Darkness on the Horizon

Ch. 15

After the party I headed straight back to Hogwarts with Dane. I said my goodbyes to my parents before I left. We arrived back and the halls were dark and quiet. I faced Dane with a smirk before he pulled me into his arms. My lips caressed his hungrily reminding me of our intense physical attraction. I stepped out of his arms breathing heavily while his eyes drank in my body.

"We should go. It's late," I whispered as he gave a reluctant nod.

"Fine but I want to see you again soon and not as just another co-worker," he said as I smiled.

"You will," I said simply before I turned walking away. I made it to my room with an uncontainable smile on my lips as I leaned against my door. I switched into a nightgown crawling into my bed letting my eyes drift shut.

I was woken several hours later to rapid banging at the portrait. I grabbed a black silk robe tying it around my body as I rushed to the portrait opening. It swung open to reveal a distraught Brie.

"It's Dani, she won't stop crying," Brie said as I rushed after her. We entered the Slytherin dorms to find Danielle sobbing while the other girls tried to calm her. I sat on the bed beside Danielle pulling her into my arms asking the other girls to leave the room.

"Danielle, can you tell me what's wrong?" I asked her softly as my fingers ran through her dark hair.

"I saw her die," she said a new wave of tears falling down her cheeks as confusion filled me.

"Who?" I asked softly as she looked up at me with pained green eyes.

"My mom," she said as I gripped her tighter. "Someone killed her." She whispered as I held her.

"It's okay. I will look into this," I said to her firmly. "They won't get away with hurting her."

"How?" She asked as I looked at her.

"I need to see your memory and I can with magic if you will let me," I said as she gave a hesitate nod. I took a shaky breath clearing my mind before I slipped into hers. I watched as the woman played with her child when the door flew off its hinges. In stepped a man I couldn't see clearly. I
The woman reached to grab her daughter to run and that's when I saw the dark mark on her arm. He shot her with the Cruciatus curse before she could grab the child. He watched with sick fascination as she cried out in pain before he finally ended her life. He then left Danielle screaming out for anyone. I slipped out of her mind pulling her close again as sadness washed over me. What she went through was horrific.

"Who am I?" She asked as I paused. I didn't know but I was going to find out for her.

"You Danielle are a sweet girl and no matter who your family is it doesn't change who you are. I will make a potion but I want you to know that your mother was clearly a death eater," I said firmly as she wiped her tears off her cheeks. "Do you think you can go back to bed?" I asked as she nodded slowly. I tucked her in gently. I saw her brush on the table and took some hair from it before I left her to attempt sleep again. I found the other children waiting for me in the common room.

"What happened?" Brie asked as I looked between the kids.

"She's okay now. You guys should try and get some sleep as well," I said keeping what I learned about Danielle a secret. I wanted her to have her privacy as much as I could. I watched the girls head back up to the dorm before I left to go towards the potions lab. I wasn't going to wait on this. I entered the room gathering the ingredients mixing them together. I added her hair into the bottle waiting for the color to change. When it did I dumped the potion on a piece of parchment. The bright liquid covered the page before it started to form letters.

Danielle Elizabeth Black
Mother Elizabeth Rose Nott
Father Regulus Black

My jaw dropped as I looked at the paper in front of me. She was a pureblood and my cousin. I wonder why she had been left at an orphanage. The only explanation is that no one knew about her. After a few more minutes staring at the page I walked over to the fireplace flooing to Malfoy Manor. I didn't care if it was late. I needed to figure out what my mother knew of Regulus' daughter. I walked up to my mother's room knocking on the door. She opened the door eyes widening in surprise.

"Isabelle. What are you doing here so late and dressed like that?" My mother asked motioning to my sleepwear that I had covered with my robe.

"I need to talk to you right now. It's important," I said firmly as she followed me down to the living room. She sat on a chair across from me as I held out the piece of parchment to her. She grabbed it from me reading the clear words. Her jaw dropped as a tear slipped down her cheek. She finally looked up from the page at me before she opened her mouth.

"I knew they had a little girl but I didn't know what happened to her. Regulus had abandoned Tom by the time Liza decided to leave with her child. She knew that Regulus wasn't going to back down and so she stayed loyal to Tom but it cost her everything. Lucius and I tried to help her and for a while everything seemed to go back to normal. That was until one morning the Aurors came to the Manor informing us that Liza had died," my mother said and I could see the pain in her eyes. "They told us Danielle had died and so we mourned them. Regulus cried at the funeral but it seemed forced as if he could care less about any of it."

"She's my student and she remembers some of what happened that night. A man came and killed her mother and left her there," I said as calmly as I could though my voice still shook with emotion.

"Do you know who?" She asked me.

"I watched her memories but the man's face was blurred," I said softly.

"I need to see her. Bella will want to be there as well," she stated going to get up.

"Mom, I will talk to Danielle about it but she will be the one to decide next steps," I said as my mother frowned. She knew I was right so she didn't argue. "Now that that has been settled I'm going to return to Hogwarts with the page and talk with Snape and Danielle about it." I said grabbing the paper from my mother gently. She gave me a quick hug before I apperated back to my room. I curled up on the mattress to get a last few hours of sleep before I would have to deal with the words on that paper.

(A/N: I didn't edit this chapter so there may be some typos. Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy it!!!)