A/N: Second part of double post, please forgive mistakes, I included translations for pig Latin and well… don't know what else to say. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and somehow I will try to get another chapter to you soon.
~*~*~*~
Unravelling
Maybe it was because she had probably heard the name mentioned before that Hermione couldn't help but think she knew Amaranthe Montgomery from somewhere. Some four weeks after her death and three after her earthly remains had been returned to England by the French authorities, the woman's relatives finally arrived at St Mungo's to claim her. Hermione's duties had nothing to do with this, as she was still in training she wasn't even expected to handle a situation like it. In fact, she had just been passing by when she was called over by a friend, Healer Duncan Abbey, for help. It was then that she saw the name on the ledger, and the feeling overtook her.
She wasn't sure, but she knew she had seen that name somewhere.
She dismissed the thought though when she considered that she had practically no life months after returning to England. How could she have known the woman at all?
Healer Abbey, a stout black man from Yorkshire, was speaking, "How are you and Caspar? My wife asks about him all the time?"
Hermione smiled slightly, "He's okay, doing wonderfully in school, and since he's found my friends' children… well, I can barely keep him on weekends. I'm fine too."
Healer Abbey smiled, "I'll believe you about Caspar, but you don't look `fine' at all. Are you sleeping properly? Eating well? Getting out of that house like I told you too?"
Hermione tried to reply as casually as she could, "I am, but with work, and raising Caspar… sometimes I don't get enough of everything…"
"Excuses, excuses… according to what I've heard of the Weasleys, Caspar is welcome to go there as often as you need him to-I heard this from you-or you can send him over to my wife, Sadie is in his class…." There was a pause where he gave a piercing look over that made her self-conscious and then he told her, "You're doing it again you know that?"
Hermione looked at him puzzled, and then remembering that he had been one of the Healers attending to her and Ron after the war, she said, "No… I'm not… I'm sure I'm not… it's just that… with Caspar… I…. He is my only child and I'm tired at the end of the day. There are women with more than one and…"
Healer Abbey waved away her reply, "I've been meaning to ask you about that… did you have any children before Caspar?"
They were almost upon the office where the Montgomery family were waiting for the remains Hermione was now gingerly holding. At his question she paused, "What?"
"If this is going to upset you, I don't want to say more, but when we first examined you and Mr Weasley…. I don't know… maybe it was because of a bad fall or some injury… though I can't exactly explain it like that but… one of the Healers wrote that you must have had a child… during the war…" he told her.
Hermione could say nothing more then, than, "What?"
"Well… it confused the rest of us too, because… where was the child? We wondered if you had miscarried, but you had given birth so maybe it had been still-born… or even given up… but no one made any mention of a child and we just… well… we ruled the decision as a mistake…. But I still have to ask now that I can… did you have a child during the war?" he asked.
Hermione just stood there staring at him completely stunned, and when coherence returned stammered, "I… I seriously… I… there is no way… I have absolutely no recollection of… I think I would remember my pelvic bones being pushed apart… I mean…" She stopped, and began again, "Healer Abbey, I can assure you that I did not have a child during the war, I was too busy helping Harry. And even so, who would have been the father? Children, families… they were `inconvenient' when Voldemort was after you, I would have been a liability they could not afford to have."
Healer Abbey nodded, "I understand… but… the report is there if you want to read it…. The only reason I brought this up again is because I spoke with Mrs Weasley a few days ago and she mentioned you being `incapacitated' for some time during the war. She didn't say why but she did say it was for much of a year… you can understand how the timeline worked for me then…?"
Hermione had paused again, but this time it went unnoticed for they had just come to the door of Healer Abbey's office. He opened it and ushered her into the lightly sunlit room, just as the family of Amaranthe Montgomery rose to greet them: an elderly couple who had to be her parents, and a younger man who was probably a sibling.
After the customary introductions, the first to speak was the younger man, asking, "We're told my sister died in France three weeks ago? Did it have anything to do with her assignment?"
