Chapter 9 - Annie Potter
The hall was quiet, but Annie couldn't tell because there was a ringing in her ears that slowly turned into a low hissing noise. For a moment, she waited, thinking she could still bargain with it. It said Slytherin before it even touched her head. She didn't even remember the walk to the table after. The feast was a blur. She stared at a copper bowl full of bread knots with engraved serpents on the lip edge of the dish. Nobody made eye contact with her. Nobody introduced themselves. She stole a glance at her father who hadn't taken his eyes off of her. She could sense his sympathy from across the room and watched her mother stare absently at a similar dish on the staff table, knowing she was deep in contemplation.
The descent into the dungeons was mechanical. Their prefect, Cassidy Caine, explained the rules, told them the password, and gave them a tour of the common room. As the group dissipated, she felt a small tug on her sleeve and looked up slightly at Orion Malfoy.
"Just wanted to introduce myself..." he said politely. Annie forced a weak smile.
"Orion, correct?" She asked. Her temples hurt suddenly with pressure. He nodded.
"Are you alright?" He asked, noticing the discomfort. She nodded back.
"I was surprised at the hat stall, Malfoy," a boy said from the leather sofa chair to their right. Annie looked over to see a slightly older boy with jet black curly hair and bright blue eyes. He was handsome and despite only being Teddy's age or thereabouts, carried himself with a mature demeanor she couldn't place. Orion clenched his jaw.
"Hello, Cyrus," he said shortly. Annie had heard that name, wondering if this was the Cyrus who made every effort to make her god brother's first year a living hell.
"Cyrus Pucey," he said, holding out a hand to greet Annie. "Pleasure to meet Rhiannon. Shock you were so quick to place," he said smoothly. Annie broke out in shivers suddenly. "You're not going to say hello?" He asked condescendingly. She forced another weak smile.
"Pleasure to meet you too," she said quietly and quickly retreated up the stairs to the dormitory. To her dismay, her bed was next to Zoey's. Her cat curled into a ball at the center and she scooped her up to take comfort in.
"I'm sure your mum is very proud," a girl's voice said from behind her. Annie sighed and gritted her teeth.
"Why wouldn't she be?" Annie growled back. She turned around and didn't see anyone, which suddenly confused her.
Zoey, Aster, and two others came in a few moments later giggling amongst themselves. Annie pulled on an oversized night shirt and climbed into bed hoping to go unnoticed. Zoey sat at the edge of her bed and smiled big. "Maybe we start over," she said candidly. Annie rolled her eyes and reached for the lamp.
"Alright, obviously you're disappointed. If not for the shock factor that the Queen of Gryffindor raised a Slytherin... I mean I'm sure this house is honored to be graced with such royalty," Zoey mocked. Aster giggled and the others exchanged veiled smirks.
"Then again, last name aside, you're still a Weasley," she added scathingly.
"Unless you're implying that my mother should have lost the war, all hail the heir of Slytherin, I don't understand why coming from a family of war heroes would be a problem..." Annie reached for the lamp and shut it off.
"Suit yourself, Potter, considering how quickly the hat yelled, maybe we have a new heir of Slytherin," Zoey said and left her bed for her own.
It took Annie eons to fall even halfway to sleep. Vulnerability. She couldn't place most of the time why she felt vulnerable in her sleep, but it was a real anxiety nonetheless. It was the same dream again. One she'd had for years. She was convinced by now they were memories, just not her own. She recounted five that recurred frequently. They were piecemeal, like reading a string of words with no vowels.
There was a slow descent down basement stairs, a closet door under them, and a little girl curled up inside. Annie was a young man in the dream holding the face of a girl about her age. "I know exactly who you are," the man would say. It was intimate and inappropriate. The girl was terrified. She looked pale and ill. In a flash there was a lot of blood. Floorboards were placed over blood stained wads of fabric. The girl's head was placed at the doorstep of what Annie easily recognized as Grimmauld Place. Annie now watched her mother sleep in a bedroom that overlooked the ocean. She was young and battered with dark bruise on her face as she clutched and stifled panicked breaths into the blanket. Above the fireplace sat the girls head. It opened a pair of pure white eyes as Annie jolted awake to the feeling of smooth leather running up her leg.
