The Greatest Love, The Highest Sacrifice

This chapter is dedicated to the amazing Aieshya (words cannot express my thanks, cherie!) and to Hildigunnur, my first net reviewer. You have inspired me to keep going despite the difficulties. Greetings as always to the wonderful Mrs. Mark Darcy, and many thanks to Zsenya

Chapter 7 – When Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

 

Tread softly, for you tread upon my dreams.
W.B. Yeats

 

Norri returned to consciousness just as Draco heard the footsteps ascending the stairwell. From his horrified expression, she guessed that someone was approaching and desperately began fumbling for her wand. She grasped it just as she saw the door handle turn and she threw herself towards one of the wall hangings, gasping the words of her invisibility spell.

When she looked up at Charlie’s appalled expression a few moments later, her heart stopped as she thought for one horrible second that the spell hadn’t worked. But his gaze passed her by as it surveyed the damage caused in her unsuccessful attempts to trap Draco into one spot. She noted ruefully that almost every piece of furniture had been decimated.

“Draco…” Charlie’s eyes traveled around the wrecked room, his astonishment written plainly across his features. “What on earth is going on?”

Draco turned with infinitesimal slowness. His jaw dropped in shock as he saw the empty room, and his eyes darted quickly around the room as he attempted to determine to where she had disappeared. But when he turned back to Charlie, his face was impassive.

“Well, sir,” he drawled calmly, “I found a Boggart under the staircase near the Potions dungeon this afternoon, and I thought it would be interesting to practice a few Defense Against the Dark Arts skills on it.”

Charlie was practically apoplectic with shock. “You thought it would be interesting? Do you have any idea how much damage you’ve done, or how dangerous your foolhardy idea was?”

Norri observed that part of Charlie’s anger was disappointment in the boy he had obviously come to consider an exception to the Malfoy rule. He’s probably thinking of Justin right now, she thought, and then uttered a tiny gasp of shock as she remembered just how much this scenario would remind Charlie of Justin.

In their fifth year, Draco’s cousin had somehow obtained the password for the Gryffindor common room and totally destroyed Charlie’s dorm. They had never been able to officially prove that it was Justin who had done it, although he had gloated over the destruction of Charlie’s most precious possessions for months. Norri almost let out a groan when she heard Draco’s next words – he could almost be Justin himself.

“The damage is nothing my father can’t compensate,” he said dismissively with a shrug of his shoulders. “And as for the danger…I’ve dealt with much worse than Boggarts.”

Norri knew this information wouldn't impress Charlie. He’d never appreciated the ‘rich boy’ attitude, especially when he’d copped so much in his life for being poor. Her impression was confirmed when Charlie gave Draco a detention to help him ‘reconsider his attitude’ and told him to begin cleaning up while he went to fetch Dumbledore.

“Normally, I’d deal with an incident of this nature differently, Draco, but your attitude worries me. Especially considering you’re Head Boy. You’d better improve your explanation before I come back with the Headmaster.”

He walked out the door, which Norri immediately sealed with a muttered spell. She let out a sigh of relief, then whispered the spell to stop her invisibility.

Draco pulled out his wand, apparently about to seal the door himself.

“Don’t worry,” Norri said quickly, stepping out from behind the wall hanging. “I already did it.”

Draco whirled around, and his eyes widened once again as he took in her altered appearance.

“Give me a minute,” she exclaimed, holding up her hand as he opened his mouth to speak. “Then we can talk.”

She crossed quickly to the fireplace, and pointed her wand at the leaping flames. A few muttered words, including the phrase “Parlus momentia dirictus Professor Dumbledore’s office!” she muttered and moments later the Headmaster’s face appeared in the flames.

“Hello, Norri dear,” he said, eyes twinkling.

“Hello, Professor,” she replied quickly, not wanting him to say anything that would further complicate matters with Draco. “I’m in the Astronomy Tower with Draco Malfoy. We had a little, er, disagreement, and unfortunately Professor Weasley found Draco in a somewhat compromising position. He’s actually on his way to see you right now, and I was wondering if you could delay him a bit so I could clear up a few matters with Draco.”

