*lol, we love a good Disney reference for a chapter name. Have fun getting that song out of your head now hehe*
The end of that week was a blurred attempt of celebrating the end of another school year and the start of summer. But every one of us who had gone to the Department of Mysteries had lost the startling joys of incoming summer.
Harry had lost Sirius, someone I barely knew nor would have cared for if his death hit the papers a week ago. But now I sympathized for him.
Theo wasn't dead of course. But where he was now sent coiled dread to fester in my stomach and at night my mind was filled with anxious thoughts of what my father would do. What my father was now—how he could be a death eater and live right under my nose the entire time.
Everything about it was unfathomable, and I felt like such an idiot for not seeing the signs. Even Draco, for as meticulous and manipulative a being as he was, had in his own way warned me of my father. I didn't agree when he reminded me of the World Cup situation but ever since our fight, memories of that day and that of my father's initiation into the Death Eaters haunted me.
And being in Slytherin, surrounded by the children of the people I fought mere days ago, I couldn't escape it. And now I joined the stereotype from my house.
Whether I liked it or not.
"Are you sure you don't want to just run?" Sam asked again as we walked on the train platform in Hogsmead. The Hogwarts Express gleamed just as red as usual. But today it looked rather novel.
"Where could I go?" I said, dejected to the looping conversation. "Everywhere I could think of I'm sure my parents would come looking for me. They all have connections to find me."
Sam didn't have to say anything. Her eyes gave her thoughts away—those narrow dark eyes of her were impassive at times and told me everything in other moments. Like now—she was terrified.
"I'm sure my parents could find a way to hide you," Sam went on, but I ignored her as I passed my chest to the bellman. I turned back to find Sam clutching onto her own chest handles with a line of white across the knuckles.
I went up to her and held her hand making her relax.
"What's the one thing my family will never fail to account for?" I let Sam think on it for a moment before uttering a rather stubborn "Money." It made me snort, breaking the moment entirely.
"Well it's true!" Sam shot back as I let go of her hand and tried to stifle another laugh.
"We don't need to account for money, you simpleton. It's more or less a birthright at this point. I was hinting at my family's reputation! Do you really think my parents are going to let the gossip mill destroy the Fountaine name?"
Sam's jaw set as I answered my own question.
"Of course not! They're going to try and act mundane in the crowds. Show my siblings and I out to the public as much as possible as one big happy family. They'll spend money on charities for the world to see, they'll have us sit on the balconies of country clubs to show that nothing has changed and most importantly," I emphasized regaining Sam's attention after her notable eye roll at my words, "They will send me back to school in the fall just like every other witch my age."
"And then you'll be away from them once again," Sam concluded, seeing my point. I nodded.
"I just have to get through the summer."
Sam didn't say it but as we walked onto the train together, I caught the worry still lining her eyes.
A lot can happen in a summer.
The return trip was spent in the company of all of those who ventured into the Department of Mysteries, including Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Ginny, Ella, Sam and myself. It was an awfully big crowd for train compartment but we managed just fine and found comfort in each other's shared knowledge.
"In a brief statement Friday night, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be Named has returned to this country and is active once more. And with equal regret, Fudge reports the mass revolt of the dementors of Azkaban, who have shown themselves averse to continuing in the Ministry's employ, and are believed to have found current direction from Lord-"
"They're not going to come after you again this summer, are they Harry?" Ella questioned, interrupting Hermione from her reading. Hermione had the Daily Prophet opened in her lap, on top of her cat: Crookshanks, who was eyeing up Oliver sitting across from her with golden eyes.
Oliver wasn't giving Crookshanks the time or day as he went about giving himself a very intricate bath with his usual stuck up flare.
"Even if they were to come, the Ministry would be daft to try anything now. They've made fools of themselves," Ron answered for his friend. Harry was sitting back with his mind elsewhere, deep in thought.
"If you would let me finish," Hermione said in a curt voice and a gaze angled at both Ron and Ella, "You would see that they've become oddly complimentary towards Harry and Dumbledore."
"Of course they are," Sam stated. "They're trying to do damage control."
"And doing a terrible job of that," Ginny agreed. "Death eaters and unrestrained Dementors out and about? Soon all the prisoners will be loose."
"I'm looking forward to the face Draco's mother will make on the platform," Ron said with a selfish grin that replicated itself on a few of the others.
"It'll be short lived, right? The death eaters will regroup and then they'll be out again," Neville rattled on to listening ears.
"But now the world knows about them. Most of them at least," Hermione concluded with a look in my direction. Only a spare few knew that the death eater restraining me that night was my father. And to my knowledge, it seemed that both Neville and Luna were in the dark. As for the others...
"Malfoy was in a right state either way," Ron when on, oblivious to the glance Harry gave me from across the compartment. "Acting all confrontational as if Umbridge was still around to take points from us."
