She whispered

by Lucas Chesterton

  ‘Now that we all got that out of our system,’ David tossed Lucius aside as he gave the blonde man a hard glare. ‘I think you were saying something about a company?’ he stood next to Arthur and put a hand on his shoulder, as Lucius came face to face with Sirius and Remus and quickly realized the situation.

  ‘Here take your book, its the best your father can afford,’ he shoved the transfiguration book back, as he turned away.

  ‘Did, you see his eye, damn Aruthur the amount of money I would have paid to have done that,’ Sirus laughed as Lupin frowned at him, and proceeded to help put everything back.

  ‘Honestly Arthur what were you thinking brawling in public like that what would Lockhart think?’ Molly accused him,

  ‘I wouldn’t worry about it,’ David waved off, ‘If you ever get around to raiding the place and the damage you pulled wasn’t satisfying enough, check this out.’ David borrowed a sheet of paper and scrolled a location down.

  ‘How would you know this?’ Me. Weasley asked as he looked at the paper.

  ‘Ligitamence read his mind he plans on having everything transported then. Have fun.’ David smiled as Holly blinked in confusion, at the conversation.

  ‘You can read minds!’ Holly shouted at the breakfast table as her dad chuckled behind the news paper the headline was about a massively successful raid at the Malfoy manor. With Mr. Weasley at the front, he took David advice and found a mass amount of secret storage closets which cost the family a fair amount of gold.

  ‘Yep,’ Her dad answered as he turned a page.

  ‘How,’ Holly frowned in horror, at the idea of a mind-reading dad.

  ‘I am not the only one, it’s why I learned Legilimencey, Professor Snape and Sally can use it as well as Voldemort. I also learned Occlumencey, to defend against such things.’

  ‘That explains how he knew about the stone.’ Holly realized, ‘wait how does it work?’

  ‘Well, the spell incantation and a point from the wand. But masters who train for years can do it subtly with eye contact.’ He grinned as he dropped the paper and looked at her eyes.

  ‘Eek!’ She shrieked as she covered her eyes,

  ‘It’s okay trust me I have no desire to read my daughter’s mind, but if you make eye contact and you see the eyes have a weird twinkle that’s probably an indication.

  ‘So why learn it? Besides giving Malfoy’s dad a hard time.’

  ‘There are somethings I need to keep from Professor Snape, he’s got enough guilt he doesn’t need anymore. It’s almost school time again, well I asked you one summer and you did, do you want to know the real reason behind the attack all those years ago?’ He looked at her a stone expression as an uncomfortable feeling permeated her stomach.

  ‘Yes.’ She nodded as her father looked very old suddenly he folded up the paper and almost reverently set it aside.

  ‘This going to take some time, so get comfy. The first thing you need to take to heart is this. Prophecies are only as reliable and as powerful as the people involved.’ He explained as her stomach dropped out.

  ‘Crap,’ escaped her lips.

  ‘The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies, and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but they will have power the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.’ he finished,

  ‘Uh.’ She blinked, as she touched her scar at the mention of being marked.

  ‘The damn thing is vague as it is destructive. A spy overheard this being spoken to Sally. The spy only got the first portion, not all of it. Voldemort who put a lot of stock in this believes he is the dark lord. So he started to hunt for those who stood up to him three times, which was two culprits. Lilly and myself along with Neville’s parents Frank and Alice. I don’t know about them but I can tell you the three incidents if you like.’ He offered as he paused to take a drink.

  ‘Later,’ she answered as her dad nodded and after a deep breath carried on.

  ‘What convinced him, I don’t know but he decided that you are the one, at this point me and your mother had gone underground at Sally’s request. So he came to kill you. I stood up a fourth time and was soundly crushed, your mother killed, and you marked as his equal.’

  ‘But, if he hadn’t killed mom, I wouldn’t have been given her protection, so he created the events.’ She realized there was no name or gender or any indication.

  ‘Yep, if he ignored it it would have no power over him. But it’s locked in, he will try to kill you, and,’ he smiled, ‘I doubt you would run and hide from him, you have proven you will not go quietly. So both of you are bound thanks to that idiotic prophecy.’

