"I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Barty grinned as he rolled his sleeve up to reveal the dark mark. Dumbledore grabbed Harry's arm that had been cut open and held it next to the dark mark. Barty had a menacing grin plastered across his face as he watched Harry squirm in pain.
"It's happened then! Lord Voldemort has returned! You could have one (y/n)." Barty pointed to his arm with a glowing look on his face.
"I'd rather die."
"Me and you, we could be by Voldemort's side. Together. As father and daughter."
"You are no father of mine. You're simply a Godfather to me. A Godfather that didn't even step up to his job when my mother died."
"That's because he took you from me! I would have raised you!"
"You would have raised me to be a death eater!" You held your wand to his neck.
"Call Madam Pomfrey, Minerva. The real Alastor Moody will need tending to. And send an owl to Azkaban. I think they'll find they're missing a prisoner." Dumbledore instructed.
"Come on you three, out." Your mum tried to lead you, Harry and Fred, out of the room but you stayed put.
"I'll be welcomed back like a hero."
"Perhaps. Personally, I've neverhad much use for heroes." Dumbledore, whose eyes now turned dark turned to leave the room when you spoke up.
"Five minutes."
"What?" Your mother asked in a shaky tone.
"I want five minutes with him, alone. Please."
"No!" Both your mother and Fred said at the same time.
"Perhaps it would be wise to leave Miss McGonagall alone with her Godfather."
"Wise? Albus, have you gone mad?" Your mum screeched.
"Perhaps but I deem it a task she must face." Dumbledore nodded and walked out of the office with everyone else.
"Scream if anything happens." Snape said as he left.
"Thanks, professor I'll keep that in mind."
He nodded as he shut the door. "I must say you're very much like your mother."
"Tell me about her." You lowered your wand and sat opposite him.
"That was brave of you, how do you know I won't try and kill you?"
"Because I'm like my mother, killing me would be like killing her. Not even you, a death eater could carry out such a task." He sat back in his chair looking baffled at your words.
"What do you want to know?"
"Everything, how she met you, what she was like, and about her and my dad."
"Your father..." He scoffed at those words. "Your father was a slimy git. He never loved your mother, anyone could see that. Took off the moment she died, he wouldn't even hold you or look at you. That's where he and your mother differed, she cared. She helped me through my childhood, then it all crumbled the moment she passed. Your father didn't care at all, didn't care about her or you. How anyone could do that to their own child I don't know... I was the first to hold you."
"You were?" He smiled at your words and at the memory.
"Yes, you grabbed onto my thumb and wouldn't let go until I passed you to Sirius. I told myself I would be by your side forever. That hasn't worked out has it?"
He looked at you before moving his hands to his neck. He unclasped a silver chain from around his neck. The chain has a silver pendant attached to it but you couldn't see what was on it. "Here. It's all I've got left of her." He held out the chain.
"Don't you want to keep it?"
"What use will it do me when the dementors get here?"
You stood up and took a step forward to take the chain from his hand and place it in your own. The chain shone in the dim light of the office as you admired it. Focusing on the pendant you saw a photo of a woman who looked oddly similar to you next to Barty. The photo moved and the two went from smiling towards you to facing one another. They looked to be in a park during the winter as snow started to fall around them as they smiled brightly.
"You look like her don't you?" He asked as he noticed you smiling at the necklace.
"I've never even see a photo of her."
"Didn't Sirius ever tell you about her?"
"Sirius was sent to Azkaban when I was two. I didn't have much of childhood with him."
"I'm sorry..." He trailed off.
"Do you know where my father is now? My real father that is." You asked.
"No, I wanted to kill him for what he'd done but he just vanished. Almost like he died. I tried to find him when he left but it was useless. Sirius tried to track him down too, so did Remus, James and Lily but we didn't get far. Some think he ran off and settled down with a muggle family somewhere. You never know you may have a secret sibling out there."
"I'd rather not think about that." He laughed at your words. "Thank you for this." You held up the necklace as you stood up and walked over to the office door.
"I guess this is goodbye." He whispered. "I hope that I do die you know."
"Why?" You asked him without turning away from the door.
"Because I'll get to see your mother, I can tell her all about you. She'd adore you (y/n) more than anyone in the world."
You don't know what came over you but at his words you turned back to face him. He was now standing with a single tear falling along his right cheek. This man was supposed to be dangerous, the same man who drove Neville's parents insane and tortured them until they wouldn't stop screaming but you couldn't see that in his eyes anymore, instead of seeing a follower of the Dark Lord you now saw a frail, scared boy who made all the wrong choices.
