The Royal Witch

Chapter 10 - Family

Be the change you want to see
- Gandhi

"I said this was a stupid idea. I said from the very beginning that this  was a fucking stupid idea. I told you. I told all of you.  I begged all of you, not to do this. But, did you listen? No! You are all still stupid boys with stupid plans that don't work" screamed a furious Lily to four cowering men with their heads hung down.

"But she was your siste.." started Wormtail.

"Shut up Wormtail!" echoed three voices in unison. But the damage was done. Before they could even take their wands out, Wormatail was hit by the stinging hex and dropped to the floor.

"Stop her James" whined Wormtail from the floor.

"You know I can't, Sorry mate" said James shrugging.

"Sirius! Please" Wormtail begged some more.. 

Sirius carefully made his way over to Lily and slowly made her put her wand down. Wormtail breathed in relief. Sirius pulled Lily into a hug and she resisted at first but gave in eventually and broke down crying in her arms.

James swallowed a painful sob looking at her.  This was all his fault. Feom the beginning. He trusted Dumbledore and when the truth came out he made up the plan to let Dumbledore think he won.  He convinced Lily to let Harry go to the Dursleys. His guilt turned into anger for the Dursleys and he hit the palace stone walls with his fist. The pain felt good. But this won't do. Whoever made his son hurt will pay for it.

Remus was fighting back a growl. Even though he was no longer a werewolf some of the animalistic insticts lingered. And now hearing that someone had dared touch and hurt one of his own, his blood boiled. He swore vengeance on them all.

Peter slowly stood up from the floor. The hex still hurt. But this was not the first time Lily had hexed him and it probably won't be the last.  His mind was fixed on a moment eleven years back when he picked up a crying baby with dark black hair from Lily's lap and the baby instantly stopped crying and smiled at him. That was the moment he swore that he'd do whatever it took to protect that little bundle of joy. Harry is the reason he overcame his fear and became a double agent to spy on Voldemort. Now knowing that inspite of all he did, Harry still had suffered, his heart clenched in pain. 

It took them all a long while to become calm. Once they've all settled down again, Sirius announced that Hermione wanted to talk to all of them about how she wanted to proceed.  They all nodded their approval.

Harry and Hermione were walking down the grounds to Herbology, when her Hermione felt her ring pulse.  Sending that it was her dad and the others, she urged Harry to go on without her giving him the loo excuse and ran off towards the castle. Once inside she ran to the
fourth floor corridor and was about to disappear through the red rose portal when she heard a cough behind her.

Draco Malfoy was walking towards her with the book she gave him in his hand. He handed the book to her and said in a polite tone "That was quite the interesting read Ms.Granger. I really hope we find the time to discuss it in person."

"Of course Mr. Malfoy" replied Hermione in a steady voice.

"Draco" he corrected her.

"Hermione" she said with a smile.

With another nod, he rounded the corner and left. Hermione shook  herself out of the strange conversation and disappeared through the portal.

She quickly went to the room she knew her father would be in.  With a long breath, she entered.  Everyone stood up at once and bowed. She bowed back and sat down at the chair she knew was for her. She asked the others to take their seats.  It bothered her that she had to be so formal with people she considered her family.  But her Grandmother had been strict about this rule.  Anyone who's not blood will go through the show of respect. Her Grandmother was rarely strict about rules so she didn't dare to argue.

She turned to Lily, "Aunt Lily, I'm sure you've heard about the predicament Harry is in" Lily nodded not being able to speak yet.  "Please don't blame yourselves. Any of you.  The fault is with one man only and that is Dumbledore.  But he won't do anymore harm to my family.  I came here to ask you all to trust me.  My people have eyes on Harry at all times when he's in Hogwarts. And if you take a look at today's  Prophet, you'll see that things are already starting to unravel. Dumbledore knows that somebody is working against him. The good thing is he doesn't know who. We will take him out soon enough"

"On that note..." started Sirius, "the good news is we have only one horcrux left. But I suspect that it's in a living receptacle like Nagini. It's impossible to pinpoint but it's somewhere in Hogwarts. "

" I thought you got the one at Hogwarts. The diadem if I'm not mistaken? "

" We thought so too, but then we were only focusing on the non living receptacles.  So we might not have noticed the another one at Hogwarts. Because the aura of the Diadem was so strong.  Only when we found Nagini did we know that such a thing was even possible"

"What do you think it is this time?"

"Might be the monster of Slytherin.  I have to be in the castle to make sure what it is."

"Very well. You can accompany me when I go back. I'm going to see mother before I go back."

"I'll come with you" said Sirius and stood up. 

Hermione hugged all of them, James the longest and walked out of the room with her Father.