  ‘So am I gonna have to kill him?’ She asked,

  ‘I think, you are worried about the wording, I think you will have a hand in his death if you must take his life, I will do everything I can to make sure that is one part of this damn thing you don’t have to worry about. That’s why we were attacked.’ He summoned up.

  Holly felt her eyes water as she rushed into her dad’s arms. ‘You, you don’t blame me for it do you?’ She sobbed, as guilt and fear welled up at the idea.

  ‘No,’ she felt herself pulled up into a pair of brown eyes. ‘No,’ he smiled, ‘we stepped up, we fought that war. The moment we defied him our seventh year we were already marked for death. We new that we accepted that.’ He insisted as she looked at her dad’s eyes. ‘I am so sorry our actions put this burden on you, we were prepared to die for our beliefs. We didn’t want to force such a thing on you,’ he started to tear up, ‘I am so sorry.’ He apologized as they both had tears coming down, as she realized he felt guilty about the incident himself as they both hugged it out, and then unwanted she started to giggle.

  ‘Why am I laughing?’ She pulled back as she wiped away at the tears only to find a much bigger hand doing the same.

  ‘I love you my brace daughter.’ He smiled, ‘your dad is going to do everything to lessen this, I want you to go to school have fun with friends, prank a teacher, pushes this wort from your mind. Let the old man worry about this okay?’ She nodded in agreement, as the two hugged it out.

  ‘Oye, I will be helping as well don’t forget Lupin as well, with the three of us the only thing to worry about is Holly’s first date.’ Sirius butted in.

  ‘Like hell, you are not allowed to date, or age got it.’ Her dad pointed at her,

  ‘I am going to get right on that.’ She grimaced at her dad.

  ‘The greatest threat to dad to give away his daughter, he can face down evils the world would quake from but the idea of his pre-teen daughter dating oh boy,’ Lupin laughed as the mood was lightened despite events to come.

  ‘Why is everything missing, I swear that house elf is stealing everything!’ Sirius gripped as the four had hunted over the house.

  ‘Dad we are going to be late.’ Holly warned as her dad grumbled along, before he sighed,

  ‘okay we can’t waste any more time we need to go now. I’ll drop her off we will get your supplies together.’ Sirius volunteered,

  ‘David, did you ever get rid of your books?’ Lupin asked,

  ‘Right, those old things will have to do,’ David brought out his wand and a small pouch flew to him as he quickly pulled out a series of books that looked just like Holly’s only they looked a bit worn.

  Holly thanked her lucky stars that her clothes hadn’t been tampered with but the house elf had flinched nearly every school items during the last three weeks of summer break.

  The pair scrambled to the bike, as Uncle Sirius revved up the bike, and he raced along forgoing every muggle driving regulation. She raced along as Sirius spotted the Weasley family up ahead. ‘Hey, Holly!’ Ron waved before he noticed that his friend didn’t have her cart with her or any school supplies.

  ‘I’ll see if I can slow the train down,’ Sirius said,

  ‘Wait!’ Holly didn’t think it was
a good idea only for her uncle to run right into a brick wall, he fell back before he slumped to the ground a bump. The group started to get looks as Ron looked just as confused as everyone else.

  Holly wheeled around a cart and Ron helped prop him up.

  ‘What is going on?’ Asked a station manager.

  ‘Sorry he wasn’t watching where he was going,’ Holly apologized,

  ‘Won’t happen again, officer,’ Sirius admitted as he winced into a sitting position. Holly glanced over at the wall were Ron kicked at the wall that would normally have given way.

  ‘It’s blocked off,’ he admitted, as Ron glanced back at them, he wheeled his cart around as Holly noticed they had attracted a lot more attention.

  They headed back out with clock telling them that the express had already gone. ‘So now what?’ Holly asked her uncle,

  ‘We can take the car,’ Ron pointed out, as Sirius laughed at the idea.

  ‘That is a long flight, I don’t think the car can last that long.’ Sirius warned, ‘sadly appariting to a moving target is dangerous at the best of times.

  ‘Best thing to do is send an owl to the ministry and see what our options are, maybe Professor Sally can help us out.’ Holly decided as she pulled Hedwig’s cage,

  ‘Good idea,’ Sirius agreed, they waited by the car when suddenly Mr. and Mrs. Weasley popped next to the car literally.

