The Forging of the Bonds

Chapter 32. Nadine's story.

Elizabeth plunged onto her bed. "Just perfect," she muttered.

"What happened?" Nadine called over from the next bed.

"Are we alone?" Elizabeth suddenly asked.

"What does it look like?" Nadine countered. "Nott's off somewhere... I'd rather not know. Are you going to talk about it?"

"About what?"

"Whatever it is you're upset about."

"Mike doesn't like me."

"Are you nuts? After--"

"I thought you didn't like--"

"Look, I'm not thrilled about you two, but if you want to date Weasley, it's not my place to stop you. But you are crazy if you think he's not interested after what you did in front of the whole school."

"That was before--"

"Before what?"

"Before--"

"Where were you tonight, anyway?"

"Potter's."

"Why?!"

"That's what started this. Mike's parents were Potter's best friends at school."

Nadine shrugged, as if it was expected. Elizabeth breathed and continued.

"Mike wanted to know why they aren't anymore, and why my father--whom he hated at school--is apparently his best friend now."

"And?"

"And Potter said he'd tell us."

"Us?"

"He said it concerned me too. Well, it concerned my parents, actually."

"Elizabeth, get to the point."

"He's been showing us Pensieve memories. Tonight, he showed us how he and my father rescued my mother from Death Eater captivity."

"I thought you'd like that."

"Well, the Death Eater--Bellatrix Lestrange--was holding my mother. So Potter and Dad go in, and Potter starts a duel with her, while Dad goes to get Mum--she's unconscious. He gets to her, she whispers a few words before fainting. Apparently, Bellatrix used the Cruciatus Curse on her--this is while she's pregnant with me." Nadine gasped.

Elizabeth wanted to ask, but decided to finish. "So at this point, Lestrange is so busy with Potter that Dad can get almost any spell in. Guess which he chose?"

"Stunning? That's what you'd usually use."

Elizabeth shook her head. "He used Avada Kedavra," she said.

"He killed her?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said. "Well, I suppose I understand--this is my mother, after all. Potter, if not exactly approving, decided to shrug it off."

"So?"

"So, you know what reputation the Weasleys have. Goody-two-shoes, the lot of them--or that's what they'd like to believe. Not a Dark bone in their bodies. Of course, Mike's not going to want to have anything to do with me, now that he knows I'm tainted."

"And you like him."

"And I like him," Elizabeth agreed.

"Well," Nadine said, "you can either confront him about it--"

"No."

"--or you can sit here and wallow--"

"I am not--"

"--or you can try to find out what he really thinks without him knowing about it."

"How?"

"Leave that to me."

"You?"

"What? Don't you trust me?"

"Usually. But you've this beef with Potter--"

"He killed my mother."

"What? That's nonsense, how--"

"Well, not directly. Here." She gave her a photograph.

Nadine's father was hugging... Padma Patil.

"What?!" Elizabeth yelled. "But that's--"

"No. My mother was Parvati."

"Oh. But Potter just told us--"

"What?"

"He said Parvati--your mother--went after her best friend, who then betrayed her to the Dark Lord."

Nadine looked at her. "Is that all he said?"

"Essentially. He did emphasize that the Dark Lord killed her himself."

"My mother shouldn't have gone off. She'd just given birth to me, she wasn't in the best of shapes--and my father was set against it. But that's what she did. Typical Gryffindor. But she wouldn't have, if it wasn't for Potter."

"Why not?"

"She wouldn't know where to look. Potter provided her with information. Potter got my mother killed."

Elizabeth sat for a moment, silent. Nadine picked up on it. "Going to make excuses for Potter, now?"

"No. Why don't you ask him yourself about it?"

"No. I'll grant that Potter didn't set out to kill my mother, but that doesn't make her any less dead."

"Potter lost his wife."

"One, that was later, two, so what? What difference does it make?"

"I don't know, but I'd think if I was in that situation, I might appreciate help from someone who knew what I was going through. You know what that's like." She and Nadine had become friends in part because they both were raised without mothers.

"That's different. It doesn't--"

"Our friendship didn't bring our mothers back. Do you think it's worthless?"

"Of course not! But Potter still--"

"I'd talk to him," Elizabeth advised.

"I won't. However, back to our original topic. I'll have you and Weasley back to snogging each other in less than a week--though why you'd want to is beyond me."

"And if he's really not interested?"

"Then he's not worth your time."

"So how do you propose to do all this?"

Nadine smiled. "I have my ways."