The Next Day - Ashley's POV
I sit in the great hall when a letter gets dropped in front of me.
I recognize it as a howler and everyone stares at me.
"What did I do now?" I groan and I unseal it.
"ASHLEY MARIE BLACK HOFSTETTER! I AM SO BLOODY PROUD OF YOU!" The letter yells and I recognize it as the voice of Tonks. "TONKS NO!" I hear Remus yell as well. "I MEAN, YOU STOOD UP FOR THE FUCKING FIRST YEARS AGAINST A MINISTRY WOMAN WHO HAD A STICK UP HER ARSE! YOUR BLOODY BRILLIANT!" Tonks yells and I snicker. "ASHLEY! YOUR BRILIANT, KEEP UP THE ATTITUDE!" Tonks yells. "TONKS I SAID NO!" Remus yells and the letter falls and I laugh as everyone is so stunned.
"Why do you always have your way?" Draco asks me shocked.
I show him my scarred hand. "Excuse me? You call this having my way? Excuse me? But I enjoy the little victories that I get because life is cruel and unfair to me, it hates my bloody arse and so does the bloody ministry, now, if you'll excuse me, Mr. Stick Up His Arse, I'm leaving the Great Hall and attending Trans-fucking-figuration with one of my favorite teachers, so fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck everyone except the people I like, which are you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, and you." I say as I point to the ones I like and the ones I don't. "Screw you all! I'm a queen and I'll decpitate your arses." I say walking out the great hall.
"DAMN RIGHT YOU ARE!" Half the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindor's yell.
"MHM, WORK IT HONEY!" Half of the Gryffindors yell and then I hear a snap.
"WHAT THE HELL?" I hear Draco, Pansy and half of Slytherin yell.
"I wonder where she gets her Dramatic side from?" A third year asks and I hear Harry, Hermione and Ron snort.
I flip my hair and head to Transfiguration.
"Ashley, your dramatic today." Professor McGonagall says to me amused as I sit in my seat, all dramatic like.
"Yes, well, I just feel like being dramatic today, its actually very entertaining for me." I say to her and she nods.
"You and your father, Mr. Black was always a drama queen." Professor says to me and nod.
"Tell me about. Third year he said, Only One Will Die Tonight, he could have said, give me the rat so I can kill Pettigrew and all the stuff that happens in the future, doesn't happen, still dramatic, a little more wordy, but it would have worked." I say to her and she nods.
"Back when he was a fourth year, he was very dramatic, I remember him referring to the rest of the Marauders as his entourage." Professor says to me with a fond smile and I laugh.
"That sounds like Dad." I say to her and she nods.
People flood in the classroom and class begins.
After the school day ends I sit in detention, writing out sentences as they engrave into my skin.
"Ashley!" Umbridge says sharply and I look up as she walks over to me. "You will apologize for yesterday." She says to me with her unpleasant smile and I smirk at her.
"Fuck you, I apologize to no one." I say to her and she glares at me. "Want to know why? Because ever since I was born, I've been a screw up, life has fucked me over so many times its hilarious. I've learned to never apologize for my own doings, because I act on what I think is right, even if it is violent." I say to her with a smirk and I set her quill down. "I've finished my sentences, I'll be leaving now." I say to her with a sweet smile as I get up and basically tower over her since she's a couple inches shorter than me and I've decided to wear my combat boots which have a two inch heel on them.
I grab my bag and leave. I rub the back of my hand slightly as it burns a little.
I head into the court yard and I sit down on a stone.
I pull out a muggle book I'm currently reading and I continue reading, finding it fascinating.
"Ashley, can you come with us?" Hermione asks me after a little while.
I look up at them and shrug.
I bookmark my page and I sling my bag over my shoulder and follow them to Hogsmede and to a house and up into a loft where a fair amount of students are here.
"Ashley, your excellent with charms and potions, we'll need your help." Hermione whispers to me and I nod.
"Ashley? Why are you here?" Seamus asks me, ready to mock me.
"I don't know, Hermione told me to come." I say to him.
"Do you even know what's going on?" Neville asks me and I shake my head.
"No, I'm left in the dark, as usual. I just do what they tell me to do, if they tell me to strangle Seamus, I'll gladly do so." I say and Seamus looks offended.
The room goes silent after that while everyone sits there staring at us.