  ‘Mom, Dad!’ Ron shouted as they both looked confused to see the three who waited for them.

  ‘Ron, why are you not on the Hogwarts express?’ Mrs. Weasley asked,

  ‘The platform didn’t let anyone out, I would bet the same is true for getting in.’ He frowned.

  ‘It’s probably that house elf it seems convinced that he is protecting me by keeping me from school,’ Holly complained,

  ‘Not many houses have such servants, but to see one so outspoken and active is unheard of.’ Mr. Weasley frowned, ‘how long has this been going on?’

  ‘A month, if I recall correctly,’ Sirius recalled, ‘he got into the school supplies tapped the mail, this is frustrating. The department of magical creatures couldn’t find any proof at this point I am convinced one of the old blood families, is screwing with us.’

  ‘Hmm, I’ll see if I can find out who owns this elf.’ Mr. Weasley promised. ‘Now then let’s get you on the Hogwarts express,’ they suddenly popped onto the station as both Holly and Ron felt like they left their stomachs behind.

  ‘Why are we here?’ Ron vocalized the question Holly was thinking as they were pointed at a fireplace, labeled emergency.

  ‘Right I forgot about that.’ Sirius sighed, Ron stepped forward and with a ‘Hogwarts Express’ he vanished in a mass of green fire.

  ‘Um, what?’ Holly blinked, as Sirius ran over the explanation, the flop network had a setup just in case someone was late, mostly for the muggle-born first years.

  Holly stepped forward, and with a second ‘Hogwarts express she was spun through a series of fire placed before crashing to the floor dirty, ‘crisp,’ she frowned as she took out her wand and repaired her glasses as Ron helped her to her feet.

  ‘Rough ride?’ He asked as Holly nodded,

  ‘I think I am going to be sick.’ She admitted, as she held his shoulder to help steady herself, the pair were in the engine room, ‘is there any adults on this train besides the trolley lady?’ Holly asked as Ron shrugged.

  The pair sighed only to duck as Ron’s trunk followed by Holly’s flew out at them. ‘Bloody hell, it’s a wonder any wizard makes it adulthood around here.’ As he looked at the trunk that could have knocked him flat.

  ‘Looks like my dad got my stuff together, man that house elf is mental,’ Holly grabbed a note from her dad.

  ‘Sorry about the book condition, I used it as a blugger bat on your Uncles head, also I wrote in a few of them, will send you new ones if I can’t get your books back, sorry.’ Holly folded it up as she levitated the trunks.

  ‘Where have you been?’ Hermione asked as Holly felt her eyebrow twitch as she looked at her friend.

  She dropped down in a huff next to Neville after the trunks were floated up. ‘That damn house elf swiped all my stuff, my dad had to gather up his old books just to get everything ready.’

  ‘That seems odd, those books would have to be at least twenty years out of date.’ Hermione frowned.

  ‘You would be surprised,’ both Ron and Neville commented at the same time. As Hermione gave them a confused look.

  ‘It’s more a courtesy to get new books for the market, and some sell old books back to recoup the money, but magical education was perfected a while back so new updates are rare, heck binns hasn’t changed his quizzes since before he died.’ Holly recalled her Uncle Sirius trying to give her his old quizzes so she would know all the right answers; Lupin put a stop to it though, I also think something weird happens to magical books if they get too old.’

  ‘Huh,’ Hermione looked at her book with an expression Holly had never seen. ‘So, what is a house elf?

  ‘A magical creature that feeds off old magical estates, they serve the family to pay them back. Having a house Elf is a sign of wealth and history which is why it’s a status for most families to have one.’ Neville explained,

  ‘It’s basically slavery, only the elves want to be slaves since they live to work,’ Holly replied as Hermione’s jaw dropped. ‘My uncle has one, kinda he never goes home so he avoids it, he wanted to get rid of it but Lupin talked him out of it.’ Holly went on as her friend looked at her like she grew another head.

  ‘But Lupin would never, why?’ Hermione tore as she tried to think it over.’

  ‘Well, house elves can’t survive without being magically bound to a historical magical place. So unless they do something most wizards wouldn’t like having such a powerful magical creature in the house. I am dealing with one and my dad can’t deal with it and he’s going to be our professor this year.’ Holly explained,

  ‘I don’t like it,’ Hermione settled,

  ‘Me either, but this Dobby is sapping my compassion, even if there should be some rules on how they are cared for.’ Holly settled into her bad mood.

