The day went by quickly, I spent it by reading, since there was no other way to spent it. I was hoping that Harry would come to meet me, but he didn't.
Ron came with food in his two hands. The thing that I missed the most was the Great Hall's food.
"Let's eat up" he said and we ate talking to each other. He started to care for me a lot now, since he considered me his baby sister. He took the plate from my hand and kept it beside the bed.
"Do you know why all of this is happening to you?" he said as he wiped his mouth.
"No, I want to open this bandage, because it keeps burning and it itches, but Madam Pomfrey said that I wasn't allowed to open it till she says" I said fiddling with the tape that held the bandage together.
Ron stood up from his place and looked around. "Well, she isn't here, open it and I'll tape it back again"
I looked around and opened the tape, Ron was guarding my bed by staring at the door, so he would tell me if Madam Pomfrey arrives.
"R-Ron" I stuttered, but it was barely a whisper, since Ron didn't hear me.
"What did you-" he said and looked at me, while I was staring at my hand, my hands shaking, body shivering. He looked at my hand and took it in his hands.
He tried rubbing the thing that was on my forearm, but it didn't budge, whereas I was still staring into oblivion, taken aback by the mark on my hand.
The dark mark.
Ron had been continuously and furiously rubbing my hand, but nothing worked.
"Liv?" he said looking up, but I kept my gaze into oblivion. "Liv?" he said shaking me and I looked at him.
"I... I don't know, Ron. H-how it got there. You have to believe me-" I said and he cut me off by saying "I do, love"
"Do you know?" I asked and he shook his head.
"But I think that I know who might have an idea" he said and I looked at him.
"When we brought you here the other day, Madam Pomfrey told us to get Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore. Snape was very worried. McGonagall kept saying 'it happened' and well, Dumbledore, just, he kept staring at your hand" he said as I looked at the mark, trying to touch it with my fingertips.
I closed my eyes and let the tears drop. Ron sat beside me and placed his hands on my shoulders. I quickly hugged him tightly. Sobbing quietly on his t-shirt. He stroked my back and didn't pull away.
"I wanna talk to them, ask him what else is he hiding" I said, my words muffled in his shirt.
"You want me to come?" he asked as he kissed my head and I nodded.
We went to Dumbledore's office and I slammed the door open, with magic. All the teachers' heads turning towards the door. Lucky for me, Umbitch wasn't there.
"You! You have been nothing but a liar. You have been doing nothing but lying to me" I said as I walked in and Ron shut the door close.
"How the bloody hell do you wanna manipulate me or explain this?" I asked as I pulled my left sleeve.
The teachers except McGonagall, Snape and Dumbledore looked at me and then at Dumbledore. He nodded and they all left the office.
"My child" he said and I yelled, "NO! Don't you dare 'my child' me! I want to know the truth. The whole fucking truth. Right now!"
Ron came beside me and held my hand.
"Take a seat" Dumbledore said and Ron and I were about to sit when he said, "Only you, Miss Montgomery"
"Ron... is not going anywhere" I said sternly.
"Please... Continue, Professor" I said tauntingly.
"Your name is Olivia Montgomery, as you might know that your mother was Aurora Montgomery. Well..." he said looking at Snape and McGonagall.
"Your real name is Olivia Riddle" he said and I looked at him with wide eyes.
"You are the only daughter of Lord Voldemort. Your mother and him had a child, which he is totally unaware of, you. When your father started to show his true dark colors, your mother ran away with you to the muggle world, you being still in her womb. When you were born, you were born with this mark" he said and McGonagall interrupted.
"She thought that she would keep you safe. The only reason that Voldemort got close to your mother because she was inegalee sorciere. He thought she might fight with him, he thought she might help him"
"The night that Harry's parents were killed. He had gone to your house too, where your mother had hidden you. If Voldemort knew that you were there, he would've killed you too. When she was killed, you consumed all her powers that night, making you inegalee sorciere"
"Before she hid you, she put a curse on you. A curse that will only reveal your truest and darkest side to a person who wants you for you. Not your body, or looks or powers but your soul. When I reached there, after he was gone, I found you and brought you to Dumbledore" Snape said coming beside me.
