I know that last chapter was pretty long and boring, but I just needed a place to start. the other chapters won't be like that I promise! :(
Good morning. Huh? Get up .No. Get up! NO! Wake up, Willow! Go away, I'm trying to sleep! Willow! WHAT?! You're putting yourself in danger. Someone can be standing right above you this very second about to kill you!
Noticing this I quickly jerk my eyes open and scramble up to a sitting position. I rub my eyes hard and blink for a couple of times before letting out a long yawn. I must have been gripping my wand really tight because I opened my fists to find the red and raw. Iwipe them on my pants, while stealing glances of potential predators before me. Amazingly not a single warrior tried to murder me in my sleep, but then I realize that I had set up an enchantment to prevent them. Feeling proud of myself, I start to hum and tie my shoelaces. But it still seemed peculiar. Someone was bound to come and find me right? Or else these games would be much too simple. I soon return to humming, and not before long I notice something rather beautiful. Something was humming along with me, the harmony to the song, so I look up in the sky in sign of a bird. Then I see that the humming stopped along with mine. I start again suspiciously, waiting for the bird to chime in, and sure enough it did. But as I listen more intently, I recall fact that I established yesterday afternoon. My stomach plummeted with anxiety; there are no birds here.
With a racing heart, I turn my body around to discover my answer, and nearly fall backwards in shock. Starring at me is a girl and a boy warrior, both smirking. The second part of my duet must have come from the girl. She elbows the boy next to her.
"I told you it would work." She says, laughing. The boy laughs along with her. So this is what I'm up against, two sick pranksters. No big deal. I grab my wand, stand up, and point it at their faces.
"Expelliarmus!" the girl shouts and my wand flies out from my grasp and into hers. Her smirk grows wider. I stand rooted to the ground, to shock to react. Merlin, how did they get past my barrier? I was certain that I would be protected!
"How did you do that?" I blurt out. They look at each other and raise their eyebrows, signaling looks as if I'm mental.
"You're a witch, aren't you?" she asks hesitantly.
"I'm talking about getting past my enchantment!" I snap at her. She looks only about a year or two older than me, around the age of seventeen or eighteen, with flawless skin and not a trace of blood, dirt or sweat on her face. I have to force myself to stop gawking at her.
"Oh, that? That was really weak. I bet you weren't concentrating hard enough." she says simply. My tolerance for her is slowly disintegrating. I look at both warrior in front of me, planning my next move .
"So what are you going to do with me now? Kill me?" I snarl, doing my best to keep the shakiness out of my voice.
The girl hesitates. "Actually, we were thinking about-"
"Because I won't let you!" I yell and next thing I know I'm clawing the girl's hand open, raking my nailS against her flesh. She yelps in shock and pain, struggling to keep the wands out of my reach. She lifts me over her shoulders, and from the corner of my eye I can see the boy advancing on me. I thrash and kick to worm my way out of the situation, my options are clearly limited without a wand, and I'm not going down without a fight. The boy barely even touches my arm before I growl, "Get away from me!" I have a feeling that this is going to be my uncertified catchphrase. Right as I was about to bite his hand, a sorrowful look clouded his eyes.
"Stupefy", he says calmly.
I feel the curse hit my neck, and a rigid sensation flows through my veins. Shock absorbs all feeling after that, and all my senses are muted. I can see darkness caving in on my eyes. Being stunned is peculiar. You have no sense of direction, time, feeling. All a wizard can do is think. So that's what I do; think. Okay, calm down, Willow, control yourself. I try rolling my eyes at my own pun, but to no avail. Once I become mobile again, I'll trick them into giving back my wand, we Slytherins are born clever. I reassure myself that I'm going to escape. Now if they would just bring me back! I wonder how long it's been, fifteen minutes at least. Wait, stunning jinxes don't last that long! What's happening to me? But just right then I instantly come back onto the world. I gasp for air and cough a bit. Lying face up , I roll onto my stomach and stand up swiftly, jerking my head to the voices. Suddenly I am pushed into a chair and ropes strap me in. I let out a scream of frustration while writhing about the chair for some time. I stop shortly after noticing where I am: the Hogwarts library.
I stare in disbelief. They said the portkey would take us to a secret location! Not where we started! The back of my eyes become slightly moist. The Ministry can't make us kill each other I our own home. That's barbaric. Stop being soft and pull yourself together, Willow I scold myself. Two figures leisurely appear out of the aisles of books. My capturers. They both have books in their arms, glancing through them coolly as if I am invisible. Finally the boy pulls his nose out of a book and takes notice of my glares.
