A Surprise Visitor
Ila just about made out the familiar, though upside down, face of their neighbour, Mrs Figg. It took her a few moments to realise that Mrs. Figg must have watched them get attacked by dementors and watched Ila use magic.
Great.
Great.
That's wonderful really.
Oh for fu –
"Oh for heaven's sake, get up Ila," Mrs Figg said before taking her arm and with a surprising amount of strength for an old woman, pulled Ila to her feet. "How on earth did you stay up for so long?" she asked, inspecting Ila's wrist.
She really did watch Ila and her cousin.
For the entire time.
"C'mon, no time for gawking, help me with your cousin," Mrs Figg ordered, pulling a knocked-out Ishani to her feet. Ila quickly ran to the other side and took the other arm. "I knew he couldn't be trusted. And look at you now. How on earth he was able to convince Dumbledore is beside me. Goodness, the moment I get my hands on him, I - "
Dumbledore?" Ila wondered aloud. Maybe Dumbledore is a fairly common name. Ila probably bumped into a bunch of Dumbledores in her… "As in the Dumbledore?"
"The one with the scraggly long beard – yes him," Mrs Figg said, adjusting her position momentarily. "The one that does magic."
HUH?
Ila glanced at the frail, familiar stature of Mrs. Figg. Ila had known her, her entire life. Ila knew Mrs. Figg more than she knew the Varma's with the amount of times they've dumped Ila with her. She was the weird cat lady that didn't have any cats. She wore dresses in the winter and fur coats in the summer. She was objectively weird. But she wasn't magic. Witches and wizards are weird but not all weird people are magic. Ila had never seen a wand before in her house.
And she had seen some weird things in that house.
Ila shivered, Ishani's arm slipping slightly.
"How – how – how do you know him?"
"I know everything, Ila. I know all about Voldemort, I know all about your parents" – Mrs Figg glanced at Ila, a look of pure sympathy etched into the furrows of her brows– "I know about what happened earlier."
"Ah."
Another person Dumbledore had told. How many was that now – 156?
"But that doesn't explain how you know Dumble- "
"I'm a squib dear," she said, without a hint of embarrassment. "My parents were rather friendly with Dumbledore's. I had known him my entire life. He was one of the ones that treated me kindly. Better than my parents I suppose," she added with a sad smile. "Back when you were only a baby, I was told to move here. Dumbledore wanted to know if you were safe but being the headmaster of a school took up most of his time."
"You came here for me?" Ila asked to which Mrs Figg nodded. The two took a small break, mainly so that Mrs Figg could gently stretch her back before taking Ishani on once more. "But I thought you came here before the Varma's were. Wasn't that before I was born?"
While her face remained calm, Ila could see a slight bulge in her eyes.
"This summer, with everything…turning out the way it did," Mrs Figg swiftly ignored, "we thought it be best to amp up the security. There was a rota, and we all did our time except for bloody Mudungus!"
The three were nearing their way back home, Ila seeing the house at the end of their street.
"Who's we?"
"I'm sure Dumbledore will explain everything to you," she replied quickly. "It's not like I barely get told much anyway."
"Does anyone else know?" Ila said, hesitating slightly before – "Like Sirius?"
Mrs Figg looked up at the sound of his name. "I don't know who that is. Well, I know he's your godfather, but he's…he's never reached out."
She knew it was a long shot. Ila hadn't heard from him since the Third trial. For all she knew, Sirius could still be stuck in that cave in Hogsmeade.
"Now listen dear," Mrs Figg said once they were a few houses away. All the windows were shut, and curtains were drawn after the rain. "I'm not sure what will happen next, but just…sit tight. Alright? I'm sure Dumbledore has some plans. The use of magic outside of school being illegal seems quite stupid to me…but what do I know? I would say you could come to me…but you shouldn't have known about this. I'm sure Dumbledore has something," Mrs Figg repeated before unlatching herself from Ishani, who only just started to regain some consciousness, murmuring. "Remember, don't do…don't do anything rash. Goodbye."
"Bye Mrs. Figg," Ila said, watching the old lady slowly step towards her house. For some reason, it felt like this was the last time she would ever see her. "And thank you."
Mrs Figg smiled, waving away the 'thanks'. Ila turned back, now with the total weight of Ishani on her shoulders, she walked towards her own house.
The lights in the house were still on and Ila checked her watch. It was only nine. However, she couldn't explain to them about the Dementor attack. Ila sighed before ringing the doorbell, preparing herself for the worst.
Ridhi's auntie's outline could be seen walking to the door and Ila tried to gather up some coherent excuse as to why her cousin was so…dead…But it was too late. Her auntie opened the door. It took her moment for Ridhi's smile to contort into fear as she took in her daughter's lolling head.
"Ishi? Ishi, what happened? AADIT! AADIT!"
Ridhi took Ishani away from Ila as if it was her fault that Ishani looked like that. She would have been offended if she didn't remember that her aunt and uncle were muggles and knew nothing about Dementors. Her uncle stormed in just as Ila closed the door. He instantly went red, a feat that Ila didn't think was possible with that amount of melanin.
"What happened? What happened to her Ridhi?"
"I don't know, I – I just opened the door and I saw like this…"
Both her aunt and uncle slowly turned around to see Ila putting her shoes away. She didn't say a word, knowing it would make everything worse and quickly headed up the stairs, planning to lock herself in her room until the start of school. She only made it to the first step before Aadit grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into the living room.
"You have three seconds to explain what happened before-"
"It wasn't me if that's what you're implying," Ila said hotly. She glanced over to the pale Ishani, her head lolling around. Within the next moment, she leaned forward and violently vomited onto Ridhi's shoes, some even landing on her dress.
