It was cold on my motorcycle. Driving at speeds I didn't even want to measure in winter wasn't the best idea. To anyone who saw me, I looked like I was just driving for the sake of driving. This was untrue. I knew quite well where I was going.
The ride was long and tiring. My hair was completely standing on end from the wind when I arrived. I drove up the path and over the hill. Headstones surrounded me as I made my way to two stones specifically. The stones read:
SARABELLE VENUS (BLACK) JAMISON JACOB CHRISTOPHER JAMISON JR. 1962-1984 married January 4th, 1979 1960-1996
I hadn't come up since he'd died. His stone looked very nice, and was as close to hers as possible. True, since he'd gone through the veil there was no body, but, when Mum died, he specifically told Tonks he wanted his headstone next to hers. She's obviously followed her uncle's wishes. I sighed, looking down at the small stone right above them.
SIRIUS JACOB JAMISON 1983-1984
A tear dripped down my cheek as I re-read the same stone over and over. My poor little brother never had a chance. He wasn't even a full year old when he died. It was mid-January and the road was icey. Dad lost control and ended up cutting off a truck. Both drivers came out with only a few minor injuries, but my brother was hurt badly. The muggle medics came and took him away to a hospital in an abulance, where he died. They didn't let my Dad go with them. During the accident was the last time anyone saw him. Mum was completely distraught when we got the body back. It was so distorted from the injuries that it was hard to tell if this was even my brother. She claimed it wasn't, but no one believed her. She'd gotten pretty bonkers by that point.
I sighed and wiped my cheek as I read each stone once more. "Happy Christmas," I whispered to them.
"Happy Christmas to you, too!" said a voice behind me, and I spun around. A boy, possibly fourteen, stood before me.
"I was, er, talking to my parents.." I said, "But Happy Christmas, anyway."
"These are your parents?" the boy asked, raising an eyebrow, "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure," I replied, confused, "Why wouldn't I know my own parents' graves?"
"No reason," the boy shrugged, then inspected Mum, Dad, and little Sirius' stones. "I've heard the name 'Sirius' before. Sirius Black. Escaped from Azkaban, didn't he?"
"You're.. a wizard?" I more stated than asked. "Y'know how bad it could've been if you said Azkaban and I was a muggle?"
"Real bad," he laughed. When I looked horrified, he said, "Your wand's sticking out of your pocket."
"Oh!" I laughed, "Do you go to Hogwarts?"
"Yes," he said, "I've seen you around. I'm a fourth year Hufflepuff. That's why you don't really know me."
"Ah," I said. "So, who around here is yours?"
He pointed at a stone a few down from my parents. "That's my Mum. I'm Soren Calebs." He stared hard at my parents' stones again before adding, "I think I've heard those names before..."
"Really?" I asked, "I'm Sophia Lupin, by the way. How have you heard them?"
"Not sure," Soren shrugged. "Oh well. I'll think of it eventually. See you at school!" With that, he left. I got on my motorcycle and drove back to the Burrow.
I parked outside and walked back up the house. I knocked on the door, answered the question I was asked, and walked on inside. I sighed and went up to my (Percy's) room. Looking in the mirror, a face unrecognizable looked back. She, in the mirror, wore my clothes, but she looked different. Somehow older, more mature looking was this girl. Her eyes were blue and her hair was sapphire and down her back. I tied my hair up with a black ribbon, and the mirror girl matched my movements. Of course, I knew it was me, but somehow I just seemed different. I shrugged, not really caring.
I thought of Draco's mission and my promise. I shook my head at the mess we'd gotten ourselves into. I considered telling some of the Order, but then they would protect Dumbledore. Draco would fail. He'd die. I wouldn't let that happen. I sighed again, and put my face in my hands. Harry would be able to tell I was hiding something, most likely. Then he'd hate me again. I supposed I could make up with him at a later date and didn't worry too much.
Things were so stressing. I tried to think of the last time I'd been relaxed. I remembered clearly. Last night. In this room. With Percy. I was so happy then. I wanted to recapture that feeling. I decided to climb out the window (as I hated all those freaking stairs) and hopped back on my motorcycle. I drove to the place I knew I could find him: the Ministry.
When I got there, it was easy enough getting into the visitors enterence. I was given a sticker to wear that said, "SOPHIA LUPIN, VISITOR," and put it on my chest. For a little while, I wandered aimlessly, looking for Percy's office, if he had one.
I wandered passed a door that said, "DOLORES JANE UMBRIDGE," and tried to speed-walk away from it, but stopped about twenty steps away when I heard the creak of a door and a little, "hem-hem" behind me. I turned around, but I didn't want to, and walked back.
"Hello, Dolores," I said, faking a smile to the woman I hated possibly more than all else.
