Be My Baby ~Multi~

The August Murders

"I understand that's probably not what you were expecting to hear." Leslie said quietly, as Hermione looked at her with a stoic expression. The silence in the room following was deafening.

"...so let me get this straight." Hermione said after a moment, her thoughts were sporadic, "you're alive. Meaning you somehow survived one of the worst mass killings the ministries ever seen. And I am cosplaying as a dead girl who is actually still alive?"

"Yes. That does seem to be the case, doesn't it?" Leslie said with an awkward smile. The 17-year-old girl fiddled with her hands in her lap, looking anywhere but Hermione's face. "I'm going to try and explain it all to you. If of course that's what you want me to do, I want to work on your own boundaries."

"How? How are you alive? Lillian and Harry attend some of the Order Meetings according to her diaries. Are they still alive? Did they help you?"

"No, Harry and Lillian are dead. I was the 'unnamed' family member that identified everyone's bodies. And yes, they did help get me out. May I request your consent to tell my story uninterrupted then answer any questions at the end of it?" She said, stuttering over some of her words. Despite the years of training to be the emotionless, calm pureblood woman her family hoped she would turn out to be, Leslie wasn't the best at hiding the fact that she was indeed very nervous for this.

"Yes, of course, take as long as you need."

Leslie cleared her throat and sifted a bit in her seat, her eyes settling on Hermione's shoes. "Well, it all started, undenounced to me of course, in about April of this year. My sister and brother, Lili and Harry, were already attending Order Meetings disguised as muggle borns, squibs etcetera etcetera, for quite some time. That's where Harry met Alden Fawcett, the man that would come in just a few short months to be my savior."

"Alden was another Death Eater that was an undercover spy for the Order, just like Harry was. My father in April, was requested by Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, I assume you already know this of course. My father was requested to take on an evil heirloom created and owned by Riddle. A diary. The same diary that my father and mother saw him writing int during their time at Hogwarts."

"My father, to the great shock of everyone in the inner circle, declined to take this diary after learning of the horrors that were within. That night he confided in my brother, of this refusal, seeing as Harry had to miss that meeting because of a bout of illness. Harry then took this information not to Lilian but to Albus."

"I myself am not sure of when my father started to work as a sorta double agent for the Order and the Death Eaters. As that was set up by Harry and he's well dead." Leslie said with an awkward chuckle. "This must be so confusing, seeing as I can't tell you the whole story as I'm only repeating what I know, and that's shamelessly not a lot. I remember the night my father brought home Alden Fawcett for dinner, I was so taken by him-" her cheeks flushed a deep red, "he was so kind," Leslie's voice cracked, and she squeezed her eyes shut for just a moment, "he was the kindest person to me, he treated me like I was a human. He talked to me not as an annoyance, and not as a baby, but as a grown person with my own thoughts and feelings."

"He asked me things about myself that no one has ever asked me about, talked to me about my own interest. And he listened. And for whatever reason, my father allowed him to do this, he was always so strict about his guests ignoring us. One of which, Rudolphus Lestrange did, even knocked me into the hall and when I fell, he didn't even bother to help me up. His father did though, and up until I met my sweet Alden, he was the kindest person I knew."

Leslie smiled, such a sad smile, and looked up at Hermione with tears in her dark brown eyes. Hermione wanted to reach over and elope the younger girl in her arms. And yet she didn't out of respect for her personal space. "He came to our home only a few days before-" her voice cracked, and she squeezed her fist, one tear leaked down from her eye and down her cheek. "Before the attack. I remember something was off, he was jittery."