Annabella The Sidekick (Sequal To Defiance)

Chapter 46

   I was right. It's early morning when I'm shaken awake. Dim light is peeking through the windows, and there's a hand on my shoulder.
Reflexively, I start to scream, but a hand covers my mouth. It's then that I see the green eyes. "Harry," I whisper, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. He gives me a small smile, but I can tell that he's worried. Someone's always worried.
"You okay?" He asks. I nod and give him a small smile. "Yeah of course I am. I've been having nightmares for a long time now Harry," I say. "That doesn't make it any better. What was this one about?" He asks me. "They've all been about the same thing lately Harry. You should know." Sighing, Harry runs his hand through his hair.
    "Bella, you've got to tell us what happened sooner or later," he says gently. I immediately begin shaking my head. "Harry I can't! I can't talk about it," I say. "I just want to know how to help you," he says in response. "I can't tell you all of it right now Harry. Some of it's blurry even for me." Harry nods, and I scoot over on the bed so he can sit down.
    "I was going towards Dad after Sirius fell through. I got grabbed, but you know that. They took me to Bellatrix. She was in Malfoy Manor. She tortured me a lot. Not just with magic either," I say. "What else did she do?" Harry asks.
I can't take it anymore and burst into tears. "She had a knife Harry. Mum can't bear to look at me!" I wail. Harry hugs me tightly. "It's okay Bells," he assured me. I shake my head. "You don't understand Harry. She made sure that nobody will ever love me."
"Annabella! Don't ever say that!" He tells me. I sob a bit and pull up the hem of my shirt just so he can see a few of the letters carved into my flesh. "Oh Merlin Bells," Harry says, pulling me into his arms.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there!" He says. "I'm useless, honestly!" He says. "Harry, you're the only one who really knows," I whisper, grabbing the necklace around my neck. "I was scared. I said goodbye to you all in my head."
"We're always going to save you. We had no idea where you were. Sky and Regulus were torn up. Remus was awful. You're like his own child you know," he says. Crying harder, I hold tightly onto my cousin. "The twins were bad too. They closed down the shop. Mrs. Weasley kept cooking and got so upset when nobody would eat. One night she just broke down in tears in the kitchen."
"Bells, the day Remus brought you back was the most life I'd seen in anyone's faces for days. Don't you dare say she made you unlovable because we all love you," He says. I'm pretty sure I've soaked his shirt with tears at this point but I can't help it. "I love you Harry," I say quietly. "I love you too," he replies.
I don't sleep very well, so I eventually get up and go to the pensive room. I pour the vial of memories into the pensive and look.
The memories are from George's point of view, and they start with the night of the first party. I can feel his feelings for me through the memory. He had it figured out before I did.
I see myself blush as he kisses me on the cheek. I see myself blush a few times actually. Especially when he kisses me for the first time.
As the memories go on, I see myself through George's eyes. I feel his stab of regret at the Yule Ball, I feel his discontent as he sees me with Blaise. For the first time, I see everything.
When the memories end, I'm crying. I'm crying like a baby. I put the memories back in the vial and stick them in my trunk. The rest of the day is completely happy.
In the afternoon, an owl comes for me. It's from George.
Hey Bells!
Interested in going to Lee's tonight? It'll just be a few of us. Remember the good old days in the ROR? Owl me back!
Love you,
George
I don't know. I mean I don't really want to go. They're all adults and I'm just fifteen. It wouldn't be very fun I don't think. No doubt Lee will be talking about his newest fling. Angelina will probably be there too. Does that mean I should go?
I dwell on it for a moment, but Fred and George's owl is waiting. Quickly, I grab a piece of parchment and scribble my reply.
Georgie,
No thank you. I don't really want to go hang out with a bunch of your adult friends and listen to Lee talk about the girl he shagged last weekend. Thank you for the invite though. Have a good time. I love you!
I send the owl off and plop down on my bed. It's actually come along quite nicely. The walls are their original black color, and it's still decorated in Slytherin colors. It's more feminine now that it has my things lying about though.
Not content to stay home though, I get an idea. I run to Ginny's room and throw open the door. "Oi ginger!" I call. She looks up from her magazine. "What?" She asks. "Fancy going out?" I ask with a grin.
By five, we have a plan. We tell our families that we're going to walk around the muggle town for a bit. They don't want to say yes, but we beg until they agree. I ask Kreacher to iron our outfits. I found a dress in my Mum's old things, but I can't imagine her wearing it. It's black with sheer parts in it and it's quite short. Ginny is wearing a green dress that makes her look quite busty.
