Bound By Blood (Muggle Meets Magic #2)

TWENTY ONE - The Minister Of Magic

A short time later, Harry led Albus, Will, Eleanor and myself into The Leaky Cauldron. We'd only taken a couple of steps when there was a scream, and a clatter of chairs, and my parents came racing over to embrace me.

I was too overwhelmed to stop them—I hadn't seen them in months, so when they wrapped me in a hug, I just stood there trying not to cry as they fussed over me.

"Oh, the things they were saying!" my mum sobbed, stroking my hair. "Are you hurt? Let me look at you," she added, stepping back to examine me.

"Pardon me, Mrs. Castillian," a voice interrupted, as a witch in her mid-twenties stepped forward from the growing crowd of concerned parents. "I'm a nurse—I can heal her up if you'll let me."

My parents tentatively stepped aside while the nurse led me to a nearby chair. I was distracted by the other adults in the room—two had gone straight to Will, and I recognized the likeness in his father, who had brown hair and wore a sweater over a collared shirt. There was another couple dressed in fine robes who held their chins tall, their shoulders back, and were talking quietly to Eleanor.

Suddenly, I felt a strange, warm sensation on my arm, and when I looked down, I noticed the bandage had been removed and the cut was healing itself under the direction of the nurse's wand—dried blood now flaking away.

"Anything else you'd like me to look at?" the nurse asked. I could feel a bruise forming on my right cheek, so I told her about the many times I'd been knocked around that day, and she did some gentle healing all around my head.

When she was done, she moved on to Albus, who had many bruises that needed looking at.

"Where's Callie?" a voice asked finally, and I looked up to see Landon and Ruby, Callie's parents, standing with my own.

My shoulders drooped. I hadn't been prepared to have this conversation so soon.

"She got away," I said finally, remembering what Albus had told me in the car as he'd explained what happened.

"What do you mean she got away?" Ruby demanded, her eyes wide with worry. "If she got away, she'd be here with you!"

They still think she's was innocent.

"Callie was helping Lucas Grey," I told her. "She's the one who tricked us with the sleeping draught, and tried to smuggle me off the train with Lucas. She wasn't herself—she was saying all kinds of horrible things..."

"Well clearly she's not herself," Landon muttered. "She would never do this of her own accord! That boy has to have done something to her."

I nodded in agreement. I refused to believe Callie was acting freely. And a wave of guilt washed over me that I hadn't tried to help her—that I'd been more focused on catching Lucas and escaping. Now, she was on the run, all by herself, and she wasn't thinking straight.

"Well, I'm just glad she didn't seriously hurt you," my dad growled, and threw Callie's parents a cold look. My shoulders raised again, now tense. The last thing I wanted was to try and explain to my parents how magic could influence people to do bad things. Not after everything I'd already been through.

Callie's dad looked like he wanted to retaliate, but Ruby muttered something in his ear and led him away. I'd barely breathed a sigh of relief before Harry approached me and said,

"The Minister of Magic has arrived. We'd like to hear what happened now, and we're starting with you, Alyssa."

With a nod to my parents, he led me up the stairs of The Leaky Cauldron to a bedroom—which had been vacated for privacy. Two chairs had been positioned next to the bed, and one of them was already occupied by a woman with bushy, brown hair. She turned to me and offered me her hand.