I tap my foot lightly before I sigh. "Ok, I may not know what's going on, but, just, chat quietly I guess until one of these three decide to speak, I can't stand silence, its boring." I say to them and they nod slowly.
After a couple minutes of them chatting, Hermione clears her throat and they don't listen.
"Alright little shits, not you Luna, your an Angel and we're happy to have you here, but everyone needs to quiet down, Hermione would like to speak." I say and everyone shuts up while Luna smiles.
Hermione talks and I don't understand anything as Harry joins in and then the only thing I understand is that we're starting an Army.
Everyone signs their name and half the people here look at me as they expect me to sign my name and the others are scoffing at me, thinking that I shouldn't.
I roll my eyes and sign my name.
A a few days later I'd say.
We gather around Neville as he finds a room in the castle we could use. The room of Requirement.
"Awesome job Neville." I say to him with a smile and he nods surprised.
We head inside and the place closes up behind us.
Over the course of the month, almost everyone but Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George and Luna think I'm a spy for Draco. They all give me that look, that untrustful look.
"Ashley, what spell do you think we should teach them now?" Harry asks me.
"I've got one that might be useful." I say to Harry who nods.
"Which one?" Harry asks me.
"Anaticula, its a useful dueling spell that if cast, the targets wand will produce a duck no matter what spell they use, of course, always once those, say someone tries using the killing curse, you can counter with Anaticula and it spares your life." I say to everyone as they gather round.
"How come I haven't heard of this spell?" Hermione asks me confused.
"Because it was created by the Marauders, they used it in the last wizarding war, a lot." I say to her and she nods surprised. "Hermione, would you help me with this? I need you to try to cast a spell on me." I say to her and she nods and we stand across from each other while everyone watches.
I cast the spell silently and she tries to cast Expelliarmus on me, but a duck pops out and everyone is surprised.
"I could have lost my wand in this fight and had no chance against Hermione, but this spell does work, normally you have to try and whisper it so your opponent doesn't hear, but I don't say it at all anymore, I normally just use a swish movement with my wand. But you all are gonna have to say it until you get the hang of it." I say to them and they all nod.
I help teach the spell and of course, Hermione is the first to achieve it and Neville is the last.
After class ends, I stay next to the mirror and I look at the picture with a frown.
I look at my mother and I look at Dad, both of them look lively compared to how I see them in my head. I then look at my godparents and I frown deeper, they look lively too.
Harry stands next to me. "Are you ok with all of this?" Harry asks me worried.
"All of what?" I ask him.
"Your helping teach everyone but almost everyone doesn't trust you, or like you for that matter." Harry says to me and I smile.
"I'm fine Harry, really, I don't care what people think of me." I say to Harry who frowns, knowing that I'm not ok.
"Well, if you need to talk." Harry says to me and I shake my head.
"I'll be ok, I'm always hated, I always was ever since I was a baby. More mistrust and hate is nothing." I say to him and he frowns, but leaves it, knowing I don't like to talk about how I feel.
After another week its time for winter break.
I sit on the train with my bag and my cat, alone this time since the Golden trio were dragged off by the rest of the army and didn't realize I was there.
I lay on the seat, just staring at the ceiling while Salem sleeps on my torso.
I sigh and put an arm over my eyes, deciding to take a nap.
"Ashley, get up or you'll be riding back to Hogwarts." Hermione says to me after a while and I groan quietly and I point to the cat still on my torso. Hermione sighs and picks him up, I sit up and take my cat and my bag and we head to the Noble House of Black.
I head right to my room, ignoring everyone.
"Is she upset?" I hear Dad asks.
"I think so." Harry says to him.
I close my door and I take my coat, scarf and hat off, I sit on my bed and I take my combat boots off while Salem curls up on my pillow.
I just leave my stuff strewn about as I lay under my blanket with Salem next to my head.
The door to my room opens with a creek.
"Ashley, are you upset?" Tonks asks me.
"I don't know." I say to her and she hums and I sit up and I invite her to join me under my blanket.
She closes the Door and joins me. "Alright, so, what happened this year besides you threatening a ministry woman with a stick up her arse?" Tonks asks and sees my scarred hand. "How did that happen?" She asks as she takes my hand.
"Ms. Pink Bitch has special quills, whatever you write gets engraved into your skin." I say to Tonks and her hair slowly turns red. "Though it doesn't hurt me, it hurts everyone else, the reason why it doesn't hurt me is because last year I had a potion accident and destroyed all the pain nerves in my hands." I say to Tonks with a small shrug.
