Little Lioness

“Mr. Malfoy, this is an unusual case. Hogwarts does not usually accept transfer students.” The man who I knew to be Professor Dumbledore said as he looked at my father and me through half-moon spectacles.

“I am very much aware. However, these are extenuating circumstances.”
“Yes, I see that your daughter has been expelled from Beauxbatons.” Dumbledore replied.
“That is true, but we, her mother and I, feel that attending a school much closer to home will be beneficial to her.”
“In other words, Mr. Malfoy,” Dumbledore replied in a tone that suggested he was highly amused, “You have attempted to send your daughter to various schools that are far away and she has been expelled from all of them, leaving Hogwarts to be her only option for her final year of schooling.”

My father didn’t reply but I had to fight to hold back a smile.

“Mr. Malfoy, Miss Malfoy,” Dumbledore said inclining his head in my direction, “Hogwarts will have a place for Mercy during the upcoming school year. We shall sort her now.”

Dumbledore and Father stood up.
The headmaster waved his wand, making a stool appear out of thin appear. Walking over to a shelf, he pulled a raggedy hat down.

Dumbledore indicated the stool and I sat down. The hat was placed upon my head.
“A Malfoy…” It murmured in my ear.
“A talking hat…” I replied.
“You won’t do well in Slytherin…curious…but you would do well in…GRYFFINDOR!”
The hat was removed from my head as my father looked down at me disapprovingly.
Nodding to Dumbledore, my father quickly strode out of his office, assuming I would be behind him.

“Professor?”
“Yes, Miss Malfoy?”
“Do you think I could have my name changed...I don’t really want my association with…them known.”
Dumbledore nodded. “Do you have a last name in mind?”
“Bennett?”
“Mercy Bennett it is.”
“Thank you.” I murmured as I pushed my glasses further up my nose while I stood up from the stool and left his office.

It was official. I was now going to be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
- x -
“There will be no talking. This is detention,” Professor Snape drawled, “Not time for you to converse—Weasley!” Two redhead twins looked up from their conversation at the sound of their names. “No talking!” Snape snapped.

The twins shared a look before falling to silence.

“I expected no less to find that three Gryffindors had gotten detentions before the first week of classes had been up. Today your task is to organize the various detention records,” Snape gestured to the cabinets in the room. “Without magic—”

“Professor,”
“What is it, Mr. Filch?”
“Peeves is destroying the fifth floor corridor, again.”
With an annoyed huff, Snape muttered for us to get to work as he left the room.

I walked quietly over to cabinet and began to work. I could fell the stares of the two twins on my back.

“A picture will last longer.” I called over my shoulder.

“Sorry—”
I jumped, startled by their sudden proximity. They did nothing to hide their smiles at my jumpy-ness.

“I’m George—”
“And I’m Fred—”
“Weasley.” They said together.

“And you are?” The one who called himself George asked.
“Mercy.” I replied.
“What year are you in?” Fred asked.
“Seventh.”
“What house?” George asked.
“Gryffindor.”
“No way.” They replied together.
“Yes way.” I informed them as I continued to organize the cards detailing the various detentions of past students.

“No way—” Fred said as he picked up a card to file away.
“Because we’ve never seen you before.”

“I only transferred here at the start of term.” I said.
“From where?” They asked.
“Beauxbatons. I got expelled.” I shrugged.

“Why?” Fred asked
“My French was terrible.” I replied, attempting to keep a straight face.

Fred grinned at me, causing me to drop my attempt at seriousness and smile at him in return.

Two hours later, we were released from detention.
“What did you two do to get into detention?” I asked as I struggled with my heavy book bag.

“Prank gone wrong.” Fred replied as he took my bag off my shoulder and carried it for me. I smiled at him in thanks.
“And you?” George asked from where he walked on the other side of me.
“Cursed Malfoy.” I replied softly.

“Wicked.” They replied.

“So,” Fred said, throwing an arm around my shoulder, “in all seriousness, which of us is more handsome?” He smiled widely at me as I looked between the pair of them.

“George.” I replied in an instant.
Fred’s face fell as George laughed and hugged me.
“I say we keep her.” He said.
“I agree.” Fred said, staring into my eyes.

By the time we’d made it back to Gryffindor Tower, we’d discovered that we had Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense against the Dark Arts together, although the latter had become a very pointless class since the appointment of our new teacher.

George bid us goodnight and went upstairs to bed.
As I took my bag from Fred and went toward the staircase he called after me.

