Blood Ties
Part 8
Rating, summary and such are same as before.
Note 1: Thank you Joahn for beta reading the story!
Note 2: I had forgotten to tell u guys the answer for the
question in Part 6. Remember the password Willow used for her room?
0.693147180 (Well, it should be 0.693147181, but it's closed enough.
Who cares about the .000000001 anyways? I myself remembered the number
as 0.69314718... sorry. Babbling. Going on...) The number is actually
the answer of In(2). So there. ;p
Note 3: Sorry that it took longer and longer to update the
story. I've just moved house so no internet, my exam's coming and
assignments are a bh. Anyways, I'll try to update as soon as I can.
Bare with me? (:very non-puppy puppy eyes:)
"Hm..." Willow stood in the middle of the Gladrags Wizardwear, a pair of bright red socks with a strawberry scent on her right hand and a pair of sharp orange socks with an orange scent on her left. She looked between the two, frowning, before turning towards Mr. Shacklebolt who was standing behind her. "What do you think?"
"Ah..." Mr. Shacklebolt looked between the two pair of socks, a drop of sweat appeared on his forehead. How did you choose between two equally bright colors, fruit smelling socks? "Why don't you buy both?"
The redhead witch looked between the two pair of socks again. "Okay." She smiled and skipped her way towards the counter. It was the first time in the redhead's life that she had ever gone shopping for clothes. Her mother used to send her new clothes that were out-dated and two sizes too large - which only caused other students in school to tease her more. After she had arrived at the wizarding world, Mrs. Malfoy had a tailor coming to the mansion measuring her for all her clothes and robes, giving the redhead no excuse to shop for clothes herself - something she had wanted to do for quite some time. Granted, she was only shopping for socks, but it didn't take her away from experiencing the joy of 'clothes shopping' that the redhead had overheard so many times from those popular girls at school.
"Ouch." Willow blinked when she suddenly felt something bumped into her leg. She looked down, and found a brunette around five sitting in front of her, her eyes pinning on the half eaten lollipop on the floor, sobbing. The young redhead immediately bent down. "Are you alright?"
"Oh my God, Kennedy." An older brunette appeared from behind the two and kneed in front of the little girl, checking all over her for injuries. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" She then shoved the little girl up into her arms and turned towards Willow angrily. "What on earth did you do to my daughter?"
"I... I didn't..."
"Mrs. Wayne." Mr. Shacklebolt stood beside Willow. The older brunette eyes widened, obviously recognized the man in front of her. "I believe your daughter ran herself into Ms. Slytherin."
"Ms. Slytherin?" Mrs. Wayne whispered, her eyes turning back towards Willow, all color drained from her face. "His daughter?" She turned towards Mr. Shacklebolt and mouthed, looking for confirmation, only to receive a blank look from the Armor.
"I ah..." Not noticing the fear look on the older woman's face, Willow's hands reached for the pocket underneath her robe and pull out a bag of sweets she had bought earlier in Honeydukes. Quickly opening it, she took out a lollipop, and handed it to Kennedy. "Here. Have mine."
The brunette held out her hand to accept the lollipop when her mother took a step back, her eyes narrowed at the lollipop, as if expecting it to turn into a snake of something. "No t-thank you, Ms. Slytherin." She turned and nodded at Mr. Shacklebolt. "We better go." Without waiting for a reply, the older mother particularly ran out of the shop with her daughter in her arms.
Willow blinked for a second, processing what had just happened, before it finally hit her. "She knows, doesn't she?" She asked quietly, putting the bag of candies back into her pocket. "She knows who my father was, that's why she was so scared." Paused. "That's why she ran. She thinks I would hurt her."
"I'm sure it is not the case." Shacklebolt said.
"Isn't it?" Willow asked painfully, staring at the adult. "Just like the reason that the Minister sent you to guard me is not because I'm his daughter?" The redhead shook her head, and moved towards the counter to pay for her socks, not bothering to wait for the answer. She knew whatever Mr. Shacklebolt's answer was, it would never change the fact that everyone in the wizarding world was afraid of her - of her father. "We should go. Draco's waiting at Madame Puddifoot's."
Shacklebolt stared at the young witch for a moment, before nodding and followed her out of the shop.
Once the other third year students left for Hogsmeade, Harry went looking for Professor Lupin, and the two of them had gone to the bridge in between the two higher towers of the castle, enjoying the beautiful view of Hogwarts. "Professor, can I ask you something?"
Professor Lupin turned and smiled warmly at his student. "What or why did I stop you from facing the boggart?"
"Yes sir."
"I had expected that the boggart would assume the shape of Voldemort." Harry's eyes' widened when the Defense of Dark Art professor did not fear to speak the Dark Lord's name out loud like other professors. "I didn't think it was a good idea for Voldemort to materialize in a room full of students."