We leave around eight with the promise to be home around midnight. We told them we were going to a club for underage people. When we get around the corner, we begin to laugh. I change my looks, although I don't do it very often. We think we can get Ginny to pass for eighteen in her heels.
We do go to the muggle town, but we stop at a nightclub. "ID?" The bouncer asks. I frown at him. "I seem to have forgotten mine," I say. Ginny sags her shoulders. "Me too," she says. "Don't worry, they're with us," a voice behind me says. I turn around, as does Ginny. I then hear a string of curse words flow from her mouth.
Standing behind us are Fred and George Weasley, along with Lee, Alicia, and Angelina. The bouncer lets all of us in and Ginny and I cling to each other nervously. "Evasive maneuvers?" I ask her. George shakes his head. "Not evasive maneuvers!" He exclaims. "Who's idea was this?" I laugh nervously. "It's a funny story actually," I say. "Hilarious," Ginny replies.
"We were just on a walk and heard the amazing music," I say. "Wearing that?" Fred laughs. "We were practicing," Ginny says. "For what?" Lee asks. "Ginny's wedding! It's never too early," I respond.
Everyone looks very confused. "We were bored!" Ginny finally admits. "I invited you to come with us!" George exclaims to me. "You said you would be at Lee's!" I reply. He goes a bit pink in the face as I drag Ginny off towards the dance floor.
"You want to dance?" I ask her. "Do I have a choice?" She laughs. So we dance. I'm pretty sure Fred and George don't like their sister dancing like this, but we don't care. We didn't really come with them, plus I'm mad at George for saying he'd be at Lee's when he knows I hate it. We'd been there a few times this summer.
Ginny and I don't really get tired. We don't even feel our feet hurting in our heels. We don't drink, but we don't need to. "I love this!" I exclaim. "Me too!" Ginny giggles. "Do wizards have night clubs?" I ask. "Probably," Ginny says in response.
We go to lean against the wall after awhile, finally getting a bit tired. We're sweaty and our dresses are clinging tightly to our bodies. "George is staring at you," Ginny says. I turn around and sure enough, he's looking at me. I wink and wiggle my hips suggestively, and he turns away blushing.
"Bella!" Ginny shrieks, hitting my arm. I just laugh. "This is such a rush," I tell her. She nods in reply. "I've never been anywhere like this." George walks over to us. "Want to dance?" He asks me. I look over at Ginny, not wanting to leave her alone. "Go ahead," she laughs.
"So I'm assuming you don't want to ballroom dance?" I ask with a laugh. "How did you know?" George asks in reply. "Just a lucky guess," I respond. So we dance. At first it's awkward and weird because George and I have shared kisses and snogged and things, but we've never really done anything like this.
You'd never think dancing would be an intimate thing, but somehow it is. With all these people around, the feeling of George's hands on my waist and my hands moving up and down his back still seem like we're the only two people here, however cliche that sounds.
"I was actually going to pop in after this and check on you," He says. "You were?" I ask him. "Yeah, but I guess you don't need it," He says with a chuckle. "Do you want to go out tomorrow night?" I'm taken by surprise. "Out where?" I ask. "I don't know, to dinner. Just you and me," he says. I nod. "Sure I'd love to." George gives me a look. "You do look beautiful with blonde hair but can you change back to you?" He asks. I nod and turn back to myself.
George smiles, but it fades as he looks down. "What's this?" He asks, tracing a sheer part of my dress. I'm about to answer sarcastically, but then I notice it's not the sheer part he's taking about. It's the cuts that are showing. "Nothing!" I say quickly.
"Bells?" George asks me. "You're not cutting yourself.....are you?" He asks. He's whispering in my ear so he doesn't have to shout over the music. "If you are, we can talk about it," he tells me. "I'm not," I tell him. "It's not that." George looks confused. "Is it something that happened when you were taken?" I panic. "Please leave it alone Georgie!" I exclaim.
This is not the place for an anxiety attack. "I don't want to talk about it. I know we'll have to sometime, but not now," I say. "Okay."
Ginny and I leave about eleven fifteen. I promise George that I'll see him the next day, and Ginny and I step in the house at about five till. "Did you have a nice time?" My mum asks. "We had a blast!" Ginny relies happily. "We danced a lot though," I say. "I'm glad it was fun," my mum says. "Now I'm going to bed and you girls should as well."
Ginny and I slip off to our respective rooms, still giggling. I drift off to sleep immediately, and the nightmares don't wake me until much later than they normally do.

(A/N) I hope you loved this chapter! I feel like Bella never really does anything mischievous, so here you are!