Chapter 17: Faces to the Faceless

She continued running even after her parents had stopped. Just close enough to hear the conversation, Willow tripped and fell. Her parents had the same argument with the robed figure; only this time Willow could tell it was a woman.

When the blinding flash of green light had subsided, the woman turned and crept towards Willow. She wanted to be brave, to make her parents proud, but at that moment she was paralyzed by fear.

"Your mother, she was a fool, do know that," the murderer drawled. But then to Willow's utter amazement, the figure visibly sagged and let one strangled sob escape. "I had to. I really had no choice. She witnessed me decide to spare two aurors I was assigned to murder to prove my worthiness to Him. That very night, he fell. I came home, hoping I'd never have to face it. But you're mother told me she knew, which was foolish, and of course I feigned innocence. Then the rumors started and I had to commit a murder, your mother wasn't my first choice, in fact I just wanted to run, but he wouldn't hear of it." The figure babbled, trying to stop herself. Willow just starred with wide eyes. Until finally the figure pointed her wand at Willow and whispered, "I'm sorry." Then the pain started. White-hot tears streamed down her face, her eyes burned and her muscles screamed, as did she. But all at once it stopped.

Willow panted and looked at the woman, who was looking around franticly, apparently having heard something. With one last glance at Willow, she turned to disapparate. But Willow caught a glimpse of something. Just before she disappeared, her hood slipped. Willow only saw piercing, cold, grey eyes and waist long, oddly familiar, blonde hair.

"Willow! You have to wake up, come on! We need to finish packing, the train leaves in two hours!" Ginny was frantically collecting her belongings and trying to wake her stubborn friend all at once. Willow got up groggily and headed to the bathroom. She took her time getting ready for she had packed the previous night, unlike her procrastination prone friend.

The last few weeks of term were very uneventful. Ginny and Willow had tried to spend as much time as possible together. The two had relaxed outside on their last few class-free days with Luna.

Willow remembered her most complete version of the nightmare vividly. The eyes of her parents' murderer were haunting her all the while she got ready. The white-blonde hair was horribly familiar too, and not just from the nightmare. She wracked her brains but continued to come up empty. It was maddening how close she was to uncovering the identity of the masked figure, but yet still so far away.

Being so close to the truth also caused Willow to think of several other things. Should she confront the maniac when her identity was finally revealed? Did the murderer actually feel remorse? Or was she itching to finish the job? What was the story she had been rambling on about?

Walking over to her trunk, Willow placed the last of her belongings inside before shutting it. She glanced at the mirror. Her shoulder length brown hair and her short, petite frame were reflected; perfectly normal she looked except for her eyes. She hadn't changed physically over her first year, but emotionally she was almost a completely different person. Her parents' deaths weren't such a mystery anymore, although their lives remained an enigma. Remus had promised to explain all that he could, but she still would never have the entire story.

Sighing to herself she went to help Ginny finish her packing, locating her scattered possessions. Willow was debating whether to tell Ginny about the latest update in her nightmare. Her I-need-someone-to-confide-in argument won out in the end.

"Gin, I need to tell you something." She explained everything, even the being tortured part. She conveniently left out that she had an idea of what the person looked like, however. When she had finished, Willow looked at Ginny, who had a look of concentration on her face.

"You should double check with your godfather, but it sounds to me that the person was a death eater, but there was someone else she was reporting to. You said you heard her say 'he wouldn't hear of it' but that couldn't have been You-Know-Who because he hadn't been powerful enough to give orders. Well, I don't know," Ginny added to her detailed analysis, just incase she was dead wrong. Willow, however, believed that Ginny was on to something.

"Right, well we better head down to breakfast," Ginny said, breaking Willow out of her trance. Together they made their way down to the Great Hall, sitting in their usual seats across from the twins. "Hiya guys," Willow greeted them as she took her seat. The twins just smile mischievously. "What are you doing and should I fear for my life?" she asks. When no answer came she returned to her porridge, which she was now on much better terms with.

Five minutes into breakfast, Willow felt a tap on her head. She looked behind her, and finding no one there, she turned back around to see Lee climbing out from under the table. She glared at the three boys in front of her, all of whom obviously were holding back laughter.

"Ginny, what did they do?" she questioned. Ginny just stared at her with wide eyes. She looked completely lost for words as she opened and closed her mouth several times.

