HARRY POTTER WLoF REWRITE PART 4 CHAP 14

Moria wished she didn’t have her mother’s temperament so many times. Truthfully, she had wished that she had had more her father’s personality. Calm, collective, endlessly patient, and always trying to see things rationally. And because of that he was always, always ready to look at things in a sensible manner, calm and always collected almost like ice. But no, if he was ice…she was like her mother: fire. Her mother was impatient, protective, raging, only calming down when someone had been burned by her words, and it was only then that she would apologize.

She wished she were like her father.

Because right then, she was a raging fire.

“What the hell happened Dumbledore?!” She snapped angrily outside the hospital wing. “You said they weren’t supposed to go on the grounds!!!”

“I do not know what happened, Moria.” Dumbledore remarked calm as ever and that did little if anything on killing her temper. In fact, it probably inflamed it further. “The ministry assured me they would stay outside the grounds. If I had to guess, I’d say the excitement of the Quidditch match was too much for them and they couldn’t resist to feed.”

“I knew this would happen. I TOLD you this would happen!!”

“Moria-”

“So what now?!?  Every time there’s a Quidditch match, we run the risk of a student having their soul sucked out and the rest basically becoming a happiness sucking buffet?! They shouldn’t be here!! You’re allowing the most foul creatures on the earth to feed on the students!!”

“You know as well as I do, I can’t do anything about them. I don’t want them here any more than you do, but I’m afraid Fudge has overridden me on this matter and my hands are tied.”

“You’re Albus Dumbledore, considered to be the most powerful wizard in the world if you’re hands are tied and you can’t use your own power to protect innocent children?!”

That seemed to strike a nerve in the aged wizard, as he seemed to raise himself up full height, but still calm as a cucumber.

“I am doing everything I can to ensure the safety of these students, Moria.” He said in a voice that made her go quiet and if there were students around they scampered away in fright. “Do not forget that.”

She swallowed, looking away, blinking repeatedly to push back the burning in them. She hated when he was actually saying stuff that made sense.  

“Moria, I’m sorry that this happened.” He repeated, softer again. “I will be speaking to the ministry about making sure the Dementors are under control, and if there is any other such a breach I will personally make sure Cornelius Fudge calls them off. You have to trust me, Moria. Harry is safe.” He promised. She swallowed audibly staring at the wall as Dumbledore left. Her hands were shaking and the tightened into fists. She cursed and swung, slamming her fist into the wall.

And immediately regretted it.

“FFFFFFFFFF!!!” She forced herself to not let out a curse, as it probably would not end well if people found out she was teaching students any more curse words. Really, they were already looking at her strangely because she was now clutching her broken wrist and hopping around. She contemplated kicking the said wall in anger.

“I swear to Merlin, if you even kick it, I will leave your crumpled form on the ground.” A voice interjected and she turned to see Chelsea standing there, in her matron uniform, and apparently could read minds. She glared at her friend who walked over, rolling her eyes.

“Not every day you see your friend punch a wall hard enough to break her wrist.”

“Shut up. I’m stressed.”

“Still you’re punching a wall.”

“Beats punching a person. Especially your boss.”

“Touché.” Chelsea replied, glancing up at Moria. “You look like you haven’t slept in months.”

“That wouldn’t be too far from the truth.” She remarked, wincing as Chelsea uttered a spell under her breath and a shooting pain went through her hand as her bones mended.

“What you need is a girls night out.”

“The last time I went on a girl’s night out I spent the night making sure Rosetta didn’t go off with random dudes, and Florentia didn’t emit hormones that made men horny. And prior to that Lily, Alice, and my girl’s night included ‘lets go do muggle things that will likely make Alice scream like a little girl’ or staying up late watching movies. And no offense neither of those sound like your type of thing.” She replied.

“True. Guess it has to be something friends say. Lily would have said something like that, I guess.”

“You kidding? I think I’d be holding her back so she wouldn’t maim Dumbledore. And likely James as well.” She added after a thought and Chelsea chuckled.

“That’s probably about right.” She remarked.

“How’s Harry?”

“Perfectly fine. He just has a few fractured ribs and possibly a concussion. Given how far he fell it could have been worse. I think Dumbledore’s spell slowed him down to lessen the damage. We’re keeping him here to watch over his concussion, but seeing as he’s more upset he lost the match than nearly dying…” Chelsea trailed off.