"I-I'm your godfather, my child" he stuttered a little and said placing a hand on my shoulder.
I was processing all the information that I just heard. I was his daughter. How was that possible? Yes, they just told me that. But still, I didn't believe it.
"My mother was a pureblood. Who were those people you left me with?" I asked with tears in my eyes.
"Who told you she was a pureblood?" Dumbledore asked.
"You don't get to ask me questions when all you have done is lie to me. Please answer my question" I said standing up.
"Just some random muggles" he said like it didn't matter.
I gulped and stood up. "Just... just some random muggles?" I asked taking a step closer to his desk.
"Do you know how much those random muggles hated me? Do you know how miserable they made me? Do you know how much they tortured me? Do you know how much I was beaten by Austin? Do you know how much you've scarred me?" I said raising my voice at every question.
"And you!" I said pointing at Snape, "You call yourself my godfather?" I scoffed. "You've also lied to me. I would've expected such sort of behavior from a stranger" I said looking at Dumbledore, then back again at Snape, "But you? The only family that I have now? I didn't expect... expect..." and I collapsed to the ground.
I woke up in the middle of the night with my hand in Ron's. He hadn't left me. I didn't know for how many days I had been unconscious. I let him sleep, while I wandered in my mind with my thoughts.
I looked at the mark, it wasn't hurting now. I dragged my fingers at it. It was nothing but my skin. Plain skin, no bumps, nothing. Harry still hadn't come to meet me yet. I wonder if he saw the mark and left me. If the others found out about this, I don't know how'd they react. I don't even know if they'd wanna be with me anymore, who am I kidding. Who would wanna be with Voldemort's daughter?
Did the curse break because of Harry or Draco? And if-if it did, then does that mean that one of the boys loves me? I reckon it would be Harry, well, I don't think he loves me, but maybe his kiss did something, that's why so many professors were keeping us from kissing each other.
But what if it was Draco?
The next day, I woke up and Ron was awake. He looked at me and smiled. I smiled back slightly. I had made a decision last night, that I am not going to be sad about my past. Who my parents were, isn't my fault. I shouldn't be ashamed of who I am, because Voldemort being my father, was not in my hands.
"How are you feeling?" he asked as he handed me a glass of water.
"I think, I'm supposed to say, that I'm okay. So, I'm okay" I said taking the glass from his hand.
"Erm, I think that Harry might've seen the mark, that's why he isn't coming to see me" I said blankly.
He looked at me and said, "Do you want to see him?"
"No, I cannot control who my parents are or I cannot be ashamed of who I am. If he wants to see me, he will. If he doesn't then I'll accept. I want to see Mione, Ginny, Fred and George. They are the most important people in my life, they need to know. And Chris, if he is here" I said looking down.
"Alright, I'll get them" he said and left. I rolled my sleeves down and started reading. After a few minutes, I closed my book, when I heard the door open. It was Malfoy.
He was opening every green curtain that was closed, peeked in it, groaned and would angrily close it. He did it a few times, then he came near my bed, looked at me furrowing his brows and went to check the next bed.
He was going to leave when I called him, "Malfoy?"
He turned around and said, "O-Olivia?" and I nodded in a duh-way.
"What did you do to your hair? And your eyes. They're different too" he asked as he sat down beside me.
"Erm, long story" I said, I wasn't going to tell him that I was the only daughter of the Dark Lord.
"Are you okay? I haven't seen you in a month, darling" he said tucking a loose piece of hair behind my ear and I nodded as I noticed a little badge on his robe.
"What is this?" I asked as I touched the badge. He looked down and took my hand in his.
"You'll be proud, I'm the leader of the Inquisitorial Squad" he said and I furrowed my eyebrows at him.
"A group made by Umbridge, for extra credit, to keep an eye on students" he said still holding my hand and I knew, if I had to distract him from my topic, then I had to feed his big ego.
"Wow, that's very great, Malfoy. I am proud. My friend... Is it okay that I call you my friend?" I asked stopping myself mid-sentence.
"No...." he whined "Whatever happened to 'close friend'?" he asked and I remembered the night he recognized me in the bar, when I called him my close friend.
I smiled and continued, "My close friend, the leader of such an elite group"
"Yeah" he said proudly smirking.