"Get out," she heard as a low hiss. She reached to grab the head of the serpent, surely conjured by a classmate. It bit her sharply and she responded by crushing it's head in a deathly firm grip before dropping it to the floor.
Lights came on in the room as the other girls stirred. Annie got out of bed and stared at her trembling, bitten hand.
She pulled on sweatpants and bolted from the room, down the hall, up the dungeons corridor, and to her mother's bed chambers in the Faculty Tower hoping she didn't return home for the evening. She knocked on the door and Lizzie opened it looking flushed and shaken herself. Annie was pressed immediately and possessively into her chest for a hug.
"Mum..." she said weakly, showing her the hand. Lizzie gaped and moved quickly to suck any venom from the wound before tending to it and finding an antivenom potion.
"What happened," Lizzie asked with urgency.
"I don't know. I woke up and it was in my bed," Annie said quietly.
"Prank, I'd imagine, those little shits," Lizzie said bitterly.
"Mum, I'm sorry, I should have been in," she started to say.
"No, you have nothing to be sorry for. It wasn't your choice," Lizzie retorted.
"What's wrong?" Annie asked.
"Nothing, honey... just terrible dreams. They've been beyond worse than usual," Lizzie said.
"Do you know... erm..." Annie hesitated but Lizzie's eyes were too wide with interest to deter the conversation.
"Know what?" Lizzie asked.
"If I can stay with you tonight?" Annie asked.
"Of course you can," Lizzie said sympathetically.
Annie crawled into the bed and Lizzie wrapped a comforting arm around her. "Do you know of anyone who has been dismembered?" Annie asked quietly. Lizzie iced over and Annie felt the goosebumps erupt on her mother's arm. The memories weren't in her head as much as she physically felt them deep in her chest. Finding the pieces in the floorboards on Privet Drive. Estrella Black's brutal end.
"Mum?" Annie asked watching her mother go pale.
"Why?" Lizzie whispered.
"Just a dream that won't leave me be. Girl my age gets dismembered. Not me, not you, or anyone I recognize..." Annie said cautiously. Lizzie was silent for a long time.
"Have you read my books, Annie?" Lizzie asked, assuming she had not because she'd tried to shield her daughter from some of her past while she was young.
Annie shook her head no. "Tom Riddle, Voldemort, dismembered a young girl in the sixties... that's what comes to mind. What else was in your dream?"
"I don't remember," Annie lied, with a dry voice. Lizzie got up and rummaged through a bookshelf before tossing Annie copies of her three novels.
"Not an assignment, but I think you're old enough to have a better idea of what happened..."
"Is it true people still worry he can come back through you? Like you'll wake up one day as him?" Annie asked.
"I think I killed that piece. But that's a fear. He was dreadful at retaining any control over me. Didn't stop him from trying though...Don't think too much less of me, Annie. I don't want to weigh you down, you don't need to deep dive into this," Lizzie warned.
"Do you think less of...me?" Annie asked meekly.
Lizzie sunk to her knees at the edge of the bed and grabbed her daughter's hands. "Nothing would ever make me think less of you," she promised, and Annie hugged her mother around the head appreciatively.
"I love you," Lizzie said.
"You too," Annie whispered.
Neville handed out schedules the following morning as the students filed in for breakfast prior to the commencement of classes. Lizzie had her first years this morning, all houses for that year fit into a two hour block. Charlie didn't have any classes on schedule for Monday, so Lizzie didn't see him at breakfast. He was presumably home with Jamie. Remus sat down next to Lizzie and passed toast her direction.
"When is Horace retiring? He has horrible narcalepsy..." Lizzie muttered, watching Slughorn doze off with toast halfway to his mouth. Remus chuckled.
"He'll probably end up just like Binns, I'm afraid," Remus said quietly.
"Did you finish your assessment reports from last term, yet? Do you have lesson plans to submit to McGonagall?" He asked suspiciously.
"Sort of," Lizzie lied innocently.
McGonagall stepped into the hall a moment later, and Remus looked over to see Lizzie had vanished. "Sort of... rubbish," Remus said under his breath.
