beyond hope.
"Isn't being with you a valid excuse?" he whispered.
His words gave her butterflies; his caress gave her pleasant shivers; his kiss gave her more happiness than she could ever feel in her life. She found it odd and rather enticing that he could make her so happy when she had thought just moments before that she would never feel happy again. In that moment, she felt and knew she could disclose anything to him, and she knew he would not only accept it, but find ways to make her even happier. She wanted to do something for him, something grandiose, but felt that all she wanted to do, could ever do, was lie there with him as the morning sunshine that finally broke through the clouds washed over them. Sighing joyfully, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him slowly.
"Thank you, Remus," she whispered.
Though she felt it wasn't enough, those three words made him the happiest he had ever felt in his life.
##
"Did you hear, did you hear?" someone whispered to her companion. "Aya told those Umbridges off!"
"No! Really? Centaria did that? You're serious! I never knew she had it in her...she's always so quiet."
"Well, didn't you hear what that older Umbridge said to her? Talking about how it's a shame orphans don't have guidance from their parents; Umbridge totally made fun of Aya's dead parents!"
"That bitch! I hope Aya told that woman's damned head off!"
Lily, unable to keep herself from eavesdropping, rubbed her hands together in delight. "Oh, I wish I had had a recorder right then," she said to James.
"A what?" he asked, looking up from his lunch.
"A recorder," she replied, leaning forward.
"What the hell's a recorder?" Sirius piped in.
"It's a...oh, never mind," Lily said with a sigh.
"Eh, your loss," Sirius said with a shrug. Seconds later, he suffered a rather nasty bump on his forehead from Lily's spoon.
"Just be glad that wasn't a knife," she hissed as he rubbed at his injury.
James, nearly choking on his sandwich from laughter, had to be hit on the back by a concerned Peter. "Easy does it, Prongs," Peter said. "Swallow, then laugh."
##
"YOU DID WHAT?" Lily roared. The fire crackled angrily at the sudden loss of silence in the Gryffindor common room.
"I just thought I should be with her is all," Remus replied innocently, putting a protective arm around Aya.
"So you skipped class just because of that!" Lily replied angrily. Aya looked guilty.
"Oh, like you didn't notice I wasn't in class," he retorted. "I had a valid excuse and you know it!"
"I think I'll go for a walk," Aya said quietly, pulling away from Remus.
"You get back here, Aya! I haven't even begun with you! Hey, get back here! Aya!" Lily called. Her threats fell upon the closing portrait. "You're starting to be a bad influence, but I'm glad you helped her. But, you skipped class!"
"Poor Moony," Sirius said, not looking up from his chess game with James. "He's got it bad."
##
Aya walked along the corridor in silence, choosing solitude at the moment. Her thoughts were odd ones, full of mystery and self-confidence. She had never felt so happy, yet peaceful, in all her life. Sighing, she stretched, throwing her hands up to the ceiling.
"I say the girl should've died."
She stopped.
Was that my imagination?
"The only reason I took her in as a guardian was for the extra money; that's what the will said."
Carefully, Aya pressed against the wall, leaning as far towards the door where the voices came from as was physically possible.
"You mean your will, Mother. If I'm not mistaken, you're the one who changed the will around so as the so-called guardian of the brat would get the family's money instead of that little know-it-all child."
Aya's heart was pounding. She knew those voices, but decided it best to hear them out first.
"Well excuse me, Dolores, but you're the one who accepted the stolen will from those...those...oh, what were they called again?"
"Death-Eaters, Mother. Now, pay attention: they blackmailed us about how things were really going at Llitesat. The only reason I ever helped you at all was because if word ever got out about how you starved those orphans, I would go down with you, you little idiot."
Aya moved closer to the door, her blood pounding in her ears from rage.
"But...but, you saw how much money the Centaria's have!" Amelia cried.
"Shut up," Dolores hissed. "Of course I saw it. And you also saw how the will said that if anything were to happen to Sieg and Elisia Centaria, their children would go straight to Dumbledore. Those bloody Secret Aurors trusted that old fool with everything. And those brats would get all the money. Why do you think it was so coincidental the entire family was murdered by that rising Dark Lord's own breed of werewolves that night, huh? It was all planned! I saw the papers those Death-Eaters had about it straight from their Higher Rankers. They would have killed us with the information they had!"
"But Aya escaped," Amelia whined.
"Because her idiot older brother leaped in front of that wolf, you fool! Besides, enough about that. How much money did you spend of the Centaria's? How much have you indulged yourself in now? I know you moved into their little mansion on the spot, you moocher."
