Darkness on the Horizon

Ch. 7

I was woken a few hours later to Severus shaking me awake. I opened my eyes looking up at the Headmaster. His eyes were serious causing me to jump to my feet.

"We have her in custody at the Manor. Your parents have requested your presence," Severus said as my eyes widened. I didn't know why she was at the Manor but I knew my parents wouldn't take kindly to her. I rushed to my closet grabbing a jacket. I pulled the green jacket on before I grabbed my wand off the nightstand. I apperated to the Manor without a word to Severus. When I landed in the Manor all I heard were screams of forgiveness. I ran through the halls of the Manor towards the screams. I sprinted down the stairs to see the woman from the orphanage on the ground crying while my father glared at her. I could see he would never grant what she was asking. I knew that no matter what she had done to me I didn't want her to suffer at the hands of my father.

"Dad," I said firmly catching his attention as well as the woman's. She looked over at me and I saw disbelief in her green eyes as I stood there. She glanced between me and my father and it seemed to click that he truly was my father. I saw the fear in her eyes but also a small glimmer of defiance. "She isn't worth it," I told him tearing my eyes away from her to look at my father.

"She hurt you!" He snapped as I nodded.

"Yes she did but that doesn't mean I have to hurt her, or you have to," I said softly. "She should be turned over to the Aurors not kept here as a form of justice."

"How can you be so calm?" He asked after a moment of staring at me. I looked over at her pathetic form on the floor.

"Because the things she did don't define me and won't define anyone else," I said simply as she glared at me. I didn't look away as she stared at me. I refused to back down from her anymore.

"I should have never taken you," she mumbled as she cast her eyes to the floor. My father snapped his gaze to her again.

"What did you say?!" He demanded harshly. When I saw she wasn't going to answer his question I dove into her mind. I wanted to see what she was thinking. I wanted to know why she attacked innocent children because I never understood it. What I saw I couldn't believe. Dumbledore had visited her before he left me there. He told her to torment me as much as she could without killing me. He wanted me weak when I got to Hogwarts but what he got was someone who adapted to the treatment and hardened to it. He didn't get the perfect chess piece he expected.

"She will go to prison Dad. I have no doubt she will get what's coming to her," I said firmly as I looked to my father. "I'll call for the Aurors and have them take the woman to the Ministry."

"Fine," he said bitterly as I walked over to the fireplace. Within ten minutes the Aurors had arrived and removed her from the house. Once she was gone I strode out of the basement and into the living room where my mother was waiting.

"That was her," my mother stated bluntly as I nodded softly.

"Yeah it was. She's the one who 'raised' me when you weren't allowed to," I said calmly.

"Why did you defend her?" She asked as I met her blue eyes.

"To prove I'm not the freak she always said I was. I refused to sink to her level," I said firmly.

"You amaze me. You went through so much and yet here you are still being the bigger person," my mother said as I smiled.

"It's because of how I was treated I won't hurt people if I can help it. The battle was hard on me. The people I killed still haunt me even though I knew they deserved to die," I said honestly. "I didn't want to have to kill any of them but you know as well as I, it was us or them."

"Are you okay?" She asked me touching my arm gently. "Not just from the battle but I know seeing her must have brought back memories."

"I felt this overwhelming fear when I first saw her but hearing the children inside I knew I couldn't just fall apart. These kids needed me to be the adult. To help them," I said with fire burning in my eyes. "I would give my life for these kids. I don't want them to feel the same pain I did."

"You're in charge of the children, aren't you," my mother said as I nodded.

"I can understand some of their experiences so I took the responsibility. I even gave them the Diagon Alley experience I didn't have," I said with a smile on my lips. "These kids are so unbelievably strong and I can't wait to see what happens when Hogwarts starts."

"Merlin, you are acting like a mother right now," she said with a laugh. I grinned at the comment.

"Yeah I am. They need me to be that for now," I said as she hugged me. "They never had anyone care before and they all deserve so much more than that."

"Isabelle," Tom's voice entered the room causing me to face him. I could see the joy on his face when he saw me. I had done the opposite of what he thought I would do given the facts of the past two days. I wasn't falling apart or angry. I was calm and finding the happiness around me rather than the pain. "We may have come up with a solution. The children instead of going to Muggles will go with Wizards. I have found several of my best who are willing to take in the magical children as if they were their own." My eyes widened.

"Who?" I asked as he smiled.

"Fred and George will take some. Remus said he would as well. Surprisingly Severus also volunteered to take up to three children at a time," Tom said as I grinned. Finally we wouldn't have to worry about any magical children being targeted in Muggle orphanages. Things couldn't have been better. Everything was looking up and my life felt perfect.

If only I knew that the peace wouldn't last. The darkness on the horizon was coming and it would change everything.