*Second Task—George's POV*
"Have you two seen Ron or Hermione?" Riley asked us as we sat down next to Ginny. I frowned and shook my head, Riley sat back with a worried look on her face.
I glanced at Fred who shrugged and I continued to watch the lake—waiting for something to happen, "guess we're going to be waiting for a bit huh?"
Riley nodded and we began to play games to pass the time away.
"Look someone's coming up!" Ginny exclaimed as ripples appeared in the water.
"It's the girl Fleur," Riley stated.
Cedric appeared sometime later, and then Krum—we sat nervously waiting for Harry until he jumped out of the water and came to the dock, Riley and Ginny ran down to see him while Fred and I held their things and got in the boats to take us back to shore.
"Do you think Harry will win?" Riley mused a few days after the second task, we sat on the grass in the cool air. Riley was resting her head in my lap and Fred was skipping rocks in the black lake, I sighed as Riley prodded my ribs.
"He has a fair shot at this point," I shrugged as I prodded her side back.
Fred came and sat beside us, I noticed his knuckles stick out as he took in how Riley and I were sitting—he was fairly jealous that Riley was just as comfortable with me as she was with him, but he'd never let it show, at least not with Riley around. "Harry will win, I know he will."
Riley nodded as she closed her eyes and sighed, I glanced down and could tell exactly why Fred thought she was beautiful—her light pink hair reflected the sun and her cheeks were slightly pink as I realized she was starting to doze until I jumped up.
"Riley your hair is pink!" I shouted.
Riley shot up and looked around confused, "what's going on?"
I pulled out my wand and transformed my watch into a mirror for her to see, her hair was now short and light pink—I had to admit she looked pretty cute. Fred stood beside me looking just as confused as Riley, "I'm going to run to McGonagall's I'll see you two later."
We watched Riley run off towards the castle, I turned towards Fred and shrugged. "I don't remember what people like that are called, maybe she inherited that gene."
Fred nodded, "I remember dad talking about them before."
I sat back down and laid on my back, "I'm sorry if I bother you."
Fred laid next to me, "what do you mean?"
I laughed, "I saw your hands. You were mad that she had her head in my lap."
"It didn't bother me."
"Come on mate, I know when you're lying."
Fred nodded silently next to me, "she's still hiding a huge secret from me. It bothers me at night sometimes, after the Yule Ball all I can think about is that I barely know her still."
I nodded silently, "she has her reasons for not telling you Fred."
Fred sat up, "I just wish she'd tell me and then, when she does stuff like that with you I sort of get a little jealous because I feel like if she's that comfortable with you then why isn't she with me?"
"You were the one skipping rocks, and I had a free leg."
Fred nodded, "I just wish she would tell me what's going on with her. She told me she loves me but then it's as if she's some different person sometimes. I've lost sleep trying to figure out what is going on. Hell, I've been reading the papers for months because I heard those trolls mention her father is all over it. But I don't see anything abnormal when I look."
"She'll tell you when she's ready, Fred, trust her." I sat up and looked at the black lake just in time to see the giant squid emerge in the surface. "And anything that came from that group of girls should just be disregarded. They were out for Riley's blood no matter what costs."
"I do trust her, and while she did give me some information, she's still hiding something. I can feel it."
George nodded slowly, "Well if she trusted you with some information, she'll trust you with more. Just have patience, you know Riley isn't doing this in a vindictive way. It means something for her to have said anything."
I pressed my palms into my eyes, nodding. "You're right."
"Maybe...before we hexed those girls, we should've asked for the information," George laughed slightly.
"I wouldn't have trusted the information."
"Wood then?"
"Like he'd tell us."
"Someone we know, knows the truth."
I sighed, two people came to mind but I shook my head. "I guess I'm just going to be an impatient git waiting for Riley to tell me." George raised an eyebrow slightly, knowing I desperately wanted to know more.
*Riley's point of view*
What was going on with me?! Was I a metamorphmagus? I stopped beside a suit of armor and looked at my reflection, my hair was now black. What was going on?! I shook my head and kept walking, McGonagall would still be teaching at this point, I practically ran to the owlerly. I thought about who to send a letter to, my first thought was my mother. She would be able to explain.
I sat in the straw, the sun was shining through the open door, I sighed and closed my eyes as I laid back in the peace.
"You know the owls shit there right?"
I jumped up and looked over to see Draco Malfoy smirking at me from the doorway, "oh. Hello Draco."
