A/N: I'll try to keep it real short and simple. Since seemingly my author notes go on FOREVVVERRR! Well, in my opinion anyway.
SO, I went to the One Direction Concert (if any of you care), AND THEY'RE SO MUCH BETTER LIVE! I brought my cookies and the security guy was like "no food allowed." And I said "Well, can you give it to them then?" "I don't see them." "Oh…" –Looks at cookies- -Hands it to my friend's mom who drove us- "Well, sometimes I see them and sometimes I don't." Well, thanks for telling me that AFTER I gave the cookies to a disappearing mother, Mr. Security Guard. :(
So, no. One Direction did NOT get my cookies that I spent three hours to make. :( It's okay. I'm not too upset.
REVIEWS:
Maximilian Robespierre: I'VE NEVER GOT A REVIEW FROM YOU! YAY! Your name is Ariana? Then I will try to refrain from killing her off. It just gives me a joy you know, to kill characters. (I'm kidding. For all you people who think I'm a psychopathic killer, I'M NOT!) AND THANKS FOR READING AND ENJOYING IT! –Cheeky smile-
MissHaleyBlack: HAHAHA! No, you weren't making unrelated connections. Well…you already know that now… So, I guess I don't need to tell you that… BUT GOOD JOB! XD
MixandMingle: HAHA! It's okay if you don't remember why you call yourself that. No big deal! Yes. I hate it, absolutely HATE IT when she killed Sirius. I wanted to strangle her with her hair. Sirius is my favorite character EVER. I hate that she killed him. But I'm glad you're happy that I sort of brought her in.
THAT'S IT FOR THE REVIEWS! HERE'S CHAPTER 22!
Chapter 22
"Bellatrix," he had said. The name echoed around in my head. 'Bellatrix Lestrange' my head responded immediately, 'his cousin.'
"Bellatrix Lestrange," I whispered, not seeing my surroundings, but remembering when she was in my head. The name felt foreign to my tongue, but not my mind.
"Was it her?" he asked softly, touching my arm. Before I could answer, Lily burst through the large Hospital Wing doors. Sirius removed his hand quickly from my arm while Lily came up to me. I gave him a quick confused look.
"They said you could've been paralyzed! Can you feel this?" she asked pinching my leg, hard.
"OW! LILY!" I cried. She frowned at me.
"That's for letting yourself be under the imperious curse-"
"That wasn't my fault! I have no control over-" I interrupted.
"AND for making us worry sick! PLUS, making me be Sirius' caretaker for a couple of days! James kept saying 'Sirius can take care of himself, pumpkin. You don't need to.' And I was flabbergasted that he called me a pumpkin. 'Do I LOOK like a pumpkin to you?' I asked him. He looked flustered…and he looked cute flustered…and so he just went to calling me 'Evans' again. Which is neither cute nor endearing in any way. So I told him to just call me pumpkin then. And he started blubbering about how I told him not to call me pumpkin! And I don't want to take care of Sirius every time something happens to the both of you!" she finished ranting. I stared at her.
"Both of me…?"
"YOU AND JAMES!" she yelled. Then she clucked and fretted over me as Sirius and I exchanged looks. 'She's stressed' he mouthed. 'Obviously' I mouthed back.
"Are you guys having a silent conversation about me?" asked Lily with her hands on her hips.
"No-o-o," we both said suspiciously. She raised her eyebrows as James came through the door lazily. Completely unlike his girlfriend did a few minutes ago.
"Oh hey! You're not in a coma!" said James.
"No-o-o, really? I just thought I was this whole time until you just said otherwise," my words dripped with sarcasm. He narrowed his hazel eyes at me and then broke into a smile.
"Hey Bitsy," said James to Lily. She looked at him.
"Bitsy? Really?" James looked away from her and towards me.
"What you did there was so creepy and cool at the same time!" exclaimed James.
"I was under the Imperious curse…"
"Well, if you think about it THAT way, it's sort of scary… But if was like out of a-a-a- what was that thing you took me to last week?" asked James turning to Lily. Her face looked blank.