"What did he do?" I inquired, looking to both Ron and then Hermione as a look of realization hit her face.
"He went after Harry," Ron blurted while simultaneously Hermione exclaimed, "I forgot to tell you!"
"He had a row with Harry again, is that it? Old news," Sam dictated but Hermione continued anyways.
"He came after Harry a day ago. Wand drawn and everything. But it was Snape of all people who stopped it."
"Not before taking numerous points from our house," Harry added as a reminder. "It was really McGonigal that mended things."
"As she does," Ginny replied happily.
There was movement past our door, and we all except Luna, who was busy investigating an interactive puzzle on her father's newest edition of the Quibbler, watched Cho trip in front of our door, turn to face us, blushed and then rushed on with her good for nothing friend following after in a very cleverly wrapped scarf.
"Lovely as always," Sam commented allowed and I snorted automatically, gaining a smirk from Sam in return.
"She's dating someone knew you know, Harry," Hermione added casually with a look in Harry's direction. He barely rose a brow in response before adding, "she's probably cheerful enough with someone else."
Hermione and I exchanged subtle glances that all females of the human race have mastered to get simple points across.
In this case, it was noted between the pair that Harry was very much over Cho Chang.
"Who's she with now anyway?" Ron asked, craning in his seat to see the last of her.
"Micheal Corner," Hermione dropped with an eager turn to the side of her mouth.
"No!" Ella exclaimed, twisting on Ginny who was having a hard time reclaiming a neutral expression when her own smile at Ella's reaction brightened her face.
"You're barking," Sam reacted, turning from Hermione to Ginny while Ron was frowning at the entirety of this conversation.
"But you were going out with him!" Ron pointed out in his sister's direction. She merely rolled her eyes and barely missed the look Harry was giving her.
But I saw it.
"Not anymore," She replied patiently. "He didn't like Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw at Quidditch and got really sulky, so I ditched him."
"And he ran off to comfort another quidditch seeker," Sam finalized with a slow shake of the head.
"Bastard," Ella seethed while I openly chuckled. Hermione joined in with her own grin.
"Well that's good I guess. I mean erm..." Ron started, with a perplexed look. "Just choose someone—better—next time."
"I've chosen Dean Thomas, would you say he's better?" Ginny asked vaguely.
"WHAT?" Ron shouted while Sam, Ella, and myself turned on Ginny agaped.
"When did this start?" I questioned and noted Ron nodding in my direction with a similar question in mind. She shrugged but was giving me a suttle smile my way.
"Shortly after the DA was caught."
"Bloody good of you to keep us in the loop," Ella reacted while Sam folded her arms dejectedly.
The sudden jolt of brakes made me lose what little joy I found in the conversation and I turned quickly towards the window to see the warning signs for the train to slow down for King's Cross.
Damn that was a fast trip.
I looked from the window to see Ginny, Hermione, Ella, and Sam looking at me. The others were oblivious as Ron was still having a meltdown.
"Don't look at me like that. It's not like we didn't see this coming," I muttered in the girls direction under Ron's very vocal reaction. Ella blinked back something, looking away from me and Sam sat back looking down right irritated. As for Ginny, she turned to her brother with a sharp remark. But once the train had completely stopped and people were starting to retreat into the corridor, she paused by my side and nudged my arm.
"All you need to do is send me an O.W.L, Ava and I can get you hidden at the Burrow." This wasn't the first time she had told me this, but I gave her a thankful smile all the same.
I was in the corridor when Sam grabbed my arm, making me turn.
"Sam..." I started, not wanting to hear another round of worrying thoughts. But she persisted.
"You said you will make it safely once you come back to Hogwarts. But Theo's not coming back to Hogwarts. This was supposed to be his last year. So what will happen to him?"
I didn't have an answer for her question and she knew it.
Ginny, who was waiting patiently behind us, gave Sam a gentle nudge to lay off after a beat of my silence.
"Best not to drag this out any longer. Ava knows what she's doing."
Sam didn't say anything but I suspected she didn't believe anything Ginny just said.
I said my goodbye to my friends before walking off the train. I told them I simply didn't want my mother to have any other reason to come up to us, but truthfully I just wanted to handle this alone. Their worry wasn't making me feel any better. In fact it made me feel stupid for not coming up with a way out of this problem.
When I stepped off the train the first person I spotted was Damian—standing stoically in his usually jeans, rolled up button up with his hair all ruffled. He was holding steady a cart for my luggage on one side while my mother stood next to him on the other.
While Damion looked positively normal, my mother was quite perplexing looking. She wore sunglasses for starters which was a shock in upon itself. It wasn't like we were in the Bahamas getting blinded by sunshine. This was London!
Her hair was drawn down and an Hermès scarf of orange, white and blue was draped elegantly over her hair and tied under her chin. She looked like one of those stars from the 1950's whenever they drove convertibles by the ocean.