“No problems, Miss Evans,” Dumbledore answered immediately, although his expression had changed to one of concern. “Are you sure you want to do things this way, my dear?”

She nodded assertively. “This is one Malfoy I know I can trust, sir.”

“Very well. May I speak to him for a moment?”

Norri smiled and moved aside, beckoning for Draco to take her place in front of the fire.

“Professor Dumbledore?” Draco said, his voice obviously confused.

“Yes, Draco,” said Dumbledore. “Miss Evans has decided to take you into her confidence and I have total faith in her judgement. I trust you will keep whatever she chooses to tell you to yourself, and if you wish to clarify anything, I am happy to speak with you at any time.”

“Thank you, sir,” Draco said hesitantly.

Dumbledore smiled through the flames. “All right then – half an hour, Miss Evans?”

“Yes, sir,” Norri agreed.

“Very well. Make sure you’re gone by the time I bring Charlie along, Elinor. I’ll see you shortly, Mr. Malfoy.”

And his face disappeared from the flames.

Norri turned and smiled at Draco tentatively. “Looks like he’ll be fairly lenient on you.”

Draco ran a hand through his hair, glancing at her with narrowed eyes. “I should hope so, considering I’m not the one who actually did all this.”

Norri blushed, realising the veracity of his statement. “I am sorry, Draco,” she began, but he held up a hand to stop her.

“Don’t worry. It’s not like I’ve never shoved the responsibility of my actions on someone else before.” He grinned ruefully, and then stared at her intently. “Besides, if you tell me what Dumbledore thinks you’re going to, I’d have to say it’s a fair exchange.”

She nodded, then looked around for somewhere to sit. There was a sofa that she had split in half earlier, but the carpet it stood on was undamaged.

“Let’s sit down,” she said, walking over to it as she did so. “This could take a while.”

They both sat, Draco leaning against part of the sofa, and Norri cross-legged in the middle of the carpet.

“Where to begin?” she said, giving a little smile. “I guess at the beginning – but, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you something first. You were shocked when you saw me like this – obviously – but you also looked as if you recognised me somehow. Was it just me, or have you seen me somewhere before?”

Draco shrugged. “Not in the flesh or anything, but I’ve seen a photo of you before. In Charlie Weasley’s office.”

Norri closed her eyes. This wasn’t what she had expected, though she might have guessed it would be the case. “Right,” she said slowly, already knowing the answer to the question she was about to ask. “We were together?”

“Yeah. You had your arms linked – and you had a ring on your hand,” he added.

She nodded. “That would have been our engagement party. It was four years ago.”

“I’m guessing you’re not engaged anymore?”

“No, we’re not. But I’d better start things properly. My real name is Elinor Evans. Do you know anyone else called Evans? No, you wouldn’t. It was before your time. Well, this is the biggest part, so here goes: only one other person named Evans has come to Hogwarts.”

Draco looked at her blankly.

Norri drew a deep breath. “Her name was Lily.”

Instant recognition lit Draco’s face.

Norri gave a small, knowing nod. “She was my sister.”

Draco bolted upright against the couch as he made the connection.

“You’re Lily Potter’s sister? But that would make you –”

“Harry’s aunt. Yes, that’s right.”

Draco looked wild-eyed for a moment, and Norri worried for a split second that the shock had gone to his head. Then he suddenly collapsed into a fit of laughter.

“You mean to tell me Potter’s got a crush on his aunty?” he gasped. “Oh, that’s one of the best things I ever heard.”

Norri couldn’t help it. She dissolved into giggles, covering her mouth with her hands. “That was ages ago, Draco!” she protested, trying to regain her breath. “He’s been over me for months now.”

“Yeah, I know, but still…” Draco wiped his streaming eyes on his sleeve. “Hold on, this means he doesn’t know about you, right?”

“No, he doesn’t know.” Norri drew a deep breath, trying to calm down. “But you’re moving too fast. Let’s go back a little first. Lily’s my sister, but there’s a huge gap between the two of us. She’s eleven years older than me.”

“Sorry,” Draco interrupted, “but how old does that make you?”

“Twenty-seven. I’m nine years older than you, Harry and the others.”

Draco gave a startled snort. “Shit. No wonder you’re such a peacemaker – and why you know all our classwork! So, why doesn’t Harry know?”