The fact he was more worried about losing the match than the fact he had nearly plummeted to his death nearly made Moria laugh. Even if it was something so similar to what James would have done, it sure as hell didn’t stop her from wanting to scream for worrying over a match that could have ended his life.

“…What should I do?”

“I think you should trust Dumbledore.”

“No, not that part.” Moria remarked. “What should I do with the whole Quidditch thing?” Moria explained. “Logically I should just have him pulled off the team.”

“Logically, yes. But…”

“But he’s just a boy. It’s not his fault that all this is happening to him…” Moria stated with a sigh. “What should I do? I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“I think, you should buy him a new broom and let him stay on the team. However, I think Remus should teach him how to conjure a Patronus.” Chelsea remarked, summoning a splint and some bandages. “It’s clear that Dementors are going to affect Harry more than the average person. He should be able to protect himself from them.”

Moria sighed.

“What happened wasn’t your fault, Moria. No more than it was Harry’s or Dumbledore’s. It was the Dementors.”

“I’m failing as a mother.”

“You aren’t failing as a mother. I think with how you reacted, it’s proof you’re succeeding as a mother.” Chelsea remarked, holding Moria’ now healed and bandaged hand lightly in hers. “Don’t fret. Everything will be fine in the end.”

“…I still need to go buy Harry a new broom.” She finally replied reluctantly.

“Now in that regard, I have an idea.” Chelsea replied wickedly and Moria looked at her.

“Oh?”

“Well Sirius owes Harry for at least twelve birthdays and Christmases. Just like he owes Max.” Chelsea explained. “The man’s loaded. I think he wouldn’t mind his wife using his funds to purchase his godson a broom.” Chelsea replied and then snorted. “Actually considering how Quidditch crazy he and James were, I think they’d be pushing you to do just that.”

Moria stared at her friend and the snorted.

“Always with the plan, hm?”

“I’m a Hufflepuff. We are in the background and perfect for finding those solutions that the Ravenclaws can’t find.”

And to that Moria laughed.

---

Max sighed curled up on a bench as she sketched trying to keep calm and ignore the whispers as people walked by. She bit her lip as she flipped to a clean page and began to sketch the woman and everything that she had seen when the Dementor had entered the train.

There were similarities to her own face; she’d admit that, similar hair color and nearly the exact same eye color. But her face had a gentler slope to it, the bridge of her nose smaller and a bit more pointed up. Her eyes showed a kindness and love that struck Max as an inner beauty and yet…and yet she had a sadness about her expression as though the world around her was falling apart. It was so beautiful, yet so depressing.

She wondered why that of all things to come up, that one was the one to play out longer. She rubbed her forehead as she tried to clear her mind.

“Oye Black!!”

Oh no.

She looked up and saw some of the Slytherin’s of her year walking towards her. She stood up, collecting her bag and walking away.

“Where you going murderer spawn!?”

She didn’t reply, just continued forward, but the Slytherin’s seemed to be dead set on harassing her today. Must be a boring day, she mused dryly. She hurried around a corner

“Come on Black, show some more spunk! A daughter of a murderer should be a little bit more adventurous!!”

She bit her lip and hurried down the hall, just wanting to find some place to escape. Finally she spotted a door and after checking, found it to be unlocked. Before the students turned the corner, she hurriedly entered and closed the door. She watched the shadows under the door stopped for a brief moment. She held her breath before the feet vanished hurrying away.

Max relaxed a bit, resting against the door. She had lost them, thank goodness. She then became aware of piano music and turned to see a boy probably Harry’s age walking towards her, and that there were others there, staring at her. Shit…she was in trouble, wasn’t she? Maybe people weren’t supposed to use this room unless for specific reasons.

“Care to dance?”

“I…huh?” She began but squeaked as he grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the middle of the room. Her face turned bright, bright red as her knapsack, sketchpad, and pencils fell to the ground and he spun her around to the tempo of the music. She stammered in panic as he settled a hand on her waist, capturing her hand with his.

“U-um…I’m…I’m afraid there’s been a mistake. I…I only took a few ballet classes. Not enough to…to qualify as being a dancer.”