With a small groan of some sort she held up her goblet so Willow could see her reflection. Willow, seeing said reflection, screamed. This caused everyone in the hall to turn towards her and, almost everyone who had, proceeded to laugh. Professor McGonagall stood up to confront Willow, but she wasn't quick enough. Willow had already stood up and fled the Great Hall.

When she was gone, Ginny rounded on her brothers, both of whom looked guilty. "You utter prats! Why would you change her hair purple? In front of the whole bloody school, no less! I hope you're happy now," she screamed, acid dripping on every word. They got up to go after Willow, but Ginny stopped them. "I think she's had enough of you two, thanks. I'll go."

Ginny ran out of the Great Hall calling Willow's name repeatedly. She looked out onto the grounds and checked with Hagrid. She searched several common corridors as well as the library. She scowered Gryffindor Tower and asked anyone she happened to run into. The last person she ran into was Oliver Wood, and he said to check the kitchens. Ginny, thinking this was a rather mental suggestion, took his advice with little hope. Asking one house elf, Ginny was pointed to a small broom closet towards the back of the room. Nearing the door, she could hear Willow's sniffling. Ginny knocked quietly before entering.

"Hey," she greeted. Ginny sat down next to Willow in the cramped space. Willow didn't say anything. She sniffed and tried to stop her crying. Ginny didn't say anything either, knowing Willow would talk when she was ready.

Ten minutes later, Willow had taken a shaky breath, turning towards Ginny. "Hi," she said steadily. Ginny smiled and Willow did the same, if not a little weaker. Ginny looked at Willow's hair. It had George written all over it. He liked to play cruel jokes on Willow, and only Ginny and Fred could tell why, even George wasn't the wiser.

The purple of her hair was the same as her eyes. They were the eyes that had caused Willow to receive so much unwanted attention. Slytherins laughed, Hufflepuffs ogled, Ravenclaws questioned, and Gryffindors praised. Her eyes were a large part of Willow, she coveted them and in turn their unique color. Ginny couldn't remember a day when Willow was not accompanied by something purple. And now, it was her hair. Ginny was confused by Willow's infatuation with the color and for the first time she decided to question it.

"Willow, why do you take so much store in purple? Is there something else it stands for, besides your favorite color?"

"Well, that's just it," Willow began after thinking for a moment. "I can remember tidbits of my past, and it's definitely becoming clearer over time, but there are still things I don't remember, things everyone should know about themselves. When I ask myself 'Like what?' the only things that come to mind are my preferences. My favorite color is just the highest on a long list of things that I should know, but I don't. I feel like it's definite, like the purple of my eyes defines me, and even if it didn't have to be that way, it is, because I let it. And I'm okay with that. Now that it is such a big part of my, 'I know this for a fact' list, it's also a big part of me, of Willow."

Ginny stared at Willow with new found admiration in her eyes. "You know, I think you could give Hermione a run for her money," she said. Willow and Ginny laughed, slowly returning to the hustle and bustle of the kitchen beyond the broom closet. "So are you okay?"

"Yeah, I mean it's the twins being themselves right? I just don't liking being the center of attention and I could always do with less public humiliation. But I'll live. They took it one step too far this time. I really want nothing more than to be furious at them, but I can't. Can I tell you something?" Ginny nodded her head. "Promise me you won't laugh?" Ginny nodded again. "I'm in love with George," Willow finished lamely. The laughter she was expecting never cam instead Ginny screamed.

"Cool! We could be sisters!"

"Gin, Gin! Calm down. I'm only twelve and, sadly, he's fifteen."

"Ah, don't worry about that. The older you get the smaller the gap will feel. When you're 14, he'll be 17, that is completely normal." Willow nodded, agreeing with Ginny's logic. "So you want me to fix your hair?"

"You sure you can do it?" Willow asked skeptically. Ginny waved her worries away and performed the charm, Ginny looked at her best friend, eyes widening and jaw dropping.

"Oh no, what happened?" Ginny didn't give an answer, choosing to hand Willow a mirror instead.

Willow's short, straight brown hair was now several inches past her chest and came down in large ringlets. Her normal brown was now highlighted with the purple previously occupying her whole head. Willow looked at Ginny before attacking her in a large hug. "Oh, Ginny I love it!"

"Well, um, you're welcome," Ginny said very unsure of Willow's reaction, partly expecting to be jinxed any second. She did have to admit that it suited Willow and made her look more herself in an odd way. "You really like it?"

