I was leaning against Charlie in front of the Great Hall much to Madam Pomfrey's annoyance.
"I need to treat her. Shes had a Grindylow bite and lord knows what else!" She exclaimed and McGonagall looked at me and I knew she wanted me to decide.
"You can check me out when I'm done, if I'm dead thats my fault." I answered and the twins stifled laughs behind their hands. Madam Pomfrey swung around, not bothering to express her annoyance under her breath.
As McGonagall led the way to Dumbledore's office Charlie insisted on carrying me. I couldn't walk without help with my Grindylow bite as Madam Pomfrey called it and he felt responsible.
"Thats because you are." I had told him with a laugh but he didn't seem to find it funny. I only agreed because it made him feel better and it was faster.
We stopped at a stone gargoyle and McGonagall told him the password (Taffy). We all filed in to see Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were in the room, talking with Dumbledore.
"Damn it." I heard Fred mutter under his breath as Mrs. Weasley spun around.
"Mum… hey." Charlie said, still very frozen.
"Hi Mrs. Weasley." I said with a small smile.
"Casper dear are you okay?" Mrs. Weasley asked coming towards us. She reminded me of Julia back when she was alive. How she would always help me clean up and give me encouragement and how she always saw the best in Ben no matter what he did.
"Oh… oh yeah I'm fine I've been through worse." I answered with a small laugh then turned it into a cough as no one joined in.
"Now does anyone want to tell me what happened." Mrs. Weasley asked looking at the each of her children in turn. Charlie opened his mouth like he was going to speak but I cut in.
"I thought it would be fun to go swimming in the lake. Charlie told me there was a squid and I wanted to go see it. Fred, George, and Charlie were just there its my fault." I answered quickly, "Oh and Charlie you can put me down now."
He set me down in one of Dumbledores living chairs gingerly then turned to his mother.
"Shes lying I threw her in the lake neither Casper nor the twins had anything to do with it I take full responsibility." He said and Mrs. Weasley was about to say something when Fred piped up.
"Aww come on guys you only wish it was you it was us right Georgy?" Fred said looking to his twin to yet again finish his sentence.
"Yeah mum we thought it would be a good joke. Throw Casper in the lake right? I mean, its not like shes heavy or anything the girls skin and bone." George said and Mr. Weasley smiled standing next to his wife who was not as happy.
"Casper I don't believe you for a second sorry dear but Albus wouldn't have called us if it was your fault. Now boys I believe that all of you had something to do with it now fess up or I'll take you right back home." Mrs. Weasley said and McGonagall spoke up now.
"I would just like to say that Caspers leg is looking quite bad and whether she likes it or not she needs to get it checked." She said and all eyes turned to me.
"I'm fine."
"No you're not." This was Charlie.
"Yes I am."
"Casper honey you should really get it checked out." It was Mrs. Weasley now.
"This is more important."
"I'm afraid not." Dumbledore.
"I think I'd know."
"Casper I don't know much about bites but that does look bad." Mr. Weasley was joining in.
"Its okay I'm fine. It doesn't even hurt." That was a lie.
"I don't care I'm getting Poppy." I watched helplessly as McGonagall walked out of the room.
"Now that thats done lets continue." Dumbledore said rather pleasantly and conjured up chairs for everyone. Charlie took the chair on my right side and the twins sat together in a chair on my left.
"Fine mum you want the truth?" Charlie asked looking at me then the twins in turn, not unlike his mother had done just a few minutes ago.
"Yes I do and you're going to tell me." She answered.
"Fine so we won the Quidditch game and I took a victory lap." He started and Mr. Weasley cut him off.
"What does that have to do with Casper being thrown into the lake?" He asked.
"Just let me finish." Charlie replied and Mr. Weasley nodded.
"So during the victory lap I picked up Casper and finished the lap with her on my broom. I told her she was like a little sis to me, cuz she is and so I was carrying her and I dropped her, as a joke you know, so she started chasing me. She chased me all the way up to the castle and boy is she fast, and we met the twins. I…" He stopped and looked at his mother.
"Continue please." She said and he looked over at the twins before continuing.
"Well I...I had-" He was cut off as the door opened to reveal a triumph Madam Pomfrey and a slightly guilty looking McGonagall. I groaned inwardly as she stalked over to me.
"Its a good thing you have people that care about your health or you'd probably be dead by now." She said as she conjured up a stretcher.
"Going with you I wish I was." I muttered and the twins had to stifle their laughs again. Charlie helped me up on the stretcher and as I floated out the door I mouthed the words help me, much to everyone's amusement, other than McGonagall and Mrs. Weasleys.
"Actually Poppy if you could work here." I heard and my head swung around to see Dumbledore.
