Hey! Hai! How are you? I'm good, just a little tired. I had 8 reviews for last chapter. Thanks to the 8 of you who reviewed! As for the rest of you… well, I just wont go there. It's not hard to review: you just click the little button and type a bit. It doesn't have to be long, just something. I want to know if you thought it was good/bad, if it made you laugh/cry/angry/happy/depressed or if you like or don't like the way I write or wrote something. Just SOMETHING.
Reviews make my day. I could be having a bad day, and my phone says I got an email, and I look at it, and there's a nice review! Makes me sooooo happy and I'm inspired to write. See how that works?
Anyway, here's Chapter 13. Enjoy!
And I'll take you for who you are
If you take me for everything
And do it all over again
It's all the same
--Sick Puppies
"Dress robes!?" I asked after looking at our school list. "What do we need dress robes for?"
"For formal occasions," Sissy replied airily.
I looked back at our chessboard. Draco's knight was currently bashing one of my pawns. He then proceeded to drag it to the edge of the table and push him off.
"So we'll have to go shopping tomorrow!" Sissy announced gleefully. I groaned inwardly. We had already been shopping at least fifteen times. I was all shopped out.
We hadn't seen Mr. Malfoy since the World Cup because he worked for the ministry and they were very busy right now, and with more than just the World Cup. Draco said something special was going to happen this year, but wouldn't tell me what. He liked to know things when others didn't. I didn't care very much, so I didn't press him.
Sissy rambled on about how she had already shopped all her regular stores and they wouldn't have any new lines until the fall.
"Maybe I'll try some muggle stores," she pondered. Draco made a face. "As stupid as they are, I have seen some very fashionable muggles. Just don't tell your father."
The next day Sissy roused us early for shopping. First was Diagon Alley for school supplies and dress robes. Sissy insisted she pay for my things, too. I was grateful; now I could buy Draco a birthday present.
Draco didn't want to look at dress robes with us, so he went to look at brooms instead. Sissy picked his out. It was black with a high collar and made from velvet. I wasn't too keen on it, but Sissy loved it, so I kept my mouth shut.
My dress robes were a soft yellow with black trim and a black sash. They were simple, pretty, and inexpensive: just how I liked it.
Sissy told me to wait outside while she bought the items.
I stepped out into the sunshine and almost ran into Draco.
"Bloody hell, Draco, you scared me!" I exclaimed as I clutched my chest.
"Oh, well, not my fault you weren't paying attention."
I rolled my eyes.
"Anyway," he continued, "an owl dropped off a letter for you." He handed it to me and I opened it. It was from Burke.
Come see me before you leave.
Burke
That was… short, I thought to myself. I showed Draco who looked as puzzled as me. He told his mom where we were going and we made our way through the bustling Diagon Alley and into the deserted, colder Knockturn Alley.
I maneuvered my way through the streets like an old pro, much to the amusement of my present company.
Burke was waiting for us when we entered. He had a manila folder in one hand and a white box with knife holes under his arm.
"Ello Burke," I greeted and kissed him on the cheek.
"None of that, missy. You'll turn this old bear soft," he chided good naturedly. "I have somethin' for yeh," he said excitedly (well, as excitedly as he could be, anyway) and handed me the box. I looked at it dumbly for a moment before Burke motioned for me to open it.
I took off the lid and suddenly something slithered out and onto the floor.
It was a small white snake with big yellow eyes. I leaned down to look at him. I would never have thought that a snake could look scared, but this one did. He was only a baby.
"It's okay," I murmured, "no one is going to hurt you."
He looked at me for a moment.
"You speak like me," he hissed.
I realized I must have spoken in parseltongue. I smiled and held out my arm to the little snake. He hesitated and flicked his forked tongue out, but decided I was all right and slithered up my arm.
I stroked his scaly body softly. "Thank you, Burke! He's so cute!" I beamed at him.
"What are you going to name it?" Draco asked, speaking for the first time.
I thought for a moment.
"Spoons," I said.
"What?" Draco asked, puzzled.
"Spoons. I dub him Spoons," I repeated.
Draco just rolled his eyes and muttered something about "weird-assed women."
"There's somethin' else," Burke interrupted and handed me the manila folder with slightly shaking hands.
I opened it and pulled out the documents. They were my papers from the orphanage. Why does Burke have them? I flipped through them until I came to the last document. It was a certificate of adoption.
My breath caught and for a moment I couldn't breathe. It said, right there in black and white, that I was now Willow Laurie Burke.
My eyes welled up with tears and I threw myself at Burke, almost knocking him over. Spoons hissed in protest and slithered up to my shoulder.
"Thank you so much!" I sobbed.
Burke patted my back awkwardly. After a few moments, I pulled away and wiped the tears from my face.
"Now no more lovey-dovey stuff. You still work for me, but now I don't have to pay yeh," he said.
I laughed and shrugged. I didn't care.
"Hey, Willow," Draco said excitedly, "this means he can sign your permission form!"
"Oh, yeah!" I realized. "I'll go get it."
Burke signed it and handed it back to me.
"We should get going. Mum will be waiting for us," Draco reminded.
I said goodbye to Burke and we met up with Sissy in Diagon Alley. I excitedly told her what happened and showed her Spoons.
"Um, that's… er…. nice," she had said, refusing to go near the snake.
"Scary people," Spoons hissed in my ear shyly.
"She's actually afraid of you," I whispered to him with a chuckle. "Lots of people are afraid of snakes." He didn't say anything but looked thoughtful. He was a very expressive snake.
Then, because Sissy was dead set on shopping, we went to Gringotts to exchange Wizard's money for Muggle money. I explained three times how Muggle money worked before giving up and resolving to do the paying.
