Watching

Watching

Chapter 15

I was walking in a thick fog. What was going on? What happened to me? I remember blood, and a fight, but what happened?

There was a shadowy figure walking toward me. It was definitely a woman. She had long hair, and a slender figure.

"Athena," she said warmly when she reached me. Her long hair was red and her eyes were a brilliant green. She wore a black dress with sleeves that flared out from the elbow down and had her hands clasped in front of her. "My, how you've grown."

"M-Mum?" I asked in shock. "Is that really you?"

She smiled softly. "Yes," she answered.

"Am I dead?" I asked suddenly scared. Please Merlin, don't let me be dead.

"No," she said. I let out a sigh of relief. Thank God. She smiled again. "I wouldn't let you die. Not now. Besides, I need you to do something for me. I need you to deliver a message."

"What is it?"

"You and Harry are three months apart. You are older, born before I was served with my mission. You think you had me for three months before Harry was born and I left, but you had me for a whole year. It was just after your first birthday that Voldemort ordered me to go back in time to create Harry. He told me that he wanted to be sure that the boy who was supposed to be his downfall was where he could find him. He told me to betray him three times and then have Harry. He told me that if I didn't, he'd kill me. He didn't tell me that he'd kill me anyway.

"I didn't want to do it. And as much as I hate to say it, I wish he had known about the Longbottom boy. If he had known, if he'd only known, you and Harry would have had normal lives."

"Normal Death Eater lives," I said almost bitterly.

She looked away. "More than likely," she whispered. "Your father and I, we were his faithful servants. Until I was serviced with that mission. Sev, he told me that night that he would no longer serve a master who would tear apart his family. No more would he serve the master who forced his wife to marry the enemy.

"Neither could I."

"No one would expect you to."

She shook her head. "I'd like to think that. James never knew any of it. He never knew that those nights that I was gone I was with your father. He never knew that I didn't love him. He never knew that I was a Death Eater on a mission. As soon as I knew I was pregnant, I had to report it to Voldemort. That was the hardest thing I did that whole mission, second only to leaving you and your father.

"The last time I saw you was when I found out he had truly switched sides. He showed up at an Order meeting and he had you in his arms. After that, he never brought you again. You had my eyes, and James noticed. It was too risky to bring you, and I couldn't come to your house, again, it was too risky.

"Black and Lupin found out about you. I don't know how, but they found out about you, then they found out about Harry. They cornered me once, forced me to take Veritaserum, and then got the whole truth out of me.

"They were shocked to find out so much, but the biggest shock came when they found out that Harry was not James' child."

I gasped. My brother wasn't his father's child?

"He was Sev's."

I stared at my mother in shock. Not only was Harry not a Potter, he was my brother by my father too.

"I need you to tell him. I need you to let Harry know who he really is."

"It'll crush him. When he found out I was his sister, he was crushed. He hated me. I was the daughter of the teacher he hated most. If he is that person's son, he'll be crushed."

"He'll be expecting it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Harry knows that there's more than meets the eye. He's been expecting to find out something like this since he found out about you. Don't tell him Lupin knows yet, that will be far too much for him to bare."

"What happened after Black and Lupin found out about you?"

"We put a spell on the secret, forcing the truth to stay silent forever. Only those who know can discuss it, but as I am dead and you are almost there, I can tell you, and by my will, you can tell him."

"Wait, I'm almost dead?"

"The curse Dolohov hit you with gives you a choice. You can go forward, which I will not allow, or you can go back. I need you to go back. They need you to go back."

"How do you know?"

"Come with me..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

We were standing in my father's office in our wing of the Malfoy manor. He was writing furiously in a journal of sorts. We could hear his thoughts, what he was writing.

She could die...she can't die. She's so much like Lil, I need her here. Merlin, I need her here.

It's not just me. Draco needs her back more than I could have expected. They're relationship is very much like Lil's and mine. They fell in love early, against all of the wills of the others in their lives. And they married young. So young.

I will kill Dolohov. Especially if she dies. Choose life, my daughter. And bring Hermione back with you...

"Hermione?" I asked looking up at my mother. "What happened to Hermione?"

"She got hit with the same curse you did. Now, lets see your brother."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a dark room, cement walls, damp, moldy, not fit for anyone, especially someone in a coma. Harry was laying next to his unconscious girlfriend, crying. "Come back," he whispered. "Both of you, come back...."

"Do you need to see more?"

"Not here," I answered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next we were in Draco's room back at the manor. My body was laying still on his bed and he was kneeling beside it, head folded in his arms. He was crying. Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy was crying. He never cried.

He reached for my hand and looked up at my face. "You come back to me. Don't you dare die. You said you wouldn't haunt me, so you come back. I can't loose you now, Athena."

"How do I go back?" I asked with a shaking voice. How could I have ever considered not doing so in the first place?

"Just step inside."

I walked over to my body and stared down. I looked so lifeless, so pale. Was I still wounded under the blankets? I stepped up onto the bed.

"One more thing before you go," my mother said quickly. "Tell your father I love him, I miss him, and I wish I could be with him at night when he needs me most."

I nodded and lay down in my body...

~*~*~*~

"Draco?" I asked opening my eyes.

"Oh my god," he said in a rush, gathering me up in his arms.

"I love you," I said. He started to sob.