"You know, with the screen and the seats and the people trapped?"
"Are you talking about the movie I took you to?" asked Lily.
"RIIIIGHT! Movie. That's it," said James. Lily and I rolled our eyes and Sirius looked confused.
"What's a movie?" he asked. Lily and I burst out laughing as James tried to explain to Sirius what a movie is. He explained it like this: "See, there's this huge screen where they trap people who have to change their appearance all the time and have to put on shows for the humans but you can only see one show… And their 'special effects' are lame…"
"So, it's like theater?" asked Sirius.
"THEATER IS NOT LAME!" I cried. They ignored me and continued their conversation.
"Yeah! Except have you ever been to a muggle theater?" Sirius shook his head no, "They have painted on scenery instead of ACTUAL scenery!"
"Why would anyone want to see that?" James shrugged.
"Beats me," he responded.
"Okay, now you're insulting my culture," I said crossing my arms. Lily nodded.
"What?" asked the two boys innocently.
"So, what were you guys talking about when I got in here?" asked Lily looking at Sirius and I before I could go on a rage about muggle theater.
"Uhhh…" said Sirius looking at me, not knowing what to say. I decided it'd be better to tell Lily the truth.
"About who put the Imperious Curse on me," I said.
"I have a pretty good idea who," said Lily scornfully (I was surprise, usually Lily tries to find the best in people), "Carley." I shook my head no.
"Then who?" asked Lily, feeling guilty about accusing someone who she should have tried to forgive, her green eyes so wide I thought they were going to pop out of her head. Before I could answer, James interrupted with a, "Why do you keep a knife in your shoe?" I looked up at him, surprised.
"How did you know that?" I asked warily.
"Well, when you were under the imperious curse you took out the knife from your shoe and then spun around and stabbed Professor Dumbledore in the shoulder."
"I DID WHAT?" I buried my head in my hands. I killed the headmaster! Okay, I injured him. I'm going to be expelled! OH! I can't be EXPELLED! I looked at Sirius. I can't be expelled…
"Don't worry," said Madam Pomfrey, popping up out of nowhere, "I fixed his wound. It was like it was never there. Though he was bleeding profusely…"
"It was like a waterfall!" piped Peter. Wait. When did he get here?
"So, when I saw the knife, it got me thinking. Why is she carrying it around? In her shoe no less? Why not use your wand? Why did the person who put the curse on you not use your wand? Why the knife?" asked James, his hazel eyes thoughtful…for once. Okay, now I was just being mean. He had good questions. And I only knew how to answer one of them.
"I've had the knife ever since I came back from…finding out. About you guys. Ever since I got this," I said tracing my scars across my face, "I was just using a muggle view on it. Figuring if I had a knife it would protect me better."
"But, why did whoever cursed you, use the knife and not the wand?"
"Beats me."
"Who DID curse you?" asked Lily.
"Bellatrix," whispered Sirius. Lily looked at him in alarm.
"Your cousin?" she asked. How did everyone originally know that she was his cousin and I didn't know until she went inside my mind?
"That would make sense… The craziness and creepiness. But then, do you think that she killed Grace?" asked James. There was silence. We didn't know what to think.
"Grace…" I whispered.
"You didn't miss the funeral," consoled Lily, patting my shoulder. I sighed in relief.
"Were we invited?" I asked.
"Everyone who knew her is allowed to come." Now, I just had to wait. Lily told me it was in a couple of days. But I kept remembering what Bellatrix was doing to my head.
"Ah. A Mudblood. Filthy. Mudblood. The Dark Lord wants to get rid of freaks like you. You shouldn't even HAVE magic," she said. I mentally shook. She was scary. I didn't like her. She poked around in my brain.
"Mudblood. Mudblood. Potter. Mudblood. Mudblood. Are all your friends mudbloods? They're breeding like rabbits!" She laughed maniacally at her joke.
