Blood Ties
Part 25
Rating, summary and such are same as before.
Note 1: Thanks for everyone's reviews. Hope you guys will like this part too. :)
Note 2: Huge huge thank you to Joahn for beta reading the story!
Xander pulled Harry to the side again before dinner, telling him that he had made a mistake and Harry should just forget what he had said. Harry did not care though, just as he did not care the tension that still existed between Hermione and Ron since the Firebolt was taken away by Professor McGonagall - at least not at the moment. Right now, all he could think about was Willow, the redhead who was now lying on the bed in the hospital wing.
Despite Giles' reassurance of Willow's safety, claiming that it would not be wise for Harry to see Willow until at least the people from Ministry had left, the Boy-Who-Lived could not wait that long. That was the reason why he was now covered by his father's Invisibility Cloak, making his way towards the hospital wing.
Reaching the corridor that was leading to the hospital wing, Harry halted when he saw Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape walking in his direction. "Does the Minister still wishes to impose a house arrest on Slytherin?"
"No." Dumbledore shook his head. "Now that the attacker has been killed, the Minister has no ground what so ever to stop her from taking classes." He paused and turned towards Harry's direction, causing the young Gryffindor to hold his breath. "He did require that Willow not leave the hospital wing or have any contact with other students until the Ministry can be sure that Holtz had no accompanist."
"May I be so bold, headmaster: the Minister has no real concern on Slytherin's safety, only to make sure that he does not get the blame; it was been the Minister who assigned Holtz to be in charge of Slytherin's transportation, despite knowing that it was You-Know-Who who murdered Holtz's whole family, giving him an opportunity to attack Slytherin. If we had not insisted Shacklebolt to go with them..."
"The most important thing is that Willow is safe now." Dumbledore said, and resumed walking as he move passed Harry. "The Auror that is supposed to guard the hospital wing has already left, and the Ministry should be able to clear everything up by Friday. I do hope someone will remember to bring Willow the schoolwork she has missed though; you know how she loves her studies."
The Potions Master sent the headmaster a confused look but said nothing, instead following him down the corridor towards the other side of the castle.
Harry quietly opened the door, and slipped inside. There was no one in the room except a figure lying on the bed at the far end. Looking around to make sure that there was no one in the room, he closed the door, uncovered himself from the Invisibility Cloak, and made his way towards the figure.
Willow was lying on the bed, and even from afar, Harry could see the tension all over her face. When he was about three steps away from the redhead, a pop could be heard in the quiet room, and a house-elf suddenly appeared in front of the black haired boy. "You shall not harm my mistress!"
To say Harry was surprised was an understatement. "Wh-" Before he could get a word out, bright light flashed from the fingertip of the house-elf, and a sheet of thin ice covered the youngster from head to toe, freezing him on the spot.
"... a mistake..."
"... freak..."
"... kill you..."
"... bargaining chip..."
"MURDERER!"
Willow's eyes shot open. Slowly, she blinked, trying to clear her blurry eyes as she turned her head a bit. She blinked again when she saw two figures not far away. It was Buffy the house-elf and... "Harry?"
"Mistress!" Buffy stared at Willow with her wide hazel eyes. "You're awake!" She squealed, jumped onto the bed, and gave the redhead a super-bear hug.
"Eepp!" Willow's squeal matched the one from the house-elf earlier when she found herself being hugged in a way that seemed to be targeting on squeezing all the air out of her lung. "Buffy? O-oxygen becoming an issue."
Buffy looked up but did not let go of the redhead. "O-C-jump?" She blinked in confusion.
"A-air."
"Oh!" The house-elf immediately let go of Willow and jumped off the bed. "I'm so sorry, Mistress! Please forgive me-"
"It's okay, Buffy. And please don't call me Mistress." Willow pushed herself up, ignoring the pain on her legs and turned towards the black haired Gryffindor. "Har- Harry?" She frowned in confusion when Harry did not reply. "Harry?"
"This is your friend, Mis- Miss Willow?"