"Your common room too packed with Weasleys?" Draco scoffed as he walked forward.
"Funny," I said dryly.
"Why is your hair black?" Draco looked surprised as I stood up and brushed away the hay.
"Suppose I'm a metamorphmagus," I shrugged slightly.
Draco nodded slightly and looked around quickly, "isn't there a registry for them? Won't people be able to find out who your father is?"
"Not if you're quiet about it," I growled darkly.
"I haven't said a word!" Draco looked at me reproachfully as I huffed.
"Which is surprising, seeing as you basically hate my best friends," I rubbed my neck as I walked over to a nearby window ledge and sat down.
"Its nothing against you..." Draco began.
"But I'm one of them, shouldn't you hate me just as much?" I whispered.
"We're friends. We always have been, ever since I can remember," Draco sighed slightly, "but that doesn't mean I don't hate Saint Potter and the others....you're the exception."
"Wish I wasn't...." I muttered.
"You'd rather I was just as cold toward you as I am to them?" Draco smirked.
"I'd rather you were nice to them, you'd like them if you got to know them!" I tried desperately for him to see things my way but it never worked, no matter how many times I tried.
"I know enough, Daxton." Draco stated dryly, he tied a letter to a nearby owl and it flew off. "Besides, everyone needs someone to hate them...or their ego will explode."
"How does that explain you?" I shot back as the owl I used earlier flew up to me and bit my fingers gently.
"Funny, Daxton."
"Stop calling me that," I whispered. I looked over at him and noticed his smirk was gone, his face was a mask as he shook his head.
"Does he know?" Draco asked curiously.
"Not entirely," I whispered.
Draco snorted and began laughing before he fixed his jacket, "you're daft. You know that?"
"How do you suppose that?"
"Because the second you tell him, especially after this exasperated game of cat and mouse you've been enjoying lately....I don't expect you'll see him ever again the moment you tell him," Draco stated matter of fact.
"Was he really there?"
"Was who where?"
"My father...did your father see him?" I tilted my head and gave a sad smile, "they were together at the World Cup right? Under those masks..."
Something flashed across Draco's face as he looked at me, his steel grey eyes weren't smoldering and held no form of compassion as his lips formed a line.
"I told you that already," Draco stated. "Be careful, Wood. Especially with that Weasley. I suspect you two won't be together much longer."
"Goodbye, ferret," I whispered.
"See you, Rye," Draco said before he left me alone to my thoughts. I crumpled mother's note in my hands, suddenly the urge to talk to anyone was gone, I just wanted to be left alone. I got up from the windowsill and walked down the steps towards the common room, I didn't want to see the twins or anyone, I just wanted to go to my room and sleep.
I walked up the stairs and had come to the landing in front of the portrait, "pomegranate," I said dejectedly.
"Such a tasty treat," the fat lady said as she swung forward. I slowly walked in and bumped into a pair of arms side by side.
"Your hair is back to normal," Fred grinned as he showed me a strand of my hair.
George nudged me, "she looked hot with that pink hair."
I watched Fred's eyes narrow for a slight second but he didn't say a word, I intertwined my fingers with his fast and smiled up at him. The boys stared at each other and I sighed, this was the problem with being very close friends with twins and then dating one of them—they'll get jealous of each other eventually.
*Fred's POV*
It had been a few months since Kristen and her little group had bothered with Riley or even me and it was peaceful but something was telling me that I should keep looking into everything. I couldn't ask Riley about it, every time I brought it up she would get so upset that I felt horrible for ever mentioning it in the first place. I figured I could look into it on my own, so here I was in the library looking through archives of names just like I had before I got a little more information from that crazy group of girls.
Looking over the past few months of Daily Prophet issues, one name kept recurring. I used that name to get a lead in the mystery I so desperately wanted to solve. I hated this, going behind Riley's back but if she wasn't going to tell me what's going on then I needed to do this on my own. I furrowed my brow, thinking of how I could just ask Harry for the map back...just to check if Riley's name came up correctly or not....would she use a fake name? If she did, then why? And if that's the case, why not tell your loved one the full truth?
"Johnathan Daxton was one of the most-"
"The one thing I always thought I'd never heard is actually true, I can't believe it," a voice whispered in my ear as arms wrapped around me.
I sat up and smiled as I kissed Riley, she sat on my lap and wrapped her arms around me, "what're you doing here?"