Lizzie nearly ran head first into Teddy on her way to the classroom. "Who are you hiding from?" He asked, knowing it was her immediately as she pulled off the cloak.
"Minerva..." Lizzie whispered. "Go eat breakfast, if she asks you didn't see me."
"And if I did?" He asked wickedly.
"Hey, Teddy bear, your friends are coming, if you don't keep your lips shut, I will start squeezing cheeks and giving wet cheek kisses..."
"Bye," he said curtly with an eyeroll and left. Lizzie ducked into the classroom and started adding things to the chalk board in a hurry.
"Aye," she heard a familiar voice yell. She turned around and saw Ron which came as a shock.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Lizzie asked. He handed her a book. "You didn't write this did you?" She asked quickly, suddenly worried.
"Hey! I'm perfectly capable of writing a pre-OWL Transfigurations lesson plan..." he snapped back. Lizzie raised her eyebrows at him.
"Doesn't mean I did, but I'm capable nonetheless," he added and she laughed. "Just the messenger for my wife who is very tired of doing these for you..."
"Why does she think she gets the most expensive Christmas gifts? I swear I spend more on Hermione than Annie and the boys combined... She keeps me employed."
"Well, truthfully, I didn't come here to save your hide, did we get any Gryffindors?" He asked excitedly.
"Um, yeah... one..." Lizzie said awkwardly.
"Yeah, Annie, I bet McGonagall will let her tryout this year!" He said eagerly.
"Um, no, Ally... Ally's in Gryffindor," Lizzie clarified.
"Wait, a Weasley isn't in Gryffindor? That's a first in generations. Where is she? Hufflepuff with Teddy?" He asked.
"Um no, with Orion Malfoy in Slytherin. One hat stalled, the other didn't, and you wouldn't believe which was which," she said, some pent up anger rising.
"Slytherin?" Ron asked, shocked. "It didn't give her a choice?"
"Didn't even hit her head," she whispered.
Ron looked spooked by tried to mask it. "Well... maybe Ally will be a quidditch star, some rivalry in the family," he added.
"Class is starting, Ron. Tell Hermione I'd do terribly naughty things to her if I could in exchange for her brilliance," she said facetiously.
"I'll relay that... in part, amazing you of all people are allowed to mold the minds of children," he said reprovingly.
"Mold is nice way to put it," Lizzie smirked back. "Any news on Ivy?" She asked quietly. He went grim and shook his head.
"Hermione initiated a probe through the muggle relations department to inquire about Cyprian whereabouts and what they might own both in and out of Great Britian. They're not coming up with much. Kellison International has been suing each known entity for years, running up legal fees until they've effectively sold property related to the church and gone under the radar evading subpoenas. I believe the muggle relations agents are meeting undercover with Chris Lupton sometime this week, I will keep you posted when we know more," he said. She nodded through some disappointment. Ron gave her a reassuring hug and left before students filed in.
Annie was first. She was holding two cups of coffee, and strode up to the desk to hand her mother one. "Oh, Anna Banana, thank you," she said but didn't take the cup and looked out over her daughter's shoulders.
"What are you doing? I brought you coffee," Annie hissed impatiently, nudging it toward her.
"I see that, I want your classmates to as well," Lizzie said with a big smile. Orion was next to walk in followed by a few Hufflepuffs who sat toward the back. Orion curiously watched the mother daughter exchange.
"Mum, what the hell?" Annie asked, going pink in the cheeks.
"If they see you doing it, they'll get ideas to do the same..." Lizzie said with a smirk.
"Or you could not embarass me and I'll show up early every time we have class and bring you it myself as I had planned," Annie said through gritted teeth.
"That's so sweet of you to volunteer to do that, baby. I really appreciate it. Miss a day and you'll wish you were never born, though," Lizzie said sarcastically.
"Why do you think I brought you any to begin with, they all don't need to know you're psychotic without magic bean water," Annie snapped back. Lizzie laughed. Ally sat down next to Annie and a few people whispered in the back about it.
