A Beautiful and Terrible Truth

Chapter 11

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but school is kicking my ass. I hope it's worth the wait. Please comment, vote, and love. <3 

I stood there looking out the window of Marcus and Alex’s home. The willow trees that hugged the edge of the distant edge of the yard seemed to whip in the wind like an angry octopus swigging its arms. I turned from the window and looked around the small but quant little sitting room. It was simple just like Alex liked it, but it made me feel alone. Alex, Sophie, and Adeline were upstairs taking a nap while Marcus went out for a bit. I fancied myself to sit alone and drink a couple cups of tea, which was sitting on the table, getting terribly cold. I couldn’t possibly drink it after it turned cold.  As I picked up the cup to toss out the contents, the front door opened to reveal Marcus.

“Courtney, are you ready?” he asked seriously.

I nodded. “Just let me dump out my cup and we can be on our way.”

After I had thrown the cup into the sink, I grabbed my jacket from the back of a kitchen chair then walked back into the sitting room. Marcus was waiting patiently, but he also looked terrible worried. I knew why too. I had volunteered to go along with Lupin’s plan even though he didn’t want me to. I was needed, so I can be used. Besides, I was of age so he couldn’t tell me what to do. I was my own person, but that didn’t stop him from volunteering as well. He urged to be paired with me, and he won that argument fairly easy. At least I got to do what I wanted. We walked out the door into the breezy night where Marcus took my hand and apparated us to a street that I didn’t recognize. One look told me that we were in a muggle neighborhood, and I didn’t need to ask where we were.

The walk down to Harry’s was long and quiet as my brother and I didn’t speak to each other. He was angry with me still. We had gotten into an argument about whether or not I was going with Harry on his little trip or back to Hogwarts. I was firm on leaving since was of age and could make my own decisions. He won’t tell me any other reason besides he’s the boss of me, like a child. Alex told me not to worry because he’s just afraid of losing his little sister. I knew it was dangerous, but I had to do it for Draco. Anything just to have his arms around me once more.

“You made it!” Kam exclaimed as she, Ron, Hermione, the twins, Lupin, Tonks,  Bill, and Fluer all approached the house at the same time.

I nodded. “Sure did. Wouldn’t miss this for the world!”

“Of course not,” Marcus mumbled under his breath.

“Let’s get a move on,” said a gruff voice from behind us.

We all turned to see Mad Eye walking towards us with his limp. I smiled when I saw him, mainly because he had been one of my favorite teachers ever. That day with the spider was just hilarious. I laughed the hardest when he used it to put it on Draco’s face. As he walked passed me, I suddenly lost my smile. It really wasn’t him that was teaching. It really wasn’t a memory of him, but of the person that was impersonating him. Sadness crept over me as I realized that I didn’t have one single memory of the real man that he was.

“Are you coming?” Kam asked, bumping me as she passed.

I followed them all inside to see Harry smiling in amazement at everyone. I gave him a quick hug before backing away so that everyone else could talk to him. Kam and I just stood together before Moody broke up the happy reunion and pushed the plan. We all lined up. I was between Kam and Fred. It, surprisingly, hadn’t been very awkward as I would’ve thought between Fred and me. I guess he never caught on to me and Ron.

“No, you’re not doing this,” Harry snapped me out of my thoughts. “None of you are risking your lives for me.”

“Everyone in this room is of age Potter,” Moody came to the rescue before anyone else could even speak. “They are of sound mind and can make their own decisions.”