"Good... good" I said loudly but directed to me that I had successfully diverted the topic and his attention.
"Liv" Hermione said from the door and both of our heads jerked into that direction.
Draco looked at me and said, "Take care, Middleton"
Like the gentleman he is, he stood up and kissed the back of my hand. I smiled at his gesture. Why can't he be like this always?
"Erm, actually, it's Montgomery" I said and he looked at me in confusion.
"My mother's name. I'm taking her real name" I said and he nodded. "Alright, see you later, Montgomery"
"What was he doing here?" Fred asked as he sat beside me.
"Just his duty, being in the squad. He gloated about it, right now" I said as George sat on the other side.
"Ronald said that you wanted to talk to us" Hermione said sweetly as she sat on a stool, while Ginny stood at the foot of my bed. I looked at Ron and he nodded.
He closed the green curtains around us and I put a muting spell.
"Yes, there is something you should know, about me" I said, my breath already shaking.
"My real father is Lord Voldemort" I said looking down, whereas the twins, Hermione stood up. Ron sat beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
I rolled up my sleeve and showed them the dark mark, earning gasps from everyone. I sighed and told them the story that Dumbledore told me and my opinion on it, how I'm going to accept it and not be ashamed of who I am.
"Liv, you're right. You can't control who your parents are" Ginny said smiling a little.
"And you're absolutely right, you should not be ashamed of who you are" Hermione said smiling with tears.
"And why should you? You are the most kind, down to earth, loyal, loveable, caring person there is, Livvy" Fred said now sitting beside me.
"Yes, and I'm so proud to call you my sister" George said sitting in front of me.
"But we are angry at you" the twins said in unison.
"Why?" I asked rolling my sleeve down.
"It took this git to convince you, but not us" George said.
"For living with us" Fred completed.
"Hey! He's your brother and mine too. I will not hear anything bad about him" I said hitting them lightly.
"How could you?" a voice shouted from outside our curtain. Ginny quickly opened the curtains and it was Harry.
"Harry-" I began to say but he cut me off. "No, shut up! How can I be so naïve? Or did you do some sort of dark magic on me? To trap me in? So that you can bring me to your leader?"
Before I could say anything, Ron pinned Harry against the wall, "Another word out of you that disrespects her, another word that hurts her, another word out of you, and it will be my wand and your neck"
"Ronald!" I said pulling his t-shirt so that he would stop pinning Harry.
"Harry, you have two options. One, you sit here and listen to what actually happened to me, without assuming shit or second, you say what you wanna say and we're done" I said calmly. His silence answered for him.
"Good" I said and I started to narrate the whole story, which I hope is the last time I do.
"Oh my..." Harry said quickly as he realized how wrong he was. He hugged me and said, "I-I'm really sorry, babe. I shouldn't have assumed anything. I accept that I acted irrationally and that I was wrong. I'm sorry that I didn't visit you, when you needed me"
"It's okay" I said hugging him back.
"That's it? Just like that?" Ron said with shock, to how easily I had forgiven Harry.
"That's why we all love you, Liv. You never hold grudges; you easily forgive people; you are very caring and you would turn the world upside down for us" Hermione said sweetly and I smiled at her.
"But sometimes I do worry that you'll be taken advantage of" Hermione said sitting down. I sighed and turned to Ron.
"Ron, would you like to apologize to your best friend?" I said sweetly.
"Right, sorry, mate" he said awkwardly. I giggled, one genuine laughter escaped my lips after so long.
I was out the next day. The news of me being cursed by my mother spread quickly, though it was a different story. Hermione and Ginny had come up with a rumor that would explain the hair and eyes.
I was sitting in my dorm, when Harry, Hermione and Ron came in with big smiles on their faces. I closed my book and looked at them.
"What are you idiots grinning about?" I asked and placed my glasses down.
"Erm, you know, Liv, how Umbridge isn't letting us use spells and how we aren't even learning anything for the OWLs. We were hoping you could teach us, you know" Hermione said sitting on her bed.
"Like tutor you for exams?" I asked while Harry sat beside me.
