Blood Ties
Part 12
Rating, summary and such are same as before.
Note: Thank you Joahn for beta-reading the story:)
Harry was walking across the courtyard when suddenly a flash of gold appeared at the corner of his eyes. He turned, surprised to see a Snitch hovering in the air, and then even more surprised when he saw Willow racing down on a broom and caught the Snitch. "Willow!" He called before the redhead Slytherin could fly away.
"Harry!" Willow turned and smiled, and reached back down onto the ground.
He looked up and down at Willow's Quiddtich outfit. "Training?" He nodded at the Snitch in the redhead's hand. "Don't know you're trying for Seeker."
"Oh no." Willow shook her head. "I'm just playing around." She paused. "So... um... how are you?"
"Brilliant." Harry flashed Willow a grin. "Buffy and the others decided to stay for Christmas. We're going to decorate the common room together. How about you? We haven't been talking for a while."
Willow nodded. "I wasn't sure if you are still willing to talk to me actually." She admitted.
"Why?"
"You must have heard about it, right? I mean, the whole school knew about me and Xander..." The redhead paused again. "I mean, you two are friends so..."
"From what I heard, he was the one who started it."
"I'm still really sorry though. I don't know what came over me..." Willow looked down ashamed.
"Willow, it's okay." Harry smiled at his friend. He took a step closer to Willow, covered the redhead's hand with his own. "Trust me."
Willow quickly returned the smile. "I do."
The two of them stared at each other for several seconds before they noticed how closed they were and blushed immediately. "Ah..." Harry cleared his throat. "Hey! You're going to stay with Dumbledore this Christmas, right? We can practice Quidditch together! And it will give Xander and Ron a chance to know you better!"
"Actually... no." Harry's face dropped immediately. "I'm going to my mum's place."
"Oh." Paused. "Wait. Your mum's place?"
"Yeah. My mum... well, my mum's family actually. They got this huge mansion near Ben Nevis. I figured I should go have a look."
"So you're staying with them? Is Dumbledore going with you?"
Willow shook her head. "I am the last of the Rosenberg's blood. The house has been emptied since my mum had left Scotland. I heard there's a bunch of house-elves working there though." Willow shrugged. "And Dumbledore won't be going. Mr. Shacklebolt will take me there and come get me when the holiday ends."
"But that means you'll be alone on Christmas!"
"Won't be the first time." Willow shrugged. "Jewish, or well, pretend Jewish?" She frowned. "Do they have Jewish witch? Like 'Jewitch'?"
"'Jewitch'?" Harry mouthed.
"Yeah, like only use Hebrew spells and stuff? Do we have spells in Hebrew?"
Harry stared back at Willow with an equally confused expression on his face.
Harry watched quietly from the second floor as other third year students made their way across the Hogwarts' ground towards the gate. It was the second visit of the Hogwarts' students to Hogsmeade, and as before, Harry was forced to stay inside the castle. Taking a deep breath, he put on his resolve, and ran towards his dormitory.
Quickly hiding himself under the invisible cloak, Harry quickly made his way towards the gate, hoping that he could catch up with other students in time. Suddenly, Fred and George showed up, and to Harry's surprise, the twin arms suddenly shot out, successfully grabbing him into his arms and dragged him back into the castle.
"Guys, let me go!" Harry cried out.
"It's clever, Harry." One of the twins said.
"But not clever enough." And the other continued.
"Besides, we've got a better way."
"Guys! Don't!" Harry struggled. "I'm trying to get to Hogsmeade."
"We know." The twins said at the same time.
"Don't worry."
"We'll get you there."
"Let me go! C'mon guys! Let me go!" Harry continued to struggle as the twin dragged him towards a dark corner.
"Now Harry, come and join the big boys." One of the twins said, and the two redheads finally let Harry go.
Harry threw his invisible cloak back onto the floor and stared at the twins angrily. "What are you doing!"
"Shh!" The twin on the right said, before the one of the left handed Harry a folded worn piece of blank parchment.
Harry looked down and frowned. "What's this rubbish!"
"What's this rubbish, he said." One of the twins snorted. "That rubbish is the secret to our success!"
"It's a wrench, giving it to you." The other one said. "But we've decided your need is greater than ours." He turned towards the other twin. "George, if you will." He smirked.
George, the twin on the right, drew out his wand and pointed it onto the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Harry's eyes widened as he watched ink appeared from no where and spread out from the middle of the parchment, forming words right across the front page. "'Misters Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs: Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP'?" He blinked.
"We own them so much." George smirked.
Harry opened the parchment. "Hang on... this is Hogwarts! A map!" He frowned when he found himself staring at a map - a map with moving dots and names on it. "No..." His eyes got even wider when he saw the dot with Hogwarts' headmaster's name on it walking down the corridor at the other side of the castle. "Is that really-"
"Dumbledore."
"So you mean this map shows-"
"Everyone." Fred nodded.
"Everyone?" Harry asked excitingly.
"Everyone." Fred said.
"Where they are." George continued.
"What they're doing." Fred followed up.
"Every minute."
"Of every day."
"Brilliant!" Harry looked at the twins. "Where did you get it?"