"What," asked the girlish voice of the old hag, "are you doing here, in the Ministry?"
"Just, eh," I casually lied, "looking around, I s'pose."
"Still looking for trouble?" scoffed Umbridge, "You've always found it, haven't you?"
"Yes, ma'am," I said honestly. "But this time, trouble's definately found me."
"Right you are," she scowled, "You've no business, wandering in the Ministry. You seemed like you were looking for someone. Who is it? That cousin of yours?"
"No," I answered truthfully. "I'm not looking for her. And her name's Tonks. She's a beautiful, kind, loving woman with a heart as big as her brain!" I added in a mutter, "Unlike you.."
"Sure she is," Umbridge shrugged. "Who are you looking for?"
"A friend," I replied quickly.
"It would help you find them if you told me who it is," she hinted.
"Not a chance," I said, rolling my eyes. "Can I go now?"
"I suppose," she sighed, "Shoo shoo then."
I walked off and searched a while more. Then I realized, as the Minister's assistant, his office was probably inside the Minister's office. And to said office I went. I took off my cloak and wrapped it up in itself to look like a present. When an assistant eyed me as I entered, I pointed to Percy's office and mouthed, "Delivery." She whispered back, "Go on in," and I nodded.
Inside sat Percy at his desk. He jumped a foot in the air as I entered and stuttered, "What a-are you doing here?!"
"Got bored and lonely," I pouted. "I missed you."
"Sophie," he reminded me, "I just saw you yesterday."
"That was forever ago!" I complained, and he smiled.
"Hold on," Percy said, digging into his pockets, "I've got just the thing to keep you from getting lonely."
He pulled out a sea-shell on a necklace. "A shell?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Trust me," he smirked, "Listen to it when you get back to the Burrow, but not before; you'll hear something quite a bit better than the ocean, I think." He hooked it around my neck.
"Does that mean I have to go?" I asked sadly, pouting again.
"Sorry, but yes," he replied, "You'll get me in trouble."
"Fine, I'll go," I sighed, "But I won't like it."
"I won't like it either," said Percy before kissing my cheek and motioning me towards the door. "Off with you now."
"All right, all right!" I giggled. The following three words came out thoughtlessly: "I love you." His ears went bright red, like Ron's often did, and I left with my head tucked down, my cheeks completely flushed. ****____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Back at the Burrow, I held up the shell to my ear and listened. Instead of the expected sounds of the ocean, I heard his voice whispering, "I love you, Sophia.." I squeeled happily and turned to Ginny, who was staring at me like I was crazy.
"Want to listen?" I offered without thinking.
I held it to her ear and she said with a nod, "The ocean. Nice."
"Wha?!" I chuckled, "Not the ocean! Don't you hear it?"
"I hear the ocean, Soph," Ginny replied.
I held it to my own ear again. "Sophia.." it whispered.
"It's not-..!" I said, then stopped dead, a silly grin spreading across my face. "I mean, yeah, the ocean!" It must've been a magic shell.
"Yeah, I noticed.." Ginny said awkwardly, "You're getting kind of weird, Soph."
"Das ist Lieben," I shrugged happily.
"Wha?" she asked, "Soph, I don't speak German!"
"That's love," I grinned. I spoke quite fluent German as I my paternal grandfather came directly from Germany. My bilangual side came out whenever I was emotional.
"Oooo!" Ginny squeeled, "Love, eh? What's his name? Where's he from? Do I know him?"
"In order?" I replied, "Yes, love. Can't tell you his name. From England, as the rest of us are. And I certainly hope you know him!"
"Love's exciting. Why not? I figured as much. And how do I know him?" she asked, keepy tracked quite well of what came before or after what.
"Exciting is an understatement. Just can't. Where he's from what a stupid question. And I also can't tell you that," I said, keeping track well myself.
"I wouldn't know. Why not? Yeah, it was. Again, why not?"
"You know you know. Because. Ha, ha. Again, because," I said as I face-palmed.
"This is confusing," Ginny laughed. "But anyway, tell me how it happened?"
"Wir trafen uns auf Zeit vor, und ich immer glaubte ihm und er anscheinend glaubt mich zur ck, und-" I said in one breath.
"I. Don't. Speak. German!" she shouted, shaking me.
"I said we met a long time ago and I always fancied him and apparantly he fancies me back, and it's wonderful, Ginny!" I said quickly and excitedly.
"I bet it is," Ginny shrugged, "But again, I wouldn't know."
"Oh, du weisst, was Liebe ist wie! Sie lieben Harry, gebe es zu!" I laughed. She glared at me.
"Must I repeat myself? I don't speak German." Ginny sighed.
I grinned. "Exactly." What I had said was, "Oh, you do know what love is like! You love Harry, admit it!" but I wasn't about to tell her that. She'd've killed me.