Harry nodded, accepting the explanation. "I did think of Voldemort at first." The youngster said quietly. "But then I remembered that night on the train... with the Dementor."
"I'm very impressed. That suggests what you fear the most is the fear itself. It is very wise."
Harry looked at Professor Lupin for a moment. "Before I fainted," he swallowed. "I heard something. A woman... Screaming."
"Well, Dementors are supposed to bring up our very worst memories. Our pain becomes their power."
Harry leaned towards the railing, his eyes turned towards the green hills surrounding the castle. "I think it was my mother." He whispered. "The night when she was murdered."
The professor studied Harry for a moment. "You know, the very first time I saw you Harry, I recognized you immediately. Not by your scar, but by your eyes. You have your mother's... Lily's eyes." Harry spun around, surprised. "Yes. Oh yes. I knew her. Your mother was there for me at the time when no one else was. She was not only a gifted witch, but she also had a kindred soul."
The professor continued. "As for your father, James, was ah... shall we say,a talented trouble-maker?" Harry grinned. "Talent that had passed onto you." Professor Lupin smiled warmly at him. "You really are like them, Harry. Time will come to see just how much."
After the third year students had returned from Hogsmeade and finished the Halloween feast, Harry and the gang slowly made their way back to the dormitory. "What's going on?" Buffy frowned when they reached for the stairs towards the portrait hole and found a group of Gryffindors gathering there, watching and waiting for something.
"Maybe there's a funny thing?" Xander asked excitedly, and immediately received strange looks from his friends. "I'm going in." He announced, before squeezing himself through the groups of students towards the dormitory door.
"Neville probably forgot the password again." Ron commented.
"Hey!" Everyone turned, and found Neville standing there, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"Oh. You're here."
The Gryffindors turned towards the front again when they heard a voice cut through in the air. "Excuse me! I'm head boy! Get back! All of you!"
Buffy smiled excitedly when she recognized the voice. "Oh! Oh! Pushy Weasley strikes again."
Every one giggled at Buffy's comment except Hermione. "Shouldn't you say anything?" She turned towards Ron and asked.
"Like what?"
The brown haired witch frowned. "She's making fun of your brother." She pointed out.
"My pushy brother, you mean."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Percy is not pushy. He is just..."
"Stuffy?" Buffy provided.
"Pain in the ass?" Ron added.
"Bossy?" Buffy supplied again.
"Boring and uptight?" Ron said.
"Very..." Harry added. "Not us?" The gang spun around and stared at him. "What?"
"Oh my God. Harry made a funny joke!" Buffy laughed.
Harry smiled and shrugged. "Just telling the truth."
Xander chose the exact moment to squeeze himself back towards the gang. "The Fat Lady, she's gone!"
"What?" The gang turned towards the dark hair boy and blinked.
Buffy took a step forward towards the dark hair boy. "What do you mean? Gone?"
"Gone! Boom! Poof!" Xander waved his hands in the air like a madman.
"Boom?" Ron turned towards Harry, both looking at each other, confused.
"Poof?" Buffy blinked, her face turning red as she remembered the time she used the same word on Giles, and how clean her step-father's glasses had ended up when he tried to explain the other meaning of that word to her. "Bad word Xander! Bad word!"
"Move everyone! Move!" Filch shouted from the bottom of the stairs as he followed Professor Dumbledore towards the entrance of the Gryffindor dormitory. "Headmaster's here."
Every student immediately moved aside to let the headmaster pass through. The gang took the chance and made their way to the top of the stairs, and gasped when they saw the huge gaps in the middle of the painting - gaps that were clearly made by claws - very sharp claws. Professor Dumbledore's hand slowly traced the claw marks, before he turned towards Filch who was standing behind him. "Mr. Filch! Round up the ghosts!" The headmaster's eyes narrowed as he started looking around. "We're going to search every painting in the castle. Find the Fat Lady."
"No need for that professor." Filch sharp eyes narrowed as he pointed at the painting at the far end of the other side of the wall. "The Fat Lady's there."
Professor Dumbledore rushed towards the painting Filch was pointing at followed by the students. He stopped when he reached the painting, his eyes softened when he saw the ghost hiding behind a huge coach in another portrait, shaking badly. "Hey..." He called softly. "Who did this to you?"
The Fat Lady slowly peeked up from behind the couch. "It's him Headmaster!" She sobbed. "The one they all talk about! He's here! Somewhere in the castle! Sirius Black!" She shouted, her head disappeared behind the coach again.
The headmaster's face hardened. "Secure the castle Mr. Filch! The rest of you! In the Great Hall!" Everyone started moving towards the Great Hall. Harry stared at the portrait the Fat Lady was hiding in, a frown on his face.