Chapter 9: Ripped Love

See? I told you I had two chapters done. :) And this one is extra long and stuff. :) Enjoy!

"Oh friend
Why you so shy?
Ain't like you to hold back
Or hide from light
I hate to turn up out of blue, uninvited
But I couldn't stay
I couldn't fight it
I hoped you'd see my face and be reminded
That, for me, it isn't over

I wish nothing but the best for you, too
Don't forget me, I beg
I remember you said
Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead"

-Someone Like You by Adele

"I watched you die
I heard you cry
Every night in your sleep
I was so young
You should have known
Better than to lean on me
You never thought
Of anyone else
You just saw your pain
And now I cry in the middle of the night
For the same damn thing"
-Because of You by Kelly Clarkson

(A few days later...)

Nanda's POV:

There was my father. Not my dads, my biological father. I may have learned who he was, but that didn't change anything between us. There was no sudden obligation to find him (or rather his grave), nor did I really even care much about him. He wasn't much of a father anyway. What kind of person would kill themselves when they had no one else to care for their son? Did he even care about me? Probably not. And so I didn't care for him, either.

His hair was so light brown, like mine. His tan eyes were so much brighter than I had ever seen them. He stood next to a woman. She had blonde hair, a short stature, and lovely green eyes. I immediately understood her to be my mother. She wore a beautiful smile, little black ballet flats, and a pink summer dress with the slightest bump over her stomach. It wasn't like I expected her to be skinny, but the bump was out of place (and not a baby bump). They laughed at nothing and just enjoyed each other, much like my dads did. It was such a lovely sight to see, two people so deeply in love. It seemed like it would never end, and their love would go on for eternity. But, of course, I knew it couldn't.

My father's smile faded and his face turned serious. "Venus, I've been thinking…"

The woman smiled and replied sarcastically, "Oh really? That's lovely. I suppose your brain must be exhausted."

"Venus, I'm serious." The woman's playfulness left and he continued. "I feel terrible for keeping this from you for so long, but you have to understand that I had to pick the right time for it."

"Right time for what? Morsus, what are you talking about?"

"I'm a wizard, Venus. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. That's why those weird things happen around our son. He's a wizard, too." He cupped his hands around hers.

The woman, Venus, had a confused look on her face. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

The man, Morsus, sighed and released her hands. "Watch." He pulled a wand from his pocket and pointed it at vase that held roses. "Wingardium Leviosa" The rose lifted into the air and floated over to Venus. Her eyes widened as the rose floated just in front of her, and she took it from the air. Morsus lowered his wand. "I'm sorry I never told you. Don't be angry with me."

Venus looked to him, and dropped the rose. She held a distinct look of fear, like a rabbit when a wolf is near. She stumbled backward, away from the rose and Morsus, almost tripping herself. "You're…you're…"

Morsus put his wand away and took a step towards her. "Venus, please understa-"

"No!" She yelled, moving backward once more and hitting a table. "Don't come near me! Y-you…you freak!"

"Venus, love, I'm not a freak. I'll never use magic again if you don't want me to, but I wanted you to know that our son will need to be taught." He gestured over to a small basinet with blue and white decorations off on the other side of the room. I could see my little hands trying to reach the speaker that was playing some sort of lullaby. The mobile above me had little animals on it, and they waltzed along to the music.

She shook her head, sending blonde strands of hair out of place, and a tear came from her eye and rolled down her cheek. "I can't love a freak. You're not human!" She yelled and turned away from the man. He reached out a hand and caught her before she could leave. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" She pulled her arm away and ran out the door.

Morsus stood in the room, still as a statue, until he finally collapsed onto the floor, tears running down his cheeks, and his tan eyes sad, much more like I recognized, as he realized what had just happened. His love had run out of his life, and she wasn't going to come back.

The minutes passed, and he never moved from that spot, still crying; 30 minutes, then 40, then an hour. I started crying, high pitched and whiney. He never moved, nor even flinch. The animals above me stopped dancing, and began to shake around violently. A lion was sent flying, as was the giraffe. And I could feel the pain of hunger in my stomach. Why wouldn't he do something? It wasn't hard to care for a newborn baby, as long as there was formula and diapers. Really, I had been very entertained by myself for a while, but I couldn't fend for myself yet. I was a baby! What on Earth was he thinking? I was going to starve to death, in my own filth.

