No more choking on regrets to keep you satisfied.
I am coming up for air out of this heavy night.
All the scenery is different when you’re not so small.
I think I can take this fall.
--Reasons Why by Saving Jane
A/N: Sorry it took so long to update! I’d like to thank my amazing betas starlight_marauder and Fizzing_Wizbee022. They are the most helpful people ever!
Erm, hope you enjoy the chapter!
All eyes were on me. At least ten people were in the living room, staring at me. Talk about uncomfortable situations.
Deciding to make the best of my predicament, I stepped out of the fireplace and dusted myself off. Little specks of ash drifted to the hardwood floor as I searched for Ginny. One tall redhead man (Probably another Weasley, I thought) called to her. “Gin, get your butt out here before the awkwardness of the situation kills us all!”
“George, I’m coming!” I heard her yell from in another room across the hall. A few moments later she came back carrying some sheets, probably for my bedroom. A smile slowly crept onto her face as she saw me and she set the sheets on the sofa where a man with jet-black hair was resting. Beside him was a woman with shoulder-length bushy hair and next to her was a man with his arm draped around her shoulders. The man, George, had now joined someone who was probably his twin, or at least, could pass for his twin.
“All right, Alise, I’ll introduce you to everyone,” Ginny grinned.
She pointed to the twins. “Now, that’s-”
“Ginny, we can introduce ourselves, you know,” George’s twin exclaimed.
“Yeah, we’re not morons!”
Ginny rolled her eyes. “What do you think I am? Stupid?” She looked at me and said, “If you let them introduce themselves, they’ll tell you that they’re the other twin, and it’s really confusing, so I’ll save you the trouble. That one’s George,” she pointed to the man who had yelled at her earlier. “And that one’s Fred.” She pointed to his twin.
Fred looked at his sister. “You’re no fun,” he whined, and then turned to me. “How do you do?” He stuck out his hand. I smiled and shook it. This was going to be an interesting experience, especially with these two.
She walked over to the sofa, and pointed to the man and the woman next to him. “That’s Ron, my brother, and his wife, Hermione.”
“Hello,” I said politely. I was used to meeting strange people because of the many parties my parents had thrown over the ages. It was yet another tragic flaw in my education. Parroting hellos and smiling politely came more naturally to me even than breathing but that didn’t mean I was proud of it.
“Welcome to Grimmauld Place,” Hermione said with a smile that suggested she understood that I was completely overwhelmed by meeting everyone at once. “You’ll get used to all the people, believe me.” There was this air about her, one of compassion. Her husband just smiled kindly, giving a nod of welcome
“Looks like I’ll have to,” I smiled, growing to like this family already.
My gaze wandered to black-haired man with emerald green eyes. Barely visible through his messy fringe, was a scar shaped like a bolt of lightning. It took me a moment to realize that this man was, in fact, Harry Potter.
He noticed me looking at him and sat up. “Hello. I’m Harry,” he said kindly, but there was suspicion behind his eyes. I really couldn’t blame him; I was a Malfoy. However, he seemed like a person whose mind could be changed with the truth, which was what I wanted him, and all of the family, to know. The truth was that I was not like my parents before me, not at all. However, the reputation of the name, Malfoy, preceded me and I was going to have one hell of a time trying to prove my innocence to them.
I smiled back and looked up at Ginny. She smiled. “Mum’s in the kitchen, and is cooking up a storm. I suggest we all go get some food!”
I had not realized how hungry I actually was until she said that. I followed everyone to the kitchen, where we ate the most uncomfortable (yet delicious!) meal I’d ever had. It was basically silent, except when either Fred or George cracked a joke. Even these seemed to fall flat in the oppressive silence, although I was extremely grateful for their attempts to lighten the mood.
After we finished our meal, we all stood up and I started to help clear the table. No, I was not trying to “earn my keep.” It was habitual, actually. I had always helped the house elf with the dishes when mum and dad left, merely hoping for some conversation; my parents weren’t exactly the kind of people to converse with over dinner.