"Oi! Rhea! She stopped." He calls to the girl, and my heart skips a beat. His voice. It's…it's mesmerizing. It has a faint glisten to it, and it radiates good nature. My eyes immediately soften to take a good look at this boy with the astonishing voice. He has messy light brown hair, and his irises are the color of a dusty emerald. His face is slightly scarred, and the blood and dirt stand out against his fair skin. I certainly don't remember seeing him around school, then again I usually just stick around in the common room. I can feel the awkwardness building between us so I shift my gaze away. The ginger haired girl pokes her head out of an aisle and smiles.
"Well, there's a good girl!" she mocks a high pitched tone of a mother cooing her child. I raise an eyebrow, unimpressed with her antics. "Now that we have you settled," she continues but in her normal voice, "you're probably wondering why the Merlin we kidnapped you and forced you into a chair…with restraints." She adds. I roll my eyes successfully and scoff. But even I can't deny that I'm curious.
"Since when did mandrakes talk?" Sarcasm has always been a signature characteristic of mine. The boy chuckles, I suppress my urge to smile.
"Quiet. We have wands remember? And last time I checked you don't have yours."
"Gee, I wonder why…"
"Stop being a sore loser. We won a fair fight."
"Fair? I hardly consider two against one a fair fight."
"Maybe your school doesn't but at my school, three against one is a fair fight." She brings herself up to her full height.
"I didn't know that The Academy of Egotistical Witches were in this competition, did you?" I turn to the boy expecting a smile, but instead I got a hard glare. He obviously didn't think that was a cunning thing to say. Still, I'm too annoyed to care.
"If we weren't in such a dire need of you right now, I'd finish you off. But until that moment comes, I'm stuck with you." She says. In need of me? So I'm valuable to them. This is just too good to be true. Now if only I know what they want…
"The pleasure's all mine." I reply blandly, "Why in Merlin's baggy 'Y' fronts do you want me to help you?" I question. The girl simply smiles and waves around her wand. I guess I have no other choice. She registers my understanding and pulls up two chairs in front of me, her and the boy sit down and face me with intent stares. They want something from me, badly.
"What?" I snap impatiently. The girl looks to the boy for help, as if she has no idea why I'm needed.
This time the boy replies. "Is it true that you can produce a Patronous Charm?" They are both staring at me so intently that my guard drops.
"Er-yes?" I say uncertainly. This was not the question I was expecting. I've only done it a few times, just to see if I was able to. And only a few people know I can, only Slytherins.
The girl sighs loudly and faces the boy and says in a rushed whisper, "I thought you said she can!"
"She does! He told me she can!" he hisses back. Who's he? Kellan?
"Are you sure Parkinson is to be trusted?" Of course it's Kellan. That cowardly snitch.
The boy starts to get frustrated, "Yes! I forced it out of him!"
"Prove it." It took some time for me to realize that she was talking to me. When I finally looked at her, she was drumming her fingers impatiently on the edge of her chair. This is my chance to find out everything I can.
"Tell me who you are first." I say defiantly. Who am I about to show my talents to? Can I trust them? The girl hesitates, but then gives the boy a look that says "Might as well". She straightens up in her chair and clears her thought. This should be good, I muse.
"I am Rhea Weasley, and I go to Beauxabatons." Another Weasley? I though they all came here. It certainly explains the red hair, but not the clean outfit and school. As if she is reading my mind, or my expression, she says, "I'm representing the Delaclour family." There was no mistake of pride in her voice. No wonder she's flawless. I heard that the Delaclour's are part veela. But that means her dad is Ronald Weasley's brother…but which one? How many are there again? I dismiss the question because I honestly don't care. Once a Weasley ,always a Weasley, and being a Malfoy just got more awkward. So in order to cover it up, I face the boy.
"And you are…"
He squirms a bit in his chair and bites his lip. He obviously looks uncomfortable, like he really doesn't want anybody to find out who he is. Rhea nudges him in the ribs. "It'll be fine." I hear her whisper to him. The boy nods quickly and takes a deep breath. He stares at me, and there is no mistaking the amount of honor in his eyes, and in his voice when he speaks.
"I'm Albus Potter, and I'm from Hogwarts."
What?! Harry Potter's son? In front of me? Merlin I was not expecting that! I don't know how to react. Do I fake a smile and then hate him? Or do I just attack him now? Oh I can't wait until I have the chance to-
No. No, I'm not like him. That was years ago, and he's a much better person now. I'm not going to be like my father when he was in school, when he did-things to Harry. I'm different and I'm not defined by my father's actions from a while ago. I am not going to disgrace my father by repeating his mistakes. I am going to make my father proud. I love him. But I doubt Albus will be as open minded as me, after all Slytherins and Gryffindors are constantly battling. Once he finds out that I'm a Malfoy, it will be over. I need to gain his trust first.