"What else happened this year? You look like you've experienced a lot." Tonks asks me and I scratch the back of my neck.
"Its just more negative feelings towards me, nothing really all that new." I say to her and she looks like she's about to kill the people who have hurt me.
"Tell me everything Ashley." Tonks says to me and I end up telling her all my year and she holds me as I cry quietly. "Everything will be ok Ashley, one day." Tonks whispers while her hair flames red. "Do you want some tea?" Tonks whispers after I've calmed down.
"I can get it myself." I mumble.
"Nonsense, you do everything yourself, let someone else do it." Tonks says to me with a smirk.
"No really I can do it, it isn't much trouble." I say to her.
"Nope. You just go wash your face and relax." Tonks says as she gets up.
I sigh and head to my bathroom and I wash my face as Tonks goes to make tea.
I can hear her telling everyone to stay out as I dry my face and I look in the mirror. I look like I've seen shit and its showing.
"OH MY GOD I'M PHYSICALLY AGING!" I yell, having a crisis.
"Ashley?" Dad asks at my door, concerned.
"Bloody hell this is awful, my whole life situation is aging me faster than the normal teen." I say and Dad chuckles. "That's it, I'm going to Nana's this summer, I'm going to fucking relax this summer and no one can tell me otherwise." I say as I walk out of my bathroom and Tonks hands me a mug of tea and I see she has a mug for herself and the door to my room is closed and its just her.
"Let me see." Tonks says to me and I show her the few gray hairs I have and she gasps. "You seriously need a vacation before your head turns gray." Tonks says to me and I sigh and sip my tea.
"I'm leaving the country this summer and heading to the states to visit Nana, we get off a month earlier than Ilvermorny so I might crash their school as well." I say and Tonks shakes her head.
We talk about random subjects until its dinner time and Tonks is hungry so she heads down the eat.
I lay on my bed under the covers and I sleep the night away.
This Christmas.
I walk into the dinning room and Mrs. Weasley hands me a gift and I see everyone else doing their own thing.
I open mine and its a new sweater, its brown and has my name on it. Ashley Black.
I smile and hug Mrs. Weasley. "Thank you." I say to her and she hugs me.
I pull a gift for her from the pocket of my pajama pants and she looks at it surprised as I hand it to her.
"What is this?" Mrs. Weasley asks me confused.
"Something for you and Mr. Weasley, as a way to say thanks for helping me last summer." I say to her and she opens it with Mr. Weasley. Its a muggle book that expands from its small case into a normal size book. "Its one of my favorite reads, its a book written by a muggle author. I figured since Mr. Weasley is kind of injured, he'd have time to read and with all for your children away most of the time Mrs. Weasley, you'd at least have an hour to spare where you do nothing." I say to them and they look at it shocked.
"Ashley, thank you." Mr. Weasley says to me and I shake my head.
"No need, I've got about three other copies of the book, I always manage to lose one in the mess I call my dorm room. Me and my dorm mates don't really clean and the house elves don't like our room. We're considered monsters if we're woken up." I say to them and Ron looks away.
"Your called worse than that Ashley, trust me." Hermione says to me with a nervous smile and I shrug.
"Ashley, try on the sweater." Mrs. Weasley says to me and I nod. I pull it on over my white tank top and its loose, but I love it. "Its a bit big." She says with a frown and I shake my head.
"I love it, its comfortable." I say to her with a smile and she nods.
Dad takes me to another room and hands me a gift. "It was supposed to be from me and Moony, but Moony says he'll give you a hug instead." Dad says to me and I open the gift to see its a cassette player, headphones and two cassettes of my favorite muggle classics.
"Dad, how did you get this?" I ask him.
"I gave Moony the money to go out and get it for you." Dad says to me with a smile, hoping I'll like it.
"Thanks Dad." I say as I hug him and he hugs me back as I smile.
"So I take it you like it then?" Dad asks me as I step back.
"I love it." I say to him and he grins.
"I WAS RIGHT MOONY! TAKE THAT TONKS!" Dad yells in victory.
I shake my head in amusement as Tonks and Dad fight while me and Remus stand off to the side.
Remus gives me a hug as his gift and I smile.
"You cheaters!" Tonks and Dad cry.
Me and Remus look at them and we sigh and open our arms.
Tonks hugs me while Dad hugs Remus.
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