“Hold on there!” Norri exclaimed, holding up her hands. “Like I said, Lily was eleven years older than me. I was only seven when she married James, and nine when they were both killed by Voldemort. I was too young to look after an orphaned baby on my own. Besides, my own parents were killed that night by Death Eaters. So I was in no state at all to take care of Harry.”

Norri stopped her narration and looked up to see Draco’s concerned expression.

Smiling, she continued resolutely.

“My older sister Petunia, a Muggle, refused to have me and Harry. So my grandfather - who’s a wizard – took me and Harry went with my sister. Grandfather was afraid for my safety – Voldemort had made his Death-Eaters swear an oath that I would be killed – so he kept me in seclusion until I started at Hogwarts. The only person I really knew besides him was a friend of his – Remus Lupin.”

Draco whistled, putting the pieces together at last.

“So, at eleven, I started Hogwarts with almost no family, and not knowing a single wizard or witch my own age. And the first person I met ended up being my first experience of a normal family – Mum, Dad, brothers, and later a sister…he became my best friend.”

“Charlie Weasley.”

“Yes.”

There was a short pause as Norri’s mind was drawn to the past, and Draco’s to a reconsideration of her actions over the last months. Things were finally making sense.

“There was another reason why Charlie and I became close so quickly,” she said after a moment. “He, well, he protected me from someone on the Hogwarts Express. Someone who’s related to you, actually.”

Once again, Draco looked confused. Clearly running through names in his mind, he came to one and shook his head in disbelief. But Norri smiled gently and nodded, obviously aware of who he had lighted upon.

“Justin? You knew Justin at Hogwarts?” He laughed bitterly. “Man, no wonder you needed Charlie’s protection. That guy terrorized me every time he came to visit – still does, in fact. The mater and I both reckon he was born a Death-Eater.”

He paused, clearly taking in this additional revelation. Then his eyes widened as something else occurred to him. “Hang on! Three years ago he visited my father, absolutely seething with rage and frustration. I wasn’t allowed into the library but I eavesdropped – naturally – and he was raving on about how his blonde ‘angel’ had eluded him. He and Father were screaming at each other, Father blaming him for losing her, and Justin saying how he had been so close, so close, and then she was gone and no one – “not even that idiot Weasley,” he’d said – knew where she was. That was you?”

Norri paled as she heard this.

“Then Sirius was right!” she half-whispered to herself. “I’ll have to tell him when –” she looked at Draco and broke off mid-sentence.

“You still haven’t seen him then?” Draco asked.

She shook her head.

“Well, we can discuss that some other time – I’m sure there’s more to it than what you originally told me, but you’ve got to finish all this first.”

Norri gave a sigh. “You’re right. So, where were we? Oh yes, at the beginning of Hogwarts. So, it was me and Charlie – and another friend of ours, Bastian Baltimanny – versus Justin and his cronies. I don’t know if you knew them, so I’ll just mention them briefly. McNair was a great pal of his, and so was one of the Quirrells.

Lucretius Lockhart used to hang around them a great deal, but Justin never had much tolerance for him – too much of a lapdog, I think. Nothing like his brother…” She shivered, remembering her encounters with Gilderoy.

“I’ll tell you about him another time,” she explained to an obviously confused Draco. “Anyway, so that was the lot of us, a little like your opposition to Harry, Ron and Hermione. Of course, none of them knew that I was related to Lily – not even Charlie. Grandfather thought that it was the only way I would be safe. And no one tended to think of her as Lily Evans, it was always Lily Potter. So I was protected in that sense. Then, when I was fifteen, things changed.

“I’d always had problems believing that Sirius Black had been responsible for the deaths of James and my sister. I’d been so young at the time, but I had seen how close he was to them, and how he adored Harry.”

“Yes, well, doesn’t everyone?” muttered Draco snidely.

“Oh, do get over it!” Norri snapped. “You’re actually wrong about that anyway, but we can argue some other time – Dumbledore will be here with Charlie if you keep interrupting!

“So, when I was fifteen, I asked my grandfather if I could visit Sirius in Azkaban. I wanted to discover the truth. It took me a while to convince him, but I managed it. Dumbledore pulled a few strings for me and off I went.”