"Alright, first years, who wants to volunteer to be transfigured into a dung beetle? 100 points to the first volunteer but every one gets a turn before they're allowed to leave for the day," Lizzie said as the class settled in. They all froze and looked around.
"Is it safe?" Someone asked.
"No, of course not," Lizzie laughed. "We won't be doing that yet, don't worry until there's something to worry about..."
The class took a collective sigh of relief.
"First things first, my classroom is mine. I don't want music complaints, you'll like what I put on or keep your traps shut... I also don't want your things left behind, or notes on my chalkboard... I don't give detentions almost ever because I have too much pride to be a hypocrite, but I will happily send you skipping along to the headmistress, who will. I do, however, take house points like a racoon on trash day, you've been warned."
The class stared for more information. Lizzie shuffled through the book Ron handed her and pulled the schedule for the term and read through it quickly before flicking her wand and having it float around to copy at everyone's desk.
"Follow the schedule. Keep up with the reading. I will give extensions if you ask. All work is due at the end of the quarters, though, so if you are behind on absolutely everything, I will ask questions. I teach Socratic, so don't think this means you don't need to read the night before. I can call you out quicker than you can pretend you did or come up with an excuse for why you fell asleep early."
"Most of my classes will be practical and collaborative in-class projects you'll work on both individually and in teams. I'm really only capable of giving about two lengthy lectures a month, those are highlighted on the schedule, be here for those and take notes."
"My classes have always done very well on OWLs, but keep up and stay attentive to the material. I will make this class one of the not so dull aspects of your week. My office hours are from 3 to 4 most days. You can come to me about anything. I'm an open door and a safe one. If you see a random deer in here, just talk to her, it's me, I'll listen..."
"Most students walk in here intimidated by who is about to teach them... I'm Lizzie Potter, you can call me professor, professor Potter, or Liz if I give you good marks. I'm a human, still, somehow. You don't need to be scared of me. I'm a mom first, sociopathic messiah second. I will take three questions and that's it until after class..."
Zoey raised her hand, "Zoey," Lizzie said.
"Professor Lupin's son is your godson? Is Allyssa Dursley your goddaughter?" She asked.
"Teddy is my godson. Ally is my goddaughter, yes..." Lizzie answered, confused by the interest.
"Yes, um Thomas," she said, pointing to a Ravenclaw in the back.
"Do you require us to read your books at any point?" He asked.
"I don't require that, no. They're available if you wish to, you wouldn't need to buy them if you wanted to, its not material related to this subject matter specifically," she answered.
"Yes, um Aster," she pointed.
"Have you written any books on this subject matter?" She asked.
"No, I have one in progress about animagi and metamorphmagi. I've written a few scholarly articles you can find in the library about Vanishment and Conjuration related to soul magic, as well as laws of transfiguration analysis... none of that is required reading, optional in later years. Professor McGonagall's supplemental encyclopedia guide to accompany your main text is incredibly useful, I hope you all picked up a copy... those proceeds all go to research funds."
"For today's class, I will candidly admit I don't have too much prepared. To your benefit, however, that means no written homework. If you could please read the sections noted on the blackboard to yourselves and take notes, I will mark you for credit for the notes at the end of the class. In about an hour through, I would like you to split into pairs and collaborate about the information from the chapters and put together a list of questions related to it that you'll turn into me at the end of the class and I will return to you answered at the beginning of next class. Next class, each group will then be expected to teach a short fifteen minute lesson on a portion of that reading material before I go over the practical applications."
Lizzie flicked her wand and the record player hummed to life with the Ramones. The class went to reading and Lizzie frantically tried to fill out her assessment forms and schedules from last term related to her OWL, NEWT, and grade level exit scores on final exams. These were a ministry and board of governors requirement she always fell behind on and nearly got whipped by McGonagall the last time she had to hunt Lizzie down for the finished product.
Lizzie looked up from her papers about a half hour later to see Draco striding up to her desk. She did a double take from confusion and frowned at him.
"Can I help you, Mr. Malfoy?" Lizzie asked politely. Orion looked up curiously at his father and Annie watched them suspiciously.
"I'm looking for your husband, Azalea. Is he around?" Malfoy asked.
"Not today, he's not here today," she responded cooly.
