The Death Eater's Daughter

Chapter Twenty-One - Oblivion

Luci's pulse was racing, and she could only gawp at Harry. Why was he speaking to her now? After all this time? And with Draco and his mother right here?

Her brother stepped up on her other side. "What could you possibly have to say to her?"

It was a good question.

Harry glared at him. "That's none of your business."

"She doesn't want to talk to you, do you, Luci?"

Even Narcissa added, "Of course, she doesn't."

Luci couldn't think of anything she wanted more than to talk to Harry. Except that he'd been such a jerk to her. And it really didn't look good if she accepted the invitation.

So, in order to show her disinterest both to Harry and to her brother, she spat, "I have better things to do, so make it quick."

"What?" exclaimed Draco.

Luci turned to him, legitimately looking annoyed at the whole situation. "Go ahead. I'll be right up."

Her brother frowned at her. "I wouldn't associate with that kind of riff raff, if I were you."

"You're a prat," Harry commented.

"Who asked you, Potter?"

And noticing her brother retrieving his wand, Luci sighed, "Put it away, Draco."

"Why don't you just stay away from her, huh?" Draco instead hissed at Harry. "Keep with your own kind?"

"Did I miss someone putting you in charge, Malfoy?" scowled Harry. "We're not at Hogwarts and you're not a prefect here."

Her brother made to advance on Harry, towering over him, but Luci put a hand against his chest. "I'll only be a minute."

"Let's go, Draco," said Narcissa suddenly, seizing her son's arm. And Luci was just a little bit grateful.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Draco glowered at Harry before allowing his mother to lead him from the room.

"Sorry about him," Luci said when they were gone.

"I'm used to it," replied Harry, catching her gaze.

She looked away, staring at the floor. "That's no excuse."

"Why are you apologizing for him?"

"Eh, someone should apologize for him," she sighed. "And I didn't mean the 'make it quick' thing, you know." She'd half-meant it at the time, but now she just wanted to throw away her pride and make everything better between them.

"I know," he said, and then he nodded towards the back of the kitchen.

She took it to mean that he didn't want to be heard, and she followed him to the corner, wondering what he could possibly want to say to her after all of these days of insufferable silence.

"How's your hand?" he asked right away.

Luci instinctively shoved both of them out of sight behind her. She couldn't even remember which one she'd cut. But she managed, "It's healing well, thank you."

"Listen," began Harry, "I need your help."

So that's what this was about. He needed something from her. Otherwise, he wouldn't be speaking to her at all.

She snapped, "I thought we weren't friends anymore?"

"I never said that!"

Luci scoffed. "You left here acting like I was the worst person ever and then you didn't respond to my letter and you haven't talked to me since you got back. It's been days. What am I supposed to think?"

Oh, god, it made her sound like an obsessive teenager. She felt her entire body grow warm with humiliation.

"I've been a little busy," Harry barked in response.

"Oh," inflected Luci, angry and annoyed and... mostly hurt. She was such an idiot.

He took a deep breath. "I appreciated the letter, especially the Pass, but I had things to do. You know that."

"Okay," she replied bitingly. She didn't want to talk to him anymore.

But when she looked up, his eyes were searching her face, perplexed, wounded.

She pursed her lips, feeling the barricades fall away. "I'm sorry. I just thought, after the way you left, and then I hadn't heard from you, and I was... worried, I guess, and-"

"Luci, I told you, I just don't like people hiding things from me."

"There are things that you don't tell me," she threw back.

He frowned. "Like what?"

She squared her shoulders. "Like, you told me about Voldemort's orphanage, but you were gone for two days, so I know that there was something else, but I never demanded that you tell me."

He looked taken aback, but she barreled on, "And, oh, let's talk about Ginny. That always seems to derail you. What's going on there?"

She inclined her head towards the girl of whom she was so jealous, and she felt the sensation swell even moreso when Harry's cheeks reddened and he looked down at his feet.

Luci pushed away the pain and concluded, as nonchalantly as she could manage, "That's what I thought. And you and Ginny has nothing to do with me, so I don't need to know. Do you get it? Does that make sense to you? There are just some things-"

"Fine," he cut her off.

"So what is it that you need?" she gathered after a few shallow breaths. She had been hoping that he'd tell her that he felt nothing for Ginny, so there was nothing to tell. But this was a pipe dream.

He answered slowly, "I need you to come with me to get something at my Aunt and Uncle's house."

She blinked incredulously at him. "I can't leave!"

He shook his head. "You leave all the time!"

How did he know that?

"I can't just go anywhere," she rerouted uncomfortably.

"Why not?" demanded Harry.

Luci hesitated, trying to think fast, and responded gradually, "There are people who can't know that I'm here."