"Listen hear Professor this girl needs serious medical attention its a miracle she's stayed conscious this long. You know as well as I do that Grindylow bites can be fatal." She argued and I sighed rather loudly.
"Oh gee I'm so afraid oh look my legs bleeding I think I might be dying." I said sarcastically then pretended to faint on the stretcher. I heard the boys roaring with laughter and Madam Pomfrey led me back into the room and Charlie helped me back into my chair.
"Alright Poppy now you can work on Caspers leg while Mr. Weasley here finishes his story." Dumbledore said calmly, sitting back in his chair.
"Okay umm so where was I?" Charlie asked nervously and Mrs. Weasley snorted impatiently.
"You met Fred and George at the doors."
"Oh… oh yeah right. So I was telling them about how Casper was our new sis now and how… how we were gonna try to talk you into adopting her." He looked as Mrs. Weasley again and I jumped up, my nails digging into my skin and drawing more blood on my leg.
"Miss. Potter can you sit still?" Madam Pomfrey asked rather annoyed but I wasn't listening to her.
"I thought you were joking!" I exclaimed looking around the room for someone to agree with me.
"Course not, you're already family. I mean, who else would we let drop water buckets on teachers with." Fred said and George agreed before McGonagall stood up.
"THAT WAS YOU?!" She cried out and I shrugged my shoulders.
"Nows not the time Professor stop making everything about you." I told her much to her astonishment and I turned to Charlie.
"Course we weren't kidding Casper I mean you don't really have much of a family and we have plenty. It's not like anyone would let you go back to your adoptive dad." He said, his face darkening as he thought of Ben.
"Charlie thats probably the last thing she needs to hear right now." Mrs. Weasley scolded him then looked at Dumbledore. "Would that even be possible? Could we adopt Casper?"
"Well we would need to look into a few things and of course you would need Caspers consent, maybe even her adoptive fathers. We would have to check with the Ministry as well." He said with a small smile on his face. Everyones head turned to me and I felt as if I was in the lake again. My lungs screaming for air.
I thought of Ben, his maniac smile and his knife. I thought about Julia and my parents and my brother. Everyone I had ever cared about. Dead. Their unseeing eyes, cold skin, begging my mum to wake up…..
"We definitely love you like family." I heard someone say but I was caught in my own mind.
"I don't believe in love." I heard myself answer. All I could see was the green light. The cold laughter ringing in my ears.
"Casper?"
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off -"
Lily ran into the room where I hid and I watched as she put the baby in his cot
The sounds of someone stumbling from a room - a door bursting open - a cackle of high-pitched laughter -
"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"
"Stand aside you silly girl…stand aside now."
"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead - "
"Not Harry! Please…have mercy have mercy… "
The green light, the laughter. The second light, the scream, the crying...
I felt myself get up and stumble out of the room, falling with a crash down the winding stairs and pulling myself up. I ran through the halls everything a blur, running past a bewildered Professor Snape, falling down more stairs and running into an empty classroom. I stumbled past desks into the back corner where I huddled up and cried harder than I ever had before.
I don't know how long it was before I heard the voice.
"Oh dear." It said and I looked up through puffy red eyes to see Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor.
"I...I'm sorry." I whispered looking down at my bloodstained self.
"Oh my dear girl don't be what happened you look like you've just died." He said and I started crying again, my head tucking into my arms.
"I...I...my mum. I remember, everything. My dad tried to hold him off. My mum tried to save my brother. Their dead. I can't. They…they wanted….adopt me." I stuttered and just cried again.
"Oh… oh dear well its okay. Your okay here. Hogwarts is safe. And I can't die so thats good." He said and I laughed a bit, resting my head against the wall to look at him.
"I guess not. Although with my luck you will. Everyone dies around me." I had barely just said it when the door opened and Snape burst into the room.
"What is going on here?" He asked taking in the sight.
An abandoned classroom, full of dust, cobwebs, a hysterical yet bloody young girl in a corner, and a nearly headless ghost. I just stared at him blankly. Shaking my head slightly and looking up at the ceiling.
"Well it looks like I should be going take care my dear remember I'm here for you always, undying as it seems." Nick said and floated through one of the walls.
"Well I see you only search for the company of those who can't die now." Snape commented closing the door behind him.
"Your are hi-bloody-larious Professor." I said, my voice shaking.
"Yet your sarcasm is unwavering." He replied dryly sitting on the ground in front of me, at a respectful distance.
"Why are you here? Don't you have a class to criticize?"
"I rather like criticizing you."
"Jump off a cliff."
"You look like you already have."
My laughter turned into hopeless sobs and his face remained ever collected.
"It wasn't hard to find you here, first of all you ran right past me, secondly there is a trail of blood leading to this room. Funny how that is." He seemed not to notice my continual sobbing as he just kept talking.