He was quiet and then suddenly spun her, keeping a grip on her hand and pulling her back. She blushed brightly.

“Funny. You’re a natural.”

“U…uh thank you?” She asked, her voice squeaking a bit. He smiled and for some reason, some strange reason, he seemed familiar.

“Is there something on my face?” The boy asked and she shook her head.

“No, you just remind me of…” She trailed off and sighed. “Never mind.”

He spun her again and she was getting dizzy.

“So, you’re Maxine Black.”

“And how did you know my full name?” She asked.

“I think everyone knows you’re name Ms. Black.” The boy remarked. She gave him a look.

“Because I’m the daughter of a murderer?” She asked blandly and he grinned.

“Because you’re the daughter of a professor.” He replied with a chuckle.

“And only that?”

“GranGran makes it a mission that I don’t judge people by their faults or their parent’s faults.” He muttered. “Says it makes people bitter, and I’m already a bitter grouch.” He remarked and despite how flustered she felt, she laughed.

“Grangran?”

“My great-grandmother.” He clarified and she managed a shrug.

“So…what is this?”

“Dance club. You can only be in here to dance. So seeing as you are trying to buy time to escape whatever you were escaping, this was the logical thing to do.” He replied.

“And your name, may I ask oh smart one?” She commented.

“Aries Matlock, at your service.” He replied, spinning her again and then dipping her slightly as the harp music dimmed and finally cut off. She jumped slightly at the sound of clapping and Aries straightened her moving away.

“Well…pleased to meet you.” She remarked, pushing her hair behind her ear. He smirked and kissed her hand causing her to blush brightly.

“The pleasure is all mine.” He remarked before letting go of her hand. She glanced over and saw some of the girls nearly swooning at him, but he seemed to be unaware, drinking some of water from a bottle. She pushed her hair again, before heading over to her discarded bag.

“If you want to ever join this club, we meet Wednesday nights.” He called out and she turned. She offered an impish smile.

“I’ll think about it.” She responded and gave a slight curtsey. She glanced back one last time before heading out.

---

Merlin was an interesting cat.

Sirius had figured this out soon after Crookshanks had brought the year old cat with him as apparently he had been whining to go somewhere and wouldn’t stop whining until Crookshanks had agreed to take him with him.

And currently he and Crookshanks were observing the other cat as he played with a moth. Or attempted to anyway.

“What a disgrace.”

“Oh you’re being too hard on him.”

“He’s a disgrace of every cat known to mankind. He can’t even hunt properly!!” Crookshanks retorted evenly and Sirius smirked as Merlin crashed into a wall, chasing valiantly after the moth. It was a nice distraction from what had happened at the Quidditch mound.

“Now you are being too hard on him.”

“He’s spoiled far too much in my opinion.” Crookshanks remarked to him, flicking his tail. “Young Mistress Black is far too lenient in giving him treats and-”
Whatever Crookshanks was telling him vanished in a roar surrounding Sirius’s ears as he stared at Merlin in a new light. This was…this was Max’s pet?

The young cat was his baby girl’s pet. He wondered where she had gotten the cat. Had it been recent or was the cat something she had gotten a year ago? Why did Moria say yes to a cat??

During his musings, Merlin seemed to notice he was being given attention and mewed loudly, hurrying towards Sirius and flopped onto his back, belly exposed. If Crookshanks could, Sirius was quite certain he would have rolled his eyes as Sirius bent down and began to scratch the younger cat’s belly.

“Show some dignity, Merlin!!” The older cat spat.

“But I likes belly rubs!!” Merlin meowed back in argument and Crookshanks groaned. “ ‘sides, since when do you sneaks off? I bets you go for belly rubs too!”

“I most certainly do not! And we wouldn’t have had to sneak off if you hadn’t stopped me from catching that Rat Man!!”

“I didn’t knows Rat Man was bad, bad man. ‘Sides, he went up Mama’s skirt!!” The younger cat argued and Sirius froze.

“…What?”

“When we backs home before school!! Crookshanks went after Rat Man!!! I wants to help, but Rat Man ran to Mama and climbed Mama’s leg before we gets him!! He went all the way up Mama’s back and-”

Sirius abruptly stood fury on his face as his eyes nearly glazed over in rage.

