Cats and Dogs

Chapter 24

“Well, I’ll see you soon, Amilia!” Alice called back with a wave as she walked off with her parents.
I smiled and waved back, “See ya’.”
“Alright, well, my parents are over there,” Lily waved at an older couple who smiled cheerfully back. Lily turned to me, “Where’s your brother?”
I shrugged, “Wouldn’t be surprised if he forgot, to be quite honest-”
“Forgot that his sister is coming over for the holidays?” Lily asked quite shocked.
“Well, maybe not that, but probably forgot what day I was coming back. It’s alright though, I half expected this, I’ll just take a cab home. I’ve got some muggle money.” I smiled lightly at Lily who was frowning.
“Oh… well, alright.” she hugged me. “I’ll see you after the holidays, then.” She turned around and walked quickly to her parents who were smiling widely with ready, open arms.
I felt sick.
“You got everything, then?” A familiar deep, raspy voice said from behind me.
I twirled around and saw Alastor -- or at least what was left of him. There were more scars on his face than I cared to remember, a good chunk of his nose seemed to be missing, and he had an odd blue eye that was speculating everyone’s actions in King Cross.
My eyes were wide in shock and horror, my mouth was ajar and I took a deep breath, shaking my head slightly. “What… the bloody hell happened to you?!” I whispered dangerously.
He raised an eyebrow, “What are you talking about? I told you I lost my eye and leg.” he grabbed my luggage and began to limp to the exit and I hastily followed after him.
“What?!” I screeched lowly. “Your leg? What happened to your leg?” We walked through the barrier.
“Hm?” he looked at me over my shoulder. The muggle train station was dark and I frowned.
“What’s going on? Why’s the train station closed?” I asked curiously. The train stations would be the busiest around this time of year, I would imagine, seeing as people wanted to go places for shopping and visit their families.
“Theirs been quite a lot of accidents with their trains.” Alastor said darkly as he continued to limp out of the train station.
“Buy accidents, you mean Death Eaters have been tampering with the trains, right?”
He nodded once and continued on limping, which brought me back to my first question. “What happened to your leg?”
“I lost it.” He stated gruffly.
I snorted and scowled, “You lost it? It’s a leg, Alastor! It’s not your keys that you just misplaced!” My voice had become louder and Alastor suddenly stopped and turned around fiercely, glowering down at me with a hard expression.
“Listen here, Millie,” I winced at that stupid nickname most of my family members insisted on calling me. “I’m an Auror -- you know what that means? Aye? Do ya?” I glared at the ground. “It means,” he continued with a growl, “that I risk my life to catch Dark Wizards who insist on ruining other’s lives, understand? If that means loosing a limb here and there -- then so be it!”
I shook my head, “I know that, okay! I already told you in the letter I replied back to you when you told me you lost your eye! I know what you are doing! But you listen, here, Al,” he was the one who winced now and I poked him hard in the chest. “You’re my brother! And I’ll be damned if I have to listen to another person from the Ministry of Magic stammer as they tell me another person I love has died! You better live to see my children grow, understand?” I hissed the last word.
His jaw was clenched and he mumbled under his breath as he turned around and we continued our way out. The only words I caught was, “… dare she… Al… boo-hoo…. I’ll be damned… and children?” which was quickly followed by more growling.

~~~

“Alright, here we are.” he stated, throwing my trunk in the hall and limping over into the kitchen.
“You’re not going to take my trunk to my room?” I asked with a hint of amusement at the sour mood he was now it.
“No!” he snapped and I heard him slam the kettle down on the stove making me smile.
Ah, grumpy people -- it’s good to be home.
I walked over to my trunk and dragged it further down the hall towards the last door on the left; my room.
When my parents died they left the house to Alastor, they wanted me to change my life as little as possible and they knew I would be even more upset if I had to leave my home to stay in Alastor’s silly apartment. I pushed open the white door and smiled lightly and entered my room.
When I was six years old my parents decided I could choose how to paint my room so I decided on Princess Purple and while it was still wet I grabbed glitter and threw it sporadically on the walls.
Needless to say… I still love that idea and so they are still the same.
I walked over to my full sized bed and let myself fall onto the cool purple and blue sheets. I flipped over and smiled when I saw the galaxy as my ceiling. My mom bewitched it.
I sat up and looked around my room. Everything still looked the same. The dresser was shoved against the wall by the door, my desk was against the wall to my right, under the window, and my wardrobe was shoved in a corner to my left.
I slowly got up with a sad, curious feeling in me and slowly crept out of my room and back down the hall. I stopped and peeked into the kitchen to see Alastor’s back to me as he violently stirred something on the stove. I wanted to laugh at seeing him cook -- it just looked so odd and out of place -- like watching a bear tap dance in the middle of London.
I slowly crept by the kitchen and then quickly, but as quietly as possible, climbed the stairs. There was another small hall on the second floor and only two rooms and a bathroom; Alastor’s room and… my parents room.
“Hey!” I jumped and span around and saw Alastor at the bottom of the stairs looking up at me. “Dinners ready.” he grumbled at then limped back into the kitchen.
I looked back down the hall once more, shook my head, and then made my way to the kitchen.
