The Heart Is Not Black or White

Chapter 25

~George's POV~

The fire crackled in the Gryffindor common room. I was half- asleep and slumped down in one of the plush arm chairs. Fred was stretched out on the couch next to me. It was nearly midnight. Fred and I had decided to pull an all-nighter, just for the heck of it. We were already having trouble staying awake, but a random idea popped into Fred's head that made his eyes open fully and made him sit up straight.

"George," he said. "What if we created some sort of candy that could make people stay awake?"

"I'd say you're crazy," I replied groggily. "We're not smart enough to create something like that."

"Yes, we are," Fred replied adamantly. "We can be creative, can't we? So far this year we've found ten different ways to break into Filch's office. If that's not talent, I dunno what is. This is our way to show the rest of the family that we're special too-"

That's when Fred started squinting toward the portrait hole. I looked in that direction and saw Marissa standing there. Her Slytherin robes had been replaced with Gryffindor ones.

I shared a laugh with myself. Over the summer break, I found out that Fred was seriously fancy on Marissa. Of course he tried to keep it a secret from me, but he couldn't do that - I'm his twin. I know everything about him. I knew his heart was racing right now.

"Marissa, what the bloody hell are you doing here?" Fred whispered. He tried to sound scolding, but Fred could never be mad at her. "How did you get in here anyway? And your robes-"

"A Slytherin in Gryffindor robes is quite a sight to see," I added.

"I wanted to talk to you guys," Marissa answered. She went over to Fred's couch and sat right next to him.

"You do know that if you get caught, you ruin Slytherin's chances of winning the House Cup," I reminded her. "We could go get Professor McGonagall right now..."

"Go ahead," said Marissa casually. "I'll just tell her about the time you two-"

"Okay, enough said, we won't tell on you." That girl knew way too much about us. I bet she had one thousand ways to blackmail us rolling around in her head. Of course Fred and I could do the same for her, but getting into a war with Marissa would be nasty business. No matter how much we hated to admit it, she could give us a run for our money... and she was two years younger than us.

"I got the password earlier from Ron today," Marissa explained. "As for the robes, they're Neville's. Draco Malfoy stole them from him first, and, well, I have a bit of a grudge against Malfoy right now so I stole them... You guys can return these to Neville. I just needed them to get past the Fat Lady."

She took off Neville's robes and threw them at me. I caught them, placing them on the cupboard next to me. Marissa smoothed down her sleek black dress. She wore black often, mostly because her parents said it made her look more "classy". Black always seemed to make her look paler and more striking. Fred would agree.

"Why are you dressed so nice at midnight? And what kinda grudge are you holding over Malfoy's head this time?" Fred asked.

"God, Fred," Marissa complained. "Why are you asking so many questions? And what do you mean by 'this time'?"

"Well you complain about him a lot," he answered.

"And you tend to hold grudges," I added.

"I do not," she huffed. "Anyway, I came for your help. I need to play some sort of trick on Malfoy to get back at him."

"Marissa, you usually don't need help, we've trained you enough." Fred's eyes twinkled with admiration. The sly way that Marissa could deceive people fascinated him. "But we'll help you anyway. Care to explain?" I leaned forward in my seat. This would be a good one.

"It's a super long story," Marissa sighed. "But I'll tell you anyway. So remember the Manus Force? And Fred, don't act like George shouldn't know, I know you told him."

"You caught us," I said.

"This Manus Force thing almost killed you," Fred seethed. He had made it perfectly clear to me that he though the Manus Force was evil.

"Don't think I remember that," she said sarcastically. "Anyway, the day before the Slytherin and Gryffindor Quidditch match, Tracey found a chapter on it and started taking notes. I brushed off the whole thing because I didn't think it was real. Well, it ended up becoming reality. I just think it's weird that Tracey didn't give the notes to me. There was lots of information that could have helped me avoid that whole... death situation."

I saw Fred give a slight shiver. The thought of Marissa dying made me go cold too. She was like our sister.

"So the notes were missing, and I found out that Malfoy had them," she said.

"WHAT?" Fred shouted.

"Shh, you'll get us in trouble," I whispered.

"That blast-ended skrewt!" said Fred, lowering his voice. "It all makes sense. His parents were Death Eaters, or at least his father-"

"Death Eater?" Marissa widened her already large eyes. Fred covered his mouth. We weren't supposed to talk about Voldemort or the Death Eaters near Marissa. "His parents were followers of Voldemort?"

"How do you know about that?" I asked her.

"Dumbledore explained Voldemort and the Death Eaters to me." I cringed when she said his name. "Why didn't you two tell me?"

"We couldn't," Fred answered.

"Your parents told us not to," I added.

Marissa sighed again. She was getting frustrated with all of the things her parents weren't telling her.

"Well I can't think about that now," she stated. "The point is, Malfoy stole those notes and then wiped if from Tracey's memory, knowing I would die."

"Well it all adds up," Fred mused, jumping up from his seat and pacing back and forth. "Malfoy must be doing a job for his father, a Death Eater who wants you dead. The question is why they want you dead?"

Marissa seemed increasingly scared at this. Having a grown wizard who was a former Death Eater wanting you dead would be terrifying.

That's when it dawned on Fred and me. The Death Eaters knew something about her that was valuable. The Prophecy.

I shot a look at Fred. He had the same expression of horror on his face. We were thinking the exact same thing.

"Issa, you should go," Fred decided.

"What?" said Marissa suspiciously. "What do you know Fred? I know that look. Tell me."

"Marissa, leave," Fred demanded. I had never seen such a serious face on him. The fact that Marissa had information that Voldemort and his supporters desperately wanted was killing him. If they ever came back to power, she would be in danger. "Go or I'll get McGonagall."

This time Fred was serious. There was never such a look of rejection on Marissa's face. She was hurt. Normally she would have put up a fight, but she turned around and marched out of the portrait hole without a word of good-bye.

"I can't believe Malfoy," I stated.

"I can," Fred growled. "He's going to turn out just like his father. History is doomed to repeat itself."

"Marissa is also so young," I said. "The Death Eaters can't possibly be trying to... eliminate her?" I was trying to be careful about my word choice around Fred.

"Well with the Manus Force, Marissa is super powerful. No matter how much I hate to admit it, it could really save her life."

"So how are we gonna get Malfoy back?" I asked.

"No matter how much I want to beat his little Slytherin arse," Fred said. "I think Marissa has it taken care of."

I was incredulous. The boy who would go to any lengths to protect Marissa was actually going to let her take care of things herself.

"Anyway," he continued. "Marissa is tough. Plus, if Malfoy really works her up, she can do some serious damage with that power of hers. I have a feeling that she is much more powerful than we know."