“THAT BASTARD!!!” He all but roared in anger. Oh, Pettigrew was dead!! He was going to be nothing a pile of dust once he got his hands on that slimy rat!! Well it was clear the bastard had no problems using children as human shields! If it wasn’t clear enough with him being the pet of a boy, running directly to another child to escape being captured…even if he hadn’t known that Crookshanks was on his side.

“Keep an eye on him.” Sirius growled. “If he goes towards Max again…”

“He won’t. He stays away from my Mistress and Merlin’s mistress.”

“Mama let’s me sleep on her butt!” Merlin exclaimed proudly. Sirius sighed. Good. At least Max was safe from Pettigrew in his rat form. Moria, if Pettigrew even went around her would be able to fight back if he was stupid enough to try and attack her. True he did have the advantage, as Moria hadn’t really ever seen Pettigrew in his animagus form. Unlike him and James, Pettigrew had never transformed into his rat form around the kids. For Harry they worried he would have flung the bastard around, for Max they didn’t know if she’d try to use Pettigrew as a binky. And he had never really shown Moria his form as often as him and James.

At that point, only he knew the truth.

And only he could protect his family.

---

Well the day had started out alright.

Sure, Max didn’t exactly know why Merlin had now been insistent on sitting on her butt nearly every waking moment, but she had learned to not push the issue with her insistent cat. Sometimes she wished she could talk to him, but probably would only listen to his tales of hunting mice and rats. Nevertheless, he was fine company and a perfect ear to talk to when Ginny wasn’t there.

She had had a fine day…

Until she had run into Draco.

She had been looking for her new sketchbook as it had vanished when she had run into them.

“Well, well if it isn’t little Black.”

“Oh great…what do you want?” Max replied angrily

“What you looking for? Dear old Daddy?”

“Funny, if anyone would look for their father, I would think it’d be you, seeing as you can’t go a day without contacting him.” Max reported and judging by the stillness she had struck a nerve. Or pride.

Damn, she hoped it was his pride.

“Well I at least have a father.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell.” She replied dryly.

“Think you’re big stuff do you?”

“Draco, do you not have anything better to do?” Max asked walking around him to walk down the hallway. She’d look around for her sketchbook later on. “If not, kindly leave me alone.”

“Wonder what’s going to happen to your Dad, Max.” Draco sneered as though he hadn’t heard her and Max froze, her grip tightening on her books, her knuckles beginning to turn white. “I hear that they’re going to give him the Kiss.” He mocked and she flinched. “Isn’t that the worst thing known to mankind? It’s horrifying to watch isn’t it??” Draco continued and Max seemed to be biting her inner cheek. Then straightening her back, she continued down the hallway, without even offering so much as a glance to Draco.

But as she turned the corner, she slumped forward and hurried faster down the hall, not even noticing the Weasley twins who paused in confusion. But the moment they saw Draco, Goyle, and Crabbe they frowned

“Little prat.” Fred growled, making a move forward. George however made a move to follow Max. Fred looked at his twin brother, and then smirked.

“You go and make Max feel better, eh? I can deal with Malfoy by myself.”

“Huh? But Fred-”

“Hey, I wasn’t the one that made her laugh when she was mute a few years ago. That was you. I think you can handle making her laugh again.” Fred responded with a chortle, earning a slight blush from his brother. Then he turned his attention back to the sneering Malfoy, Goyle, and Crabbe and cracked his knuckles.

“Oh I’m going to have fun with this.”

“Don’t maim.” George remarked.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Fred replied with a smirk, throwing a few pieces of candies into the air.

---

Max exhaled loudly as she sat down at the top of the astronomy tower. Well…at least she hadn’t punched him. Still…this was getting harder than what she had originally planned, but telling Nysa or anyone would likely get them in trouble. She leaned against the wall, staring outside and towards Black Lake, resting her chin against her knees. She didn’t shift when she heard footsteps, but slumped forward.

“I’ll leave in a few minutes. Sorry for intruding.” She called out, rubbing her forehead.

“Nah, you don’t have to.” A familiar voice replied and she inhaled slowly.

“Hey George.” She called out, pushing her hair back.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine. Just something that Draco said upset me. I’ll be fine.”

“Well I hope so. Or you might start seeing purple.”