"Wonderful, very well," he said dryly, obviously annoyed. Orion looked worried but his father waved it off when he made eye contact. He looked to his left and saw Annie, noticing the green uniform immediately and he paused with some unmasked curiosity over how Lizzie Potter's daughter was in Slytherin.
"I'll have to try another time, thank you," he said shortly and left. Lizzie watched him leave with thinly veiled contempt.
When class was over, she knew McGonagall would come looking for the assessment papers on the break. Lizzie ducked out of the classroom and roamed the halls under the cloak for awhile while people moved to their next classes. She didn't have a period immediately following her morning session. If she went back to her office, she could count on Minerva popping up, same with her bed chambers, same with her classroom. Lizzie needed a place to work on them without being seen, and couldn't manage working on them under the cloak.
She changed her appearance slightly and altered the clothing to look like a Hufflepuff uniform. She was still small framed enough to be mistaken for a seventh year at first glance. Then she checked the schedule and map to see who had a seventh year class furthest from the headmistress.
Lizzie made her way down to the greenhouses and popped in on Neville. Neville glanced over at her and frowned. "You new?" He asked, confused.
Lizzie lifted her bangs and Neville rolled his eyes. "You didn't finish those bloody assessments again," he said.
"Nope." Lizzie confirmed. "I just need the two hour period and I'll be done... promise," she said.
"Your role model, everybody," Neville said sarcastically, pointing to her as the class realized who she was. She set her things down at the far end of the greenhouse table and rifled through the papers to get to work. About halfway through the class, Charlie and McGonagall walked in.
"Mr. Longbottom, I'm looking for Potter."
Lizzie pushed her papers into her bag and pretended to start repotting Knottwood and blending in. Curious to see Charlie. Maybe he came to meet Draco which gave her pause. Charlie walked down the line of students and stopped at the end, staring at his wife pretending to be a teenaged Hufflepuff. She mouthed 'don't you dare' at him and he smirked.
"She's here," Charlie said and Minerva stormed over.
"To think you really thought I would want another baby with you," Lizzie snapped under her breath at Charlie reproachfully. He laughed.
"Lizzie!" McGongall barked.
"Hello..." Lizzie said timidly.
"I'm assuming you're not done with the reports," she snapped. Lizzie wouldn't look up from repotting the plant.
"You know what they say when you assume," Lizzie said quietly.
"Finish that sentence and I will finish you, darling," Minerva said sharply. Lizzie grinned to herself.
"I'm almost done," Lizzie said finally.
"I want those reports on my desk when I wake up tomorrow or so help me I will..." McGonagall growled and stormed out.
"I think I'm going to have to give you a detention," Charlie said quietly with a playful air of authority and a telling smirk. Lizzie grabbed her bag and left, transfiguring her clothes back to normal.
"You, in particular don't get to wear clothes in detentions with me, Potter, you know this..." he said in her ear as they walked into the empty hallway. She cracked a laugh but quickly stifled it.
"Professor Weasley, don't give me detention, I'll do extra credit," Lizzie said playfully and giggled. He kissed her to smother the laughter with a bit of his own sneaking in. He opened the door to a vacant unused classroom in a deserted corridor and then locked it behind him. "Oh come on, Charlie, I wasn't serious. I have to finish these, and I have another class to teach in an hour."
"Work on them...I'll make it worth your while," he said playfully as he tugged down her knickers and pushed her skirt up to her hips. She started laughing a little uncontrollably and it was contagious for him.
"What?" He asked.
"You came here just to give me a detention?" She giggled. He laughed a little. "We havent done this in awhile..." she laughed harder. She suddenly went cold and contemplative.
"Or were you meeting Draco?" She asked darkly, the laughing stopped, and she looked intently at him.
"Lizzie..." he said slowly.
"He told me he told you about us and that you didn't seem bothered," Lizzie said suspiciously. He was confused before he realized she was talking about the detentions Draco gave as a prefect.
"Not bothered? You really think I wasn't bothered?" He asked.
"What did you say? 'Oh, wow you're a creep, anyways, back to business!' or 'Come near my wife and I'll kill you, but here let me make you some tea first?'" She said sarcastically.