You didn't think with your head only your heart as you ran towards him and wrapped your arms around him. He did the same and started to sob into your hair. "I'm sorry... I didn't-"
"Shh.." You whispered as you moved your hands up and down his back in an attempt to try and calm him down. "It's not me you have to apologise to." You pulled away and moved back to the door but you stopped once again. "Oh and... thank you for making Adrians year a living hell, I appreciate that."
"I would have hexed him myself if I could." You smiled at one another one last time.
"Goodbye Barty." You opened the door and were met with the worried faces of your friends and family other than Snape, his expression never really changed.
"Oh no she's alive."
"Thank you, Severus." McGonagall pulled you closer to her. "Come on you three." She ushered you out of the room. "Potter Dumbledores office please and you two go to Gryffindor tower."
You and Fred walked back to the tower as you held the necklace Barty had given you. "What you got there?" He questioned noticing you looking down at your hands the whole time.
"Here." You handed him the necklace as you walked. He took it in his hands and instantly looked down at the photo.
"Is that you? But like a older version of you?"
"That's my mum and Barty. He loved her Fred, a lot... Fred I did something stupid..."
"Again?" The boy laughed trying to lighten the mood slightly.
"I hugged him Fred... I know he's evil. He tourtered Neville's parents and I hugged him. I felt sympathy for him-" Fred noticed how fast your expression changed. He look a large step and he was now in front of you. He turned to face you causing you to stop in your tracks.
"(y/n) I don't know what happened in there and if you wanna tell me what happened you can but if you don't then that's fine. You hugged him.
"Fred if it wasn't for him Cedric would still be alive!" Tears started to form in your eyes.
"(y/n) there was a reason why you hugged him. You know your mum loved him and he loved her so for him that hug probably meant a lot to him. No ones born evil... well... maybe You Know Who is but that's besides the point." He grinned at the last sentence as he handed you the necklace. "I told George to get you food from the kitchens, fancy going upstairs to eat and pull pranks on a few students, will that cheer you up?"
"You know me too well Weasley."
---
Dumbledore instructed you all to come to the Great Hall in the morning for a memorial ceremony for Cedric. That morning you put on a brave face as you put your robes on and started to get ready. You picked up the small chain which had the charm Cedric had gotten you for Christmas and put it on your wrist. Taking a deep breath you headed downstairs and sat on the sofa waiting for the boys.
You were playing with the charm Cedic had gotten you when Fred fell on the sofa next to you. He looked down and noticed you playing with the charm before he spoke. "Put it on the bracelet I got you." He pointed to the other bracelet on your wrist that he'd gotten you for Christmas last year.
"But that's our bracelet-"
"He's one of us."
You smiled at Freds words. Fred took your wrist in his hand and unclasped the chain and slipped off the charm Cedric had given you and attached it onto the bracelet he'd gotten you.
"Thank you Fred." You smiled up at the boy as he softly dragged his fingers over your wrist. He quickly stood up and held his left hand which you quickly took. He laced his hand with yours.
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." He soothed your hand with his thumb as the two of you walked down into the Great Hall for the ceremony.
---
"The end ... of another year. Ordinarily this is day of celebration, a day in which we recognize the accomplishments of ourselves and others. But today..." Dumbledore looked to an empty seat surrounded by Hufflepuffs.
You were currently sat next to Fred as you listened to Dumbledores speech. Fred had taken your hand into his as he tried to comfort you. A few students were crying and almost everyone looked upset. Even Adrian and his friends looked distraught.
"We acknowledge a terribleloss. Cedric Diggory was, as manyof you know, exceptionally hardworking, infinitely fair-mindedand, most importantly, a fiercefriend. I think therefore youhave the right to know exactly how he died.... Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort." Your head picked up at those last words and tightened your grip on Fred's hand. Students started to whisper at the mention of Voldemort but Dumbledore quickly silenced everyone.
"The Ministry of Magic does notwish me to tell you this. But tonot do so is, to my mind, aninsult to his memory. It was the hope, in restoring theTriwizard Tournament, that magicalties would be deepened betweenthose of us who come fromdiiferent backgrounds. In light of recent events, such ties willbe more important than ever.Differences of habit and speechbecome meaningless when thelanguage of our hearts is the same." He paused before continuing.