Hermione was about to ask "What assignment?" when Healer Abbey said instead, "I hardly think architect's lives are that exciting."
"Is that what she was doing this time?" absently asked Mrs Montgomery, her mother.
"Pardon me?" asked Healer Abbey and looked to the room for explanation.
Her brother spoke up again, "She was an Auror you know, her assignments… sometimes she had to have a cover and… what's the matter?"
He had just noticed the increasingly puzzled expressions on Hermione's and Healer Abbey's faces for he paused. A second later he began, "Hey… you're Hermione Granger…"
She cut him off though, when finally remembering where she had possibly heard the name before, to ask, "She was an Auror on assignment in France with her nieces?"
"Nieces?" asked her brother, becoming as confused as they were, "I don't have any daughters…"
At this Hermione began, "But in the paper-I thought I heard the name somewhere-in the paper it said that she was the aunt of those little girls… the ones now at Hogwarts… the twins. My friend is their teacher…"
"I don't have any children Miss… uh, Healer Granger, I'm not even married," he told her. "Eleven years ago my sister left an owl saying that she was going off on assignment, we never hear from her again and then we learn she died recently from the paper. Now you're telling me she was raising two girls in France? I… I… I don't know what to say…"
Healer Abbey stepped in, "Did your sister specialise in protection… a `bodyguard' maybe?"
"We're not sure what she did… but I do recall her once being assigned to guard Hogwarts while Mr Potter was there… in '96-7…. These girls said she was their aunt?" he asked.
"Well, I'm guessing the Beauxbatons Academy is not mistaken about where their students are when they're not at school…. Do you have any other siblings… possibly a sister…? Married…? Maybe to someone with the name `Black'…?" Hermione asked.
The younger Mr Montgomery shook his head, "It was just my sister and I, and my parents have no other children. These girls… we don't know them…. You don't… you don't think they were Amaranthe's children do you?"
"We don't know," replied Healer Montgomery, "there was no evidence that she had had a child from the reports we received from France… and I don't know what the children called her, but the paper did mention that the children had a father somewhere…" He turned to Hermione, "Did your friend tell you about their father?"
The mention of the lack of evidence of Amaranthe's giving birth was currently running through Hermione's mind when he spoke, but she came away from it to reply, "No, not really, something about a letter stating that his daughters were to return to England. I… she was an Auror?"
Mr Montgomery Senior spoke, "Healer Abbey, Miss Granger, I don't know what's going on. I don't understand this, I merely came here to claim my daughter's remains and now I'm hearing… we don't know these children…"
"Aimee and Maia," supplied Hermione, and he continued.
"Aimee and Maia Black, we don't know them or their father. All we do know is that eleven years ago my daughter went off to work and disappeared. She wasn't married, we don't have any more children and we certainly don't have any grandchildren."
Hermione and Healer Abbey looked at each other, at the urn in her hands that she now lamely set on the table and gently pushed over to the Montgomerys and decided right then that this was very strange.
~*~*~*~
Knocking lightly on the door, Cho waited for the throaty reply, "Enter," before stepping quietly into her superior's office.
Mrs Fleur Delacour-Weasley was seated at her desk behind a pile of papers being busily sorted magically while she proofread a few more in her hands. The pretty blonde woman today had her hair neatly pulled into a knot at the back of her head and wore robes of palest blue, another in her apparent collection of light colours.
Despite the work going on around her though, and her obvious place in it, she looked completely out of place. More at home probably would have been the sitting room of some mansion or the back of a rather expensive yacht and not the rough, sometimes grimy walls of a small office in the depths of the Wizard Bank.
Of course, Cho herself was often told the same thing.
She looked up as Cho entered, smiled and said, "'Ow is your daughter? We can barely get Philippe to write sometimes, ees all well?"
Cho smiled back, and replied, "Lixue is quite fine, thank you for asking. She's been going on and on about school since she left, only one sentence was about herself in her last letter. Michael was rather upset."