"Lizzie..." he growled.
"How about 'oh, I just expect everyone has either raped or had sex with my wife,'" she added.
"Lizzie!" He yelled reproachfully. He grabbed her chin so quickly and hard to look at him it made Lizzie jump.
"Or did you tell him 'Welcome to the club?'" She added sadly, her eyes welling as his face washed over in shock and fear. He was too vulnerable and caught off guard and she read him like a movie. She saw herself being held down, struck hard by her husband, pinned in place while he had his way and she shrieked in panic. His eyes were bright red. She reoriented herself in the classroom and Charlie knew exactly what she'd done immediately because tears poured from her face as it contorted in pain. He grabbed her face in both hands looking terrified.
"No, no, no, no," he muttered. He kissed her forehead, his own eyes welling and heart racing. "No, baby that wasn't... not me... it wasn't me. No, I'm so sorry," he was incoherent, sheer panic spilled over in him, his hands shook violently, but Lizzie's head was spinning.
"Was that the only time?" She asked hoarsely. He looked confused.
"What?" He asked.
"Surely you modified my memory, how many times have you raped me?!" She practically vomited the words.
"It was once, it wasn't me, I promise it wasn't," he said. His hands started shaking harder with over a decade of pent up anxiety.
"You were possessed," she breathed right before her breath caught hard in her chest. He nodded, his face was wet and his eyes were swelling.
"This was...after Gringotts..." she said slowly. Panic washed over her body. "You were possessed by the cup..." she added as it started to come back to her. He nodded.
"Oh my god..." she breathed, having a hard time getting her breathing to steady. He held her shoulders tight. He'd dreaded this day, and contemplated erasing her memory once again... but she had an idea before she read his mind. She said '...or welcome to the club.'
"Annie is having dreams about a dismembered girl. She was just immediately sorted into Slytherin... that wasn't Annie's conception, was it?"
He stared for a long moment. "Lizzie, you'd disappeared a week later and then came back with her a year after that... I'm why you..."
"Her birthday..." Lizzie whispered, her heart cracking in at least two places. The visions of what happened when she gave birth, the white-eyed girl who straddled her. Lizzie's mind played to a rhythm of memories. The blow of his hand, her scream smothered into the pillow, the way Voldemort put a hand over her stomach in the forest, the blood bath of Annie's birth, what she saw in the mirror, the hat yelling "Slytherin," and a small Ivy running a toy snake over her pregnant stomach making a low hissing noise.
Charlie held the sides of her head and gave her a very stern stare. "Listen to me," he said. "She's my daughter, it didn't change that," Lizzie's lip trembled at what those words meant. His hands moved to her hips and he held her firmly in place as though she'd bolt if he didn't. The pressure on the tops of her hips was making her feel crushed and small. Like she was losing height the longer she stood there in his grip. She grabbed one of his forearms in each hand and dug her nails into them.
"I need you to talk to me," he said firmly. This memory had knocked the soul from her body with a heavy punch to the center of her chest. He was losing her mental attention and could see her eyes fall into rabbit hole of snowballing memories.
"Lizzie, honey, talk to me," he pled. She tried to walk forward but his hands held firm and she felt effectively pinned to the floor despite being upright on her feet.
"When did you take the memory?" She asked, finally. His grip slackened on her and he exhaled shamefully.
"When I showed you the house for the first time..." he said quietly. "You were home, I didn't want you to leave because you were scared of me."
Lizzie's face contorted around a cry. She breathed painfully. "Why have you hidden so much from me?" She asked. "To manipulate our situation. This is why I couldn't understand why I was so hesitant to marry, this is why I was so scared to come home. This is why I left. You did this to trap me!" She was getting angry as she spoke. "You got me pregnant, you did that forcefully, then got me back and tried to wipe that from history..." she hissed.
"No! There was no intent to get you pregnant, there was no intent to do that to you at all! I didn't want it to haunt you..." he yelled.
"Haunt me? You think I can't cope with being raped?" She snapped back, throwing the side of her fist into his chest to punctuate every word. He let her hit him.