Another hour passed, and I cried myself to sleep, the hunger pains never really leaving me. The man was lying down on the floor, curled up in the fetal position. The sun outside set, and it was dark now. The night settled around the room, and the absence of lights caused everything to be so much less visible. He murmured to himself about her coming back, but I knew she wouldn't. I understood that was the end, and now was where his horrid pain started, and mine as well.

But mostly mine.

Someone knocked on the door, and the man didn't make any effort to move. "Hey, Morsus. It's Hirm! I saw Venus leave. Is everything alright? Morsus?" He knocked louder, waking me up once more, my screams twice as loud. "Morsus? Morsus!" He yelled, against the loudness of my wails. He stopped a moment, then rammed the door, which almost fell in on itself easily. He turned the lights on and looked around the room and found me screaming in my basinet. He picked me up carefully and tried to shush me, but I would not quiet. He scanned the room again and found the man on the floor. "Morsus" he said. "Are you alright?" The man on the floor did not reply. Hirm looked me over like I was a foreign language. His black hair and slim nose made him look like the kind of guy who would befriend you just to take your wallet, but his calm grey eyes contradicted that.

He placed me back into the basinet and reached into his jacket, pulling out a wand. A blue light ran over me as I cried. After it went away, Hirm sighed in relief. "Only hungry" he told himself. He looked around the room for something to feed me, but I could already tell he wasn't going to find formula; I was much too young. He shook his head and picked me up again, and we apparated away, leaving behind the man on the floor to wallow in his own pain.

I pulled my head from the pensive. I wasn't exactly sad about what had happened. It was more of pity, mixed with horror. I understand how horrible it must be to lose someone you love, but I was something he loved, right? Was I not as important to him as she was? It was a horrible thought. I looked over at Grandpa Snape, who looked to me, waiting for my reaction so he could gauge it and calculate his response, and then to Aunt Hermione, who was biting her lip, looking like she was watching someone kick an innocent puppy. I felt angry at the man who was supposed to be my father, but would I really change what had happened? My life now was much better than it would ever have been there. Even if the man hadn't killed himself, he never would have been fit to care for me properly.

I merely shrugged. "I guess he cared for her more than he cared for me. But I'm glad that other man took me away."

Grandpa Snape laced his fingers together in his lap. "He took you to his mother, and she cared for you that day. He told her he had been asked to babysit, but that you had started crying the moment your parents left. His mother taught him as much as she could in such a short time. And he took you back, coming to check on you every day until your father finally got himself together enough to feed you. Still, he only did so once a day, spending most of his time hurting himself, and then healing the wounds. It wasn't until you were three that someone came and removed you from there, after Hirm found your father dead. You would have gone with him, was it not for the fact that he refused you."

Aunt Hermione sighed and put her hand on my shoulder. "It really is awful. I know you didn't want to see it, but it helps you know where you came from." She took her hand off and reached behind her for a book, flipping open to a page that released dust throughout the room. I wondered, unintentionally, what Vanan would think it smelt like. Her finger traced down the family tree, from my name, to the name of my father, and then to his father, and finally to his father's father. "Your great grandfather has an interesting history. He…uh…" she sighed again and flipped to a different page. "Apparently he had an affair with an Erlking. The product was your grandfather. Since he was a wizard, he altered his wife's memory to think that she had him. Your grandfather was considered a criminal, because he would seduce women and lead them to their death, but that was just his Erlking heritage. He was said to have a lovely voice, and he could 'make the waves dance along' to whatever he was singing. He finally had your father, who was a quarter Erlking, but didn't show any signs of it." She closed the book quickly, releasing another cloud of dust that made me sneeze. "Sorry."

I looked to Grandpa Snape, who still held his look of studying. I felt (more or less) like a specimen under a microscope; they could my every cell, and all I could to do was blur the glass. Of course he knew how I felt, but I tried my hardest to try and make it seem like I didn't feel it so strongly as I did. My great grandfather was a cheater and a liar. My grandfather was a monster. And my father didn't care for me in the least. More and more, I felt like I would only miserably fail under my dads' expectations. There was nothing to amount to with such a poor family history. Everyone would see my ancestry (of my biological family and my adopted family), and question how I would turn out. They would doubt me, and the pressure would build, and I would crack like an egg. No human could stand that sort of pressure.