Fleur laughed, "Ah yes, zat happened with Philippe too, I expect zee same with Louis and zee girls. I find myself `oping zey won't go to Gryffindor, it may be family tradition but zey might forget me. I am a greedy mother, no?"
Cho shook her head, "I don't think so… I'm glad Lixue's happy at school, but I wish she was happy with me… so in a way, we are both greedy…." She let her voice trail off a bit, both women having a moment to ponder their children and then said seriously, strangely softly, "I um… I wanted to talk to you about something I found… while I was going through the client records…"
Fleur immediately assumed a business posture, straightened in her seat, and asked, "What is it?"
Cho took a seat across from her desk and placed a thick folder before her, "This… is the record of the Potter account since Harry started school at Hogwarts…. (Fleur dragged it over to her) If you look at it for the years 1991-7 when he left school, you can see that the withdrawals are normal. There are gaps of months at a time, mostly because they were spent on schoolbooks, clothes, odd gifts, spending money and not for his daily welfare… and then even after the inclusion of the money from his godfather in `96."
"Yes I can, so what is zee matter?" asked Fleur. She mildly wondered what Cho was doing going through Harry's records.
"Well, when he went off to the war, and the bank here closed off much of its finances, withdrawals were at odd intervals, which are to be expected. It is money withdrawn when possible, and not too much to carry considering…. Then we have when the money is split between your family and Hermione Granger… but not all of it. Apparently, some money, mostly what he inherited from Sirius Black, was untouched. And then eleven years ago, the withdrawals changed. Apart what from what your family gets, there have been withdrawals at various, sometimes regular, intervals made by some unknown person, and at long distance… which last year then changed again to a pattern last seen when Harry was at school…" she explained.
Fleur looked over the papers in the file before her for a moment before she realised what Cho was implying and then asked, "Are you saying that…"
Cho cut her off, "I'm sorry, I'm not saying anything, but the money is being withdrawn… possibly stolen… from right under our noses for the past eleven years, and I don't know why…"
"You can't steal from Gringotts like zat! You can't steal from `Arry's account like zat! `E `ad a special arrangement, authorisation comes from `im with `is signature and zee signature of zee person simultaneously zee first time, and zee person after. No one can just steal…" continued Fleur as if she hadn't heard her. Her English strangely deteriorating as her curious anxiety rose.
"I know," said Cho firmly, "I know that, but the money is going somewhere, and has been for the longest while now. I'm not implying that someone has been… I don't know what I'm implying but… it looks very suspicious."
Fleur looked up at her and sank into silence, but not before murmuring something.
Cho never heard it, and allowed her some time to muse on this before asking, "What… what do you want to do about this…? Should I start asking questions? Start looking for answers?"
Fleur nodded, at once to clear her head and give her permission, "Yes, yes, we need to know… I don't know `ow zis `appened, but we need answers… but one leetle zing, keep zis quiet, no one must know about zis."
"I won't tell anyone," said Cho, hoping not to sound too hurt at her implication.
"Good, zee last we need is for zee papers to come after us… zee minute zey know… that we…. And especially `Ermione… my brother-in-law, `e is veery brutish sometimes… but she… I do not want to zink of what she might do." Fleur continued.
"I'll keep it as quiet as possible… and as for Hermione… we do not talk much, so otherwise, I doubt she'll hear about this at all," said Cho.
~*~*~*~
"London bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down…
London bridge is falling down,
My fair lady…"
Singing softly to themselves the twins, with their cat, slowly made their way down to the lake's edge and Dumbledore's immaculate white tomb. Out of uniform it was hard for Ron and Hagrid, standing in the shadows near the forest edge, to properly tell them apart. A pair of Weasley jumpers would have come in handy about now, it was one of the ways he could tell the difference between his brothers. Of course, it couldn't tell him why the twins were out here now though.
Did their father tell them about Dumbledore too?
As they got to the tomb, gleaming brilliantly in the early morning sunlight, slightly illuminating their round faces, Ron said softly, "They don't look scared… or awed, or apprehensive or… it's like they've been at Hogwarts an entire year already and its really only been a week."
