Chapter 13: Twelve
You couldn't sleep for the whole night. You were curled up on the side, facing away from Harry trying to keep yourself warm. Your tears seemed to be running out, you couldn't stop yourself from crying all night.
You then felt his arms wrap around you. He wasn't asleep, he was doing it intentionally. He didn't say anything, he just wanted you to understand that he needed time to heal and process things but he made sure that he was still there. He had no intentions of going anywhere, even if his mind was screaming at him to leave you.
His warm embrace made you tear up even more and eventually leading you to pass out and sleep.
Wake up...
You heard a faint sound of a woman's voice and you forcefully opened your eyes. Birds were chirping just outside the balcony door. You followed your intuition to open the door and you saw a figure of a woman, but she seemed lifeless. You approached it with your wand in hand slowly walking up to her.
"You look so beautiful" she whispered but she wasn't looking at you. You thought she was talking to the sky so you let her be.
"I wish I could've seen you grow up" She said finally facing you and you knew who she was. From the photographs and the paintings... She was your mom, you were almost a mirror of her. You could tell, she was popular back on her days at Hogwarts.
You wanted to touch her and feel her embrace but all you felt were the coldness of thin air. You didn't even realized that you were crying...
On the outside perspective, Draco saw you standing on the balcony edge, on top of the handrails. At first he thought you were doing this on purpose but when he saw that your eyes were closed, he quickly ran towards you and checking if he was on right spot just in case you fall.
"Mom..." you whimpered like a kid.
"I'm so sorry dear..." she whispered disappearing away, you ran after her -- only to slip and fall from the Balcony. Draco caught you in the nick of time, your eyes opened for real this time and you were surprised at Draco's action.
"What happened?" you asked confused, you touched your face and you felt your tear stains.
"you were on the edge..." Draco answered.
He didn't let you down on the ground as he noticed that you weren't wearing any shoes at all. It was a sunny morning but it was quite cold. He didn't want your feet to be cold or dirty. He unintentionally stared at you, you looked back at him and it felt like the time slowed down.
"You caught me" you said understanding the scenario.
"I did... and I always will" he replied sincerely.
"(y/n) let's eat? " Harry's voice interrupted your staring contest with Draco.
"She doesn't have any shoes" Draco said not letting you down.
"Draco, put me down" you begged a bit.
"Then I'll carry her myself" Harry replied.
"No need, I'm already doing it." Draco snickered.
Harry went near and tried to snatch you by tugging your arm.
"Stop" you said firmly avoiding another conflict.
"I've had enough problems, I can't deal with another one." You stood up on your own feet and walked away from them.
Later on this day, Harry asked you to cut his hair. Both of you were silent, no one dared to talk. just the snipping of the scissors and nothing else. After the haircut, you just left the room and let him be alone for a bit.
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"Can we talk?" You asked Harry as you closed the door of your room and he just nodded silently like he was waiting for this moment.
"First off, I'm really sorry..." you said with a deep sigh.
"I never meant anything to happen like this, it felt like I was controlled whenever I was close with Draco."
"but then you fell for him right?" Harry interrupted you.
"...yes" you answered and there was silence.
He gestured you to sit with him on the bed.
"I'm really sorry" you said and he faced you properly as he held both of your hands soothingly.
"Your father... was together with mr. Malfoy the night Cedric died." he said like it was a load off of his chest.
"I really didn't know about that" you replied looking at your hands. His warm hands were embracing your cold ones.
"I can never forgive him for this" you said.
"they are death eaters" he said and you nodded.
"I don't even wanna be here" you said.
"Let's run away..." he suggested.
"Where will we go?" you asked.
"I don't care, let's just go" he replied standing up and pulling you with him.
You stared at his eyes and touched his face.
"But I hurt you, why would you go with me?" you asked sincerely.
"I don't know, I just love you and I know you still chose me... I think it's better than losing you." he paused "I lost you once, I can't lose you again" he said.
You kissed him and you felt like the world got better.
"I'm gonna pack whatever we need" you said to him.
---
Time was running out, Lucius grew suspicious of you and Harry. Even Draco thought it was odd that you were a bit busy going in and out of rooms, like you were collecting something. Draco then decided to check up on you.
"You're leaving?" You heard Draco spoke right behind you.
"I can't deal with this right now" you rushing to get away, as this was your final essential to pack.