"Nicked it from Filch's office, of course. First year." Fred said proudly.
"Now, listen:" George explained. "There're seven secret passageways out of the castle. We recommend this one." The twin pointed at a secret passage on the map.
"It will lead you straight right into the cellar of Honeydukes." Fred explained.
"Oh, and remember." George drew out his wand. "When you're done, just give it a tap and say 'mischief managed'." He tapped onto the parchment. And immediately, the ink disappeared, leaving no trace on it. "Otherwise anyone could read it."
Harry carefully pushed away the huge brick on top of him and peeked over the edge. Finding no one in the room, he climbed out from the hidden passageway and put the brick back, hiding the entrance. Looking around, he found himself standing in a cellar that was full of wooden crates and boxes. Quickly covering himself with the invisible cloak, he climbed up the wooden stairs nearby.
Reaching to the upper floor, he found himself standing inside a busy store, thousand kinds of candies filling the racks around the store. Smiling, he quickly walked towards the exit, grabbing the lollipop Neville was holding on the way and left - leaving his friend watching in shock as his lollipop floated itself out of the opened door of Honeydukes.
"This is meant to be one of the most haunted houses in Britain, did I mention that?" Hermione said excitingly as she stood in front of the gate of an old mansion.
"Twice." Ron whispered, his face pale, and it wasn't because of the cold.
"Nearly Headless Nick said there's a rough crowd living there." Buffy smirked. "Hey! Wanna get closer?"
"Ah?" Xander turned and blinked at Buffy. "Are you crazy? It's the Shrieking Shack!"
"What?" Buffy pouted. "I mean, aren't you at least a tiny weeny bit curious about it?" She turned to Ron for support. "Ron?"
"Actually, um... I'm fine here." Ron whispered.
"Well, looks who's here." The gang spun around and found Draco, Crabbe and Goyle walked towards them. "Doing shopping for your new dream home? Doesn't your family sleep in... one room?" Draco smirked at the young Weasley.
"Shut your mouth, Malfoy." Ron growled at him.
"Woo. Not very friendly. Boys, I think it's time we teach Weasel how to respect his superior."
Hermione laughed. "Hope you don't mean yourself."
Draco's face darkened. "How dare you talk to me! You filthy little mudblood!"
"In case you don't notice, Malfoy, we've got four people while you've got only three." Buffy warned.
"Oh I'm so scared." Draco mocked. "What are you gonna do, Summers?"
Buffy took a step forward and reached into her robe for her wand, when suddenly a snowball came from no where and hit Draco right in his head. Draco immediately looked around, confused that he could no one around them. Another snowball shown up and hit Draco again. "Who's there?" The Slytherin price called out.
Several snowballs came up from no where and hit Draco again. The Slytherin trio stumbled back and looked around nervously, obviously frightened. Draco turned towards Crabbe. "Don't just stand here! Do something!"
"Do what?" Crabbe cried and looked around.
Suddenly, Goyle's skull cap was being pulled down by some invisible force, effectively covering his eyes. Almost at the same time the trousers of Crabbe was loosened and dropped, showing off his flowery pants to the Gryffindors. Hermione and Buffy laughed, watching as Crabbe was seemly being kicked in the butt and stumbled forward, hitting the snowy ground face first.
Draco looked at his friends, his face paled as he watched as Goyle's scarf was being pulled by some unknown force and got thrown onto the ground. The blond boy turned and tried to run, only to fall onto the ground. He tired to push himself up when something grabbed his legs and started dragging him towards the Shrieking Shack. Draco did the only thing he could do - he screamed.
"What's up Malfoy! Scared?" Buffy laughed.
Draco jumped up when his legs were finally free. He quickly pushed away Crabbe and Goyle who were equally scared and ran away, with the other two Slytherin students following right behind him.
Ron and Xander looked at each other, not as amused as Buffy and Hermione at the whole situation. Xander's eyes widened in fear when he felt someone pulling the two fake braids of his winter cap, his legs started shaking nervously. Hermione smiled at the looks on both Ron and Xander's faces. "Har-ry." Hermione called out, rolling her eyes.
Harry pulled away his invisibility cloak at grinned at his friends. Ron sighed in relief before glancing at his friend. "Bloody hell Harry! That was not funny!"
Hermione, Buffy and Harry continued laughing, leaving Ron's continued sighing in relief and Xander's wounded puppy face.
"That Weasel! Never told me anything about the Marauder's Map." Ron complained as the gang made their way back to the main street of Hogsmeade.
Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron. "Harry is not going to keep it. He is going to turn it in to Professor Dumbledore..." She paused, looking at Harry. "Aren't you?" Harry looked down guilty.
It was Buffy's turn to roll her eyes. "Oh sure. Along with his invisibility cloak. Seriously, 'Mione. You gotta stop being so innocent."
"Or boring." Xander said, and immediately earned a smash from Buffy.
Hermione shook her head, half wondering why she even border.
"C'mon. I'm freezing. Let's go to the Three Broomsticks." Buffy suggested, and the others followed her into the inn. Harry couldn't help but giggled when he heard Buffy's rumble. "Stupid snow's freezing my butt."