"Don't tell your father," she told Draco again.
A house elf came for our things (I had to persuade Spoons to go with it. He's so cuuute!) and then I called for a Taxi. Sissy and Draco were not keen on Muggle transportation, but I didn't think aparating so close to a Muggle mall was such a good idea.
So we went to the mall, and we went shopping. Draco kept complaining that he was bored, so Sissy gave him money for food and he happily went to the food court. I saw several Muggle girls look at him with interested eyes, but he paid them no attention.
Then, Sissy spotted a Victoria Secret store, and all hell broke loose. Well, not really, but she got really excited.
"They don't sell underwear like this in the wizarding stores," she explained to me quietly. She grabbed everything she liked and placed them in a pile. The employee looked suspicious.
"Trust me, I'd be surprised if she didn't buy everything in the store," I told her, only half joking. She was suddenly very eager to help us.
Then she discovered the lingerie. The sales attendant was surprised Sissy didn't know what lingerie was and explained the purpose of it. The next half hour was spent watching her model sheer, sexy lingerie (she actually had a very gorgeous body). Every time she came out, she was wearing a different piece. She told the girl which ones she liked and sometimes asked my opinion.
She had a black corset top with little pink bows on that pushed up her breasts with matching underwear when Draco peered around the corner to see if we were done yet.
"Oh! Mother!" Draco cried and placed his hands over his eyes. "I'm blind!" he squealed.
Sissy and I looked at each other and busted up laughing. Even the sales girl giggled.
"Well, that's a keeper!" I managed through fits of laughter.
Barely breathing, Sissy went back into the dressing room and changed into the dress she had bought earlier.
"Now we just need to get you a little something," she spoke gleefully.
"Oh, no," I said, but, despite my protests, half an hour later we emerged with a bag full of underwear and lingerie.
We exited the store and, not wanting to take the Taxi again, Sissy had another house elf take our stuff and apparated me and then Draco back to the Manor in a deserted side street.
At dinner, I asked Sissy something I had been holding in all day.
"Sissy?"
"Yes, dear?" she inquired, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin.
"Could you bring me to the orphanage tomorrow? I need to get something," I said.
"Oh, sure," she answered, surprised.
There really wasn't much there, but there was something special I had to get.
We had to take Muggle transportation, much to Sissy's displeasure. She wanted to apparate, but had never been there before. She kept muttering complaints under her breath about slow Muggle contraptions.
I stared out the window to hide my amusement.
The closer we got to the little town, the more my stomach starts to knot up. I hadn't been here in a while. Not properly, anyway.
The town hadn't changed at all. There was the small grocery store, animal shelter, and ruins of the old orphanage.
We finally pulled up in front of the orphanage. Sissy looked at the run down building and decided she would rather wait in the car.
I didn't bother knocking, I just went in. The first thing that hit me was the smell. It smelled like cats and dirt. I looked at the floor; no one had cleaned in what looked like forever and dust coated its surface.
The light was very poor, but I knew my way around well enough. I walked quickly to my old room and grabbed what I had come for: a silver locket with a family crest on the outside, and pictures of a man and a woman, who I presumed to be my parents, on the inside.
I wanted to leave then, but something was wrong. The house seemed too quiet. Eerie, almost. I stroked Spoons' head softly and he flicked his tongue out. He was curled up in the pocket of my vest.
I was almost out the door when the headmistress stepped from her office and blocked my way. Her eyes were unfocused and she swayed a bit. She smelled of alcohol.
"You," she said once she recognized me. "This is all your fault. How dare you show your face!"
She had her finger pointing in my face, but quickly removed it to steady herself on the wall so she wouldn't fall over.
Then it clicked in my head.
"Where are the other children?" I asked. There used to be at least a dozen of us.
"They're gone! And it's all because of you!" she screamed at me.
"Gone where?" I demanded, suddenly afraid for them. If she hurt them…
"Social workers took 'em. Said it wasn't fit to live here. Too dirty, unsanitary." She stomped her foot, which caused dirt to float into the air. She started coughing.
I didn't say anything.
"This…is…all…your…fault," she said between coughs.
She went to grab me but Spoons slithered out of my pocket and up to my shoulder and hissed at her.
She was deathly afraid of snakes.
Her eyes grew wide and she flung herself away from me.
"I knew it! I knew it!" she exclaimed. "You're the Devil's child! I should have left you to die, especially after what that woman said when she brought you!"
"What woman?" I asked. "You told me I was dropped on the doorstep!"
She laughed. "Of course I wasn't going to tell you the truth. It was too bizarre." She shuddered.
"What? What happened?" I demanded anxiously.
"Well, I guess I could tell you now…"
"Tell me," I hissed, sounding very much like Spoons.
She laughed uneasily. "Very well, then. If you really want to know." She paused for dramatic effect, then continued. "Your aunt brought you. She didn't want anything to do with you. She was in such a state. So distressed! She was going to drop you off and leave, but I convinced her to tell me the tale, sure that it couldn't be that bad."
She gave a humourless laugh.
"She said your parents, her sister and brother in law, burned in a fire; the whole house went up in flames! But the weird thing: you were just a baby, barely two months old, and you survived. Everything was burned to a crisp, except you, your crib, and a little patch of wood flooring it stood on."
"No one knows how the fire started, but your aunt wanted nothin' to do with you. She said you was a Devil child, and I suppose she was right," she said, eyeing Spoons. "I tried to stamp the evil out of you, but nothing worked. You're evil! Evil!" She screeched at me.
I stood there in shock, unable to move from the news. Then the headmistress started laughing drunkenly for no reason, and I took the opportunity to push past her and flee.