"I'm ready" you said to Harry while Draco caught up with you.
"What are you doing?" Draco pleaded for an answer.
"I'm sorry Draco" you told him.
Harry helped you carry a big suit case while you trailed behind him, both of you using the balcony to go away.
"Petrificus Totalus" Draco said hitting Harry with the spell. He dropped to the ground and you looked at Draco.
"You can't leave please." Draco said.
"I can't stay here Draco, it's too much." you replied.
"What's wrong? Just tell me please"
"Your father and my father are not good men... They are"
"Death eaters" Draco cut you off.
"when did you--" you said not finishing the sentence.
"long time ago" he answered.
"I'm sorry Draco I really can't stay." you said going near him trying to say good bye.
He touched your face, starring at it deeply.
"you already know how much I love you" he said with pain clearly painted on his eyes.
"But I can't go on like what we did before" you told him for the last time.
"Why can't you choose me?" he asked.
You couldn't answer him, it pained you whenever he asks about choosing.
"I know you still feel the same way about me, but why do you keep choosing Harry?" he asked again, this time you kissed him and immediately performed the petrifucus totalus spell back on him.
You went towards Harry and pulled the port key with you with a simple "accio".
It immediately transported you to a very unfamiliar place. There was a park nearby, you looked around to spot your luggage scattered around you. You quickly undid the charm casted upon Harry and waited for him to regain strength.
"Where are we?" you asked.
"Near where I live." he answered as he sat down. You understood that this was part of the muggle world.
"Let's hang around by the park for a bit" Harry said.
It was getting a bit late but you and Harry were still on the swing, feeling the wind.
The kids playing around were soon called by their parents. The park was beginning to feel empty, leaving you and Harry talking sincerely.
"Every night, I always see the same exact thing that happened the night Cedric died. I couldn't erase it, it's haunting me..." he said trying to express his grief.
"I can't imagine what you're going through Harry, and I'm sorry that I also added up to that..." you felt apologized.
"At least you're here right now." he was reaching for your hand and proceeded to kiss the top of it. Since it was the only unbroken swing in the park, you pushed Harry giving him a bit of movement.
"What are you doing?" he asked laughing.
"Trying to make you swing but you're way too heavy" you joked.
Both of you suddenly heard a group of boys laughing, Harry seemed to know one of them.
"Hey big D, beat up another kid?" Harry asked.
"This one deserved it" The bigger kid replied.
"Five against one, very brave." Harry snickered.
"You're one to talk, moaning in your sleep every night" Dudley started to taunt him.
"Don't kill Cedric"
"Who's Cedric, your boyfriend? Well no offense to you of course." Dudley said as he looked at you too, scanning you from top to bottom.
"Shut up" You gave Dudley a nasty look and he just smirked.
"I bet you're better off with me, you're wasting your time with Potter." He added and it seemed like it was out of nowhere.
"Not interested" you said averting your eyes.
"Where's your mom Potter?" Dudley still continued.
"Is she dead?"
Harry had enough and got out of the swing and pointed his wand to Dudley. His friends laughed but Dudley was clearly scared.
A storm was suddenly forming rapidly above all of you, so the rest of the kids ran away.
"Harry?" you asked but he swore it wasn't him.
It started raining and all three of you went in a tunnel for a temporary shelter. But there were three dementors suddenly tormenting you. Harry told Dudley to run but was stopped not a second after as all three of you were busy dealing with a dementor of each.
You haven't practiced your patronus charm or any sort, so you're struggling as well. Harry got a hold of his wand and blasted a powerful patronus spell sending all the dementors away.
An old lady appeared who seems to be familiar... It was Harry's neighbor, she reassured us that she was an ally.
----
On the other hand, your father and Lucius were working with the ministry and when they detected the patronus charm from Harry's wand, they immediately knew where you were. After you left the house, Lucius found his son on the ground unable to move and he didn't think twice about letting your father know about what you did.
The ministry agreed to help track you down by detecting both you and Harry's movements. After detecting the charm, they knew it was the right call to release some dementors on the muggle world. The ministry wanting to silence Harry and your Father wanting you to come back home was the perfect reason to team up. Dolores's chuckle echoed around the room as they knew this was the perfect plan to keep you and Harry away from each other.
----
Both you and Harry were carrying Dudley even though you weren't much help since you were short but you gave your efforts.
