Ginny couldn’t believe her eyes. How could this person have vanished like that? Of course, Apparition was a possibility and silent Apparitions were not uncommon either, but Ginny had an uncanny feeling that something was wrong. An intuition.
Raising her wand, Ginny looked around for a few minutes, before returning to Andrew’s house to the rest of the Aurors. Andrew’s relatives had woken up again in all the commotion, and Romilda was persuading them to rest. Elizabeth, Neil and Mike had left, while Chris and Rebecca were ready to go.
As Ginny approached the teenagers, Chris grimaced at her. “Hey- I know that you Aurors are going to put Daisy on your list of suspects… but believe me, she hasn’t done this. Becks believes this, too. Daisy may look really tough to you, but she’s kinda sensitive. And her sensitivity would never let her kill. Trust us.”
Ginny nodded and smiled. “Go home and get some rest, now. We’ll definitely ask you for any help.”
“All right then,” said Chris. “Bye.” He put an arm around Rebecca’s shoulder and steered her out of the house while Ron approached Ginny.
“Where were you?”
“Oh,” replied Ginny. “Daisy wasn’t well. I dropped her home. But when I came, I saw this hooded person crouching beside on of the bushes. I followed them, but they… they just vanished!”
“You mean they Disapparated.”
“No, they vanished into thin air!”
“Yeah, that is Disapparition. What’s wrong with you, Ginny?”
“No, Ron, they-”
“Is anything the matter?” asked Harry, emerging beside Ron.
“Yeah,” said Ron. “Ginny saw this hooded person and she reckons that they ‘vanished into thin air.’”
Harry looked at Ginny, bewildered. “Of course, Ginny, they Disapparated.”
Ginny was ready to go and bang her head on a pillar.
***
Daisy rang the doorbell of her house, to no answer. Gosh, she thought. Ryan must be sleeping. Daisy’s parents were away on an emergency trip that her father had to go to around a month ago. They had said that it may take them several months to return and this left Daisy alone with Ryan, her beloved fourteen-year-old brother. Fifteen, Daisy reminded herself. It was two hours since Ryan had turned fifteen.
As her headache reached a level where Daisy couldn’t wait any longer, she rang the doorbell again and again continuously, for around ten times. Finally, Ryan opened the door. He was taller than Daisy and was very bony. He had jet black hair too, but his eyes were blue. At the moment, though, he looked sleepy and confused. “Where were you?”
Daisy had no time to reply. She rushed into the house and sank into a sofa as darkness began to engulf her. Cold sweat broke on her forehead, trickling down discomfortingly. A hand felt itself on her shoulder. “What’s the matter?”
Daisy forced her eyes open, to watch a reeling world. “I’m not feeling well… horrible headache.”
“Had you gone to the Healer?”
Daisy shook her head.
“Then where have you been? I did hear you leave, but I thought you might have gone to have late night fun with your mates or something.”
Daisy sat up as the dizziness subsided, and raised an eyebrow at Ryan. “Late night fun?”
“Yeah. Merlin knows what Andrew and you are up to these days, anyway.”
Daisy sighed. It was painful to talk of Andrew. “I had been to Andrew’s house.”
“Why?”
“He… Andrew is d-dead.”
Ryan gasped. “What? H-How? I mean… you met him just this evening, didn’t you?”
“He has been murdered,” Daisy replied, her voice cracking. She thought she had an idea of what exactly had happened to Andrew, but she decided not to voice it. It was between Andrew and her at any rate. “And it seems to have happened just after I left.”
“But then… just like that?”
“The Aurors are investigating the murder. This is the fifth person in my year at Hogwarts murdered this month.”
There was a long silence. Apparently, Ryan didn’t have anything to say. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled finally. He slid an arm around his sister and let her lean onto his shoulder. She took a deep breath and blinked back tears, giving Ryan a feeling of uncertainty. Daisy was a strong person; he had rarely seen her break down, and he preferred not to see her like that. The last time he had seen her lose control of her emotions was a little less than a year ago, when something horrible had happened. She had emerged, if possible, as a stronger person after that incident. But he didn’t like that she bottled up. He rubbed her arm gently. “Shall I get you a potion?”
“No… you know I don’t trust them…”
“That happened just once, Daisy, and I’m not like-”
“Ryan, please… just get me an aspirin pill.”
“There’s not any in the house.”
“Then get me some alka-seltzer.”
“You have a hangover?”
“No, but I’m feeling very sick and my head feels horrible…”
“Okay, I’ll get it. Just give me a mo’.” Ryan got up to go and find the medicine.
“Ryan?”
The boy looked around, concerned. “Yes?”
“Happy birthday.”
***
Harry sighed as he dropped onto his bed, his thigh throbbing horribly. It had been a hectic night, with all the investigation that they had to do. Lying down, he moved over as the mattress compressed a little under the weight of Parvati beside him. “Where does it hurt, honey?” she asked, her beautiful face full of concern.