"With dark and difficult timescomes a choice, between what isright and what is easy. Shouldyou ever waver, remember a boy whowas kind and brave and true. To the very end..."
After the ceremony, all three schools grabbed their stuff and bid their goodbyes. Another year had passed and you were all saying your goodbyes. "We've only got a year left here." You smiled up at Hogwarts as you walked to the station with the twins, Lee and the Golden Trio.
"Kinda sad when you think about it." Lee said.
"Sad? I'll be bloody glad when we leave." Fred spoke.
"Oh how lovely Fred." You replied.
"I'll miss you lot but we'll still see each other, won't we?"
"Not as much as we do now." Lee answered.
"Enough of that, you two have something to own up to." You pointed to the twins.
"Do we now?" They both said.
"Yeah, who've you two been writing to? Even (y/n) doesn't know." Ron asked.
"Who were you blackmailing?" You asked.
"No one." Fred replied. "It doesn't matter, it wasn't anything important. Not now anyway."
"We've given up." George shrugged as you all walked onto the platform. Unlike the boys and Hermione you weren't getting the train, instead of your usual summer stay with the Weasley's you were being made to stay at Hogwarts just incase something happens with Barty. Despite that you still wanted to walk the boys and Hermione down to the platform.
"All right, all right, if you really want to know it was.... Ludo Bagman." Fred confessed.
"Bagman?" Harry questioned. "Are you saying he was involved in -"
"Nah," George said. "Nothing like that. Stupid git. He wouldn't have the brains."
"Well, what then?" Ron asked. Fred looked hesitant at you all but spoke eventually.
"You remember that bet we had with him, at the Quidditch World Cup? About how Irleland would win, but Krum would get the Snitch?"
"Yeah..." You all said slowly.
"Well the git paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots."
"So?"
"So, it vanished didn't it? By next morning it had gone!" Fred said in a bitter tone.
"But - it must have been an accident, mustn't it?" Hermione mentioned.
"Yeah that's what we thought at first." George laughed bitterly. "We thought if we just wrote to hm, and told him he'd made a mistake he'd cough up. But nothing doing. Ignored our letter. We kept trying to talk to him about it at Hogwarts, but he was always making an excuse to get away from us." George answered.
"In the end, he turned pretty nasty, told us we were too young to gamble, and he wasn't giving us anything." Fred continued.
"So we asked for our money back..." George glowered.
"He didn't refuse!" Hermione screeched.
"He couldn't of..." You added.
"Right in one." Fred replied.
"But that was all of your savings!" Said Ron. George started to explain Ludos money problems whilst you pulled Fred aside.
"You're joking right?"
"Nope."
"Fred I bloody told you not to bet!"
"I know, I know..."
"Now I'm definitely giving you the funds for your joke shop."
"No you bloody aren't!"
"You said I could if I brewed that potion for you!"
"Ah yes, but I never said how much did I?" He gave you a cocky grin as he took a step closer to you. You rolled your eyes at the boy as you went to speak but the sound of the last call for the train sounded. "You sure you don't want me to stick around with you?" Fred asked.
"Your mother would kill me." You laughed slightly. "Go back home Freddie, she'll want to hear about your sixth year at Hogwarts."
"But maybe I wanna stay with you." He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you in for a hug.
"I wish you could but it's not for the whole summer is it?" You pulled back smiling.
"Better not be."
"Stop hogging her you prat." Lee shoved Fred out of the way as threw himself in your arms for a high.
"Bloody hell Lee." You laughed.
"Goodbye (y/n), prank Snape for us!" He smiled as he got onto the train.
"See ya soon (y/n)!" George now hugged you before he got onto the train.
"Bye (y/n)!" It was now Harry's turn to hug you.
"Don't give the Durselys too much pain please. As much as i'd like them to suffer I don't need you getting expelled."
"I'll try not to." He smiled before heading onto the train.
"You better go too Weasley." You turned your focus to Fred.
"That eager to get rid of me?" He fake gasped as he put his hand over his heart.
"As a matter of fact I am." You laughed.
"They always say it's the ones you love that hurt you the most." He kept the fake persona up.
"Get on the bloody train you prat!" You giggled as the boy jumped onto the train just as it started to pull away.
"Goodbye (y/n)!"
You waved them all off with Hagrid as the train slowly pulled out of the station. Another year at Hogwarts finished.
Who knows what your seventh and final year will bring...