At least, I'm sure that is what passerbyers thought of my mother at first glance. I on the other hand saw the reality behind these small fixtures.
If my mother was wearing sunglasses then she was either hiding red eyes from crying or dark under eye bags from lack of sleep—an unfortunate curse all we pale skin folks have to deal with. The silk scarf, while beautiful and classic looking, was also a perfect method of covering unkept, greasy hair.
While a normal person who would just put one's hair in a ball cap and call it a day, Emmeline Fountaine would never be caught dead with such an accessory.
It was either Hermès or bust.
The fine line of her mouth that others may have read as concern for the arrival of her child on the express was more likely ill-kept anger or dismay over what I've pulled in the last week of my semester.
Oh yes, my mother looked drop dead gorgeous and I was going to end up drop dead grounded.
My brother saw me first, and waved to me with a pleasant enough smile on his face. Maybe it wasn't going to be as bad I suspected.
"Safe trip?"
"It wasn't bad. Went fast. Where's Theo—"
"You should be ashamed of yourself," my mother snapped with a glare that radiated through her Dior-stagged glasses. They made her look like one of those Italian mobster wives walking out of a divorce attorney's office.
You know the ones.
"Let's not do this here," Damion said under his breath, dropping his charm and with it, showing just how tired he actually was. He glanced back at me with a knowing look to what I was doing.
I won't say I was trying to instigate trouble upon my arrival but I wasn't going to be naive and docile either. I wanted to know where Theo was and I didn't really care if the topic was a trigger for my mother.
"You'll see him soon," was all Damion had time to say before my mother suddenly snapped her head up, catching sight of something she must have been scanning for, and tapped on my brother's arm.
"There he is—Damion wave him down for me." I watched as Damion waved to something behind me, so I turned and to my horror, spotted Draco, who looked just as perplexed as I at the summons, but listened and walked over in a calm attitude. Across the station I spotted Ginny and Ron watching Draco's approach toward my family. Ginny was giving me a pitiful look while Ron seemed unbelievably suspicious.
"Hello, Damion. Mrs. Fountaine. It's nice to see you."
I gave him side eye that he did not reciprocate; no doubt an effect from our last chat. His coldness would give up eventually.
"I'm here to take you back to our house for the time being, Draco," my mother said in a gentle tone that was lacking a few moments ago. "Your mother is at the Ministry pleading your father's case and asked me to come get you."
Draco straightened at her news and stepped closer as a family walked past.
"Shouldn't she want me to come to her? I can take the floo network just fine—"
My mother was shaking her head slowly but resolutely.
"Your mother does not want you there. Your family is under scrutiny now, Draco. It's best to save face as best you can. And right now that means coming back with us and waiting for your mother to come get you."
By the line in my mother's tone, I knew she would not take no for an answer. Draco seemed to see this too, so he did as was right and gave in.
Never has a drive home from any event, even the Christmas stay at the Malfoys, been as awkward as the one I experienced then.
My mother wouldn't talk to me, and only said sharp and articulate answers to Draco when he spoke—and that wasn't often either. Damion, who sat across from me at first gave me another look that was kind yet there was still a warning in there somewhere. After that he didn't look my way for the rest of the trip, nor made any attempt to speak. I couldn't even play with Oliver, as my mother had refused to let him loose in her nice car. Something about possibly scratching the leather... pathetic.
When the car drove in to the street leading to my father's residence, my mother cleared her throat and turned in my direction with a look that she usually gave to wait staff. Not her daughter.
"You will remain quiet in the house and not go outside of the boundaries of your room, the library, and the kitchen, is that understood?"
"Is this how we're going to play it?" I questioned, feeling a stubborn line of iron strengthen in my gut. No doubt perpetrated by my outrage over the current situation. "You're going to put me on house arrest?"
"Ava," My brother said in warning. I looked to him pleadingly but saw that he was as closed off on the topic as my mother was.
"And Draco," my mother went on, ignoring her daughter's outburst entirely. "You will have to excuse the state of affairs here at the moment. I assure you, your mother won't take long to collect you."
Draco gave only the polite response necessary before the doors opened and I shot out of the car, ignoring the pass my brother made to grab my arm, and stomped up the stairs leading to the front door.
The grandfather clock was clanging loudly as I entered the entryway that went straight into the open kitchen and breakfast room. It was odd how mundane the place looked—coffee left half drunk on the table next to an opened daily prophet with the same article Hermione had been reading an hour before. A house elf was cleaning the floors near the stove while another was going through the pantry. They barely had time to look up at me before I was out of there, past the library that remained quiet and desolate. I heard my brother calling my name from the entry way when I spotted the doors leading into my father's study. They were closed as always but that didn't deter me.