"Some children are like that, it takes ah lot ter scare `em," Hagrid replied, "Harry was like that."
"I know, but their father told them a lot apparently too. They know every teacher's name, even asked for old Flitwick… Theoden said Aimee mentioned Snape," Ron continued.
"You think he was a pas' student… before yer? But the las' Blacks I knew were Sirius' family," said Hagrid.
"Yeah, McGonagall said that, but Sirius' family isn't the only one by that name… maybe…. And then Puckle… there's a lot of them… but without their mother's name…" Ron told him.
"That's alrigh', yeh'll find `em eventually, they didn't come from nowhere… but I wanted to ask you… how's Hermione? I haven't seen `er since she came back," he asked.
Ron exhaled heavily, "She's fine… her son spends almost everyday at my house with Harry… she has to force him to leave…. Today they're going out; he insisted… he's taking care of her, just like Krum."
Hagrid took a moment, and then asked, "So, how are yeh?"
Ron stopped then, thought about it for a while and replied, "I miss him too Hagrid, sometimes it doesn't look like it, but I miss him too."
"I never said yeh didn't," Hagrid told him, his tone only mildly reproaching, "I just wanted to know how yeh were doing… especially with that little girl around."
He nodded towards the castle and his beetle black eyes narrowed slightly. There was concern and pity in them, and still, along with a little righteous anger. Mention of the Dursleys tended to do that to him.
Ron looked up to the castle and Ravenclaw Tower, "I have nothing against her, she's just a child… she may be related to them, but so was Harry…"
"I went with `em to get her… the Ministry… she wasn't in a cupboard but no one was smiling when we got there neither. I'd like to think she was done better than her cousin. Ain't righ' someone should be punished fo' being special," Hagrid told him.
"That's good to know," Ron replied and meant it.
And then both started at the sound of a voice behind, asking, "You mean that little First Year is related to Harry?"
Both men turned round. Long, black hair touched with gold, dark, almond shaped eyes, dark olive complexion and today in robes of soft orange, it was Padma.
Ron surprise melted away and he became curt, "You know, it's rude to sneak up on people like that, and eavesdrop."
"Is she?" she asked Hagrid, ignoring him.
He nodded, "The Dursleys are relatives o' Harry's."
She said nothing to this, just stared at him a moment and turned to the castle… and then turned on Ron when he said, "You can't tell anyone."
"Who do you think I am? Parvati? I have better things to do with my time than sell the secrets of Harry Potter to the world!" she snapped. "But then… this just proves the Daily Prophet Exposé."
"What exposé?" asked Hagrid, for he, like Ron, had stopped following the paper.
"The Daily Prophet's been getting reports somehow, about Harry's life. Some kind of `on-going investigation', they call it. No one knows who their source is but whoever it is better hope I never find them. Hermione, me and my family knew and that was all, he didn't tell anybody else because he didn't need to. I don't think even Ginny really knew about those people… now the whole world knows," Ron told him.
"Does the little girl know?" asked Hagrid.
"It's the only reason I read the papers now, I haven't seen anything about her, yet," Ron replied. "And I'd like to keep it that way too, if I could, though I guess it wouldn't take them long if their source knows as much."
"Not the mention your last impostor," added Padma, "did he really get to the front door of the Burrow?"
"No, he didn't leave the café I met him in. He would have been dead if he had got to the Burrow though, I don't think my mother could take another one," Ron told her. "I hope they put him away for a long time."
While he was speaking though, Padma spied the girls at the tomb, now joined by their respective friends already dressed for the day's Quidditch match (Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaw) and began, "Speaking of exposés though, have you heard the one about the Montgomery family and the twins?"
Ron broke his conversation with Hagrid to ask, "What?"
"Oh that's right, you don't pay attention to the press anymore… well, unless it suits you…. Apparently, when the family of Amaranthe Montgomery went to claim her remains, it was the first time they heard of the twins. `Do You Know These Girls?' is the headline they're running with, no photographs of course so you have to wonder who they're talking about from their very poor descriptions. You would think the story in the papers would have clued the Montgomerys in before though," she told him.