Harry pointed to an area in his thigh, that was a little above his knee. Parvati rolled up his pyjamas and rubbed her special pain-killing gel over the sensitive area. Her soft fingers felt soothing on Harry’s wound and in a moment, all the pain had subsided. She then patted his thigh comfortingly and she took a small tube of another ointment off the bedside table. Uncapping it and taking a generous quantity of a creamy substance in her finger, she rubbed it on Harry’s forehead. “This should calm you… I guess you’ve had enough for just one day…” the smell of camphor wafted into Harry’s nostrils and his forehead felt cool and comfortable. Parvati moved towards the night-lamp, and the last he saw was the vermilion that shone on the parting of her hair as she kissed him gently on the lip, before she turned the lights off. “I love you.”
She lay down next to him and he put an arm around her, pulling her close until he could feel her warm breath on his face. His eyes adjusted themselves to the darkness and he could see her pretty features, accentuated by the sliver of moonlight that fell through the chink of the curtains. Her beautiful, dark, soot-lined eyes with the thick eyelashes that surrounded them were filled with divine love and he knew that it was just for him. He reached for her hair and began to stroke it, moving his hand down the long, silky plait. His hand finally found the hair band and he pulled it off, opening up her plait with his fingers. Finally, her hair was completely untied and he moved his fingers through the soft locks.
Parvati moaned in pleasure. “That always makes me feel so sleepy…”
Harry smiled as he fingered the strand that fell onto her face, pushing it behind her ear. “For all the hard work that you do, you do deserve a break, too.”
“It’s not hard work, Harry; anything that I do for you is never hard work. I love doing all of this for you. I love being of any help to you.”
“And I love you.” Harry leaned in and kissed her passionately. He felt her melt into him, as she kissed him back with an equal amount of love. He was still stroking her hair and her hand found his back. They remained like that for a few minutes, before breaking apart gently. Harry stopped stroking her hair and put his arm around her, pulling her in a tight hug. She didn’t resist, and her arm wound itself around his hip, as they finally fell asleep.
***
“Hermione?”
Hermione’s eyes flew open abruptly at the sound and she let out a small yelp as she sat up on her bed. “What? Who?” she slurred, searching for her wand.
“Hey,” said the voice, and Hermione realised that it was Ron. “It’s me. Relax.” He threw his arms around her comfortingly. “I was just feeling a little hungry, so…”
Hermione nodded through their embrace. Something about being in his arms threatened to bring tears to her eyes, and she realised that they hadn’t hugged like this in a long time. As he let go of her, Hermione got off the bed, picking up her wand and pulled on a dressing gown as she walked to the kitchen along with him. He sat down at the table as she lit the stove with her wand. She let the water boil and began to collect the ingredients for a bowl of soup. In fifteen minutes, the soup was done, along with two pieces of toast. Hermione put the soup into a serving bowl and found a plate for the toast as she joined Ron at the table. “So, how were your investigations?”
“All right,” mumbled Ron, concentrating on his soup.
“How much did you find out?”
“Not much…”
“Do you suspect anyone?”
Ron nodded, as Hermione tried not to get annoyed by his two-word answers.
“Who?”
“Daisy Joe.”
“Oh…” Hermione realised that there was no point in continuing the conversation. Ron was clearly not interested in answering questions.
“Rebecca Palmer is a charming girl, though…”
Hermione looked up, surprised that Ron’s comment consisted of more than two words. “Yeah…?” she asked, a tinge of jealousy rising in her. “More charming than I am?”
Ron chuckled. “Hermione, you always take everything in the wrong sense…”
“Maybe because you never say anything in the right sense,” said Hermione, standing up suddenly.
“Hey, hey,” said Ron, standing up too. “What’s the matter? Why are you getting upset?”
Hermione didn’t reply, and turned towards the staircases as tears of anger began to flood her eyes. “I’m going to sleep,” she sniffed. “If you want anything else just help yourself or call your charming Rebecca over.”
***
Daisy awoke to a very unsteady world. Groaning, she changed her position, hoping that her head would stop hurting. An ice pack lay at her neck, unsuccessfully trying to soothe her swollen nerves.
Daisy sighed. Headaches. They made her horribly vulnerable. Daisy had a problem of getting worked up and stressed very quickly, giving her horrible tension headaches often. There wasn’t a single shocking piece of news that could sink in without giving Daisy her trademark headache. She often visited her Healer to sort this problem, but there seemed no way to stop this piece of trouble in her life.
Rolling over on her bed, Daisy reached out for her alarm clock and realised that it was seven in the morning- time to get dressed and leave for work. Of course, she wouldn’t be going today. She couldn’t even sit up properly- let alone run around and erase people’s memories. And this headache wasn’t going to subside quickly either, for Daisy was truly stressed to breaking point at the moment.
Well, the worst of all was that Andrew was dead. He was gone forever. Her wonderful friend… the person who knew her inside out… the only person apart from her parents and Ryan who could look at her placid face and make out her mood. Daisy took a deep breath as a lump began to form in her throat. No… she couldn’t give in to this. She had promised him…
But then, hadn’t he promised something too? Hadn’t he said that he’d not let this happen? He’d been very determined when he had said so, and Andrew always spoke sense. He knew what he was saying. But he seemed to have failed for the first time in his life… and the last time in his life, too. What could Daisy do now? Andrew had comfortably (okay, maybe he did go through discomfort; getting stabbed couldn’t be a pleasant sensation after all) left the world and shoved all the responsibilities into Daisy’s hands. How could Daisy handle everything now? There was so much to do, and time was running out. With the technique of her body to handle stress being so terribly lovely; she was sure that with all the stress there would barely be a week when she didn’t have to be in bed because of a stupid headache.