"Not just for exams, brownie" Ron said. His new nickname for me, since my hair turned brown and since he is always eating. *eyeroll*
"For what then?" I asked as Harry held my hand.
"We want you to teach us how to defend ourselves, since you've been trained" Harry said but Hermione cut him off, "No, we want you both to teach us, to fight You-Know-Who. Harry has had experience fighting him and you, well, you know a lot more spells"
"Who'd want to be taught by me?" I asked and Ron replied, "We're meeting some people in Hog's Head tomorrow. Plus, Sirius gave us the idea"
"Alright. Sounds perfect. Count me in" I said and Hermione hugged me. "Yayy!"
The next day, we were heading to Hog's Head, when Harry said, "Mostly babe, you'll be doing the teaching and remember everyone thinks I'm a lunatic, no one would want to be taught by me"
Ron said, "Well, it's you or that old toad face"
"Thanks, Ron" Harry said sarcastically.
"I'm here for you, mate" Ron replied sassily.
We went upstairs and a lot of people had come. Mostly Gryffindors, just like the Inquisitorial Squad with Slytherins.
There was an awkward silence. Harry and I were staring at Hermione for her to say anything, while Ron stared at everyone else.
She stood up and looked at everyone, "Hi" she said awkwardly.
Great start, Mione.
"So, you all might know that why we're here. For those who don't, we need a proper teacher. One who has had real experience defending against Dark Arts, not the one who doesn't allow us to use magic in a magic school" she continued and a boy interrupted her.
"Why?"
"Why? Because You-know-who's back, you git" Ron replied getting irritated. I placed a hand on his hand to calm him down.
"So he says" the boy replied.
"So Dumbledore says" I said but he cut me off, "No, the point is, where is the proof?"
"If Potter could tell us more about how Diggory got killed" another boy said and I tightened my grip around Ron's hand. Harry and Hermione looked at me.
Harry stood up and said, "I'm not going to talk about Cedric, if you were here for that, then you can leave" and two people in the crowd got up and left.
"Is it true that you can produce a Patronus Charm?" Luna asked from beside Rafael.
"Yes!" Hermione said from beside Harry, "And so can Liv"
Hermione, Ron and I went on about how Harry has saved all of us in the past 4 years.
"No, wait. Look it all sounds great when you say it like that but the truth is that it was luck and almost every time, I had help from Ron or Hermione or Livia" Harry said holding my hand and I smiled.
"Real life is different. It is not like a small school fight, that if you lose it, you can try again tomorrow. You don't know what it's like when you're an inch away from death or watch your friend die right in front of your eyes" Harry completed and sat down.
"He really is back" Nigel said and Harry nodded lightly.
"You-know-who-" Cho said and I interrupted her.
"His name is Voldemort. I'd like to quote Hermione from Year 2 – 'Fear of the name, only increases the fear of the thing itself'. If you're fighting on the right side, like Cedric tried to, then do it rightfully. Throw away any fear that is in your mind. You must realize that fear is not real. Just something that you create. Do not misunderstand me, danger is very real, but fear, that is a choice" I said placing a paper on the table.
"Whoever wishes to join, please stand up and sign your names on this parchment" I said and took a seat next to Hermione.
One by one, everyone sitting in the room, wrote their name on the parchment and waited for the meeting to get over.
"Right, now, Harry and Liv, will teach us how to defend ourselves" Hermione said and Ron mumbled under his breath, "The Power Couple" and I rolled my eyes at him. "The other details will be notified to you, and know, that we will know if anyone betrays us, I have a spell on this parchment. So, don't even think about it" Hermione said concluding the meeting.
We were heading back to the castle when Harry said, "For starters, we need to find a place where we can practice, secretly"
"The Shrieking Shack" Ginny suggested.
"Too small" Harry replied quickly.
"The Forbidden Forest" Hermione said looking at me.
"No way in hell" Ron said before I could say anything.
"Harry, what happens if Umbridge finds out?" Ginny asked.
"Who cares? I mean, it's sort of exciting, breaking the rules" Hermione said smiling widely.
I looked at her and said, "Who are you and what have you done to my Mione Granger?"
"Pass the message around, that over the few days, we, each, need to come up with prospect places where we can practice" Harry said and everyone nodded.