"We think," Aunt Hermione started once more, "that the Erlking genes only show up every other generation, since you may show a sign of it. Or that it may be every other, and your children will show definite signs of it. We won't know until you tell us more about how you think your talent for music works."

The music inside me slowed, but still pushed against my hands with the same amount of force. I nodded to Aunt Hermione, then looked to Grandpa Snape. "I don't really care about it anymore." With that, I reached for the portkey and ran my thumb across the wolf. A tube sucked me into the air and placed me back in the hills I loved so much. I raised my hands to the trees, and finally let the sad melody leave my body.

The wind ran across my face, filling my ears with a beautifully haunting breeze. Tears ran down my cheeks, and a dark cloud came into the sky. The leaves rustled and swirled in a small circle on the ground as the cloud finally released its heavy burden, sending water to the green grasses, and soaking my robes. Yes, I knew I would be in trouble for this. And it wasn't that I didn't care, for somewhere deep in my mind, I did. But something had come over me, and I didn't think (for once). I wanted nothing more than to let my sadness overtake me, but my music forced me to continue on. The wind howled and leaves splashed around in puddles as I moved my arms across myself wildly, trying with all my might to control the beast that had freed itself. It was quite frightening, but it was my music all the same, and I let it flow like I always had.

The last gusts of wind sounded, and the dark clouds parted to reveal the yellow sun. The leaves landed softly on the wet hills, and they silenced. I lowered my arms and stood looking out to it all. A hand was on my shoulder and I turned to see my dad there, a look of concern in his red eyes. I hugged him hard and buried my head in his chest, finally letting my own dark clouds of rain release their burden of water. I wanted to go back to school, but I missed his warm, comforting arms. I had two fathers who actually loved me. And that was more than enough to fix the damage my previous one had made.

3rd Person POV:

Hermione sighed and shook her head. "We tried to do this lightly" she said, staring at where Nanda had been.

Snape stood and crossed the room to his window. "I knew we would not succeed in being gentle with him," he turned now to face her, "but he did need to know of his lineage."

"But he left before we could even explain to him why he needed to know. He may be in so much danger, and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it, or even know before it's too late." Hermione was a bit panicked. Nanda was no less than a nephew to her, and she couldn't stand if something happened to him.

"He is a smart boy, Hermione. After he has come to terms with it all, he will come looking for that answer. He is, after all, a Ravenclaw. The first in his family, you said?"

"Yes. His father was a Hufflepuff, and his grandfather was a Slytherin. From there, they are almost all Hufflepuffs, with a few exceptions of Gyffindors."

Snape nodded. "I see."

Hermione bit her lip a moment. "Are you sure he will question why before his life is at risk?"

He sighed. He had just asked himself the same thing before Nanda had arrived in his office. He hated himself for taking such a large gamble, much like Dumbledore had done with many others, but obviously there was no other choice at this point. "As I said, Hermione, he is a smart boy. If he does not question us about it, he will find out for himself. Much like his dads did in their Hogwarts years. He is more powerful than he would ever know, and not only because of his Erlking heritage. He has learned his basics in magic from the two most powerful wizards in the world. I have little doubt in him."

"There is little doubt, not no doubt." Hermione said simply.

"There is always some doubt, no matter what it is. They said it is going to rain later tonight, but I look outside and see how bright the sun is. Not even a cloud in the sky. It makes it harder to believe them sometimes, by looking at what is before us." He looked out the window. The sun was, indeed, bright and sunny. Perfect weather for the weekend. He could see several kids outside, riding brooms, or chatting, but all enjoying the nice weather.

"But will it rain tonight, then?" Hermione asked.

He let the faintest of smiles come over his face as he saw a fight starting near the lake. One boy had pushed the other, and the other was backing up. A small crowd was gathering. If nothing was done, surely it would get so much worse. "We will not know until the time comes." And then he disapparated.

Hermione was confused a moment until she looked out the window and saw him walking over to the crowd of students. He pulled them apart and looked to the one who had pushed the other. She sighed and turned to leave his office. She had papers to grade.