"Amaranthe Montgomery… `Tantie Marie's' family doesn't know about them?" asked Ron.
"Not a clue, she only has one brother and he's not married. So, it would appear that she's not really their aunt," she replied.
Ron's anger surged immediately, "They took this to the press? Don't they care about those two little girls…? You know how news spreads, in hours the whole school's going to know!"
"Well, yes," said Padma, casually, "but it would have gotten out eventually anyway; the Daily Prophet would probably kill for a scandal nowadays. And the news on Harry Potter's family just isn't that interesting other than to raise Muggle hatred and whatnot… poor things, they're going to be all over the front page as soon as they get the chance."
They all looked back to the twins.
"Stone and mud will wash away,
Wash away, wash away…
Stone and mud will wash away,
My fair lady…"
"If Amaranthe wasn't their aunt then, who was she?" asked Ron, his eyes trained on the two little girls now taking some very brightly coloured paraphernalia-Hufflepuff colours-from their friends. Lixue turned to look dead in their direction, he doubted she saw them.
"An Auror, a Ministry Auror hired off eleven years ago on some secret mission and then ended up in France six years after. The Ministry have no record of her assignment but say she was on `protective service' for fourteen years actually," replied Padma. "You know, I should get something bright for Ravenclaw… some of those things look like Wheezes material…"
"Oh gods… what if she was protecting them from something… they could…" began Ron, but Padma stopped him.
"If she was, they've been in the paper for days now. But Hogwarts is the safest place they can be… my father may not have agreed back then, but it is, during the war no one could take it. All we have to do, as Minerva says, is watch out for them, nothing to worry about."
Ron scoffed, and then asked, "How come you and Hermione can call her Minerva… what is with her favouritism? I can't dare do that…"
Padma smiled and then turning to Hagrid said, "I hear, you've got a fine black dog that needs to go for a walk, where's Alastair?"
"Resting," said Hagrid, "he's an old dog now, gift from Harry."
Again, that moment of silence fell, until Ron broke it, "How about we go down to the pitch, the match will be starting soon… for once I like Ravenclaw, that Hufflepuff captain is a real pain in the…"
"Don't you dare complete that sentence!" scolded Padma.
He laughed.
~*~*~*~
High in the soaring stands surrounding Hogwarts' Quidditch pitch, Aimee and Maia found themselves lost amidst the roars and colourful displays of the throngs of Hufflepuff supporters. Aimee and Sarmistha had joined Maia and Lixue in the Hufflepuff stands, but quickly deemed this a mistake. Clearly some of them had bypassed Mr Filch's inspection with an array of contraband: fireworks, animated banners, streamers, and someone even had a real badger. The noise alone could be enough to take the seats from under them.
The twins had been to Quidditch games at Beauxbatons, of course, and they could be just as noisy and colourful. But the restraints of Madame Maxime meant that those matches… well, they were nothing like this one. The British seemed to have a knack for rowdiness when it came to sports.
And then there was the commentator.
Apparently since Lee Jordan and Luna Lovegood, commentators each tried to outdo their predecessor for biased humour and weird commentary that had nothing at all to do with the game at hand. Considering that a gap of only fourteen years had passed since the two had been in place, the fact that there had been "predecessors" showed their determination to accomplish this feat.
Today's commentary was being supplied by Gavin Bennett, Aimee's duelling partner and fellow Gryffindor. Standing in the teachers' box at the loudspeaker, he called as they were taking their seats, "WELCOME ALL! WE'VE BEEN AT SCHOOL A MONTH AND FINALLY WE GET TO QUIDDITCH! WHAT A RELIEF, ANY LONGER AND I'D HAVE TO HANG MYSELF… (He was booed) YEAH, NOT FUNNY, I KNOW…. ANYWAY, TODAY'S MATCH-UP BETWEEN HUFFLEPUFF AND RAVENCLAW IS THE FIRST OF THE SEASON ON THIS BRIGHT SATURDAY: NOT TOO MANY CLOUDS, NO SIGN OF RAIN…. BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT WE'RE JUST HERE TO WITNESS YET ANOTHER TROUNCING OF HUFFLEPUFF SO WE CAN GET TO THE IMPORTANT MATCH, GRYFFINDOR VS SLYTHERIN!"