"We'll take the Invisibility Cloak," he resolved. "No one'll see us."

"You have an Invisibility Cloak?" she nearly exclaimed, her eyes wide.

Harry bobbed his head.

She shook hers. It was a terrible idea for so many reasons. "I don't know, Harry..."

"Please, Luci," he pleaded softly. "You're the only one who can get me in."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why?"

"Because you're beautiful."

She felt her eyebrows shoot up, but it was nothing compared to the upheaval in her stomach.

Before she could even comment or get her bearings, he ruined it.

"I mean... Dudley thinks so. I... I saw the way he looked at you when you came to get me with Mr. Weasley. You'll be able to get us in."

Luci's heart fell to her feet, heavy as stone. "Dudley thinks so?"

"Yeah."

Why wouldn't he say anything else? Was he trying to hurt her?

It took her a moment to quell her emotions, but in hopes of a response, she replied, "Well, Dudley must be out of his mind."

Harry gave an irritated huff. "Will you help me or not?"

She gritted her teeth to keep from actually biting him in fury. "You can't crawl through a window or something?" she suggested angrily.

"No!" he seethed. "I need to get Dudley there alone and then I need you to distract him so that I have time to search the house. Can you do that?"

He wanted to use her. Just like Dumbledore was doing. Just like everyone else was doing. No one actually cared about her. Well, that was fine. She wouldn't care about them either.

"Alright," she conceded coldly.

"You'll come?" asked Harry hopefully, his eyes lighting up, much to Luci's aggravation.

"But we have to Apparate and we can't be seen," she nodded. "And we can't be gone long."

"Right. Let's go then."

Luci furrowed her brow. "Now?"

"Yes, now," he said in frustration. "I can't really do anything in a leisurely fashion, under the circumstances."

"No need to be sarcastic," she hissed at him. She was agreeing to help him and he was being an asshole. It was just preposterous.

"Sorry," he muttered, and she saw his jaw clench. "You're just making things difficult."

"I'm a difficult girl, in general," she growled, wishing that there could be one person in the world who didn't mind that she was difficult, who thought that she was worth it.

"No, you're not," grumbled Harry. "I didn't mean it like that."

At this rate, she just wanted to get it over with, so that she could get away from him and her emotions. So she deflected, "How do you know that... what's his name? Dudley? How do you know he'll be there alone?"

"On Saturdays, my Aunt and Uncle always go out for brunch and Dudders watches the telly," Harry explained.

Luci chewed her lip. "And what am I supposed to tell Dudders to get us in there?"

"Tell him that you're looking to arrest me for some horrible thing and you need someone who will testify to my awfulness," instructed Harry without hesitation.

She gaped. "What?"

"Trust me," he went on. "He'll love it and be very cooperative. I'll be under the Cloak; he won't even know I'm there."

She shook her head at his asinine theory. "What are we looking for anyway?"

"A letter, from Dumbledore to the Dursleys."

Luci sighed in defeat. "I need to tell Draco I'm going."

"Why?" he frowned.

"Because he'll worry," she said matter-of-factly.

But Harry just laughed. "Malfoy? Worry?"

She threw him an aggravated glance.

"Look, just don't tell him where we're going."

"I won't," she agreed. "If he knew I was going anywhere with you, he'd kill us both."

Harry looked troubled for a moment, but replied, "Okay, I'll meet you in the alley near the house."

She gave him a nod of accord and stepped past him, out of the kitchen, and up the stairs.

God, he was so infuriating.

Well, if he was using her for her supposed beauty, she'd show him. She'd be more beautiful than he'd ever seen her before. She would never look like Ginny, but when she tried, she cleaned up well.

First, of course, she had to see Draco.

"What did he want?" her brother asked immediately.

"He needs my help," she sighed. "To go get a letter for him."

Draco looked simultaneously appalled and curious. "I don't get it. Why you?"

"Beats me," she griped. "I don't get it either."

"Are you going?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Because I'm stupid."

"Wait," halted her brother. "Is he going?"

"No," Luci lied slowly. "He's going out, but for something else."

Draco huffed. "Good. I don't want you around him. You know, you don't owe him anything. Why would you help him? Why would you even speak to that cocky bastard?"

"If nothing else," she exhaled heavily, "it makes me look like a good Auror, right?"

Her brother frowned. "I guess. Ugh. I hate Potter."

"Me too," she replied, and she almost meant it, but it wasn't as much as she hated herself. "Just wanted to let you know I'd be out for a little while."

"Don't go," warned Draco. "Helping Potter is... well, it's like spitting in my face. And the Dark Lord's, too."