"So you two are like, cousins?" I ask, hoping they won't ask me my name.
They nod and smile. Then Albus says, "So who are you?" Great. Just what I wanted. I raise both eyebrows and try to play off a 'Isn't it obvious' sort of vibe. They both catch it and Albus presses on, "Can you at least tell me what house your from-"
"Are you going to let me out of here or not?" I whine, trying to divert their attention of me. It works because they exchange glances at each other.
"Diffindo." Rhea says after pulling out her wand from her pocket. The ropes are cut and my hands and legs are free. I rub them hard and flex them about, making a big deal of my release. I stand up and stretch up while I yawn, trying to buy as much time as possible. I don't know if I'm ready to do this yet. I'm caught off guard because rhea shoves the end of my wand in my stomach, causing me to double over. I glare at her some more.
"Hurry up! We haven't got all day."She snarls.
I grab my wand and I almost want to sing to it that's how much I missed it. Unfortunately there is no time for that. I have to focus on my happiest memory. My life isn't dull and harsh, despite what rumors have said about being in the Malfoy household. But not everyday has been filled with rainbows and unicorns either. We lie somewhere on the middle. Just like every other family. And every single time a produce my Patronous, I think of the same memory.
I was about eleven and it was a cool July summer morning at the Manor. I was eating breakfast with my mum and we were having a conversation about getting a dog. I was tired of the white peacocks that roamed around the grounds, they were agitating. I could never play with them or cuddle them; they proved useless. So I really wanted a dog at the time, so badly that I asked every morning, just to see if she changed her mind. It was still always the same answer, "We will see, darling." Annoyed, I went back to my toast when my father came into the room, with the family owl, Jude, on his shoulder. He was smiling, something that he rarely did in those days.
"I think Jude has something for you, Willow." He said, with such a caring nature in his voice. The barn owl flew off his shoulder and landed on the table, envelopes in his beak. My mum made a noise, she usually never permits animals on the table, but I guess even she was in on the surprise. I took the envelopes with curiosity, and I went through them looking for one addressed to me. Sure enough, it was the last one, it had emerald green writing on it, and I felt a thick wax stamp on the back. I slowly opened it up, dragging out the letter and gingerly opening it up to read it. It was my Hogwarts acceptance letter. I smiled so big that my cheeks hurt for the rest of the day. But my smile was just a line compared to my father's. He came over and sat across from me, next to mum, and he looked at me with the proudest eyes in the world.
"Congratulations, darling. You are officially a witch now. You are going to love it there." His eyes then clouded with something I couldn't recognize back then as regret. He just looked sad to me, so I rushed over to him and gave both my parents a hug. My mum ran her fingers through my hair, and my father bent down and whispered in my ear, "You are going to be the greatest witch Slytherin has ever seen." And by the amount of pride and affection his voice had, it felt like that was what I was destined to be. Then he gave me quick kiss on the cheek, and my memory stopped there.
I hadn't realized that two people were still watching me, so in order to preserve the fleeting moment of happiness, I shout "Expecto Patronum!". A wisp of silvery substance sprouts from the tip of my wand, and right before my eyes, a fox cub leaps in midair circling around the room for a few seconds before disappearing into the silvery fog. I let out my breath and look to my judges, waiting a sign of approval. There expressions are priceless. Rhea gasps out loud and her mouth is hanging so wide it's almost laughable. Albus just looks dazed, but impressed all the same. Once the show stopped, they face me with eager eyes. Rhea is the first to speak.
"You were right Albus, you were right." She repeats. "That was bloody fanastic!" She squeals in delight. I can't help but smile. Maybe she isn't so bad after all. Albus's dazed expression hasn't left his eyes as he turns his attention to me.
"I think that was the most incredible thing I've ever seen." He comments. Rhea and him share looks of agreement before smiling at each other. Relatives. "What did you say your name was again?"
"I never did, but it's Willow." I answer, smiling.
"Willow…" he repeats as he tests the name out. "It's pretty. Unique."
"Thanks." I reply lamely. Another awkward silence erupts. From the corner of my eye, I can see Rhea roll her eyes. I hope she doesn't suspect anything.
"Well, I think congratulations are in order! So congrats, and welcome to the club!" Rhea beams. If someone were to tell me that I was going to make an alliance with a Weasley/Delaclour and a Potter two days ago, I would have sent them to St. Mungo's. But know that I'm looking at it, I can't see this any other way.
Please review! i am willing to look over any suggestions seeing that this is my first Fanfiction! Please don't be to harsh! and btw next chapters is going to be much more interesting! :D oh, Rhea is Bill and Fleur's kid, not George's (who I think is Victoire)
~HSDC