She stopped for a minute, remembering the moment she entered Azkaban. “It was horrible. I wouldn’t wish that prison on anyone – not even a Death Eater. When I saw Sirius, I didn’t recognise him. And at first he wouldn’t speak to me, wouldn’t answer any of my attempts to make conversation. So I decided to just come out with it….” Her mind flew back to what had become one of the turning points of her life.

“Sirius, did you do it? Did you betray Lily and James to Voldemort?”

He looked at her wildly, never reminding her more of his animal form than in that moment. When he spoke, his voice was raw and anguished.

“No. I did not.”

And she stared at him, seeing his pain and desperation and grief.

“I believe you,” she whispered.

“And that was all there was to it,” she murmured. “I said I believed him, and I did. I told Grandfather when I got home and he cried. I told Remus and we had the only real fight of our entire friendship.”

Until you said you weren’t going to see Sirius any more, her mind added, but she didn’t share this with Draco.

“But I believed Sirius and I didn’t stop believing him. I visited him every holiday from then till the day I graduated. I decided to become an Auror so I could clear his name.

“Charlie didn’t understand why I chose that as my profession,” she added. “But then, he didn’t know the reasons behind it. And I think he was a little jealous that I was going to be staying with Bastian while he went off to study dragons in Romania.”

“And the rest of school?” Draco asked.

“Passed as school tends to – quickly and slowly at the same time. Justin continued to torment me, and Charlie was always my best friend, along with Bastian, of course. I didn’t realise Charlie was in love with me until our graduation.

And I didn’t feel the same way, but I cared about him so much that I thought things would change with time. So we dated off and on, and when he moved to Romania, I would go and visit him there – sometimes with Bastian, and sometimes on my own.”

“Which is how you know Cináed,” Draco added.

“Right. It was never a serious relationship in that sense – we both always wanted to wait until we were married, regardless whether or not we married each other. To be totally honest, I never thought we would get married. And then, four years ago, he proposed.”

“And you weren’t in love with him?”

Norri looked down at the floor. “No,” she admitted.

“So, why did you say yes?”

“It’s complicated,” she said, feeling her cheeks burn as she said the words. “I desperately wanted to live a normal life, to settle down and have a family – one which included Harry. Bastian’s death had shaken me up horribly, and the only reason I stayed on as an Auror was to clear Sirius’ name. The night Charlie proposed, I received an owl from Grandfather telling me Sirius had escaped from Azkaban and they didn’t think he had survived the attempt. And that day, one of my closest friends – yet another fellow-Auror – was killed. She was following a lead on Barty Crouch, a lead that involved Justin.

“My whole world was turning upside down, and I desperately wanted to make it all stop and go away. Then Charlie turned up, and he was so sweet, and understanding – and, well, normal – that I felt loved and safe. I wanted to stay that way, and I wanted him to be happy too. And I thought the answer to both those things was to say yes. So I did.”

“And when did you realise you’d made a mistake?”

Norri sighed. “Almost immediately. He had to go back to Romania, and I actually got sent off to find Sirius.”

She paused, knowing that Draco wanted to ask how Sirius had taken the news that she was engaged. But she didn’t want to remember her best friend’s reaction…the way he had frozen stiff, blanched deathly white and looked at her as if she was Dementor who was about to give him the Kiss…or how his desire to prove Scabbers was Peter Pettigrew had turned into a manic obsession, as if it was the only thing he had left to live for….

No, Draco did not need to know those things.

“And then, as the months passed, it became clearer and clearer that Charlie and I would not be happy together. There came a point when I knew I would never fall in love with him, and it became equally clear to me that he would not be able to deal with the fact that I had kept so much from him for so many years – my family secrets, Sirius, my encounters with Justin as an Auror – they were all things I hadn’t told him because I didn’t want to complicate things with him, but I knew he wouldn’t see it that way. Especially about my real relationship to Harry. He had never understood my interest in Harry – he called me a driveling female at the World Cup Quidditch Match because I panicked about Harry when the Dark Mark appeared in the sky. I let slip something about Justin being involved and Charlie blew his stack because he thought I should Disapparate to safety instead of looking for Harry, who he argued was probably safe anyway.”

