mother of wands (d.m) part two

XV

We land in a snowy wood and immediately there's a wand at my throat.

"Athena!" I shout, the tip of a 12 inch ebony on my jugular.

"No Everett!" She retorts. "After everything I did for you, everything I've sacrificed for you, you set us up like that!"

I shake my head, my hands up in surrender. "I didn't set you up!"

"Bullshit!" She spits. Without taking her eyes off me she calls for Hermione. "Mione, get me the veritaserum."

Hermione, who's tending to a beaten up Harry, reaches into her bag and muddles around until she pulls out a tiny jar filled with liquid.

"Athena you have to believe me!" I beg. "I didn't know anything about that!"

"Liar!" She yells, jumping on top of me and sending us both tumbling to the ground. I let out a yelp as my back hits the hard soil, her legs pinning me down on other side. "Your family does nothing but lie!"

I try to fight her off of me but she stays, wiggling me under her so her thighs hold my arms in place. She uses her teeth to pull the cork out of the vile and grabs my face, squishing my cheeks together so my lips part.

"A- THE-NA!" I try to speak but she dumps the liquid down my throat.

It burns momentarily as we lay there completely still, her eyes burning with a mix of fear and sadness as she raises her wand once more.

"Now, I'm going to ask you one last time. Did you set us up?" She says through gritted teeth.

I feel the effects of the serum working, my mouth moving before my mind can think. "No!" I shout back.

"Did you have anything to do with the Imperius curse placed on me?" She yells again, still locking me in her grip.

My eyes widen, "What?! Absolutely not!"

Her body releases the tension around my arms as she falls on top of me and embraces me in a hug. "Oh thank god... I really didn't want to have to kill you..."

My body is still stiff as her last question registers, "What about the Imperius curse?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," She says with a shameful gaze. "Your mother, she put the curse on my parents and I."

My mouth falls open, stunned. "Why?"

"So you wouldn't go to Hogwarts alone I would guess, I hardly remember now." She states nonchalantly with a shrug.

I turn to her and take her hand in mine, "Athena, I'm so sorry. I had no idea, I- I told her I didn't want to go and leave my friends... She must have taken that to heart."

"It's alright now, once Harry realized he helped me to refuse the curse. And now I know you're telling the truth." She smiles lightly, giving me a reassuring squeeze.

"God..." I say, laying back down on the cool ground. "There's a lot I don't know."

She chuckles, "I'm glad I found you at Godric's Hollow."

I laugh with her, "And I'm glad you didn't have to kill me."

She sits up, brushing her dark hair out of her face. "Those two won't be so easily won... They've talked about you a lot."

"Really?" I ask, my brow furrowing. "Why?"

She shrugs, "They think you're important or whatever, no offense. But they're convinced that Voldemort is using you to get get closer to something."

"Oh... Well they're right, actually." I let out with a sigh.

She tilts her head to the side, "Really? Wow okay, I guess we actually are getting somewhere..."

"Athena look," I say, sitting up on my elbows so I can face her. "I have so much to apologize for, I've been a terrible friend."

"Yeah, you were." She says matter of factly.

I giggle at her bluntness, "I'm so sorry, truly I am. Everything is my fault and I'm going to fix it."

"You're not alone Evie, there are so many of us trying to fix things." She reaches for hand again and squeezes.

I look at the ground, ashamed. "Yeah but... I should have doing what you guys are doing, not joining Voldemort."

She shrugs, "Don't be too hard on yourself, you were a mole."

"A mole?" I question. "Can't I be like a secret agent or something?"

She rolls her eyes, "Oh I'm sorry! I've spent all this time under an unforgivable curse for you but please! Be as mad as you want that I called you a mole..."

We laugh together, our heads falling in unison as we join in another hug. I breath in her familiar scent and suddenly everything feels better, I do have someone I can trust.

"Hey," Hermione shouts, her back resting on a tree and her nose in a book. "Come over here for a minute."

Athena and I stand up, joining her as she shuffles through the pages of 'The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore.' I hesitate to sit down, my presence here still a little wary.

Hermione smiles up at me, patting the ground on her left. "If Athena trusts you, I trust you."

"Oh please," Athena scoffs. "You trust your potions!"

They share a giggle as Hermione returns to the book. I catch a glimpse of the cover, Dumbledore's lively face bringing back the horrible memories of that fateful night in the astronomy tower.

"Wait isn't this Rita Skeeter lady a gossip? I mean is anything in this book true?" Athena asks.

Hermione shrugs, settling on a page near the middle. "Here! This is what I was looking for. When we were at Bathilda's home she had a picture of a young boy, this is him."

My eye grow wide as I stare at the moving image, a chiseled face and slender body in a black suit. His hair fell in short tendrils around his jawline and his arms stayed crossed over his chest.

"His name was-" Hermione starts.

"Grindelwald," I finish. "Gellert Grindelwald."

She eyes me curiously, "Yes, how did you know?"

I take in a deep breath, "He's... He's my father."

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