"Ah, but they made sure you got promoted as Junior Undersecretary! I don't like this game anymore. We should never trust ourselves to blackmail," Amelia said, her voice quivering with fear.
"Speaking of blackmail."
It was Aya who spoke as she opened the door quietly, then shut it behind her.
"YOU!" Dolores hissed.
"Oh, shut up," Aya said calmly. "I heard the whole thing, anyway. No need for surprises there."
"Why I ought to wring your filthy little neck!" Amelia hissed, drawing her wand.
But Aya was too quick. Drawing her own wand, she cried, "EXPELLIARMUS!"
Amelia's wand was flying from her plump hand even as Aya turned to do the same to Dolores, who stood dumbstruck, arm still raised. "Like I said," Aya continued, wand still raised, "let's talk a little about blackmail, shall we?" Her face was calm, but her eyes danced merrily.
"How...how dare you!" Amelia hissed, rubbing her wrist.
"I will dare quite a few things right now, my dear Amelia," Aya replied, pointing her wand at the fat woman, "so please do your own part and shut the hell up. And you as well, Dolores. Now then, to business: did you know of this planned murder of my family?"
Silence.
"ANSWER ME, DAMN YOU!" Aya cried, raising her wand.
"N-N-No!" Amelia cried. "Not until afterwards, when two Death-Eaters came to us!"
"Did you tell anyone about this?"
"Of course not," Dolores retorted. "Why would we, what with the plan they had in store for us? It was easy, too." A horrible smile played across her face. "Just change the will around, easy as you please. Mother got the money when she volunteered to be your...guardian, so to speak. I, on the other hand, was promoted from my stupid desk job!"
"Why didn't you kill me?" Aya asked. "I was under your very noses the whole time. Why not?"
"Too messy," Dolores said. "Besides, you'll be sent to Azkaban after this! Attacking the Junior Undersecretary and her mother!"
"Oh, not with the dirt I've got on you," Aya replied with a grin. This is perfect.
"Hem, hem...no one will believe a sixteen year old witch and a werewolf to boot!" Dolores retorted with a sickening laugh.
"Ah, but they'll believe a Centaria, wouldn't they? Or have you forgotten that I've got Dumbledore at my back as well?"
Dolores opened and closed her mouth.
"That's better," Aya replied.
"Wh...what are your terms in this blackmail of yours?" Amelia croaked out. "I'll assume you want your fortune back, or what's left of it."
Aya shook her head. "First, you will get out of my family's mansion and return any trivial matter you bought with their money, especially those rings. Food and other survival needs are excluded, of course, but everything else will be returned, and the money returned to my parents' vault. Second, give me my mother's necklace back to me...now."
With a shaky hand, Amelia unclasped the necklace and thrust it at the girl, who placed it carefully in her pocket.
"Is that all?" Amelia hissed.
"Shut up and let me finish. Thirdly, I want you to resign as headmistress of Llitesat school. You've done enough damage to those poor children as it is. You will pay for the food you refused to buy for us, and you will find teachers who can actually teach."
"B-But...I can't just do that! I wouldn't have a job! How the bloody hell would I pay for all that? Do you know how much that costs?!" Amelia whined.
"Your daughter will pay for you," Aya said with a shrug. "Naiya the librarian will be the new headmistress. You know, the single mother of four who barely has enough to get by, and who is by far the better witch than you could ever hope to be?"
"You're just doing that because that woman defended you loads of time and was your only, shall we say, friend," Dolores said.
"She barely has a home to live in. I will have her live at my family's house until she has enough money to get out on her own," Aya said.
"Am I to be punished as well?" Dolores hissed.
"You, Ms. Umbridge, are in enough trouble with the Ministry, and they don't know yet that they have a traitor in their midst. Cut yourself off from Voldemort's followers immediately. He is an evil man, and I wouldn't trust him in the least," Aya said, her voice full of concern. "I mean it, Umbridge, for your safety. Please. If you do that, I swear I will never tell the Ministry of what I have just heard."
Dolores gulped, but agreed.
"Good. I believe that is all, and I expect a full progress report very, very soon. Thank you for your patronage, ladies," Aya said cheerily as she made for the door. "Oh, and my ladies?"
Dolores and Amelia looked up fearfully. "What is it?" they asked in unison.
"Get out of Hogwarts. Now."
##
Aya was whistling a merry tune as she entered the common room again, a smile on her face as she hop-skipped over to an armchair to slide into rather nicely.