"My friends deserve to have magic like me. We were born with it. We belong in this world," I said slowly. I finally saw her. Thick dark hair with thin lips, heavy-lidded eyelids with long eyelashes, and a strong jaw. She looked like Andromeda, Sirius' cousin. The girl roared after hearing my thought.
"I LOOK NOTHING LIKE THAT HALF-BLOOD!" she screamed in my mind. My mind cowered from her. I wanted her out. Get out! GET OUT!
But she didn't. She poked around in more of my memories. She made me relive my torture that Carley had given me, calling her very loyal to the Dark Lord.
"Voldemort isn't going to win, you know," I mustered up the strength to say. I felt her stop. I felt her get angry.
"DO NOT SAY HIS NAME! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY HIS NAME YOU FILTHY MUDBLOOD!" she screamed, "I'm more powerful than you know, Fayre. And when I meet you, you'll die. So, pray that we will never meet." Her voice went soft. It was scarier than when she was screaming. Then she came up to more memories. Memories and memories of Sirius Black. When I first met him, how we laughed together, but most importantly, how I felt about him. And how I always have.
"You're in love with that blood-traitor." She laughed at this, "LOVE? That muggle-lover isn't capable of real love. He's a Black, whether he admits it or not. And no one can love a Black like him. And he can't love anyone else. You're a fool. A mudblood fool. Love will just be the death of him. Of both of you," She said as she was disappearing and laughing maniacally, I felt pain shoot up my back. And then, numbness.
I blinked remembering as we walked to the burial ceremony. My back was healed. I only remember some things that my body was doing outwardly. Like the clock.
It was like a train of black. Everyone was wearing black. And because her mother was a muggle, it was a muggle funeral where you couldn't use any magic because then the mother's side of the family would freak out. Her brother, Adam, was greeting people. So was her older sister, Matilda.
"Hey Lily, Fayre, Sirius, James, Remus, and… Oh sorry! What was your name again?" asked Adam.
"Peter," said Peter. Poor Peter.
"Oh. Thanks you guys for coming here. I think she'll miss you guys the most," said Adam.
"Yes. Thank you. We really appreciate it," said Matilda. There were tears in her eyes. She and Grace looked like twins. With the same curly copper hair but Matilda had dark, deep brown eyes.
"I heard you recently got married…" said Lily to Adam. He smiled weakly.
"Yeah… To Marlene. That's the last time I saw Grace," He looked away and up at the sky.
Marlene was a petite blonde with big blue eyes. She reminded me of Carley. But she looked completely different from Carley. She had an innocent look about her. And she kept staring at me. It was unnerving.
"Hi, I'm Marlene. Thank you for being such good friends to Grace. I wish I knew her better," she said. She glanced up at my face again. She wasn't focusing on my face, she was focusing on my scar.
"If you don't mind me asking, oh this is terribly impolite, but how did you get that scar?" My hand immediately flew up to my face. I had forgotten about it till recently. Marlene flushed.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't mean to make you uncomfortable," she said apologetic. I shook my head.
"Oh no, it's fine. I've just… forgotten about it. It was an…animal…accident…" I said slowly, glancing at Remus.
"I see. I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable," she said following my gaze.
"It's fine," I said quickly as I walked away from her. She seemed bright. She would find out if I stayed any longer.
… … … … … … … … … … … …
Christmas holidays were over. And for that I was glad. It was really tense at home. My parents had heard about all that had happened to me at Hogwarts and they were seriously thinking about pulling me out, which I refused to let them do. Which made them blame each other. It was January. And my first day back, there was already something bad going on. Lily handed me the Daily Prophet.
"I think this is better if I give it to you…" she had whispered. I looked at it. The headline was "McKinnon sister, Matilda, dead."
A/N: This is sort of a filler chapter… I'm having a bit of Writer's Block. (HATE THAT!)
Enjoy Memorial Day Weekend! :D
REVIEW!
XOXOXOXO,
Innocently Beautiful