There was a tap at her window. Daisy groaned as she sat up shakily and turned around to see a familiar owl tapping continuously at the window pane. “Hey, Venus,” said Daisy, walking up to the window with all the strength she could muster. The room was going round and round, and Daisy already felt nauseous when she reached the window and opened it to let the bird in.
Venus belonged to Andrew. She was a beautiful owl, grey in colour and really clever. As she flew in, she perched on Daisy’s shoulder, nipping her ear affectionately. Daisy smiled in spite of the nausea and stroked the bird shakily before she untied the scroll knotted to her leg. Just as Daisy freed Venus of the letter, the owl took off and Daisy realised with a pang that the letter was from Andrew. Andrew’s last letter. A mixture of feelings rushed through her: she had to swallow a painful constriction in her throat, as her heart seemed to lift itself in pleasure. At the same time, the nausea overrode everything else and Daisy dropped the scroll and ran into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her as she bent over the basin with a retch.
She emerged minutes later, her hair dishevelled and her face covered with cold sweat. The world didn’t stop going round, though, and she collapsed onto her bed, too tired to do anything. Then mustering some of the strength, she took another dose of alka-seltzer before lying down. Andrew’s scroll still lay on the floor and she didn’t have the strength to retrieve it. Why on earth was only her life so horrible…?
“Hey… you awake?” Ryan’s voice floated from the doorway and Daisy opened her eyes.
“Yeah, come in,” she replied.
He came in and sat down beside her on her bed. He took one look at her face, going pale as he did so. “You puked?!”
Daisy nodded, feeling slightly guilty. It was his birthday, and she was bedridden on his special day. Instead of enjoying himself, Ryan was now forced to take care of his sick sister and do all the housework. “Listen Ryan-” she began, but he interrupted her.
“It’s all right, Daisy, you needn’t be sorry, because seriously, I don’t mind taking care of you or tidying up the house. You are more important to me than going out and having fun. Now, shall we go to the Healer?”
Daisy shook her head. “I’m fine…”
“Daisy…”
“I’m okay, Ryan, really. Just get me that letter lying on the floor, though. And yeah, your gift is in the first drawer of my wardrobe. I’m sorry that I can’t give it to you personally…”
“It’s all right, sis,” Ryan went over and picked up the scroll. “It’s from… Andrew?” He looked at her questioningly as he handed it to her.
She unfurled the scroll and read the letter, as Ryan sat on a stool, contemplating her expression. A small, sad smile appeared on her face, as she began to read.
Daisy,
I’m sure I’ll be dead when you receive this, and I’m sorry that this had to happen. Please forgive me for this. You know that I wouldn’t put you through all this on purpose…
Andrew explained everything to her. As she reached the end of the letter, she realised with a jolt that she was indeed lonely, now. She had huge things to handle, and had a very difficult path ahead of her.
Oh Andrew, I so wish that this wouldn’t have happened… Daisy threw open a drawer and put the scroll in, returning to her position and shutting her eyes after that. Tears filled her eyes. She took a deep breath to prevent herself from breaking into sobs right then and there. She felt Ryan’s weight on her mattress and his hand on her forehead, as he began to stroke her comfortingly. “Want to tell me about it?”
Daisy opened her eyes and looked at him. “Ryan… I’m sorry…”
Ryan nodded. “Okay, I won’t ask you then. Do you want to go to the garden for a bit? You’ll feel better.”
“I can barely walk.”
“What am I here for?”
Daisy nodded as Ryan helped her sit up. Instead of getting out of her bed, though, she threw her arms around him, burying her face into his shoulder. “Hey…” he said, patting her back and rocking her back and forth. “It’s gonna be okay. I’m always here to talk, all right? And I love you a lot, sis, even if I’ve always troubled the hell out of you.”
“I’m tired, Ryan… bored of living like this,” choked Daisy, her voice muffled. “I just wish it was me and not Andrew who was murdered…”
“Don’t say that,” replied Ryan, tightening his arms around her. “You’ve handled much more, Daisy. I believe in you. I know that whatever it is, you’ll fix it smoothly and successfully.”
Daisy looked up at her brother as he kissed her cheek and gave him a wan smile. “I love you too, li’l bro’.”
Killer Instincts by Ginny Weasley Potter
Chapter Notes: Pauie is the very best! *huggles*
This chapter got rejected at first, because of the Author's notes... O_o. Soory about that additional delay!
I'd like to thank the lovely Britons on the Beta Boards Being British thread, for all their help! *squishes*.
You guys can check out details of my story updates on my profile. And yes, you can see the OC banners too. I've unveiled their faces, there...
Please R/R! Love you all!
Chapter Endnotes: This chapter is dedicated to the real Chris- someone who's been a really good friend for ten years, now :)