"You seem rather cheerful," Lily said with a smile.
"Wish I could say the same," Sirius said as he lost yet another game of Wizard's Chess. "Damn you, Prongs!"
"Uh-uh, Padfoot, m'dear. Remember our bet earlier?" James replied.
Sirius, enraged, hissed, "Damn you...Lord of My Teddy-Bear Underwear...!"
"Much better," James said.
"As I was saying," Lily said with a glare, "why so happy, Aya?"
Laughing, Aya replied, "Oh, just the usual, I'm afraid."
##
The next day dawned bright and beautiful as the blue seared the sky. Sunlight, bright and piercing, cast a happy shadow along the bottom of a carriage as it made its way swiftly through the Hogwart's gate as if chased by a dementor.
Aya, from her window, laughed and waved cheerily to her former guardians. "Cheerio, you hounds of Sauron!" she called through the glass.
"Shut up, James...I told you I don't wanna take the shortcut to mushrooms," Lily mumbled in her sleep. "Harry only likes the pink zebras."
##
YES! I LOVED DOING THAT! MUAHAHAHAHAA! PLEASE REVIEW, AND FRODO LIVES!
##
Ch. 13: The Passage of a Lonely Child
##
It was a long time before he moved at all. His position on the ground was comfortable, but he sighed nonetheless.
Aya's face was still buried in his chest, but her breathing was slow and mellow. He reached up and stroked her hair, placing his chin on her head.
It's nice to just hold her like this.
"Aya," he whispered in her ear.
She didn't respond, only moved closer to him.
"Aya," he whispered again. "How are you feeling?"
"My head hurts," she replied, her voice muffled slightly. "And I'm a little thirsty."
She looked up at him, and his heart nearly split in two as he saw the saddened, glazed look in her eye. "Well, you should be thirsty, I guess," he said with a laugh, barely able to look away. "But, I'm...I'm glad you talked to me about this."
She looked away. After a long moment of silence, she whispered, "I'm sorry...I'm sorry I got so mad. I didn't...mean to take it out on you."
"Sorry? You didn't take anything out on me, you silly girl!" he cried as he grabbed her around her waist and drew her closer. "That was healthy, what you did just then. You're supposed to tell stuff like that...trust me, my mom knows a lot of stuff about that. If you hadn't, it would've driven you insane. Believe me. Besides, the ones who should be sorry are those pleasant little Umbridge bitches and those schoolchildren. The jerks. Aya, what they did was wrong. Do you understand? Wrong. I know you're the type of person who's forgiving and all, but dammit, there comes a time where you've got to draw the line! Okay, maybe there's something wrong with those kids who beat you, but there's no excuse for the Umbridges at all! They were wrong, and you know it. Besides, it was about time somebody told them to shut up. Listen, Aya...I love you very, very much, with all my heart. To see you so sad breaks my heart to pieces, but I want you to tell me stuff like that! Lily, James, Sirius, Peter...they all love you to pieces because they're your friends. I want you to be happy."
He hugged her close, kissing the top of her head as she clutched at his robe.
"Let's not go back to class," Remus said, closing his eyes in bliss.
"What? Why?" she asked, looking up at him again.
"Because you just went through a traumatizing experience and need a bit of a rest," he replied matter-of-factly.
"Okay...and what about you? You don't have a valid excuse," she said with a laugh that lifted his spirits beyond hope.
"Isn't being with you a valid excuse?" he whispered.
His words gave her butterflies; his caress gave her pleasant shivers; his kiss gave her more happiness than she could ever feel in her life. She found it odd and rather enticing that he could make her so happy when she had thought just moments before that she would never feel happy again. In that moment, she felt and knew she could disclose anything to him, and she knew he would not only accept it, but find ways to make her even happier. She wanted to do something for him, something grandiose, but felt that all she wanted to do, could ever do, was lie there with him as the morning sunshine that finally broke through the clouds washed over them. Sighing joyfully, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him slowly.
"Thank you, Remus," she whispered.
Though she felt it wasn't enough, those three words made him the happiest he had ever felt in his life.
##
"Did you hear, did you hear?" someone whispered to her companion. "Aya told those Umbridges off!"
"No! Really? Centaria did that? You're serious! I never knew she had it in her...she's always so quiet."
"Well, didn't you hear what that older Umbridge said to her? Talking about how it's a shame orphans don't have guidance from their parents; Umbridge totally made fun of Aya's dead parents!"
"That bitch! I hope Aya told that woman's damned head off!"