The door suddenly busted open startling Petunia and Vernon. The couple eventually questioned Harry and blamed him for Dudley's state.
"Hey that's unfair!" you told them after they got back from the hospital.
"You don't get to say anything here, you're not part of the family!" Petunia snapped at you and basically threw you outside of their house.
You had no idea what to do, Harry was just left inside still talking to his relatives. You peeped through the window and saw an owl enter the house of the Dursleys.
You tried your hardest to listen in to the conversation.
"Dear Mr. Potter,
The ministry has received intelligence that at 6:23 this evening, you performed the Patronus Charm in the presence of a muggle. As a clear violation, of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, you are hereby expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Hoping you are well,
Mafalda Hopkirk"
You heard this loud and clearly, you panicked and started knocking on the front door to let you through.
"Justice" Vernon said with a wicked smile.
You continued knocking non stop but they were so good at ignoring you. And when they were on the way to the hospital, Vernon lightly pushed you away so that they could go inside their vehicle.
Harry slammed the wall of his room out of frustrations and then looked outside his window to see you. You waved happily at him but he was a frowning.
You wanted to just wait outside the house and probably the Dursleys would feel bad and let you in. Unsurprisingly, you were wrong and you fell asleep just by the front door.
After some time, you felt like something was coming your way. You waked yourself up and anticipated whatever it was. You raised your wand, and paid attention to your surroundings.
A group of wizards suddenly appeared in front, it seemed like they just apparated.
"Ms. Maxwell?" A familiar professor asked.
"Professor Moody !" you said in relief.
For a moment there you thought you would be dying tonight.
"What are you doing here?" he asked and you looked at the other wizards.
"You're the daughter of Asmodeus?" A girl with purple hair asked with an excited smile.
You nodded and stuttered a bit to answer Alastor, "I was trying to wait for his relatives".
"How cheeky, well... Since you're here, you might as well come with us." She replied.
You patiently waited outside, checking the neighborhood as it awed you.
"Didn't think you'd actually run away" You heard your father's voice.
You turned around and he grabbed a hold of your arm.
"We need to go home now !" He demanded but you resisted him.
"Stop resisting and just come home !" He shouted, this was a mistake by him as he was heard by Harry and the others.
"(y/n) !" Harry said and rushed to go outside.
You were done with just following your father's orders, this one time you looked at him angrily straight to his eyes.
"I will not be going anywhere with you !" you shouted back at him, he didn't think twice about landing his hand on your face... he slapped you and it took him a few seconds to realize what he did. Your emotions were all over the place. The same golden string arising from your skin and you accidentally released a powerful burst which hit your father's face. Blood started to drip from his wound which made you snap out of your anger. The golden strings disappearing out of sight, as Harry and the others arrived at the scene.
Asmodeus vision became blurry and as he desperately waited for his eyesight to get better, he saw your mother's figure in you.
"Not my daughter" a soft whisper was heard around the area which triggered a lot of guilt from and Asmodeus and he immediately retreated, apparating away.
Harry rushed towards you to ask if you were okay, you reassured him and he embraced you.
All of you continued to move with the promise of explaining everything once all of you arrived at the so called "headquarters".
----
You and Harry were holding hands while you waited for a hidden building in the area to reveal itself.
They let both of you in and observe the head quarters. The rest of them rushed to go inside what seems to be a meeting going on. The Weasleys were there too, along side with Sirius and Lupin.
"Harry !" Mrs. Weasley greeted.
"Mrs. Weasley" Harry replied and gestured that your were there too.
She closed the door, smiled at you and gave both of you a hug.
"Bit peaky, but I'm afraid dinner will wait until after the meeting's finished" She said, not giving the both of you a chance to reply and told you to go straight upstairs and first door on the left.
Both of you went up slowly, observing and looking around.
"I've never heard of this" you said.
"Me too" he slightly whispered.
Harry opened the door while saying "I'm glad you're here"
Hermione took both of you by surprise and immediately giving Harry an embrace.
"(y/n), Thank goodness you're here too!" She said genuinely with a hug as well.
"Are both of you alright? We overheard them talking about the dementor attack. You must tell us everything." She said and both you and Harry just nodded.
"Let the man breathe Hermione." Ron joked and it relieved some tension in the air.
"...And this hearing at the Ministry. It's just outrageous. I've looked it up and they simply can't expel you." She said while Harry pulled you with him inside the room.