"Then what? Did you two get mugged? What happened?"
Ila opened her mouth but closed it instantly. Exactly what did happen…in muggle terms?
"Ammu," Ishani muttered.
"Who did this to you, babu?" Ridhi said softly, pushing Ishani's hair away from her face. It was the kindest Ila had ever seen her be and for a moment she felt a prick of jealousy.
"She…she sav…," she whispered ever so quietly, no one thought she said something. It was only when her auntie asked her cousin again, had everyone heard. "It was her!"
"You little insolent brat," her uncle snarled. "How dare you do this to my daughter? You should be ashamed of yourself. You come into our house, we give you food, we give you a roof over your head and this is how you treat us huh? This is what you think respect is? Attacking our daughter!"
"I told you I didn't do anything," Ila shouted.
"Don't you know anything about Izzat? Honour! Time after time you've embarrassed us, with your…devil magic…and you know what I'm sick of it…I want you-"
A screech owl swooped into the open window, nearly scratching her uncle's face before dropping a letter into Ila's hands.
"SEE?" And it cried to his wife and semi-conscious daughter. "HER BLOODY KALA JADU!"
"Aadit, she's sick. We need to get her to a hospital."
Ila walked sat on the couch and inspected the letter. This was the third letter she had received in the entire summer holidays. A red seal had two M's overlapped on it. Did Moody send her a letter?
"No, we can't do that," her uncle said feverishly, pacing the floor. Ridhi watched and looked as if she was going to throw up too. "They'll think we did that! We'll lose her, we'll go to jail."
"No, they won't."
"They'll do anything to put us in jail. I told you, they don't care about us!"
Curiousity getting the better of her, Ila broke the seal and took the letter out of the envelope.
"Dear Miss Potter,
We have received intelligence that you performed the Patronus Charm at twenty-three minutes past eight this evening in a Muggle-inhabited area and the presence of a Muggle. The severity of this breach of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery has resulted in your expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ministry representatives will be calling at your place of residence shortly to destroy your wand. As you have already received an official warning for a previous offence under section 13 of the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy, we regret to inform you that your presence is required at a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic at a later date.
I hope you are well,
Yours sincerely, improper use of magic office Ministry of Magic"
Ila's stomach turned over as she read the letter twice, her eyes always stopping at the words 'expulsion' and 'destroy your wand.' She was only vaguely aware that her auntie and uncle had stopped talking but she couldn't…
She was getting expelled!
Ila wasn't going to be a wizard anymore. It felt like the Dementors were back again to take her soul away. She couldn't perform magic anymore. She wasn't going to see Ron and Hermione again. She was going to be alone forever.
The letter from the Ministry was snatched out of her hand but Ila didn't care. She stared at the carpet as her new life flashed in front of her. They wouldn't take her to Australia. They would sell this house. She couldn't possibly live with the Weasleys. She'll end up homeless. A painful spasm developed in her stomach.
"This is how you know karma is real," her uncle said smugly after he read the letter out aloud. It sounded even worse. "This is what you get for being such a disrespectful child."
Ila couldn't do this. She wasn't going to do it.
Forget Hogwarts, but she needed her wand.
There was only one way she could still have it. She'll have to go on the run. Maybe she'll get the help of Sirius. He was on the run. Maybe he'll take her away, back to his cave. She didn't need to stay in Varmas. Ila rose from her seat and headed to the door. Her uncle stepped in the way.
"Where do you think you're going?" her uncle said. "We are not finished."
"Move," Ila said, raising her wand. She's already gotten one letter she couldn't care about another. "I need to leave."
"You can't use that. You're not allowed to. You'll go to jail!"
"I'll still end up going to jail no matter what."
"You will listen to me! You have five seconds to put it down. THREE – TWO – ARGH!"
Another screech owl flew into the living room, this time her uncle ducked to get away from it. Another letter dropped from the owl into her hand, without the red seal. Could the Ministry hear what she can say now? Was she going to Azkaban now? They can't do that, can they? She ripped the envelope and took the letter out quickly.
"Ila— Dumbledore's just arrived at the Ministry, and he's trying to sort it all out. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR AUNT AND UNCLE'S HOUSE. DO NOT DO ANY MORE MAGIC. DO NOT SURRENDER YOUR WAND.
Arthur Weasley"
But Dumbledore was helping? Why didn't he do anything about the Dementors in the first place? Why the fuck did he still make Ila come here every summer? This was all his fault!
"Ok….change my mind, I'm staying," Ila said, her eyes never leaving the letter. She even sat down for added effect
"Of course you are," her uncle said. "You won't be leaving the house ever again!"
"Aadit, we need to get her to the hospital now!"
"But I told you-"
"If the reason why our daughter died is because you were scared of a bunch of white people that probably couldn't less about us, I will make sure all the responsibility is pinned on you."
Ila looked up to see Ridhi red in the face, breathing heavily as she glared at her husband. There was that stab of jealousy once again.
The room stayed silent at the sound of Ridhi's auntie's threat. Ila had never heard her auntie speak like that to her husband. Merlin was learning more and more about her auntie every day.
"Fine, but if they think that we were the ones behind this…" her uncle said as he pulled his daughter up from the couch. Ridhi rushed out of the room, grabbing the car keys and her shoes.
"You will stay here. If I find that you've even put a foot out of the house-"
"You'll send me back to India, yes I understand," Ila said impatiently.
"When we come back, you will explain what you did to our daughter."
"I didn't do anything! If anything I was the one who saved her."
"AADIT! COME NOW!" Her auntie screamed before her uncle could say another word. Ila remained rooted in the living room until she heard the front door slammed before she sprinted up the stairs and collapsed onto her bed.
