The Eagle and The Snake: A Tragic Love Story

34. Two Tasks

Since it was late when the girls arrived back at the Shrieking Shack, they decided to spend the night there. Instead of risking returning to the castle, and getting caught by Filch for being out of their beds at 3 in the morning.
Carly struggled to sleep that night, and it had nothing to do with the lumpy mattress in the shack.
Thoughts of Narcissa and Bellatrix swam around her head, making it hard for her to relax and get to sleep.
Andromeda had told her all her life that Narcissa would want nothing to do with her, yet the woman had embraced her with open arms. And Bellatrix had even offered to teach her and Luna powerful magic.
Carly was beginning to wonder just how many things Andromeda had told her about her family, were also untrue.

The following morning both Carly and Luna got up early, as they had a lot to accomplish that day.
Despite her thoughts about her brother, Carly knew she had no choice but to talk to Harry. She had to make things right with him, as that was the task Voldemort had given her, and she couldn't let him down.
So, Carly sought Harry out and led him into an empty clasroom so that they could talk alone.

"I know this isn't going to be a pleasant conversation for either of us, but we need to talk" sighed Carly.
"I've been trying to talk to you for days, but you've been ignoring me" reminded Harry.
"Well, I've had a lot on my mind" admitted Carly.
"Not as much as me. I mean, you revealed that you had been getting detentions, just so that you could bond with me. That's not exactly a normal thing to do. How am I supposed to process that and come to terms with what you did?"
"I wasn't supposed to tell you about that. It only slipped out because I was angry"
"That's obvious"
"I'm sorry, O.K. Is that what you want to hear?".

"It is a start... So, were you lying to me right from the beginning? Was it all a ruse to get close to me? Did you and Luna ever actually get a detention with Umbridge?" Questioned Harry.
"Yes. During our first lesson with her, I swore at her and got sent out. Luna tried to defend me, and she got thrown out as well. Umbridge put us in two days detention for that. I had no idea at the time, what the detentions would involve, or that you had been given one too" answered Carly truthfully.

"So, it was after this detention that you decided to keep getting more?" Quizzed Harry.
"Sort of. I probably would have gotten quite a few more detentions without trying, since Umbridge and I don't get on. As she spends the whole lesson failing to teach anything, and spouting bullshit. But I decided to purposely misbehave and not hold my tongue when Umbridge is being a total bitch. Because I knew that you were being given detentions constantly by her, and I didn't want you to be alone. I saw how broken you were after the first one, and I knew that you needed me. You were being my friend, for the first time ever, and I didn't want us to lose that bond. Which is why whenever you got a detention, I made sure to get one as well" explained Carly.

"But why did you make Luna get detentions as well? Why did you both want to get close to me?" Asked Harry.
"I didn't make her. I was content to do it on my own. But Luna loves me, and she didn't want me to suffer alone. We are a pair. And we do everything together" admitted Carly.
"Having recently gotten myself a girlfriend, I am starting to understand what it is like to care about someone, in that way" replied Harry.

"Yet, when I asked for your help, to protect my girlfriend from more bullying, you refused to lend a hand. And that made me feel like you don't see me as your real sister, because you wouldn't let me borrow the cloak that belonged to our father. You like to see yourself as James's only child, and the only rightful owner of the Invisibility Cloak. And it hurt to know that you still didn't see me as your sister, when I went through all that suffering with Umbridge, to get closer to you" Carly said sadly.
"Hey, you put me in an impossible situation that day. I couldn't just ditch the DA, when I was the one who was supposed to be teaching the class. It would have taken me at least 10 minutes to go up and get the cloak from my room, and give it to you. By which point, people like Zacharius Smith would have gotten fed up of waiting for me" replied Harry.