"You coped by killing them, Lizzie!" He yelled back. She threw her next fist at his face and he didn't stop it. When she pulled her fist back for another he snatched both her forearms in each hand and squeezed.
"You can do whatever you want to me, I'm not going to stop you, anger is trapped in every bone in your body and you need to release that, you desperately need to release that. But please, don't kill me. I love you far too much... my family too much..."
"The one you built by pinning me down," she growled. He clenched his jaw and let the words that felt like acid pour from her wounded spirit. She smacked him hard and was ready to slap him again but reached up and grabbed the back of his neck. She kissed him hard on the mouth. He pulled back initially but then leaned into it. Her hands went to his shirt and his belt impulsively. She wanted him to feel the exact same pain and vulnerability. Revenge and vindictiveness rushed through her body like a fiend fire. His hands groped her body for a moment and she pressed into him, but he pulled his hands off.
"No, I'm not taking advantage of you like this," he said apprehensively. Somehow it was still about him, somehow he was still doing her the favor and the anger boiled over at the insinuation that he was doing this to her as opposed to her doing this to him. She hit him again making her ears ring loud suddenly, there was a loud crashing noise, and she started swinging at a now blurred version of her husband. Arms pulled her off and she struggled in someone's grip.
"Get off!" She yelled, ears still ringing and heart pounding like a war drum.
She was turned around and looked back at a blurred Malfoy. "Azalea, you hurt him," he said. She still struggled in the grip and kicked at his legs. "Bloody get ahold of yourself," he growled. She spit at his face and he let go impulsively to slap her but clenched his hand in a fist instead. "Are you in there?" He asked. The ringing went away. She felt like reality was setting in around her. Her eyes hit him like daggers but he pointed to her husband. Lizzie turned around.
She had thrown him backwards into a desk. He was having a hard time moving because his face was bleeding from her blows. Her heart sank and she helped him sit up. "I'll go get a potion from Pomphrey," Draco said. Lizzie didn't have words to describe the way she felt.
"You knew for almost two years before I took the memory, and you still came home to me. You still had Annie. You still trusted me... you knew it wasn't me," he said, his voice was cracking and he looked and felt completely defeated. He rubbed a bloody nose with the back of his hand and seemed to accept the defeat. "I know I don't deserve..."
"I know you didn't do it. But you hid it... it's like waking up in pain and not knowing what was done to you," she said quietly. Her chest was hurting with pressure from a decade of abuse she grew up victim to.
"I'm never going to forgive myself for that, Lizzie and I don't expect you to either," he responded. Her shoulders sank. It's not something she wanted to forgive him for, but also not anger she wanted to add to the heavy weight she was already holding onto.
"Are you alright?" She choked. He shook his head.
"Not if you're not," he whispered and squeezed her hand. She rested the side of her head against his shoulder.
"I think Annie is in danger," Lizzie said, feeling nausea build in her abdomen at the thought. Charlie bit the insides of his cheeks not wanting to crush her yet with how right she was.
Draco came back with a potion. Lizzie snatched it from him and gave it to Charlie who gave him a territorial look of warning.
Lizzie left and Charlie followed, Draco groaned to himself and trailed behind. "Weasley, has anything changed?" He asked cryptically. Charlie bit down hard on his own jaw and turned to look at him.
"Was this her reaction? Afraid of your wife?" He asked condescendingly.
"Who isn't afraid of my wife, Malfoy? But no, that's not what this was about. We still have an understanding, but you need to leave and stay away from her," Charlie demanded coldly. Lizzie glared between them, frustrated by her lack of involvement or consideration in this endeavor of theirs.
"Charlie I'm getting to class, who has Jamie?" She asked. She ran her thumb over a bruise on his cheek that was slowly fading from the potion, but she was still boiling with contempt.
"I brought him. He's with Remus, but was bugging to go see Neville, so if he's not with Remus..." Charlie said. Lizzie got the gist and nodded. She waited for Draco to leave before she abandoned her husband in the hallway by himself. He shook inside at the implications and the guilt he'd had for years surfaced not unlike the dragon they'd freed from Gringotts. He didn't know where it would take them and sat down to calm his nerves and figure out the best way to tell her the rest.