“Meet me here before breakfast tomorrow?” He asked. “We’ll go down together?”
“Sure.” I smiled as I consented.
Fred grinned before running up the staircase that led to the boys’ dormitories.
- x -
The next morning, I met Fred and George in the common room and, as Fred promised, we walked down to the Great Hall together. Fred took my bag from me again.

As we approached the Gryffindor table, Fred and George introduced me to others in our House.

“Merc, they’re Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson, Gryffindor Chasers.” Fred explained. I waved hello meekly.

“That’s Alicia Spinnet, Gryffindor Chaser, and Lee Jordan, Quidditch commentator.” George said next.

“Next to them, there’s our git of a brother, Ron. He’s a prefect now—”
“Made Mummy so proud.” George cooed.

“Shudda up.” Ron muttered as his face flushed red.
“Next to him is Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. And our little sister, Ginny.”

“Hi.” I said softly as I sat down at the side with Fred taking the open seat next to me.
- x -
Weeks passed quickly and I found myself spending more and more time with Fred.
On Saturday morning, he and I were walking down to the Quidditch pitch; he had convinced me to watch the Gryffindor team practice.

“You’ve never played Quidditch before?” Fred asked in surprise. “How is that possible?”
“I’ve never flown on a broom before, either.”
He looked at me with wide eyes. “How do you live?” He cried.

I laughed. “Beauxbatons wasn’t big on flying around of broomsticks. It might mess up our hair.”

“Well I think you’d look amazing with wind-blown hair.” Fred murmured. Flushing, we fell silent for the rest of the walk to the pitch.

I soon found myself sitting in the stands with Hermione and Ron who had come to watch Harry flying about as well.

Numerous times, Fred caught my eyes and smiled at me.
“Bloody moron.” Ron snorted under his breath.
“Be quiet, Ronald.” Hermione retorted. “It’s cute.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Nothing—”
“My brother’s bloody smitten with you.”
“No he’s—” But I interrupted myself as I saw that Fred was smiling at me again.

“I don’t think he’s the only one smitten.” Hermione whispered to Ron.
“Honestly, guys,” I began as I kept my gaze on Fred. “He’s not—”

This time I stopped short as Fred got hit with a bludger.
Luckily, he wasn’t that far off the ground.

As I ran on the stands, toward the stairs, Ron called after me, “You’re right Mercy. Obviously he’s not in love with you. He clearly wanted to get hit with a Bludger.”

Ignoring them, I ran down to the pitch.
Pushing through the sweaty Quidditch players, I kneeled down by Fred.
His eyes were closed tightly as he spoke to his brother while his hand pinched the bridge of his nose tightly. His nose was bleeding.

“Please tell me she didn’t see that.” He muttered.
“Oh, don’t worry,” George replied as he looked at me. “She didn’t.” He could barely suppress his laughter.

“Fred?” I asked softly.
Fred’s eyes opened and they snapped to me momentarily before sliding over to glare at George who merely laughed.

“Here,” the uninjured twin held out a little piece of candy to his brother.
After taking it, the blood stopped flowing from his nose.

“Are you alright?” I asked as he stood up.
“Perfect, if you don’t count my bruised ego.”
“I don’t.”
“Then I’m fantastic.”

“I was worried.”
“You were?” He asked in surprise.
“Of course…you just fell off your broom, Fred.”

“Yeah,” he said sheepishly. “I was hoping you hadn’t seen that.”
- x -
“Where are we going, Fred?” I asked as he led me, since I was blindfolded, down a corridor one October night.

I heard a door open and suddenly I felt cold air upon my face; we were outside.
Fred took my hand and pulled me across the grounds.

“Seriously, Fred, what’s going on?” I asked as I heard another door open and close.

The blindfold was removed from my eyes and I was met with the sight of Fred standing before me with a broom.

“We’re going flying.”
“Fred—”
“You know you want to, Mercy.”
“Fine.” With that, he mounted the broom and floated a few feet off the ground.

He held his hand out to me, but I hesitated.
“Do you trust me?”

Nodding, I took his hand and he pulled me up on the broom. Away we went.

I laughed as we soared over the lake and the castle. Eventually, Fred slowed down and we moved slowly in the night.

Suddenly the broom dipped down, and instinctively, I grabbed tightly onto Fred.

He turned face me. “I won’t let you fall.” He murmured. I was so very conscious of how close he was.

“I didn’t think you would.”
“Mercy.” He whispered. I wanted to melt as he said my name. “Mercy Bennett.” He murmured.