"I wouldn't be surprised if half the school showed up here behind me. I suppose you have the entire Ministry running after you as well, you always had a natural talent to keep people interested. People as in the Headmaster, your Head of House, the Hogwarts Healer, Mrs. and Mr. Weasley, including their Quidditch playing son and their blasted twins." He continued.
"Thats wonderful now will you please leave me be?" I pleaded, trying hard to keep in the waterworks.
"10 points from Gryffindor I think for disrespect."
"50 points from the Headmaster for hiring such a twit."
"15."
"100."
"20."
"I could play this game all day."
"Yes you could seeing as the Headmaster doesn't have points although Gryffindor will run out of points eventually."
I glared at him, everything else pushed to the back of my brain. When the door opened. I didn't have to look up to see who it was.
"Casper!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, pulling me into a big hug. I stiffened but I don't think she noticed. She was too busy taking in every inch of me to make sure I was okay.
"You found her!" I heard someone yell and everyone that had been in Dumbeldore's office, ran into the room.
"Ahh Severus I had a feeling that you would find her first." Dumbledore said looking at the glare I was still throwing the Potion Master's way.
"Yes and she's delightful." Snape said stonely.
"Yeah well Professor Snape here is such a personal space invading git its a wonder you stand him let alone the other teachers." I replied loudly and Snape rounded back on me.
"Disrespectful-"
"Greasy haired-"
"Just like your father-"
"Nerdy-"
"A disgrace-"
"Lonely old-"
"Unintelligent-"
"HA! You wish you were as smart as me!"
"Your potions essay begs to differ Miss. Potter."
He spit out my last name as if it was as vile as Filch. There was a moment of thick silence as we glared at each other. The twins both erupted in laughter, cutting through the silence uncannily like a knife.
"I'll see you in potions then Miss. Potter."
"If I show up."
I gave him a small smile and he gave me a nod, the closest he ever got to a smile, and walked out the door.
"Miss. Potter." Madam Pomfrey was rounding on me now. "You have been bitten by a Grindylow, fallen down to flights of stairs, ran almost the entire length of the school, and lost almost half the blood in your leg will you let me help you?"
"Actually I'm quite tired I think I'll go take a nap." I said, with a yawn and limped past her. No one stopped me as I walked out and no one tried to stop me as I walked into the empty common room. I walked into my dormitory and it was empty as well, much to my relief. I pulled myself under the covers and I felt my leg getting better already.
I screwed up my eyes as the skin closed, leaving new long pink scars and stared at the wall. I don't know how long I just looked at the wall when the door opened and Mrs. Weasley came in. She sat on the side of my bed without saying anything and stroked my hair as silent tears dripped down my face once more.
"I'm sorry." I said after a while, sitting up to better look at her.
"For what?" She asked adjusting her position on the bed.
"For making you chase me around the school and for getting the boys in trouble and all." I said and she gave me a sad little smile.
"You don't need to apologize for any of that dear, I'm sure the twins would have gotten themselves into trouble without involving you. We should be the one apologizing. Arthur and I should have never rushed in to this before asking you."
I took a couple deep breaths before I spoke, trying to control my tears.
"I've never had a family before I guess. I don't know how to have a family. I've been alone my whole life. I'm used to being alone. I'd be horrible in a family too. I mean, I push people away, I… I…" I stopped at the look she was giving me. Before I knew it she had pulled me into another embrace and this time, I was smiling.
"You don't get to chose your family dear. If you don't have a family, family finds you." She said into my hair and I closed my eyes. I'd never had this. It didn't seem real. She pulled away and looked me right in the eye.
"Are you okay?" She asked and I nodded. She kissed my forehead and left the dormitory, closing the door softly behind her. I put my head back on the pillow and sleep took me.
Authors Note- (READ ME!) So I'm posting pretty late but you know that's okay. So I got a comment on the story and it made me think so I thought I would answer it to everyone. They said that Casper was really disrespectful and she is, kind of. Casper pushes people away (whether she likes to admit it or not) and being a bitch (s'cuse my french) is her way of trying to push people away. Shes scared of people caring about her and in this new surrounding (Hogwarts) is really hard for her to adjust to for her with all this attention she gets and all that she has to carry with her power. Also, with her power, the person who commented was really confused on that and to help everyone I want to clear that up. She controls time. This mark she has is what defines her power. Dumbledores going to clear this all up in a few chapters a bit more I think. And one last thing before this Authors Note gets too long, Casper does NOT hate Professor Snape. He also does not hate her. They have a really strange relationship where Casper doesn't want him to get too close to her, yet she wants to keep him close. Snape however, wants to get close to Casper not only to repay his enormous debt to Lily but because this girl has gone through so much and I guess he just wants to help even if her father was James Potter. So yeah remember to review! Till next time!