Bellatrix Lestrange's POV:

No matter how I looked out the window, I saw him. There was nothing that would remove him from my mind; not sleep, or killing muggles. Nothing had the same feeling it had when he told me to do it. There was nothing I longed for more than his silky voice, his cold, slim fingers curled around his wand, and pointed at his prey, is snake-like face glaring at it with such evil. I would admit that I missed the Dark Lord I had once known; his power, and evil, unmatched, and his lust for blood so similar to my own, almost like we were meant to be side by side and take the world together. But he was dead. And Potter was at fault.

I would make him pay for turning Lord Voldemort like he had, and taking him from me. He would tremble before me as I hit him with every possible form of torture possible. I would watched the light leave his eyes, and drink the blood that poured off of him, and pour salt over his wounds, and keep him close enough to life just to continue torturing him, until he would die from it all. Then I would avenge the Dark Lord, and nothing would stand in my way from achieving his goals. The world would tremble beneath me, and I would make sure every last muggle would suffer the same fate. I imagine the world in flames, nothing being able to stop us, having the power to do as I wished, every pureblood trembling at my feet…

Travers stepped into the room, and he pointed his wand at me. I instinctively grabbed my own and matched his stance. What on Earth did he think he was doing? I was his new leader, his Lady of Evil, and here he was, showing his disloyalty. I would have to teach him a lesson. "What do you think you're doing?" he said.

"Protecting myself against traitors. Lower your wand or I will make you regret ever returning." He hesitated a moment before he lowered his wand and relaxed his stance, but I did not. I could already imagine how lovely his body would look covered in blood, and how it would shake underneath me as he begged for forgiveness…

"I'm sorry, my Lady. I have forgotten my place. I only came to ask why we are planning to attack."

"Because I ordered us to attack, and I am your leader."

"But, my Lady, we don't have nearly enough forces to do any real damage, much less succeed in battle. We need more time, and planning…"

"No. We do not." I said through my teeth. I lowered my wand and looked to my left forearm, where my Dark Mark once was. Once Voldemort had died, it had vanished. Now we had a new one right over it, or course, but I never forgot the original. A hawk now stood there, wings spread wide (from the distance of my inner elbow to my wrist), standing on a bloody corpse of a snake. I was tempted to call another to "assist" me in helping this poor fellow in learning his place, but thought better of it. While I may have wanted nothing more than to see him in pain, he was right about our numbers; we could not afford to lose anyone. Not yet.

"But we will lose the battl-"

"It is NOT a battle." I huffed and let my tone fall to something quieter. "It is a more of a mission. Antonin planned it, not me. If it were up to me, I would have sent you all to kill them much earlier."

"A mission, my Lady?"

"Yes," I purred. "We are going only to take something, and then we are going to leave. It really is that simple." I looked back out the window and saw the pale face I had once loved that had risen from a cauldron.

"What exactly are we taking?"

I turned back to him. How completely incompetent of him. "Crucio!" He fell and withered on the floor. It gave me a rush in my mind to watch him in such pain. I smiled evilly and continued the spell until he started to scream. I released it reluctantly, wishing nothing more than to continue. I walked over to his limp and barely breathing body and lowered myself onto the ground of Malfoy Manor to whisper into his ear. "We will take the one thing that may keep them both from fighting. The one who will be the air we need. The one thing that will leave the world at our mercy."

"Th…the…" he struggled.

"Yesss, The Grey."

Scorpius Malfoy's POV:

It seemed a decade before Nanda finally met me at the lake. I was sitting against a tree, looking out to the sparkling waters, when I heard footsteps rustle the grass. I turned to see him walking towards me, a sort of defeated look on his face, with complementary puffy eyes. He obviously was not happy about something, but I wouldn't bother him about it. I hated when people bothered me when I was like that.

"Hey, Nanda. You're late."

He sighed. "I know. I'm sorry." He plopped down next to me and I took the moment to study him some more.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Of course," he said. "I already promised you I'd do it. Plus, that is what friends are for. I'm not going to let you do this alone."

"Well, we can save it for another day. If you need some time or something…" I was far from saying anything comforting, though I dearly thought I should.

"I'm fine." He looked up at me, his oddly light-brown-and-dark-green eyes looked at me.