Immediate concessions from the Slytherin and Gryffindor stands overpowered the angered shouts of the Hufflepuffs.
"Gavin…" began Professor McGonagall, warningly.
Ron shook his head behind her.
"Idiot," said the twins simultaneously, and their friends laughed.
"Do you always do that?" asked Lixue.
"No," they said together.
"ANYWAY, I'D LIKE TO TAKE A MOMENT TO PRAISE AIMEE BLACK FOR BEING SUCH A GOOD SPORT THURSDAY NIGHT AT THE DUELLING CLUB. UNLIKE SOME PEOPLE SHE DIDN'T TRY TO HEX ME AFTER FOR BEATING HER…" continued Gavin.
"Gavin Bennett…" began Professor McGonagall again.
Maia smirked as her sister blushed bright pink.
"SORRY, HERE ARE THE TEAMS OUT ON THE FIELD. HUFFLEPUFF UNDER CAPTAIN MARK CHRISTENSEN… DID YOU NOTICE THERE'S NOT A GIRL ON THAT TEAM…? (More boos) OKAY, OKAY! AND HERE'S RAVENCLAW UNDER CAPTAIN EMMA ADAMS… MAN, DO I EVER WISH I WAS IN SIXTH YEAR…? YOU LUCKY… (Professor McGonagall fixed him a glare) AND HERE IS MADAM HOOCH WITH THE BALLS…!"
"Do they do this every season?" asked Aimee, "Don't you all get tired of them trying to be funny?"
"Well, yeah, I heard they do, and last year they went through three people until they came to this dull Seventh Year who bored them so much they just cheered to drown him out," replied Sarmistha.
"Does Hufflepuff really get beaten every season?" asked Maia, her eyes trained worriedly on the seven players in canary yellow and black on the field.
"Unfortunately… but we've won, once or twice you know, but that was a long time ago… and when Harry Potter came to the school… nobody could beat Gryffindor. They could lose matches in between and still come back to take the Cup. They won it twice in his last years and he wasn't even playing!" Lixue told her.
"I'd get bored of that," said Maia, her expression in every way agreeing with her sentiment.
"Yeah, I think I'd start cheering for another team after a while," added Aimee.
"Well, considering that they had been the losers along with Hufflepuff for many years straight before he came to the school, it was quite a feat," supplied Sarmistha.
"But still… lose one year… give somebody else a chance…" continued Maia.
A whistle sounded below just as a sharp, chilly wind blew through the stands. The players took to the air to begin the match, the commentator began, "BRRR… CHILLY OUT HERE! AND WE'RE UP, RAVENCLAW IN POSSESSION OF THE QUAFFLE… GAYLE PASSES TO NOTTINGHAM… WATCH OUT! SAVED BY CAPTAIN CHRISTENSEN… SENDS IT CAPTAIN ADAMS' WAY… DAVISON STEALS… HUFFLEPUFF IN POSSESSION… KEEPER ANDREWS HOLDING HIS POSITION… SAVED! BACK DOWN TO HUFFLEPUFF KEEPER BLAIR… THIS WON'T TAKE LONG… RAVENCLAW SCORES!"
Almost immediately all of the Hufflepuff stands groaned. Ravenclaw was ecstatic, and some of Gryffindor and most of Slytherin cheered with them.
Lixue turned to Maia, "Here we go again."
