Strawgoh: The American Hogwarts

Chapter Thirteen

Laurel followed the portly professor to his office on the fifth floor. Hugo Brentley tapped his wand on a statue of Wendelin the Weird and whispered, "Flame Freezing." The statue jumped aside and a secret door appeared. The teacher motioned for Laurel to follow.

Laurel's hair had become a shade darker since the large amount of Skele-Gro she had consumed the night before. Her hair matched the color of Brentley's chairs, where the acting headmaster had fallen into. She sat down firmly into the soft chair. Brentley pulled out his wand once again. He mumbled some words, and a drawer opened up. A glowing bowl full of something silvery and murky. It looked like water, but Laurel didn't know what it was.

"This is the Pensieve. I'm sure you've heard of it in the books about Harry Potter," said Brentley. "We are going to visit one of your father's memories. He gave them to me. It was a bit after you were born. I have an accompanying letter, but you can have that afterwards. Dive right in."

Laurel fell into the Pensieve, with the professor right behind her. A little blond baby with bluish grey eyes was giggling and sitting up. She looked about six months old. Her mom, a woman she had only seen once in a family picture in her aunt and uncle's house, had her arm draped around her father, who looked just like her uncle David. Her mother had the brownish color of her new hair after Skele-Gro. Her eyes were grey and her father's were blue. He had caramel hair. His little baby girl was playing with a Chocolate Frog. It kept jumping around her and little Laurel kept chasing the brown frog, but she fell over.

"Oops!" laughed Della. "Isn't she adorable?" Della ran over to pick up her baby. Barry laughed.

"Well, Laurel! Aren't you excited to go to England in seven months? We're going to see your new cousin, Charlotte!" announced Barry to Laurel, whose mother had brought her over. Laurel didn't know that her father was British. Barry took the baby from his wife, and cuddled her in his arms. "My baby girl!"

Della had gone to the kitchen and returned with a letter. She unrolled it. "Letter from Cedric." She began to read it. "Dear Barry, Della, and Laurel, I am proud to announce that last Sunday, Madella Lennora Craddock was born! Nora did a great job, we had the most fantastic healer come and help. Those Muggles and their ridiculous ways of enduring pain. Thank you Painless Charms! Anyways, come visit any time! I think I'll be visiting in a couple of months. Nora and Mads'll stay home; it'll be a long trip and Madella can't handle Side-Apparating. Anyways, my dad's the new headmaster at Strawgoh. I know you only went for a year after your parents split, but I'm sure you remembered Headmaster Fordworth. He died. Sad accident. Apparently You-Know-Who killed him, but don't believe that garbage. Bye, you three! I'll be visiting you soon!" Della rolled up the letter and smiled. "Isn't that lovely? Seeing him once again! I wonder if he'd like to do those strange Muggle activities. What're they called? Oh yeah, bumgee jumping!"

"I don't know how we ended up together," laughed Barry. "You were always so crazy and I was just that British bookworm. But I love you nonetheless." He tickled Laurel. "And our baby."

Laurel giggled. Della scooped her baby out of her husband's arms and kissed her cheek. "She's ours, Barry. Yours and mine. Nobody else can ever take her. Especially not somebody like our old friends."

"What?" asked Barry. "Del, sometimes you say the craziest things."

Della's sleeve of her sweater fell back a little bit. There was no Dark Mark, to Laurel's relief, but there was a long scar. Laurel jumped back.

"Let's get out of this," Hugo Brentley said. "I've got another memory to show you."

Laurel nodded.

"This one's from your mother. It was something she encountered while dating Cedric Craddock when she was sixteen," said Brentley.

The world around Laurel and her acting headmaster began to swirl. They landed in the Gryffindor common room. It was empty. The clock on the wall said twelve o'clock. Laurel assumed it was in the middle of the night. Della was not married to Barry yet, so her last name was Queen. She was holding Cedric Craddock's hand.

Della didn't look much younger than the last memory that Laurel and Brentley had been in, but Cedric Craddock looked much younger. He had no wrinkles yet, and his eyes were a beautiful hazel and his hair was thick and chocolatey brown. He was laughing at something Della had just said.

"Oh, Del, you're the best," laughed Cedric. "When are we going to leave this place? It's just work, work, work. And then that one boy... Larry? He keeps on offering to tutor you. Does he fancy you?"

Della grinned. "Ooh, Cedric's jealous of brainy Barry Hare. You've got nothing to worry about, lovey. He just wants me to read. I like to do risky things and pretend to be a Muggle. It's funny to see how they work without magic."

Cedric lifted up Della's hand and placed it on his. He sleeve slipped down and revealed the Dark Mark. Della's eyes saw it, and she pulled her hand back.

"Cedric, is that what I think it is?" asked Della.

"What, Del, dear?" he asked.

"Show me your left wrist, please. I need to know that you're not... you know... one of them." She smiled a little bit. "I know you're not one, but Headmaster Fordworth always warned us about the growing number of Death Eaters." Her voice had dropped to a barely audible whisper.

Cedric frowned and pulled his left sleeve back to reveal the Dark Mark. Della gasped. "You know now. Avada Keda-" His voice was cut off. Della's screams had awoken brainy Barry Hare, who had screamed, "Expelliarmus! Protego! Stupefy! Petrificus Totalus!" Della's eyes were wide in shock as she began to cry.

"Was he going to kill you?" asked Barry.

"He had firewhiskey. He's gone a bit bonkers. Please don't tell anybody. It's not his fault, you know," explained Della.

"OK. But get rid of bad people like that, Della," Barry warned. Della nodded and smiled. Barry leaned into kiss her. Della obliged.

The world began to swirl once again. Laurel felt light headed and searched for Professor Hugo Brentley's hand to grab onto. She found nothing, but then felt the cold, hard ground of the acting headmaster's office. The professor had already picked himself up and was brushing off his pants.

"Your mother knew her fate, Laurel. And she chose it. She knew what would happen, but when she met your father, she was put into a world of oblivion. Della Queen became Della Hare, and then Della Hare, the mother of Laurel Hare. Cedric had been working hard to get on the young couple's good side. Once he had, he was sure to kill them. He left you alone, and the Dark Lord came and tried to kill you. The powerful bond of love protected you, and part of his soul came into yours. A story much like Harry Potter's, but not exactly."

Suddenly, four people came into the room. Laurel's teacher grinned. He shook the man with the black hair's hand, hugged the red haired and bushy haired women, and clapped the freckled man on the back.

"Laurel, meet Harry and Ginny Potter and Hermione and Ron Weasley. They came to fight. Happy to say that I've watched them battle. It was quite good," the teacher complimented.

"Thank you, sir. It was a pleasure to be in your school," Hermione said. "I feel bad about all the damage we inflicted."

"It was lives you saved! Don't worry about the damage, darling!" The acting headmaster smiled.

"C'mon, Laurel, let's go." Harry Potter put his hand out and Laurel took it. She was safe.