At the mention of Justin, Draco leaned in, keenly interested.

“Was he involved then?”

Norri shook her head. “I don’t know,” she answered, frustrated. “I never worked it out. Only weeks later, Harry’s name was called from the Tournament Cup. I was with Sirius when Harry’s owl came and we both suspected the worst. From that moment, I switched focus to Hogwarts – which is why I didn’t even know Justin was on my trail.”

They were silent, each equally aware of how lucky she had been that Justin had not succeeded, and both painfully conscious that that particular battle was far from over.

“So, when Cedric was killed and Harry barely escaped from Voldemort, I decided that I had waited long enough to start playing the role I owned in my nephew’s life. I’d discovered, in that hour he was facing Voldemort – when I was sure he was going to die – that he meant more to me than anyone else in the world. So I talked things over with Professor Dumbledore and decided to become an immediate, if disguised, part of his life. Sirius and Remus had their misgivings, but they had to respect that it was my decision. And Charlie…I left Charlie a letter explaining how I really felt about him, and breaking off our engagement. I told him there was a job I needed to do, one which involved total secrecy, which I was taking to be able to work things out for myself.”

“You know he’s still in love with you.”

Norri didn’t challenge Draco’s statement. Her expression when she looked at him was pained, but resolute.

“I can’t help that – I can’t change the way I feel any more than he can. We’re both going to have to learn how to deal with it.”

Draco nodded, but felt obliged to comment anyway.

“You know, being so flighty around him – even when you’ve got this ‘Charm of Illusion’ thing happening – is bound to make him suspicious sooner or later. I mean, you’ve got the same nickname and everything!”

Norri shifted where she sat, but had to concede that Draco had a point. The two of them talked for several minutes about the best possible way of making Norri’s dealings with Charlie more natural and less confrontational.

Suddenly Norri noticed the time and jumped to her feet.

“I’ll have to get moving, otherwise Charlie will turn up and then things would really go haywire.”

“Yeah, okay,” Draco replied, but he didn’t seem ready to finish. “Listen, before you go, could you just run through exactly who knows all this? The people that I know, that is.”

“Sure,” said Norri. “There’s you, Remus, Sirius, Grandfather, Mrs. Weasley and the twins.”

“Mrs. Weasley?” Draco asked in surprise – it was obviously a name he had not expected to appear.

He’s not taken aback by Fred and George though, Norri noted to herself with interest.

“Yeah, I’ll explain some other time,” she answered aloud, heading for the door. The concept of meeting Charlie was making her feel decidedly jumpy.

“And what about Dumbledore?” Draco asked, still sitting on the floor against the couch.

Norri stopped. “Oh, yeah. I always forget someone. Listen, while we’re at it, there’s something I need to ask you, without explaining it fully now because I just don’t have the time.”

She looked at Draco for confirmation, and was stunned to see a noncommittal expression on his face.

“You’re not going to say yes?” she asked in disbelief.

Draco chuckled dryly.

“Not till I know what it is,” he said calmly. “I’m still that much of a Malfoy, thank you very much!”

“Okay, okay,” Norri replied, holding her hands out deprecatingly. “But seriously, if there’s one thing about all this that you can’t tell anyone else, this is it – understood?”

She waited for an affirmative nod from Draco, then plunged right in.

“Voldemort’s planning an attack on Hogwarts – and he’s bringing Justin.”

Draco drew in a deep breath, then let it out in a whistle.

“That’s food for thought!” he said lightly, but Norri could see he was shaken. “You’d better go,” he added, “they’ll really be here soon now.”

Norri nodded, and opened the door. As she walked through it, she heard him yell out:

“You owe me one, Elinor Evans!”

Ducking her head back in, she grinned at him.

“I know! And I’m sure you’ll hold me to it too!”

Then she headed quickly down the stairs, taking care to avoid any of the main corridors Dumbledore might take with Charlie.

One more person knows the truth! she thought happily as she slipped back under her invisibility spell. One more piece in place. And she knew it was a big piece, one that would lead to many things.

She smiled happily, not caring that no one could see her beaming face. It’s starting to look like the beginning of the end at last!