"What did you say, anyway?" she asked, "I heard something about Harry.."
"I said no such thing," I said, pretending to be offended. "Maybe you're just obsessed with him?"
"Am not!" she said, then smacked me.
I sighed. "Does Dean know about this?"
"Ish...." she began, then moved her gaze to the floor. "No..."
"Things'll fall into place," I said, putting a hand on her shoulder cheesily. "I promise."
A while later, I decided to return to my mother's journal. I hadn't read any for a while, so I had almost forgotten where I was. Luckily, I had used a bookmark. Though, I didn't feel like reading from there. I skipped to the last day of her fourth year.
On this day, I felt as though my heart was breaking. I'd have only Cissy next year. Everyone else I knew and cared for was graduating. Jake, Remus, Sirius, James, Lily, Severus...
I put the book down. Severus? When did that happen? I thought she hated him? I flew back to the page that seemed like it was good timing and read from there.
"Damn it, Severus!" I yelled at him, "Why do you have to do that?!"
"Do what?" he asked stupidly. Such an oblivous git he was sometimes!
"Argh!" I shouted frustratedly, and hit him once more with my book. "Why do you have to be so honest with me, so brutally honest that I can't help feel bad for you, now that I have a reason to hate you?!"
He didn't reply so I carried on. "Now I have to pretend to hate you when I like you.... Such a switch of things! Damn you!"
Confused, I turned to the page right before this one. It had been torn out, and the last entry had ended the day before this one. Leave it to Mum to rip out the most critical part of the story. I sighed and flipped the journal shut. I peeked at a clock to see it was now evening, and the sun was sinking below the horizon. My stomache told me food was required, and so I went down to the kitchen of the Burrow and opened the fridge. Bored by the lack of variety, I yawned into the food. A michevious grin played on my lips as I decided to test my ability; without a single training session completed correctly, I was going to attempt to apparate. I figured I'd probably leave an ear behind, but who cared about an ear? I'd still have another. I had to get it right sometime. Plus, I didn't feel like riding. I concentrated hard on where I was and where I wanted to go. My eyes pinched shut, afraid of what mess of blood might be seen. I felt a hard breeze like hurricane winds. A cracking sound was heard, and when I opened my eyes, the scene had changed. I'd been successful!
The room I now viewed was somewhat dark. It was a dining room, but the table looked as though it had never been used. Dozens of china sets sat in a glass case gathering dust. None were ever eaten on. A wooden buffet lined the back wall with a mirror that was the same length was above it. On either side of the room were portraits. These were muggle portraits, one of a man and one of a woman, so neither moved. They just smiled.
Pinned onto the bottom left corner of the mirror was a small, magic photo. I gazed closely. In it, four girls were smiling, laughing, and shoving each other. The tallest girl was probably sixteen, and her black hair ran down in front of her left eye. The next oldest was brown haired, and about fourteen. She looked a lot like the other girl. Next to them were two smaller girls. One had very light blonde hair and big, gray, innocent eyes. She seemed lost, like she didn't quite belong with these three others. She pleaded to fit in and be like the olders. The fourth girl was about the size of the average three-year-old. Her eyes were round and sky blue with shimmers of white dancing across like clouds. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and black, like the tallest. It was less messy, however. As the four girls, sisters, pushed each other, the oldest lifted up the light blonde haired one while the brunette picked up the smallest one. The older two exchanged smiles before bursting into laughter. Thoughtlessly, I snatched the photo and tucked it into my pocket.
"Hey, Sophie's here!" Exclaimed a familiar voice behind me. I spun around to face the owner of this house, my Uncle, Ted Tonks. "Dromeda, Dora, Soph is here!" I waved happily, and he tugged me into the living room. Wooden trays sat in front Aunt Andromeda, Tonks, and his empty chair. Andromeda waved affectionately and Tonks smiled a little bit. Her hair was still so dreadfully mousy, and now it seemed she was loosing the ability to really enjoy herself. I noted mentally that I needed to have a talk with that adopted father of mine.
"Glad to see y-.." Andromeda began, but then let out a little scream, staring pointedly at me.
"What?" I asked stupidly, "Something in my teeth?"
Tonks now noticed whatever was so bad, as well. "Soph!" she shouted, pointing at my pants. "Your leg!"
I looked down at my left pantleg and noticed it was soaked in blood. Tucking up the jeans revealed a deep cut running up the length of my leg, almost all the way to my thigh. "Well, what do you know?" I laughed, "I splinched myself." I shrieked right after as the pain just now sank in, then crumbled to the ground.
"How did you splinch yourself?" Tonks asked as she came over and helped me up.
"I rubbed my leg against a sword," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes, "What do you think? I apparated here."
"You can do that now?" Andromeda asked.
I nodded, then added, "Not very well, it appears."