I grabbed the brass handle and turned it.
The room I entered was small yet grand. Dark wooden panels flanked the walls with matching wood flooring that was well hidden under a maroon and navy blue Persian rug. A wooden desk of similar build and color stood against the far back of the room, flanked by a globe in one corner that was ever moving, illustrating the various headquarters of every country's ministry or elective body with golden stars, and a podium angled to the wall with a script long forgotten on its stand.
Two cream colored chairs had their backs to me, angled at the desk where my father currently sat writing, while my brother, Theo, lounged on one of the cream chairs.
He was in his mundane clothes, wearing a navy blue crew neck with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and a light wash jean that complimented his eyes wonderfully as they turned on me in alert.
"Ava?"
My father's head snapped up, revealing those same Fountaine blue eyes as hard as marbles looking through me like I were mist.
"Good. You're home. Where's your brother?" My father asked abruptly as Theo started to rise from his chair. My father's eyes turned back to Theo and he cleared his throat, adding, "We are not done, Theodard."
"Yeah, I know I just-" Theo began but at this point Damion had caught up to me, with an arm on the door, looking in on our father.
"I'm sorry, she ran off before I could stop her. But it won't happen again, I--"
"Her room should be enough for the time being, Damion," my father caught him off, already turning back to what he was working on. "And close the door."
I opened my mouth, ready to say I would do no such thing but stopped as Theo shot my a warning look and quickly shook his head a fraction.
"Right," Damion muttered, and I felt him pull me aside before closing the door on Theo who watched our every movement.
"What the hell-" I began but my brother had already pulled away from the door and towards the stairs.
"Damion!" I cried, yanking my arm from his but he merely grabbed my other arm and pulled me forward with an adamant expression that I was used to seeing when he dethreshed his quidditch broom. Not this.
"Did she get in?" I heard my mother say, appearing by the stairs as Damion paused at the sight of her.
"Yeah," I replied back stubbornly. "And this is ridiculous, why won't none of you explain what's going on?" I snapped back, yanking at my arm from my brother. But this time he held on and turned to my mother for a cue. She remained silent as she looked at us, before shaking her head, looking away, muttering "Merde".
"Seriously?" I yelled at her retreating figure, but my mother did not turn around. I caught sight of Draco still in the kitchen but he wasn't looking at me. He was acting as unusual as the rest of them.
Damion lead me up the rest of the stairs and passed the first two doors until we reached mine. He opened the door and finally released my arm and turned to me expectantly.
"No, Damion. I won't."
"You don't have a choice, Ava. You made that apparent for yourself," he replied and I was surprised to hear a line of pleading in his voice. "You saw Theo at least, so you know he's okay."
"But's what's happening?" I questioned, in a whisper as Damion's gaze shifted behind us toward the stairwell and then back at me.
"The Ministry is questioning our family is what's happening. And any dramatics from any of us will only make things more problematic."
"But maybe they should be asking questions!" I snapped back and I watched as Damion looked away from me, clenching his jaw and looking to the floor. Another door on the landing opened and I spotted Ed come out, investigating where the noise was coming from. When he spotted us, his brows rose and he left his door opened to come towards us.
"You're home," he commented, displacing the tension in our conversation.
"And she's already been to see father," Damion added with a knowing look to our brother. Ed released a slow sigh and turned to me with an unreadable expression.
"How's he looking?"
Damion double took at Ed's question so I answered.
"Annoyingly normal," I replied. "Still looks to be in control." Ed nodded and rolled his eyes as he looked toward the stairwell for any noise. There was none.
"The man's involved this family into a cult and doesn't lose a wink of sleep from it. I wish I was so brazen-"
"Watch your volume, Ed," My brother warned in a lower tone but Ed ignored his older brother and looked back to me.
"He's made me come back here and leave my old job. Did the same for Damion except he gets to keep his. Granted I don't know about the engagement-"
"Enough," Damion cut in, with a glare at his brother. Ed shrugged, unconcerned and gave me a last minute sarcastic smile.
"Welcome home, Ava."
Damion pushed me toward my room as Ed's bedroom door closed behind him. I braced against my own door before Damion could end this chat.
"What happened to Katie? Did you two break up?"
Damion's eyes were unreadable but his jaw was still clenched. It was enough to say he wasn't happy, whatever the end result.
"When father wants to see you, he'll let you out. And when that happens, you'd be smart to play along to hear where he's coming from. Please Ava. Just listen to me on this. Resisting will only make this harder for all of us."
"What the hell does that mean?" But instead of responding like a normal person, my brother closed the door on me and I heard the lock on the other end, concluding the conversation in its entirety.
And so began the start of my summer vacation.
Hello there,
I will be posting a break between the two years for this book in the next update happening tomorrow. As for the next chapter, it should be coming out on Friday.
I will see you then!
-WG-