"Yeah, I do! I'm going to start being my own person. I've been so focused on being like my mum that I forgot to be Willow. From now on I'm first and fore most Willow, and secondly Diana's daughter, not the other way around."

Ginny smiled and said, "We better go, the train is leaving soon."

The two ran back to Gryffindor Tower, and collected their stuff before waiting with the other first years in the entrance hall for the boats. "Do you think next year will be as weird as this one?" Ginny asked as they got into a boat with Luna.

"I think it'll be weirder," Willow laughed.

***

"Please forgive us," the twins pleaded. Willow just glared at them, hiding her face behind her book to cover up her grin. It was just so much fun teasing them! She had forgiven them long ago, especially because the prank had lead to her new hair. She had definitely gotten some weird looks as she boarded the train and McGonagall looked like she wanted to give her a detention.

"You are the most beautiful-" started George.

"Intelligent-" continued Fred.

"Wonderful-" George added.

"And amazing person-" Fred continued again.

"We have ever had the pleasure of knowing," they finished together. "Please please forgive us!" Willow smiled and lowered her book.

"Fine, you're forgiven," she said, grinning at them. They both gave her suffocating bear hugs before taking their seats once more. They sat next to Lee who had also apologized; he had seen Willow's wink and left Fred and George to make fools of themselves. Across from them, Willow sat in the middle of Luna and Ginny, the former was staring out the window dreamily.

They sat in silence for another five minutes before Luna turned to Willow and said vaguely, "Did you know your hair got much longer?" Willow nodded with a huge smile. Everyone else started laughing good naturedly, it was just like Luna to ignore the change in color.

"So Lu, what are you doing over the holiday?" Ginny asked.

"My father is letting me write articles for the Quibbler. One for every issue on different creatures!"

"That's so exciting! You'll do great," Willow told her. Luna beamed at her friend.

"What are you lot doing?" Luna asked them.

Ginny shrugged her shoulders. "I'm spending a few weeks with my godfather," Willow told her. Remus had sent her a letter a week before the end of term.

Dear Willow,

I hope your last term finished out smoothly and that you are well . I've spoken to Mrs Weasley and as long as you're all right with it, I'd like you to come stay with me for a couple of weeks over the holidays. If you'd rather stay at the Burrow, that's perfectly understandable, but I do have some exciting news I'd like to share with you in person. Well, that's all for now, hope to see you soon. Say hello to the the twins for me.

Love from,

Remus

P.S. If you do choose to come I'll see you on the tenth of July.

Willow had written almost immediately with her acceptance. She was ecstatic to be staying with Remus and curious to know the surprise was. It must have been exciting if he wanted to tell her in person.

The rest of the train ride passed in a flash and all too soon they were hauling their trunks off the Hogwarts Express. With a promise to visit the Burrow over break, Luna joined her eccentric, slightly cross-eyed father and left the platform.

Willow and Ginny scanned the area for any of the Weasleys. But while she was looking, Willow caught sight of someone she never thought she'd see. It was a tall, slender woman. She had waist long, blonde hair. Willow squinted to see her eyes more clearly and the cold-grey color was scarily familiar. The woman was kissing the cheek a boy who looked very much like her. The woman was Draco Malfoy's mother. The woman was the person who had killed her parents.

Willow gasped audibly. "What's the matter Willow?" asked George from behind her. She shook her head nervously as the woman's eyes connected with her own. Mrs Malfoy looked shocked before hurrying her family towards the barrier. "Are you alright?" he persisted, sincerely concerned.

Willow shook her head once more, stopping the tears that were threatening to fall. "Y-yeah. I'm fine. I just see your parents. Come on, let's go," she grabbed George by the wrist in one hand and took her trunk in the other. She was so confused she didn't notice two things. The first being the butterflies in her stomach and the way her heart fluttered. The second, and much more curious, was the light blush that was evident on George's face for just a moment before it was replaced with a self-satisfied kind of smile.

Tadah!! There you go readers, the last chapter of Never Forgotten, Only Misplaced. The sequel should be up hopefully before September 9th, my first day of school, bleh. So, please review and also answer the poll on my profile. And, I have a new story up, Adventuring in Impracticalities. Please check that out! Thanks so much to my readers, you guys are the best!

~Dino Flavored Ramen