We arrive at the two story small wooden shack of a house. It was surrounded by a meadow of tall greens and brown grass, standing on a dirt clearing. It had a wooden porch and it brought a countryside feeling to it. The starts shines bright with the moon, and it reflected onto my skin.
"Your home is.. beautiful." I say musing. Fred laughs as if I told the best joke ever.
"It's quite alright; does the job." He says almost disappointed, shrugging.
"No, I mean it- it's beautiful. I was tired of seeing rich old manors and mansions every day. This brings a homey feeling that I've never felt before." Well, except for the cottage but I couldn't say anything. That was Draco and my secret.
"Well, thank you!" Fred says happily. I nod. Ginny smiles warmingly and we continue on inside. The table is full of food ranging from pies to chocolate frogs and pudding, as well as it was bustling with chatter. Red heads everywhere, and of course I see Harry. His head snaps towards me, and so does the red head load.
"Fred, Ginny! What took so long, I-" A woman with bright red curled hair and a softly wrinkled face quickly halts her sentence of reunion. She starts to smile again. "And who are you dear?" I purse my lips and look down. She had kindness in her eyes and I felt as if I was intruding. Harry smiles and urged me to go on.
"Emerald.. Emerald Black, Mrs. Weasley." Her smile grows and she laughs a little.
"Oh, the Slytherin girl! Welcome, welcome! My home is your home! Ron and Harry have told me so much about you!" She gestures her hand to an open seat besides Harry and across from George; Fred's identical twin.
"What brought you here?" Molly smiles. Her husband, Arthur folds his hands.
"I- I just have no where to go, you see. I don't want to intrude-"
"Nonsense!" Arthur beams. I smile and the red heads nod on agreement. I decided not to bring up the Malfoys, giving they were the Weasley's most hated enemy. A hate relationship built off of betrayal and spite.
"Thank you very much for your hospitality Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," I finish.
"Oh, it's no problem dear! Now; we will let you kids be. Behave yourselves now!" Molly gets up from the table with Arthur and trot up the creaky stairs. The room seems to thicken with silence. I swallow. The room was brightly contrasted with warm orange lights and the wooden interior felt like home. Just as it felt with the cottage; except I was missing my Draco. Nothing felt truly like home without me in his embrace. It didn't feel right, and all I wanted was for him to be happy and free. I frown.
"How did it go?" Harry asks looking over to me. Harry's gaze seems to break with me more than once. Ron agrees nodding with his muffled noises and food crammed in his mouth.
"Yeah how did it go?" He was stuffing his face with more mallows. I smile and laugh a little as he always seemed to be stuffing his face.
"Just- just uh.. he saw how uncomfortable I had been. He sent me here. Thought it would be for the better." I lick my lips and bite the top one. Maybe he would get some appraisal for that one.
"See, Emerald? I told you! Mad, he is-" Ron is interrupted by George nudging him sharply. He gives a side eye. "Sorry." I smirk. His brothers always had him in check.
"Well, it's quite nice to have you here." Ginny looks at me and Harry and warmly smiles. You could tell the girl was head over heels for Harry; it was just hard to tell if he ever returned those feelings back. Harry was a closed off person when it came to romantics. I remember him and Ron at the Yule Ball with the Parvati twins. What a disaster, that was. And when he told us that Cho kissed him after the patronus DA meeting; he didn't speak romantically of her. He just let her because he knew she was hurting. The poor boy never grew up with much affection.
"Thank you, Ginny- all of you, really. I know I'm a Slytherin but-"
"Houses don't define people; not even Malfoy. It's the whole egotistic thing that comes along with it." Fred says straight. I nod. That's exactly what it was. What we were told as children and all.. Fred and George were the down to earth people. The ones you could always confide in; as evident to their joke shop which was swarming and booming with business daily. I haven't gotten the time to visit there, but all I knew was that they had everything from puking pastilles (which were a hit after it was used on the Inquistor Squad) to "love potions". Quite hilarious they were.
"Emerald?" I look over to Harry who started to speak again. I look at him and prompt him to continue on. "I have something to talk to you about." It was stern, it sounded concerned and urgent; had he found something out with Dumbledore or my abilities? I nod and scoot my chair out from the table. He does so as well, and takes my hand.
He leads me outside into the chilly night. The coat Draco gave me was still wrapped around my shoulders and I find them absently stroking the fur. The familiarity of him brought me ease. The light blanket of frost crunched beneath my feet. I was still in my Pajamas I had lent from the Malfoy Manor. In a Wesley house? I never knew the day would come.
"So?" I say crossing my arms.