Lily, unable to keep herself from eavesdropping, rubbed her hands together in delight. "Oh, I wish I had had a recorder right then," she said to James.
"A what?" he asked, looking up from his lunch.
"A recorder," she replied, leaning forward.
"What the hell's a recorder?" Sirius piped in.
"It's a...oh, never mind," Lily said with a sigh.
"Eh, your loss," Sirius said with a shrug. Seconds later, he suffered a rather nasty bump on his forehead from Lily's spoon.
"Just be glad that wasn't a knife," she hissed as he rubbed at his injury.
James, nearly choking on his sandwich from laughter, had to be hit on the back by a concerned Peter. "Easy does it, Prongs," Peter said. "Swallow, then laugh."
##
"YOU DID WHAT?" Lily roared. The fire crackled angrily at the sudden loss of silence in the Gryffindor common room.
"I just thought I should be with her is all," Remus replied innocently, putting a protective arm around Aya.
"So you skipped class just because of that!" Lily replied angrily. Aya looked guilty.
"Oh, like you didn't notice I wasn't in class," he retorted. "I had a valid excuse and you know it!"
"I think I'll go for a walk," Aya said quietly, pulling away from Remus.
"You get back here, Aya! I haven't even begun with you! Hey, get back here! Aya!" Lily called. Her threats fell upon the closing portrait. "You're starting to be a bad influence, but I'm glad you helped her. But, you skipped class!"
"Poor Moony," Sirius said, not looking up from his chess game with James. "He's got it bad."
##
Aya walked along the corridor in silence, choosing solitude at the moment. Her thoughts were odd ones, full of mystery and self-confidence. She had never felt so happy, yet peaceful, in all her life. Sighing, she stretched, throwing her hands up to the ceiling.
"I say the girl should've died."
She stopped.
Was that my imagination?
"The only reason I took her in as a guardian was for the extra money; that's what the will said."
Carefully, Aya pressed against the wall, leaning as far towards the door where the voices came from as was physically possible.
"You mean your will, Mother. If I'm not mistaken, you're the one who changed the will around so as the so-called guardian of the brat would get the family's money instead of that little know-it-all child."
Aya's heart was pounding. She knew those voices, but decided it best to hear them out first.
"Well excuse me, Dolores, but you're the one who accepted the stolen will from those...those...oh, what were they called again?"
"Death-Eaters, Mother. Now, pay attention: they blackmailed us about how things were really going at Llitesat. The only reason I ever helped you at all was because if word ever got out about how you starved those orphans, I would go down with you, you little idiot."
Aya moved closer to the door, her blood pounding in her ears from rage.
"But...but, you saw how much money the Centaria's have!" Amelia cried.
"Shut up," Dolores hissed. "Of course I saw it. And you also saw how the will said that if anything were to happen to Sieg and Elisia Centaria, their children would go straight to Dumbledore. Those bloody Secret Aurors trusted that old fool with everything. And those brats would get all the money. Why do you think it was so coincidental the entire family was murdered by that rising Dark Lord's own breed of werewolves that night, huh? It was all planned! I saw the papers those Death-Eaters had about it straight from their Higher Rankers. They would have killed us with the information they had!"
"But Aya escaped," Amelia whined.
"Because her idiot older brother leaped in front of that wolf, you fool! Besides, enough about that. How much money did you spend of the Centaria's? How much have you indulged yourself in now? I know you moved into their little mansion on the spot, you moocher."
"Ah, but they made sure you got promoted as Junior Undersecretary! I don't like this game anymore. We should never trust ourselves to blackmail," Amelia said, her voice quivering with fear.
"Speaking of blackmail."
It was Aya who spoke as she opened the door quietly, then shut it behind her.
"YOU!" Dolores hissed.
"Oh, shut up," Aya said calmly. "I heard the whole thing, anyway. No need for surprises there."
"Why I ought to wring your filthy little neck!" Amelia hissed, drawing her wand.
But Aya was too quick. Drawing her own wand, she cried, "EXPELLIARMUS!"
Amelia's wand was flying from her plump hand even as Aya turned to do the same to Dolores, who stood dumbstruck, arm still raised. "Like I said," Aya continued, wand still raised, "let's talk a little about blackmail, shall we?" Her face was calm, but her eyes danced merrily.
"How...how dare you!" Amelia hissed, rubbing her wrist.
"I will dare quite a few things right now, my dear Amelia," Aya replied, pointing her wand at the fat woman, "so please do your own part and shut the hell up. And you as well, Dolores. Now then, to business: did you know of this planned murder of my family?"