“…Purple? What does that have to do with…” She trailed off as she turned to see that George’s normally red hair was now…purple. She blinked several times as he stood there grinning.

He faltered a bit as she continued to stare before she snorted, covering her mouth in a vain attempt to stop laughing.

“What the hell, George?” She managed through her laughter. He grinned.

“Ah, see it worked.”

“What?” She managed looking at him.

“It got you to laugh and smile.” He replied with ease. She dissolved into laughter again, wiping her eyes a bit.

“I suppose it has.” She replied as he sat down next to her.

“Don’t worry about Malfoy. I think he’s learning his lesson to leave you alone right about now.”

“Oh don’t tell me Fred’s hurting him.”

“Hurting? Never!” George boasted. “Pranking? Probably.” He admitted and she laughed, wiping at her eyes again. “So? Feel better?”

“Mhm…thanks.” She murmured, pushing her hair back.

“Everyone deserves a good laugh now and again.” He replied, nodding his head in acknowledgement. “Even you.”

“Hey…”

“You don’t have to be this tough person all the time you know. I think any of us in Gryffindor can pretty much figure out that you’re stressed. Just find any of us or your friends and vent if you need to.” He continued. “And if Malfoy is stupid enough to try anything again, you tell me or Fred.”

“Okay…” She managed and he grinned before he stood. “Well you and Fred will be easier to figure out who is who.”

“Nah, the charm will wear off in a little bit.” He remarked as he helped her stand up. She dusted her skirt off. “But I wanted to do something that would surprise you a bit and-”

He broke off when she moved forward and hugged him.

“Thank you…” She remarked in a small, tired voice and he smiled gently, patting her head.

“Come on. I betcha once Fred’s done he’ll be trying to find me.” He remarked and she snorted.

“Two peas in a pod you two are.” She muttered and he grinned.

“Well we are twins so probably at some point we were the size of peas.” He replied and she groaned, shaking her head.

“Honestly…” She muttered but he couldn’t mistake the smile on her face as the two left the tower alone, not noticing the soft glowing orb hiding in the rafters.

---

“My brain…is turning…to mush…”

“No one said it was going to be fun looking through these old tapes.” Giacintro remarked as they went through the grainy images of the few CCTV cameras that had been around the area that the explosion had happened in. Tonks rolled her eyes.

“I know that. Still, can you blame me for thinking my brain is going to leak out of my ears in about 30 seconds. These images are horrible to look at.”

“Agreed.” Kingsley remarked. “But seeing as no one thought to look over these, it's a miracle we have them.”

“Agreed...but at that moment everything was chaotic. Emotions were high and it would be easy to miss something. Besides I want to look at all the evidence.” Giacintro remarked, watching the flickering screen slowly. He spotted what he could only assume was Sirius, Peter and the Moria. People were scattering so it made it difficult to differentiate, but considering that the one image was running towards the other two, who were both stationary, it was a clear bet that that was Moria. Then a flash of light and when it finally cleared, the camera was jittery, trying to connect again. He could see debris falling, other cameras disengaging completely. And when the dust cleared he could see people lying on the ground, running, Moria was gone; through the window, if he remembered what she had said correctly. But through the chaos, he noticed something strange, a figure shrinking and then scampering on the ground away from the explosion, before vanishing completely. It was quick and because of the jumping of the screen difficult to spot and then the aurors and other magical enforcement must have arrived and shut off the bouncing camera because the screen flickered black.

“What’s that?” He commented, rewinding the tape a bit.

“Hm? Spot something?”

“Maybe…don’t know.” He muttered pointing to the shape that ran away. Tonks and Kingsley frowned.

“It’s probably a person that collapsed?” Tonks suggested. It was a good possibilitiy…people running away from a scene like that would make sense, but for some reason Giacintro didn’t feel it was that. Something didn’t make sense.

“Well Kingsley and I have our actual shifts in an hour or so.” Tonks remarked and Giacintro nodded vaguely.

“Okay, I think this is a good time to end for today.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I need to go around and ask some questions.”

“Anyone in particular?” Tonks asked as she grabbed her coat. Giacintro nodded, staring at the frozen image on the screen.

“Yeah. One.” He remarked pulling on his coat. He just hoped she would even talk to him about that night and her past.