The Dark Lord's Daughter [FW - Book One]

Word Gets Out

VANESSA'S POV:

After dinner, Fred, George, Lani, McKenna, and I return to the Gryffindor common room, laughing and telling jokes. When we climb through the portrait hole, the room suddenly goes quiet. Everyone stops what they are doing and turns to glare at me. I don't understand why, so I just walk further into the common room.

"So, you're you-know-who's daughter, eh?" Seamus Finnegan asks casually just as I reach the girl's stairs.

"What?" I ask, all happiness having been leeched from my body.

"You heard me." Seamus replies with a scowl.

"How did you find out?" I ask in a hollow voice.

"So it's true then? You never know what to believe when Ron gives you news." Dean says from across the room.

I slowly turn around, looking at Ron who is cowering behind Hermione in a corner. George smacks his younger brother upside the head.

"How did you trick the sorting hat into letting you in to Gryffindor?" Katie Bell asks, disgusted.

"Yeah, Redwood, why don't just go down to the dungeons where you belong, with the rest of the snakes?" Angelina adds venomously.

I don't know how to explain, and I can't bear to stand here in front of these incredibly judgemental people any longer. I turn and run out of the room. I hear the footsteps of someone running after me, but I don't stop running even when I'm out of the common room. I run until my legs refuse to hold me up any longer, and I find that I'm beside the black lake. I hadn't even realized I was outside.

I collapse and cry into my knees, hugging them to my chest and not making any attempt to get up. I hear someone sit down next to me, and tilt my head up, just enough to see Fred, his fiery red hair blowing in the strong wind, distinguishable from his twin only by the small scar at the tip of his nose that's just barely noticeable.

"Don't listen to them. It doesn't matter who your parents are, even if they are mass murderers." Fred says, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Not helping." I mumble into my knees.

"What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't matter what kind of people your parents are. All that matters is what kind of person you choose to be." Fred says with a small chuckle.

"That's pretty deep coming from someone who was commenting on how lucky I am to have a nose earlier." I say, raising my head a bit and letting out a small giggle.

"I have my moments." Fred laughs.

"I can't go back there. I can't stand to face them." I say, letting out a sigh.

"You don't have to. We can wait until curfew and then go back." Fred says.

"We?" I ask

"Well of course. You don't think I'm going to leave you here alone, do you?" Fred asks, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me closer to him.

"That's what anyone else would do." I mutter.

"Well then you're in luck, because I'm not anyone else." Fred smiles, kissing my forehead.

And so, we wait a few hours, and then return to the castle, sneaking around corners and hiding behind statues when Filch gets too close.

"It's times like this that I wish we still had the Marauder's Map." Fred mutters as we run into an empty classroom to hide from Mrs. Norris.

"It would come in handy right about now." I mutter. I find myself thinking back to when we first stole the map, the memory makes me happy.

**FLASHBACK**
I had been sulking on my way to the Gryffindor common room after earning my first detention with Snape, when a pair of arms wrapped around my waist and dragged me behind a statue.

"Oi! What do you think yo-mmmpphh" I exclaimed, but was suddenly cut off by a hand being clamped over my mouth.

"Sshh!" Someone whispered in my ear. "Filch is out, looking for someone to blame for the dung bombs going off in the charms corridor earlier."

I turned just enough to see the two redheads behind me, one holding me still, the other with their hand over my mouth. I ended up shaking my head.

"Hey I don't know where you're hand has been." I said while wrenching an arm free and wiping my mouth.

"Oi I'm offended!" One of them whisper yelled.

"I don't care, let me go." I was promptly released. "I assume you two are responsible for the dung bombs?"

"You assume correctly, love." One of them smirked, I couldn't tell which.

"Don't call me love." I said flatly. "What do we do now?"

"Now..." One of the twins said, looking around the corner to see Filch walking towards us. "You get caught and we run!"

I was pushed into the middle of the hallway where Filch, of course, caught me. I still don't know why they bothered to stop me in the first place, but I'm glad they did. The twins didn't get far though, before they were caught as well, the traitors. The three of us were dragged back to Filches office, and he began to write us up.

"I hate you two." I muttered, leaning against the stone wall.

"You won't once we get you out of here." I heard from my left.

"And how are you going to do that?" I whispered while Filch was writing us up.

"Drop this." A dung bomb was pressed into my hand. I whipped my head around. "No."

"Do you want out of here?"

I rolled my eyes, extremely irritated, but then stepped forward, got Filch's attention, and dropped the bomb at his feet while the twins were messing about with a cabinet behind me, and then we all bolted for the door.

I ripped up the detention slips and the twins ended up grabbing the crumpled up bit of parchment that was the map. It took us months to figure out how to use it, but we became friends, and it was well worth it when we finally figured out how to work the thing.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

"Nessa?" Fred whispers, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Oh sorry, I got lost in thought." I say. Fred nods slowly, then turns back to look at the hallway, waiting for Mrs. Norris to pass.

When the scruffy cat finally passes us, we quietly leave the classroom. A few staircases and corridors later, we reach the fat lady.

"Shouldn't you two be in bed by now?" The fat lady asks.

"We're trying to get to our beds. Can you get on with it?" Fred asks.

"Alright, alright. Password." She says tiredly.

"Fairy Lights." I answer.

The portrait swings aside, revealing the common room. We climb through the portrait hole, but neither of us goes to our dorms.

"Thank you, for everything. It means a lot that you cared enough to follow me." I say.

"Don't mention it." Fred whispers, smiling slightly.

His gaze flickers down to my lips and suddenly, he's getting closer. My heart starts beating out of control as Fred leans in to me, his hand pushing away a stray hair as it cups my face. Our lips have only just brushed against each other, when someone speaks from the stairs and we spring apart.

"Fred? Is that y- oh! Sorry!" George says, eyes widening.

"Shove off!" Fred scolds his brother, cheeks tinged pink.

George rushes back up the stairs without another word, and Fred turns his attention back to me. I look down at my feet, feeling the heat rushing to my cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..." Fred trails off awkwardly. I've never seen him so flustered.

"Don't worry about it." The words have left my mouth without my permission, and my body reacts before my mind can process what I'm doing. I lean in to kiss him, only for a moment before pulling away.

He looks a bit confused, but his shock melts into a smile and he shuts his eyes for a moment. I take this opportunity to run up the stairs to my dorm, leaving him behind me.