Luci clenched her jaw. "No, it isn't. It's helping us. It ensures my cover. Look, I don't wanna do it. I feel... obligated, for some reason."

"Whatever," mumbled her brother. "You know where I stand."

"And you know where I stand," she vented. "I'm always on your side."

"Well, let's hope a Death Eater finds him wandering around by himself," Draco smiled.

Luci returned his grin. "You're awesome."

Feeling like shit for being the most two-faced person ever, she rushed back to her room to get started.

It took her a little while, but she meticulously applied tasteful make-up and used magic to curl her hair. Then she slipped into the most flattering dress in her trunk. It was an emerald green, flowing, and low-cut, though she had nothing to show off in that area. She hadn't worn it once since she'd come here. Well, at least it wouldn't be a waste to have brought it.

By the time she made it to the alley, Harry appeared to have been growing very impatient.

"Sorry that took so long," she greeted him.

"How's Malfoy?" was all he said.

"Cheeky as ever," she answered, trying to sound as upbeat as she looked in this color. "Thinks you're up to no good, chastised me for even speaking to you. You know, the usual."

Finally, he looked down at her. And for the first time since she'd known him, he ran his eyes the entire length of her body. She felt the most marvelous sense of triumph.

Then he beamed, "You're trying too hard."

Luci could barely keep from laughing, but disagreed, "You can never try too hard."

Harry just stood there looking at her. And she abruptly wanted to throw herself into his arms. Things between them had been so good... until they'd gone bad.

She couldn't help herself. "Harry, are we okay?"

He blinked. "What do you mean?"

What did she mean? Boys were so damn oblivious.

"You seem like you're angry with me," she answered softly.

"Yeah, we're okay," he sighed.

She felt like he was going to say more, and was disappointed when he didn't. She wasn't the only one who had been wrong here.

But he was already shaking out the Invisibility Cloak, and she had to stop herself from gasping at its magnificence. It was like liquid silver... In seconds, he had tossed it around the pair of them and had his arm nearly around her shoulders, holding up the cloth.

Luci wanted to fall into the embrace, to be closer to the heat and the smell of him. Instead, she bit the insides of her cheeks and walked slowly and silently in step with him.

After a few moments, Harry spoke. "Why did you think I was mad at you?"

She shook her head. How could she think otherwise? But she merely responded, "All of the reasons that I said before. We hadn't talked in days. It was... bizarre." It was much more than bizarre.

He took a breath that she thought sounded shaky and answered, "There's a lot going on."

"There always seems to be," said Luci, trying not to let him hear her resentment. Then she considered how selfish she was being. "Is it Hagrid?"

Harry didn't say anything, but she felt his chest heave deeply.

She couldn't stop herself. She sighed too and leaned against him. She hoped that he would see it as comfort and nothing more. "I wish that I could take it all away. I just don't know how to make it better."

What was she saying? Ugh.

"It's not your job to make it better for me."

No response could have been worse. She had to start keeping her sentiments to herself.

Nearly a minute went by before Harry said, "It's Ron and Hermione."

"What is?" asked Luci in bewilderment, as she had been lost in her thoughts of self-pity.

"What's been bothering me," he mumbled.

"Oh."

"I caught them... kissing."

Luci choked on a giggle and could only manage, "Hmm."

"It's not funny!" exclaimed Harry.

"No, of course not," she sniggered, but it was hilarious. It was no wonder that Harry was unmindful of her; he hadn't even seen how obviously devoted Ron and Hermione were to each other.

She went on, "I'm sorry you're upset, but I could see that coming a mile away!"

He looked completely distressed.

"Oh, Harry, don't feel guilty," she reassured him. "You're dealing with far more than anyone should have to. It's not your fault that you didn't notice your best friends falling in love right under your nose."

He halted abruptly, forcing her to stop in place too.

"In love?" he said, strangled.

Luci looked up at him. "Yes, I think so."

His eyes were wide with disbelief, and she laughed, "It happens!"

He stood processing for a split second before starting forward again, pulling her into step.

It was such a blow to him that Luci felt the need to provide some comfort. So she soothed, "They're still your best friends. You dated Ron's sister." Grr. "That's pretty huge and everyone survived that, didn't they? You and Ginny seem to be widely accepted now." Grr.

Much to her disappointment, he only nodded his head in reply.

"So you'll get used to this too," she added.

"I guess."

"Why haven't you talked to them about this?"

She found it odd that he would come to her with anything, after what had been transpiring the last few days.

"I usually go to Ron and Hermione with my problems," he answered, "but considering that they were the problem..."

Well, at least he was telling her something again, and she wouldn't take it for granted.

"I'm always happy to listen."

Then they were strolling up to the house, and she finished, "Well, here we are."