“Fred Weasley.”
“If I were to…kiss you…would you shove me off the broom?” He asked as he peered at me through his eyelashes.

“I guess you’ll just have to try it and find out.” I muttered, not able to tear my gaze away from him.

He did. I didn’t shove him off the broom.
- x -
“Hey.” He replied as he sat down next to me on a couch in the common room.
“Hi.” I replied as I leaned in for a kiss.

“You wanna come to Hogsmeade with me? There’s a meeting for that…club that I was talking about.” He asked quietly, lest someone overheard him.

“Of course.”

And so, we joined Dumbledore’s Army that day.
I wanted to because it would mean for more time with Fred, because it would piss off my father, were he to ever find out about it, and because Umbridge was teaching us absolutely nothing.
- x -
October turned to November. November turned to December.
I was falling more and more in love with Fred every day. And I couldn’t tell him. I couldn’t find the words because if he didn’t love me back, it would destroy our relationship.

I was anxious as I watched Fred fly about during the game. It was the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor match. The rivalry served only to intensify the match.

As I made my way onto the pitch after the game, I could see Draco call after Fred, George, and Harry. Whatever he said, it was enough to incite George and Harry to attack him. Fred was held back by his teammates and couldn’t join the brawl.

By the time I got to them, George and Harry had been pulled off of Draco.

Draco got to his feet and opened his mouth to speak, but I was before him before he could even think of what to say.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I yelled.
And he laughed. “Father will be proud to know how valiantly you’re defending the scum of our world. Just like a little lioness.” He said sarcastically.

“It’s better than being a snake.”
“Ah, yes. There’s the mentality that got you sent off to Beauxbatons, sister dearest.”

“Sister?” My head snapped to face him. He shook off the holds of his teammates.
“Fred-”
“Sister?” He repeated loudly. “You’re…you’re his sister? You’re a Malfoy?” The look on his face broke my heart and I found it hard to breathe. I felt like the very moment was crushing my heart.
“Fred, please-”

“Sister didn’t tell you?” Draco mocked. “How deceptive of her. Perhaps she should’ve been a Slytherin after all.”
“Shut up, Draco.” I warned.
“No, he’s right.” Fred interrupted. “You should’ve been in Slytherin. At least then I would’ve known who you were from the beginning.”

Out of nowhere, Umbridge appeared. “Weasley, Weasley, Potter! My office, now!” She commanded.

With somber faces, George, Harry, and Fred turned to follow her off the pitch.

“Fred!” I called after him, but he didn’t turn around.
- x -
Fred, George, and Harry got life-time bans on Quidditch because of the fight that day.
He didn’t stay at Hogwarts over the winter holidays. I had heard that his dad had been attacked.

Fred wouldn’t look at me. He wouldn’t talk to me. If we were in the same room for even just a moment, he would leave. I’d hoped that the break from school would allow him to cool off and think rationally. I’d hoped that he might forgive me, I was wrong. I was wrong and he was angry.

The day before classes started, I found him sitting by the lake, for once without his brother.

“Fred,” I said softly as I pushed my glasses further up my nose.
He didn’t look at me. He didn’t move. He ignored my presence.

“How’s your dad?”
“Why bother asking if you don’t care?”
“I do care Fred-”
“I don’t!” He yelled standing up. “I don’t care about you anymore, alright? I don’t want anything to do with you.”
And with that he stomped away, leaving me alone again.

Between the two twins, I’d noticed one main difference between them. George played pranks for a laugh, but Fred’s prank aired sometimes on the side of cruelty, which turned out unfortunately for me.

Fred, to vent his anger, jinxed a potion to fall upon my head, soaking me in a green potion as soon I entered the common room one night.

He and the various other Gryffindors who were unhappy with me laughed.

When I woke up the next morning, I was green. From head to toe.
Stomping down to the common room and upon finding that he wasn’t there, I stomped my way to the Great Hall.

Angrily, I scanned the Gryffindor table and found him laughing with his twin.
Grabbing the back of his shirt, I yanked him off the bench and dragged him out of the Hall.

“What the hell, Fred?” I yelled, hating myself for the way my voice trembled.
“What?” He shrugged.
“I’m green!”
“The color suits you.” He said nonchalantly. “I figured you’d want to know how you would’ve looked in Slytherin colors.”