Play started up again, but instead of paying attention, Aimee tugged on her sister's arm and said, "Eway ancay ogay ownay." <We can go now>
"Hetay amegay?" indicated Maia. <The game?>
"Hetay etterlay?" reminded Aimee, and Maia groaned. <The letter?>
"Eway annotcay eepkay ritingway otway imhay!" she hissed at her sister. <We cannot keep writing to him!>
"Eway avehay otway elltay imhay owhay eway reay oingday erehay!" reasoned Aimee, she was started to plead. <We have to tell him how we are doing here>
"Come on!" said Maia annoyed, rising quickly from her seat, and dragging her behind, "We'd better hurry, I want to see the rest. Eway ustmay otnay ebay eensay!" <We must not be seen!>
As they began to leave though, their friends made to follow them too, an unforeseen complication. Maia gave Aimee a meaningful look and tried to find an excuse.
Just then though, she would receive unexpected help.
"INTERRUPTING TODAY'S COMMENTARY FOR A MOMENT… WILL AIMEE AND MAIA BLACK PLEASE GO TO THE HEADMISTRESS' OFFICE IMMEDIATELY, YOU HAVE A VISITOR!"
Forgetting her excuse at once, Maia said, "Can you save our seats… we'll be back soon."
Both girls nodded and resettled, Maia gave an internal sigh of relief and began to make her way out of the stands after Aimee. When they were out of earshot, halfway down, Maia scolded, "We can't keep writing to him, it's not safe! Tantie Marie gave us that address for emergencies!"
"But I want to talk to him! We never get to talk to him, he's actually written back this time… so we should send something," stubbornly replied Aimee.
"I want to talk to him too, but what if something happens?" asked Maia.
Aimee scowled at her, "Something's already happened, Tantie Marie died and we're alone here. When we have to go home for the summer, what if he's not there? What if he doesn't know when we have to go home?"
Maia stopped suddenly, "Wait… did they just say we have a visitor? Who's come to see us?"
Aimee's eyes widened and she halted too.
They had come all the way down from the stands and were walking across the grounds back to the castle. The entire area was deserted, most of the school at the match, the roar of the game and the commentator's voice still sounded around them but they could clearly hear the strange noises of the forest.
They may have teased Professor Weasley, but they were never going in there.
It took quite some time for Aimee to speak, and when she did her voice was shaky, "You don't think… you don't think Papa's come to see us… do you?"
In reply her sister took off running back to the castle and she was left to give anxious chase. They bumped into someone at the door, called, "Pardonnez-nous!" over their heads and slowed their pace to a brisk walk. The castle was empty as the grounds were though, their footsteps echoed on the stone floor and after an unfortunate run-in with a ghost, they finally made it all the way to the stone gargoyle of the Headmistress' Office.
It was then that they stopped; they had last been here the night they arrived, and today… just behind that door….
Maia, unable to properly speak, whispered the password, and gave her sister a bright grin as the gargoyle turned away to allow them entry. Shaky footsteps followed unto the stone spiral staircase, their breathing loudest in the small corridor, and finally they stood at the door.
Aimee opened it this time, and together they crossed the threshold into the office they had seen once before, read about so many times that they knew every detail as their old bedroom in Courtenay House.
Professor McGonagall (when had she left the game?) was seated at her desk and greeted them, "Good morning, girls, come in and have a seat."
They had never seen her really smile, not once since they met her, and this included the fact that they only knew her a week now, but today something seemed off. She had a tight look on her face, her mouth was set in a thin line and she seemed to be trying her very best to control herself. Even her dark red robes seemed stiff.
Or maybe it was because their visitor had come in the middle of a Quidditch match. Papa always told them about how much she loved those games.
Taking their seats across from her, she began, "As you were told, you have a visitor. You may not know this person, but I don't want you to be alarmed, nothing is going to happen as long as you're within these gates."
Aimee looked at her sister, and then both girls looked back to the Headmistress. Someone coughed in the background and they turned towards them. Hope died in their throats as Professor McGonagall announced, "Aimee and Maia Black, this is Miss Pansy Parkinson, she's come to meet you on the behalf of Draco Malfoy… apparently, he thinks you two might be related to him."
A/N: Naughty ending, very naughty, sorry, couldn't help it. Will amend my awful ways as soon as I can.
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