I tried to hide all the books and news clippings I had found but it was too late, her hand caught the page that I was just looking at. I saw a flash of terror cross her face but she coughed and tried not to look as if she had seen.
"Is everything alright love?" I whispered.
Riley smiled but I could tell it was forced, "of course! What're you researching? Where'd you find all this?"
I shrugged as I watched her reaction, "in the archives in the restricted section."
Riley nodded, "well you've got to be tired by now let's go put these away and get some rest!"
I nodded as we stood up, I grabbed some of the books but left the one she had seen on the table with the papers; I walked to the next aisle but then back tracked to watch her reaction. I watched her standing over the book with the Daxton information and I saw her flip to the page I had folded over, I watched as she studied the page and then without any indication she ripped the page from its bindings. She scattered through everything else on the table in a slight panic before crumpling random pages from the Prophets together and setting the bunch on fire.
I watched in utter shock as she put the flames out and disappeared the remains and took the book and put it away. I had a feeling that I had stumbled upon a huge secret, it made me even more curious but scared at the same time-what was it that I found that would make her react that way?
"Shall we go?"
I jumped as Riley appeared next to me smiling as if she hadn't just set something on fire, I nodded slowly as I put the books away.
*Riley's POV*
"He knows," I whispered.
Ginny and Hermione sat up from the floor and stared at me with horror, "you mean Fred found out?"
I shrugged, "he had found a book that had a description of my family. Every single detail."
"What did you do?" Ginny whispered.
"I set it on fire," I stated plainly.
Hermione looked at me in horror and I smiled, "just the page Hermione."
Hermione still looked horrified, "what did it say?"
"Johnathan Daxton, known Death Eater. Tried for the murder of 50 muggleborns in attack on Diagon Alley. Married to Alexa Black. One known descendant: Samantha Daxton. One of the wealthy pureblood families now known as blood traitors." I breathed and smiled sadly, "and under that it stated: 'Jonathan Daxton, one of the most feared and horrid death eaters to ever exist.' Followed by the details of his trial sentence to Azkaban where he disappeared."
Ginny and Hermione looked at each other in shock, "it doesn't come out and say Riley though so maybe he doesn't think it's you?"
"That's all we can hope for."
Ginny sat on my bed with me and put her arm around me, "I don't think that Fred will leave you if you told him."
I laughed, "You know Fred's little fan club? Yeah well, I use to be friends with them actually—mostly just Sasha, Kristen and Claire. They were nice people when I first met them in our first year and we were really close. And then one day I invited them over for the holidays and I figured I would tell them everything before they came over so I did." I started to laugh, "and you know what they did to me?"
Ginny and Hermione shook their heads and I smiled, "well. They spat at me, cursed me, and basically bullied me back then. Saying that I was a horrible excuse for a human being, and then the worse came when they started leaving live snakes in my bed. And not small tiny snakes, big giant ones, as a message to leave Gryffindor. Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell? They inadvertently found out and while they aren't mean, they kept their distance when I was always tailing the quidditch team."
A tear fell down my cheek and onto my hands, Hermione pulled me into a hug and I smiled. "Well, we're still your friends and we promise that we'll never leave you."
"I know my brothers, Fred isn't going to leave over this," Ginny offered.
I shook my head, "Ginny you didn't talk to me for a month when I told you," At this she blushed, "and we're friends. Not a couple in a relationship."
Ginny sighed, "I suppose...."
I nodded as we heard a yell from bellow—apparently one of the boys was trying to get upstairs. We walked out of our dormitory to the top of the stairs and saw Ron and Harry laying on their backs and Fred and George laughing on the side, we laughed and slid down the slide that had formed.
I glanced over at Fred and then to Ginny who gave me a reassuring nod as I grabbed Fred's hand, "we need to talk."
Fred nodded slightly and we walked to his dormitory, "What is it?" he asked as he closed the door, "wait! before you say anything I have something for you."
I watched him dig through his trunk and he pulled out a glass rose and handed it to me delicately, "I made this for you."
I stood there stuttering as I examined the rose, it was beautiful and the glass changed colors, I looked at him and smiled. Maybe he didn't need to know that I was the daughter of a death eater, it's not like it matters that much; I mean he knew my parents weren't the greatest but to admit that my father was a death eater. No, it could wait. Right?
Fred pulled me into a hug, "happy early birthday Riley."
I hugged him back, "thank you Fred."
~*~*~
For all whom have been reading, I know it may seem like it's taking a long time but it'll soon speed up. I swear. Thanks for reading :)