It occurred to me that he had called us friends. I smiled a bit. I actually had a friend. "Alright then. Let's get started." I stood up. "The book said it would be a long and difficult process, but how hard could it really be for the both of us? We're practically wizard prodigies."

Nanda laughed and pulled the book from inside his robes. "You better thank me for getting this book. It was in the restricted section."

"I'll thank you after we use it and put it back."

He opened it up to a bookmarked page, and began to read. "To begin the process of becoming an Animagus, one must first be able to feel what sort of animal they might be, and be able to transfigure anything into that animal."

"How in Merlin do we know what animal we are going to be?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe there is another section on it. This is just the introduction…" he flipped through some more pages, first backwards, and then forwards once more. "Here." He pointed to the page. "You can never be sure of what your Animagus will be until after you have transformed into it. However, it is possible to make an educated guess of its general likeliness by spell. The Classification charm (spoken Razza genere) is used on animals to know what sort of animal they may be if it is unknown. A slight alteration on this charm (Razza hominus) has been known to be close enough a guess to successfully aid in Animagus training."

"Seems easy enough." I pulled out my wand and pointed it at Nanda. "Razza genere" and nothing happened.

Nanda laughed. "Well, it's obvious that I'm a human. Let's go find an animal whose breed we may not know."

And I had a great idea. "Got it." I said. "Let's go to Hagrid's."

We didn't have to walk far before we saw his hut. It was a rather small hut, considering all the animals he probably had inside (and I could smell the place from where we were). Through his small window, we could see Hagrid inside, making tea and caring for a sort of monstrous plant that was by the window sill. It concerned me how he could care for so many odd creatures.

Nanda knocked on his door, which I had barely realized was before us (since I was lost in thoughts about air fresheners). There was some scuffling inside, and then the door opened. "Ah, Nanda, Scorpius. Nice ta see ya. Wha' be bringing you two 'ere?"

"We were reading this lovely book we found in the library," Nanda started. "and we found a spell that reveals what creature something may be if no one knows. We wanted to test it out on some of your animals."

Hagrid nodded. "Alright. Only as long as ya don't tell old Sev 'bout 'em. He'd have 'em long gone 'for I could even blink." He stepped aside to let us in, and so we went. "Good timing. I just made some tea. Would ya like a cup?"

That awful smell wasn't the animals; it was the tea. "Uh, I'm fine, Hagrid. None for me." I looked around at the various animals that were covered hastily with sheets, of which Hagrid removed after we entered. How such creatures could pass for furniture was beyond me. One in the corner looked like it could easily rip my arms off, with it vine-like arms covered in odd spikes of some sort.

"I'll pass too. Not much of a tea-having kind of day for me." Nanda looked about the room, then set his gaze back to Hagrid. "Can we try it then?"

" Uh course ya can. 'ere, use 'is 'un. I don't really know wha' it is muhself." He pointed at a creepy sort of thing in a cage beside us.

Nanda pulled his wand from his robes and cast "Razza genere." Small sparkles of light escaped from his wand and circled the creature, which bit at them like they were food. They finished dancing, and then flowed to the little blank plaque on the cage. I couldn't see what they were doing, but Nanda read out "Niffler. What on Earth is a Niffler?"

Hagrid smiled. "They's used for huntin treasure, that they is. Beuty." He pointed to another one behind us. "Now this 'un."

It was an odd looking bird that just looked at me with large eyes. I lifted my wand. "Razza genere." The sparkles that circled the bird frightened it, and it vanished a second later. The sparkles then stopped and floated to the floor. "Diricawl" I read.

"Dat 'ad ta be the fahest Diricawl I ever did see…" Hagrid mumbled to himself.

"Alright. Well, we can both cast the spell just fine." I said.

"Thanks. We'll see you later Hagrid. I want to read up on some other spells to try." Nanda smiled and waved to Hagrid as he walked towards the door, and I followed close behind him.

"Sure. Any time, Nanda, Scorpius."

The moment we were out of his ear shot I said, "One thing accomplished."

Nanda scoffed. "Yep. Only about a hundred more."

:) Good plot starting up. Please review! I would love some kind of feedback to make my stories better if possible. M'kay thanks!