The Slytherin prince

Chapter 42: strong gust of wind

I woke up from a loud series of knockings on my door. "Wake up, it is Christmas!" Hermione shouted. "It snowed." I heard Harry say afterwards. I got up in an instant.

"Snow." I liked snow, snow liked me. We were old friends that were dying to be reunited. I dressed myself and sprinted outside my room, down the stairs.

"Victoria, honey. Eat something first, will you?" Molly stopped me in my tracks. I thought about just skipping breakfast, but the smell of freshly made toast and bacon convinced me. Everything outside was covered with fluffy white snow.

"Everything is 10 times more beautiful when covered in snow." I said while digging my boots into the snow.

"Let's put that to the test." Fred threw a big snowball in my face.

"Auwtch." I didn't see that one coming. He only smiled and made a face. "Game on." As fast as I could I made one myself and threw it in his direction. He caught it without effort. Before we knew it everybody was throwing balls at each other and rolling in the snow. I remember it as one of the best days of my life. Christmas dinner was as cosy and fun as everything else. The food was heavenly and we played big board games the whole evening. I had never laughed so much in only one day.

"You have mail my dear." Molly approached me and handed me two small envelopes. One was sealed with a stamp from our Jewellery store and the other was a black envelope with my name written on it in green ink. The hairs on my arms came upright. I remember that ink. I wasn't interested at all in what my parents had to say. Probably something cheesy that they didn't even mean. I crammed the paper into my pocket. I carefully broke the wax seal and opened the letter. My heart was pounding inside my throat.

Dear Victoria.,

You got to get out of there. Ps. Merry Christmas.

-DM

Confusion. What does he mean. And how does he know I am staying here.

"Are you all right?" Harry came into the room and read my mood.

"Yea, yea." I folded the letter double and crammed it in my pocked too. Harry smiled out of contentment. It was getting pretty late, the night had already fallen and to my deepest regret was the snow melting too. I decided to call it a day. On my way towards the top of the burrow, were my room was, my attention was taken by a loud noise that occurred outside. Outside the window I saw multiple big strokes of orange light coming our way at full speed. "HARRY!" I shouted. "WATCH OUT!" The light hit the burrow at the top and the middle. I jumped down the stairs and tried to run outside as fast as I could. Every piece of furniture started to burn at once, fire overtaking everything. A burning bar fell right before my feet, blocking the exit. the smoke was already getting inside my lungs. My vision blurred and my breathing heavy. Everything seemed to go in slow-motion. How the flames hit the ceiling in only seconds, how every little piece of furniture was turned into ash right before my eyes. You got to get out of there, like he knew. A strong gust of wind forced the flames to the side, leaving a clear pad towards the exit for me. A set of hands helped me outside. I coughed my lungs out. My hand had turned black from the coals inside.

"Are you okay?" A voice shouted in pure terror. We were all standing outside, looking at how the beautiful cosy house was burning towards the ground. The light strokes that were circling above us like predators, came to a halt right in front of us.

"Mom?" I shouted with my raw voice. It was almost a cry. The hands on my shoulders let me go in an instant, everyone taking a couple of steps back from me. Before me was standing my mother, who just moments ago was one of the lights that set the burrow on fire.

I looked behind me, every set of eyes were on me, overflowing with betrayal. "Your parents are death eaters? How could you? We invited you into our home?" Fred raged at me. Arthur laid a single hand onto his sons shoulder to calm him down. He looked so disappointed.

"Time to go." the woman before me, who I used to call mom, said without any emotion. I looked over at Harry and Hermione, shock written on their faces.

"I swear I didn't know." I tried to say to everyone. My mom grabbed my hand and the vision before my eyes became black. The world around me turned into smoke and my body felt like it was crammed into a small tube. The feeling stopped when I found myself on a cold icy floor. The environment was cold and stiff, I knew exactly where I was. Before opening my eyes, I became aware of the surroundings around me. I way laying onto the floor, like I had just passed out. In the room with me were a couple of voices, all sounding devilish like. Anxiety overcame me and I didn't know what to do. Somebody noticed I was awake.

"Don't pretend, girl. We are not stupid." With pain screaming all over my body I sat myself straight and opened my eyes. I was in the dining room of the Malfoys, only this time it was different. I almost didn't recognize it. The big table was filled with 50 people at least and the room seemed darker somehow. It felt darker too. I stood up very carefully when I saw misses Malfoy and my mother sitting on one of the seats. A cold hand touched my neck from behind. In a motion I slapped the hand away and jerked around.

"I will bring you home." It was Papa. Without another warning, my body was again pushed into a little tube and the world was turned into smoke. The time I became aware of my surroundings again, I felt suspiciously comfortable with the energy around me. I was home, without a single sign of my father. I was back at Hogwarts.