"That's one thing I'll never understand, that is," Ted said, shaking his head. "Apparation. You're one place and then before you can even blink, you're somewhere else! Like teleportation.." Wordlessly, Andromeda healed my splinched leg, then cleaned it of all blood.
"Yeah...." I said absently, then changed the subject abruptly. "I'm hungry." I looked at Andromeda. "You're a good cook. Fix my stomache please?"
She laughed, then headed to her messy, cramped kitchen. I stayed at the Tonks residence the rest of the evening until I apparated back to the Burrow after nightfall. I stood in the living room until my newly re-splinched leg collapsed under me, at which time I fell to the floor. I layed there, too lazy to get up or heal myself. I just bled there silently, not wanting to shout and disturb the Weasleys and Harry. I figured I was alone. After all, it was nine at night. The Weasleys tended to go to bed around eight, eight-thirty. I heard a crack, then a surprised outcry. It took me a minute to realize the crack was a redhaired figure stepping on my non-splinched leg, and the scream was his response to me, what with being on the floor and all.
"Well, hey there!" I laughed between twinged of pain from both legs. The one was obviously cracked. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Sophia?" asked the redheaded. He leaned down where I could see him, and instantly I recognized him as Mr. Weasley. "Why are you on the floor? And what did you do to your leg?!"
"I can apparate!" I smiled, "Well, not so well, I guess. Two times I've apparated and both times I splinch myself!"
"Y-you apparated?!" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Yes, I did," I said truthfully, "Can you heal my splinch? And while your at it, can you heal my other leg, too? You've cracked it by stepping on ,me.." With a wave of the wand, my pains were cured, and before I could protest, I was somehow in "my" room.
Returning to school after Christmas stunk. Back to drama, back to detentions when I mouthed off, back to failing grades and protests. It was half-way through the year. January snow blanketed the ground as we who had gone home for Christmas returned. Technically, some off us didn't go "home," but the idea was the same. I felt like I went home.
Weeks went by slowing. Calenders turned. I continued to receive low marks, which often landed me in detention. Against my objections, I had now started being... tutored. Oh, how I hated that word! Tutors were for stupid children who didn't understand their work. Two out of the three classes I was failing purposely, and the other.. Well, I understood it, but nothing worked for me when I tried it. I could say, think, and move my wand perfectly, but instead of turning my pig into a desk, the pig would somehow become an exact scale model of Hogwarts. Impressive, yes, but not what was wanted. The grading process is wonderful, isn't it?
More days went by. February came. I had heard nothing of Percy except for the shell he'd given to me that had captured his voice. Harry grew more and more suspitious of Draco by each passing day. He grew more suspitious of me, as well. Again he began to doubt my alligence, but every time I reminded him of my loyalties to not only him, but to my family, also. As long as there were family, real, loving family, of mine on his side, I would be on his side. Tonks, Aunt Andromeda, Uncle Ted, Dad. All of them were my family. But yet, Draco and Narcissa were on the other side and my family. I kept the last part to myself.
The toll of February days continued. It was nearly half-way through the month. Dad's rejection of Tonks really took its toll by now. Her eyes had rings about them and she always looked as if she'd just been sobbing. Her hair was still mousy and brown, but now, she'd given up brushing it for the most part. All-in-all, she looked awful. I knew Dad felt horrible about it, but I wasn't quite sure he felt as badly as she did. Poor Tonks. On the twelve of the month, I received the summon I'd been dying for. Scraper, my pet falcon (long story why I had a falcon instead of an owl) brought me a letter. It was wonderfully written on the outside, so I ripped it open, craving its message more than air.
"Dearest Sophia," my letter read, "It is Thursday on which I right to you. Saturday is, of course, Valentine's Day. I request your presence at my home around four of clock into the evening. My address is enclosed in this letter. Getting permission to leave Hogwarts shan't be difficult; everyone around school grounds knows I am worthy of trust and shall have you returned to school before curfew. I await your presence. Love, Percival Ignatius Weasley."
I clawed through my belongings with me for a paper and something to write with. When the preceeding were finally located, I scribbled down a response.
"Dear Percy," I wrote, "You write with really big words and proper terms, y'know that? But that's besides the point. (See diagram.) I would love to! Can't wait to come! Love, Sophia Lily-Joanna Lupin. P.S. Why are we signing with our full names?"
I folded it up tightly, squished it into an envelope, kissed it gently, then gave it to my lovely falcon.
"Now, Scraper," I said to the beautiful bird, "This letter is important. Don't tear it up in your talon's, all right?" I kissed his head. "Good boy. Now, off with you." Scraper oblidged and took flight. I watched him go and sighed in a happiness as I thought of Percy, a happiness only surpassed by actually being in his presence, his warmth, his arms. ******__________________________________________________________________________________________________________