Willow narrowed her eyes at the rather sheepish look on the house-elf face. "What did you do?"
Buffy squealed again, and waved her hand. Immediately, Harry blinked. "What the-"
"Harry?"
"Willow?" Harry looked at the redhead, and then back at the house-elf. "You!" He pulled out his wand and pointed at Buffy, and the house-elf immediately ran to hide behind Willow.
"Harry! It's okay!" Willow called out before the Gryffindor could start attacking Buffy. "Buffy won't do that again, will you Buffy?"
Buffy looked at Willow, then back at Harry, and nodded. Her hazel eyes shinning with such tears and remorse that it had caused Harry to do a double take. "I'm sorry, Master Harry. I though you were going to hurt Mistress."
"Mistress?"
"She means Miss Willow." Willow sent a look at Buffy before turning back towards Harry. "She is my house-elf, Harry."
Harry thought for a moment. "From your mother's family?" Willow nodded. "Oh... okay. So..." He sat on the chair next to Willow's bed. "How are you?"
"Okay. The legs hurt a bit... but I think I'll be fine." The redhead then looked out of the window, then back to Harry. "Hey, isn't it already passed curfew?"
"Yeah. I just wanted to see you..." Harry blushed. "Is that okay?"
It was Willow's turn to blush. "More than okay." She whispered.
Harry slowly reached for the pale hand on top of the blanket, and held it in his own. "Professor Giles gave it to me earlier." He held out his other hand, showing the ring in his palm.
"My Claddagh ring!"
"He was worried that the Ministry might see it." Harry explained. "Can I..."
Willow's face was as red as her hair as she nodded. Harry held up Willow's right hand, and put the ring back on the redhead's figure. "Thank you." Willow whispered, and the Gryffindor and Slytherin stared at each other, their hands connected.
Their moment, however, was quickly ended as Buffy asked, "Miss Willow, are you sick? Your face is all red."
Harry quickly let go of the hand, even though a huge grin appeared on his face, as was Willow's. "I'm fine, Buffy."
The black haired boy blinked for a second as a question suddenly hit him in the head. He turned towards Buffy, then Willow, then Buffy, then Willow again. "Buffy? Her name is Buffy? A house-elf named Buffy?" He asked, and received a confirm nod from the redhead.
Harry blinked for couple more seconds, his brain running overdrive trying to process that particular information. He once again turned towards the house-elf, staring at her rather small frame and big hazel eyes.
He giggled.
Loudly.
Buffy jumped onto her bed, her head buried into her pillow as she sighed. Turning around, she stared at the ceiling, her mind half wondering about the conversation she had with Xander this morning.
Suddenly, an owl flew above the blonde's face, and landed the young Gryffindor a small jewelry box along with a letter - right onto her nose. "Ouch!" She sat up and growled, rubbing her nose as she sent a glare at the owl. "Stupid owl."
The owl was about to fly out of the window when it suddenly changed direction and went back towards Buffy. This time, the owl did not hand Buffy a letter or a parcel, but its dropping - right on top of Buffy's head. "Hey!" The blond was about to scream, but stopped herself at the last minute as she remembered her sleeping roommates nearby. So instead, she chose to do the second best thing. "Damn-" She halted when the leaving owl changed direction again. "Damn cute! You're so damn cute!" She amended. The owl changed direction for the third time, and flew out of the window, disappeared into the night sky.
"Damn bird." Buffy cursed when she was sure the owl had left. Looking down at her lap, the blonde picked up the parcel, the droppings on her head temporarily forgotten, and opened it. It was a red gem on a golden necklace. "Oh pretty!" She grinned, setting down the jewelry box, and opened the letter. But the second she spotted the first line of the letter, she sat up, squeezing the letter into a ball, and threw it across the room.
The young blonde stared at the ball of paper at the far side, her eyes narrowed at it as if daring the ball of paper to jump up and attack her. But after some time, she stood from her bed and marched towards the ball and picked it up. "I'm gonna regret this." She whispered herself, unfolding the paper and started reading.