  The doors slide open as the twins popped in. ‘See there he is,’ Fred pointed.

  ‘Can we go?’ George asked as he looked at Ginny, Holly gave her a wave as the girl ducked out, ‘I guess we can,’ George shrugged.

  ‘Sorry, she thought you missed the train for some reason.’ Fred rollers his eyes.

  ‘We did have to fly a dragon to get on the after it took off.’ Ron lied with a smile as the twins gave him an identical look as they slowly withdrew from the cart.

  ‘Do you think they practice that?’ Neville asked as the group started to laugh.

  ‘Potter!’ Exclaimed Malfoy, ‘how did you get on the train?’

  ‘Pardon?’ Holly glared at him as she wondered if Malfoy put the elf up to her recent issues. Malfoy swallowed as he realized why Sirius and other elementary students didn’t screw with her.

  Holly was up to her feet Malfoy was backing behind Crabbe and Goyle. ‘Wow,’ Neville swallowed,

  ‘Draco, out of curiosity does your family own a house elf?’ She smiled completely at odds with the earlier glare. Draco glanced around as if a teacher was around that he didn’t notice.

  ‘Y-Yes,’ he revived holding himself up to his fullest height. ‘The most ancient and Noble house of Malfoy would, of course, own a house elf unlike some.’ He glared at Ron who’s ears turned red at the comment.

  ‘Yes, yes very nice prove it,’ she cocked her hips and crossed her arms.

  ‘Why?’ Malfoy frowned at her,

  ‘So you don’t have one, pity my uncle has one, guess you’re scared that I would realize it was fake, I never thought I would see the day a Malfoy wouldn’t show of his prestige.’ She sighed as she sat down.

  ‘Dobby!’ Malfoy shouted as a familiar house elf popped up,

  ‘Yes Master Draco,’ he bowed low as his oversized ears flopped he
stood up and went wide-eyed when he saw Holly and was scared.

  ‘That’s what one looks like Hermione, for future reference, I would have called Kreature but he doesn’t listen to me. Thanks, Malfoy you are very corporative.’ She grinned, as the boy realized he had been manipulated, Holly slammed the door as she sat down only for Dobby to blink in confusion as Holly sat down.

  ‘Dobby dismissed!’ Malfoy called out as he stormed off. The house elf popped away, as Holly sat down with a thoughtful expression on her face.

  ‘What in the world?’ Ron asked,

  ‘That was the house elf that has been hassling me,’ Holly admitted,

  ‘What a creepy he is using is house elf to harass you,’ Ron concluded as Holly shook her head.

  ‘He would have bragged about it, Malfoy can’t help but run his mouth. No that worries me unless Malfoy got really subtle Dobby’s warning just gained a lot of weight.’ She realized as the courtroom went cold.

  ‘Like what?’ Neville asked,

  ‘Something that Dobby would consider threatening enough to my wellbeing enough to bend rules and do everything he could to protect me in his own weird little way,’ Holly concluded,

  ‘What if it’s his dad, your father pointed to his dark artifacts.’ Ron pointed out.

  ‘Ron Draco’s dad wouldn’t know that, if he wanted to be petty he would have sent him to the Weasley family. Your father conducted the raid.’ Hermione pointed out when suddenly Holly broke out of the room at a sprint.

  ‘Holly!‘Bloody hell!’ ‘Wait up!’ The three called as Neville chased first followed by her friends.

  ‘Fred George?’ She blurted as they paused as well as Jordon, ‘did either of you find anything in your stuff after the day at Diagon Ally?’ She asked, ‘anything you or your parents didn’t buy.’ She eyed,

  ‘No,’ George slowly as he looked at his brother. She raced up to the front and found Percy he jumped as she busted in, ‘after going to the ally did you find anything odd, in your stuff anything you wouldn’t need as a proud upstanding model student?’ She asked,

  ‘No, I nothing I didn’t buy.’ He frowned in confusion, ‘wait what is wrong?’ He called after her down the hall as Holly raced back around her friends who were all struggling to keep up with their nimble friend.