But as soon as I touched my plate, Mrs. Weasley ushered to my side. “No, dear. You go upstairs and get some rest. It has been a long day for everyone.”
I nodded. “Where is the bathroom?”
After being given directions to the bathroom, I left for my shower. It wasn’t long after I had bathed that I realized that the sheets for my bed were still downstairs on the sofa. I threw on some pajamas and quietly went downstairs to grab them. However, as I neared the bottom step, I heard my name. I stopped where I was to listen to the conversation being held between Ginny, Ron, and Hermione.
“Look, Ginny. All I’m saying is that we can’t trust her completely. After all, she’s a Malfoy,” Ron said, putting stress on my surname.
“Ron, how dare you! I chose to adopt her for personal reasons of my own! And now, you’re not only insulting Alise, but my own intelligence! I knew full well who she was, going into this adoption, and I went through with it anyway!” Ginny shouted back.
“Ginny, her parents were Death Eaters! Her brother was a Death Eater! We can’t trust her! What if she’s a spy? Hm?”
“Ron?” Hermione asked to get his attention. “Ginny has a point. We have no idea what this girl has been through. We should give her a chance.”
I’d heard enough. Outraged at Ron’s words, I stormed down the last couple of steps and made my presence known.
Everyone gasped upon seeing me. “I-er,” Ron started.
“How dare you?” I yelled. He looked flabbergasted as I continued. “How dare you insult me like that! Do you think that it’s easy, being the daughter of two Death Eaters? Do you know how many people I have seen tortured and sometimes killed, right in my own house, because of that?” I was screaming now, but I didn’t care. “Do you know what it feels like to be disowned by your own parents because you decide that you don’t want to take that road? Because you don’t want to end up like your brother, who, may I remind you, is dead because of his service to the Dark Lord?”
I was crying now. Sobbing, actually. I continued with a harsh whisper. “Do you know what it feels like to see your mother sobbing because your father put you up for adoption? To see her physically hurt because, for once in her life, she decides to stand up to your father and attempt to save you?”
All this anger, all this hate, had built up inside me over the past three months, and there I was, letting it all out in front of three complete strangers. This must have been strange for them, seeing a fourteen year old girl let out all her anger in a completely strange way. I was angry at him, angry at my father, and angry at myself.
I sank to the ground, hiding my face behind my hands in embarrassment and sadness. Tears streamed down my cheeks, even as I attempted to wipe them away. This was unlike me, to show my feelings. In my own crazy world, this was my way of opening up, and I hadn’t done this in a long time. I could feel the Weasleys’ eyes on me as I sat there, taking deep breaths.
“Ron, go away now,” I heard one of the women say, and I was immediately grateful that they had. I didn’t want to look at him at the moment, much less talk to him. I knew it wasn’t his fault; I couldn’t really blame him for being mistrustful. It was the part where he suggested that I was a Death Eater that had set me off. I would probably end up forgiving him in the end, but not right now; I was still as mad as hell.
I finally looked up to see the two women kneeling down beside me, Ginny moving to touch my shoulder. I desperately needed a comforting arm at that moment and did not push them away, as I normally would have done. I just let her put a comforting arm around me. “Just let it all out,” she consoled.
And I did.
It felt like forever before I stopped sobbing. I had never been offered a shoulder to cry on. Never. Yet, this woman I barely even knew was sitting beside me, offering me her own. As soon as I realized this, I felt a connection with her, and with her sister-in-law, one kind of connection I’d never had with my own family.
I wiped the remaining tears off my cheeks and stood up. “Th-thank you,” I said quietly.
They just smiled at me kindly and motioned for me to go upstairs and sleep. “You must be tired,” Hermione said.
I nodded and slowly trudged up the wooden steps with a feeling of dull happiness filling my heart. It was strange to feel hope after months spent trying to learn how to survive without it, but it was a change I welcomed gladly. One day in their home had shown me just how much needed to change if I were ever going to escape from my past. I had the sneaking suspicion, however, that the other lessons would not be so easily won.
Hope you enjoyed! All criticisms are accepted!