Silence.
"ANSWER ME, DAMN YOU!" Aya cried, raising her wand.
"N-N-No!" Amelia cried. "Not until afterwards, when two Death-Eaters came to us!"
"Did you tell anyone about this?"
"Of course not," Dolores retorted. "Why would we, what with the plan they had in store for us? It was easy, too." A horrible smile played across her face. "Just change the will around, easy as you please. Mother got the money when she volunteered to be your...guardian, so to speak. I, on the other hand, was promoted from my stupid desk job!"
"Why didn't you kill me?" Aya asked. "I was under your very noses the whole time. Why not?"
"Too messy," Dolores said. "Besides, you'll be sent to Azkaban after this! Attacking the Junior Undersecretary and her mother!"
"Oh, not with the dirt I've got on you," Aya replied with a grin. This is perfect.
"Hem, hem...no one will believe a sixteen year old witch and a werewolf to boot!" Dolores retorted with a sickening laugh.
"Ah, but they'll believe a Centaria, wouldn't they? Or have you forgotten that I've got Dumbledore at my back as well?"
Dolores opened and closed her mouth.
"That's better," Aya replied.
"Wh...what are your terms in this blackmail of yours?" Amelia croaked out. "I'll assume you want your fortune back, or what's left of it."
Aya shook her head. "First, you will get out of my family's mansion and return any trivial matter you bought with their money, especially those rings. Food and other survival needs are excluded, of course, but everything else will be returned, and the money returned to my parents' vault. Second, give me my mother's necklace back to me...now."
With a shaky hand, Amelia unclasped the necklace and thrust it at the girl, who placed it carefully in her pocket.
"Is that all?" Amelia hissed.
"Shut up and let me finish. Thirdly, I want you to resign as headmistress of Llitesat school. You've done enough damage to those poor children as it is. You will pay for the food you refused to buy for us, and you will find teachers who can actually teach."
"B-But...I can't just do that! I wouldn't have a job! How the bloody hell would I pay for all that? Do you know how much that costs?!" Amelia whined.
"Your daughter will pay for you," Aya said with a shrug. "Naiya the librarian will be the new headmistress. You know, the single mother of four who barely has enough to get by, and who is by far the better witch than you could ever hope to be?"
"You're just doing that because that woman defended you loads of time and was your only, shall we say, friend," Dolores said.
"She barely has a home to live in. I will have her live at my family's house until she has enough money to get out on her own," Aya said.
"Am I to be punished as well?" Dolores hissed.
"You, Ms. Umbridge, are in enough trouble with the Ministry, and they don't know yet that they have a traitor in their midst. Cut yourself off from Voldemort's followers immediately. He is an evil man, and I wouldn't trust him in the least," Aya said, her voice full of concern. "I mean it, Umbridge, for your safety. Please. If you do that, I swear I will never tell the Ministry of what I have just heard."
Dolores gulped, but agreed.
"Good. I believe that is all, and I expect a full progress report very, very soon. Thank you for your patronage, ladies," Aya said cheerily as she made for the door. "Oh, and my ladies?"
Dolores and Amelia looked up fearfully. "What is it?" they asked in unison.
"Get out of Hogwarts. Now."
##
Aya was whistling a merry tune as she entered the common room again, a smile on her face as she hop-skipped over to an armchair to slide into rather nicely.
"You seem rather cheerful," Lily said with a smile.
"Wish I could say the same," Sirius said as he lost yet another game of Wizard's Chess. "Damn you, Prongs!"
"Uh-uh, Padfoot, m'dear. Remember our bet earlier?" James replied.
Sirius, enraged, hissed, "Damn you...Lord of My Teddy-Bear Underwear...!"
"Much better," James said.
"As I was saying," Lily said with a glare, "why so happy, Aya?"
Laughing, Aya replied, "Oh, just the usual, I'm afraid."
##
The next day dawned bright and beautiful as the blue seared the sky. Sunlight, bright and piercing, cast a happy shadow along the bottom of a carriage as it made its way swiftly through the Hogwart's gate as if chased by a dementor.
Aya, from her window, laughed and waved cheerily to her former guardians. "Cheerio, you hounds of Sauron!" she called through the glass.
"Shut up, James...I told you I don't wanna take the shortcut to mushrooms," Lily mumbled in her sleep. "Harry only likes the pink zebras."
##
YES! I LOVED DOING THAT! MUAHAHAHAHAA! PLEASE REVIEW, AND FRODO LIVES!