"It's completely unfair" you and Hermione chorused.
"Yeah, there's a lot of that going around at the moment." Harry said.
"So what is this place?" he asked.
"It's headquarters" Ron answered.
"From the Order of the Phoenix-- A secret society that Dumbledore formed back when they fought you-know-who" Hermione explained further.
"Couldn't have put any of this in a letter, I suppose?" Harry asked and this time you knew he was upset about it.
"I've gone all summer without a scrap of news." he continued.
"We wanted to write, mate. Really, we did" Ron replied.
"Only..."
"Only what?"
"Only Dumbledore made us swear not to tell you anything." Hermione said honestly.
"Dumbledore said that?" Harry asked as if you can hear his heart breaking a bit.
"But why would he keep me in the dark? Maybe I could help..." Harry asked.
His voice was rising, and you tugged his arm. "Harry relax" you whispered but he seemed to be ignoring this. You noticed the same golden string forming from where you were tugging him. Hermione was also looking at it too and lost focus on what Harry was saying.
"I'm the one who saw Voldemort return, I'm the one who fought him, and saw Cedric Diggory get killed."
Fred and George suddenly appeared spooking all of you and eventually George accidentally stumbling on you.
"Harry, we thought we heard your dulcet tones. Don't bottle it up though, let it out." You smiled a bit and everyone was glad that the twins showed up.
"If you're done shouting, do you wanna hear something a little more interesting?" they asked and the answer was an obvious yes.
----
It was now dinner time and all of you were going down the stairs as soon as Molly called.
"Well, we'll be eating down in the kitchen." She happily announced and the twins spooked their mom earning a great mom's wisdom of shouting and nagging to the both of them.
She then turned towards Harry.
"You hungry Harry?" she asked and Harry nodded.
"You sure you're alright Harry? Gave us quite a turn..." Arthur said.
"Harry Potter..." Sirius said and it warmed your heart when both of them hugged.
You could tell that Harry was waiting for Sirius... waiting for the warmth of a guardian to embrace him.
-------
"I hope you don't mind (y/n) is here with me" Harry said waiting for a confirmation.
"We don't, don't you worry dear..." Molly said with a warm smile.
"Thank you" you said.
Alastor was a bit unsure about you, so he kept a close eye.
The topic then transitioned to Harry's hearing and eventually ending dinner time into an awkward discussion, but it was easy to brush it off.
At night time, Harry was still having some trouble sleeping. He was in a separate room with the boys, while you, Hermione and Ginny were all in the same room.
All three of you were still awake, talking about some things randomly.
"I read about the unbreakable vow..." Hermione said specifically turning her attention to you and Ginny did the same.
"That golden string..." She pointed to your arm.
"I've been seeing it too" you said honestly.
"Mom always told me something about soulmates, and that might be an indication that you two are for each other" Ginny said.
"It's either that, or the unbreakable vow" Hermione said.
"But the unbreakable vow requires one more person in order for the spell to work" Ginny said.
"But how can it be the unbreakable vow if me and Harry never performed a spell like that."
"You never?" Hermione looked confused.
"Well it's probably the soulmate stuff" Ginny laughed as both girls teased you.
'But I saw it with Draco too' Hermione wanted to say but she held back.
You never really thought of it, more and more people have been noticing the weird vibe between the three of you.
With that being said, the night went on silently as Harry's hearing will be up on a few days from now.
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You had one more meeting with the order, and it has been discussed that you would be one of the witnesses for Harry.
Upon arriving at the ministry, everything seemed busy. The usual noise filling up the air as everyone did what they were supposed to.
All of you eventually arrived at the assigned room. Harry was being questioned and then Dumbledore came in confidently showing you and mrs. Figg as the witnesses. You weren't called first so they were still keeping you outside.
"It's not over yet" a man spoke from behind you.
"Mr. Malfoy" you said sternly.
"You must come home immediately" he slightly demanded.
You didn't want to look at him, so you tried your best to ignore him.
"Ms. Maxwell, it's your turn to testify." A wizard informed you and you happily walked away.
"Wherever you go, we will always find you" Lucius said before walking away too.
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The hearing ended in a good way as Harry wasn't getting expelled, and he was free from all charges. This made you happy and you thought about expressing your love and care to him more.
All of you went back to the headquarters with good news and eventually spent the remaining days of your vacation with friends.
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