“What’s for dinner, anyways?” I asked as I walked over to the table. I sniffed the air for the smell and my eyebrows furrowed together in confusion when there was no odor. I sat down at the table as Alastor pored what looked like soup or stew in a bowl and then walked over to the table and dropped the bowl in front of me. I leaned forward and raised an eyebrow.
It looked very murky and slightly gray and it was still bubbling. “Er… what is this?”
Alastor came back to the table with his own bowl of… stuff… and sat down across from me. “Stew.” he growled.
I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, what kind of stew?”
He glared at me, his new, weird eye focusing hard on me, and he growled, “The kind you eat.”
I scowled at him and then slowly tasted the stew. I nearly choked and spat it out quickly. Alastor scowled at me now and I stood up and looked at the stew with wide eyes, “How is it possible that it tastes that bad?!” I yelled frantically, picking up a napkin and wiping my tongue furiously. “You can do magic! Yet it tastes like some homeless muggle made it!”
“Well if you don’t like it -- then don’t eat it.” he stated sourly as he continued to eat his and I looked at him with disgust.
I crossed my arms, “Tomorrow I’m going to the store.”
“You do that.” He said with a full mouth, liquid dribbling down his chin making me wince in disgust.
I sat back down and pushed the bowl as far away as possible from me. I then looked at Alastor and nearly jumped when his good eye was looking down at his soup and the weird eye was staring at me. “That thing is creepy.” I mumbled.
He let out a gruffly snort and just continued to eat.
I let out a slow sigh and then licked my lips a bit nervously, “So, what’s been going on?”
He was still looking down at the table, eating his soup, with his one magical eye still on me, “With what?”
I rolled my eyes, “Football.” I stated sarcastically.
He looked up at me with a confused, annoyed look, “What?”
“The war of course!” I yelled out in frustration.
“Oh,” he slowly put down his spoon, “right.” He cleared his throat and leaned back slightly, both his eyes on my face. “Nothing you need to know.”
I blinked a few times in surprise. “What?”
“Look,” he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table with a tired look on his face, “You’re too young to know right now-”
“What?” I let out a laugh, “You’re joking right? Do you honestly think Voldemort gives a bloody hell how old we are? No!” I said quickly when Alastor opened his mouth to protest. “We need to know what is going on! Do you honestly think I’m not going to fight? I-- we all-- need to be prepared! Like dad always said: ‘Constant vigilance!’” I slammed my fist on the table getting caught up in my argument, causing Alastor to jump slightly and then raise an eyebrow. “Er, sorry.” I mumbled lying my hands on the table.
Alastor was silent for a few moments, thinking over what I had said. Both of his eyes were still on me with a hard expression on his face. He let out a rough sigh and then leaned back again in his chair, “Fine.” he tapped his fingers on the table. “But I ain’t gonna sugar-coat it, just so you know!” he growled and I rolled my eyes and nodded. “He’s rounded up followers faster than a Seeker who’s caught sight of the Snitch!” I jumped a little at the aggression in his voice. “We take down one Death Eater -- three more pop up! We’re nowhere near capturing Voldemort -hell! We’re not even sure we know what his next move is! He’s always two steps ahead of us and has spies in the Ministry and knows what we’re up to-”
“Okay!” I held up my hands, signaling him to stop. “So,” I let out a quick sigh and bit the inside of my cheek as a sick feeling settled in my gut, “basically… we’re losing.”
“Hm?” his head shot up, “Well, no. Not exactly. Not yet at least. We might not be making any progress in the battle field, but we’re holding down the fort.”
I got up from my seat, nodding slightly, “Alright… Uh… I’m going to bed.” I walked out of the kitchen.
“Wait!” I stopped and looked at my brother walking after me, “What do you want for Christmas?”
My eyes narrowed as my eyebrows furrowed together, “You haven’t got me my present yet?”
“Well, no.” He stated honestly. “I haven’t had time to ask you what you wanted. Mom was the one who always told me what to get you.”
My face relaxed, “Oh…” my mouth twitched into a smile, “A camera.”
“Hmph,” he nodded, “alright.” he scratched the back of his head, “Sorry it wont have the element of surprise. I know how much you like that stuff.”
I smiled lightly and shrugged, “It’s alright.” I turned back around with a yawn and walked down the hall and into my room, closing the door behind me. I walked over to my truck and pulled out my pajamas and got dressed and then walked across the hall into the loo and did my regular nightly activities and then quickly walked back to my trunk. I shoved my clothes and books around and smiled when I saw nine boxes of different shapes hidden at the bottom. I pulled them out and placed them onto the floor and grabbed my wand, “Al!” I called out.
“What?!” he shouted back.
“Can I do magic?!”
“No! You‘re underage!” he growled.
I stood up and walked to the door, poking my head out to see Alastor at the bottom of the stairs, looking back down the hall at me. “But mom and dad let you do magic in the house when you were fifteen!”
“That’s because I’m responsible.” he stated matter-of-factly.
“Ha!” I raised my wand, “Accio wrapping paper!” I heard the small closet by the living room open and the sound of paper flying.
“Hey! What did I just say!” Alastor yelled angrily.
“What are you going to do? Hand me over to the Ministry?” I rolled my eyes and stretched out my hand and grabbed the wrapping paper the was floating by me.
He tapped his foot angrily and then stormed up stairs to his room. I smiled, “Accio scissors and tape!”
“Stop it!”