"Sirius." Is all he could say. His voice was flat. He was being honest. My head started spinning; my father? It can't be, he was in Azkaban. He was dead or.. or oblivious. "Sirius, your father.. he- he visited me through the fire in the Gryffindor common room; sent me a letter to meet him. Malfoy is up to something; Voldemort is."
"My father..." I say my eyes wide open. "My father talked to you and not me!? His own daughter!" I throw my hands up. My heart sunk; why had my own father had no faith in me, his own flesh and blood..? His own daughter who he abandoned for years.. Harry lowers his head.
"Yes. But he just returned; he's not dead, Em. But I did figure out something else- my parents; they wanted him to take care of me after they died. McGonagal, Flitwick, Fudge and Hagrid. They were talking in the Three Broomsticks... I eavesdropped.. he told Hagrid, he's my godfather. I didn't know
how to tell you." I look at the ground and look at my hands.
"Why did my own father not want to talk to me..? Did he ask about me?" I didn't care about anything else. Harry looks down. It was a no; he didn't ask. I look at the ground and nod my head.
"As expected. What a father he is. I thought he was dead for years now-" I look up at the night sky and laugh. There was no time to be angry, I already had too much to deal with. This man was insane if he thought I was spending another galleon of anger on him. "Why didn't you tell me when this happened. Why later?" I ask pursing my lips.
"I was trying to make sense of it myself-"
"To hell with that, Harry! To hell!" I throw my hands up. "I thought I had found some true friends for once; maybe Malfoy isn't so bad after all. He'd tell me. And don't you dare go and pin this on him with my so called 'father'." I spit. I jab a finger in his chest and storm into the field.
"Emerald! Em!" Harry called out after me. I wave my hand back telling him to bug off. I wrap the coat around myself and walk further and further into the field, the grass touching every inch of me. It tickled at my legs, but I kept walking. I didn't care where I went as long as I was away from Harry- at least for a while. I knew it wasn't his fault my father decided to speak to him and not me; I mean look at me. I spoke parsel tongue. I had no right to be mad at Harry right now, now that I have basically signed my death contract. But I wasn't going to work for Voldemort. I was going to double cross him- somehow. I turn back at the house and see two figures; they were unfamiliar. I lower my eyes brows and squint in an attempt to make them out.
I walk a few steps closer. It was Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks. Lupin was our DADA teacher. A good one, at that; but his werewolf curse served him no justice. Maybe he knew more about my father, where I could find him. Ask him why he doesn't love me? I take a few strides towards the house, and suddenly a bright orange flame appears in front of me. I start running to my left and the orange flames keep expanding, lining itself into a huge circle. I stop and see the flames before me. They were closed off from me. Someone was closing me off; I look behind me and my breathing grew rapid. I clutch my necklace.
Please, Draco. Please be with me.
I close my eyes.
"Emerald!" Everyone was calling from the house, and Harry was sprinting towards me and the wall of flames.
"What is happening!" I yell.
He nears me. "I don't know. But it's not good, Lupin thought he saw something in the grass and then-"
"Stupefy!" A female voice screeches. Harry is thrown back by feet, and his body slams against the hard dirt. He was unconscious. I whip my head around and see an all too familiar face: Bellatrix.
"You!" I say, bracing my wand. She laughs.
"Yes, yes! Long time no see!" Her eyes grow manically and she cocks her head. "Tell me- how's your daddy?" She pouts. I growl back at her. She leans in towards me and all I can do is freeze in fear. "Are you sure that's your daddy? I mean, where's the resemblance!" She laughs. I scream and pull out my wand.
"Don't talk about my father like that!" I scream.
"But he doesn't care about you- for you! What's your mommy gonna do, save you? Oh yeah- you don't have a mommy!" She laughs. I clench my fists, the all too familiar feeling of my fingernails in my hands.
"Spy on Potter for us; you're already helping us anyways." She smirks.
"No." I shrug the coat off of the shoulder, my body boiling with rage now despite the frost bitten air.
"Well then, I may just have to have your little pet of a boyfriend-"
"Stupefy!" I scream. Instead of green, a white light shoots out of my wand with more force than usual. Like my rage was transferred to the wand itself.
"Reducto!" She shouts back, smirking. Before I'm able to do or say anything else, a green light shoots from her wand, knocking into my chest. It was like a flame burst inside of me, and I was now free falling backwards in the middle of the air. My stomach dropped as I hit the ground harshly with my back. My chest reverberated and I couldn't breathe. I clutch my chest and shirt and scream out of pain; I hear my name being shouted by everyone, but I don't bother to try and respond. I look up and see Harry and Ginny battling another Death Eater. My head spins. Bellatrix was walking towards me with a smirk on her face, so evil.
Then everything goes black.