“Stop it Fred!”
“Why? That’s what you are after all!” I flinched at how emotional his voice was. “You should’ve been a Slytherin.”
“And yet I was sorted into Gryffindor!” I fought back.
“For how deceptive you’ve been with all of us, that surprises me. I’m surprised Umbridge hasn’t busted into any of the—” he lowered his voice “DA meetings. I’m surprised you haven’t told her yet—”

“I wouldn’t do.”
“Really? Am I supposed to know that? Am I supposed to know what you would do?” He yelled.
“Yes. Fred, I’m still the same person—”
“No, you’re not! You used to be Mercy Bennett, this wicked amazing girl that I really cared about and now you’re just…Mercy Malfoy. You’re just another person.”

“Fred—”
“So I turned you green. I could’ve done a lot worse. At least I didn’t break your heart.”
“Fred!”

But he didn’t turn around.
- x -
“Aw, the Weasel won’t talk to you?”
A month had passed and I was still tingled a light shade of green. I hadn’t bothered to go to Madam Pompfrey to see if she could fix it. It was a reminder of what I did to him.

“Leave me alone Draco.” I murmured.
“You see? This is what happens when you pick a blood traitor over your family.”
“You can hardly call us family.”
My little brother smirked at me.
“No, no big sis. We can hardly call you family.”
“I don’t mind.”
“When I was younger, I never understood why you were never home. Why they sent you away. But now I get it. They didn’t want you around because you’re a disgrace—”
“Shut up.”
“Because you’re a stain on our family line—”
“Shut up!”
“How the Weasel stood you for even a moment is—”
I pulled out my wand but before I could do anything, he yelled “Expelliarmus!”

My wand went flying up the corridor. He held his wand threateningly in my face.

“I can see how you were able to pass yourself off as someone else. You don’t look like us with your frizzy brown hair,” he said in disgust, “and that you aren’t—”

“Anywhere near as modest as you and your pansy of a father.”
We both looked to the end of the corridor.
He strode over to us as he held my wand in his hands.
“Got something else to say, Malfoy?” He asked as he moved to stand in between my brother and me.

Draco smirked. “Blood traitors deserve each other.” He looked passed the boy to speak to me. “Father told me to inform you to not bother coming home at the end of the year. You most certainly aren’t wanted.”
With that he left, leaving me and Fred together in awkward silence.

Once Draco had gone, Fred handed me my wand and turned to leave as well.

“Fred, wait. Please.”
He stopped but did not turn to look at me.

“Just let me explain.”
He didn’t say anything, so I took that as his consent.
“I…I didn’t think my last name mattered.

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
I bit my lip and remained silent.
“Mercy.” He turned to me. My blue eyes fell to him as if pulled by a magnetic force. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I doubted that…that you would be receptive to the information. You can’t deny that I was right.”
“I can because if you had told me, I wouldn’t have been shocked.”

Knowing he was right, I didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say to make him see that I never meant to hurt him.

He turned to leave again.

“They never cared about me.” I said quietly. Fred stopped walking. “I was just…an accident. Someone they never wanted. I didn’t care for their views or opinions. I was an embarrassment. And so they sent off to a school as far away from them as possible. They had Draco, he was all they needed. And so I kept getting kicked out of all those schools until Hogwarts was the only one left.” I paused as I wiped the tears from my tears that were bearing my vision.
“I was sorted into Gryffindor. My father was less than pleased. And I didn’t…I didn’t want the association…I didn’t want anyone to know that I was related to them, probably more than they didn’t want anyone to know I was theirs. So Dumbledore let me go by an alias. And Hogwarts was the best place for me.
“I’ve never been happier because I met this funny, kind, loyal boy who stole my heart. With him, I thought I finally met that person who would understand me. But I was so very afraid to tell him the truth. And because I didn’t tell him the truth, I lost him.”

He looked over his shoulder at me. There was no happiness in his eyes and no seriousness. He looked tired; he just looked tired of dealing with me, like my father and my mother did.

“It doesn’t change anything, Mercy. I don’t know who you are. I don’t…I can’t…I-I-…I won’t let myself trust you. I’m…I’m sorry.” And then he left.
- x -
The weeks passed slowly after that. Time flies when you’re having fun but it goes so slow when you’re alone.

As Easter neared, I had only one encounter with Fred Weasley, although I’d met his gaze by accident on many of the numerous occasions I found myself looking at him.

I was leaving the library one Saturday afternoon and I crashed right into someone. Looking up, I found myself staring into his hazel eyes. To my dismay, I found that he was with Angelina.

To say I wasn’t jealous would be a lie, as I knew that they had in fact gone to the Yule Ball the year before.

Fred handled the situation with complete apathy, as if I was just another student who had run into him. He apologized and brushed past me, leaving me standing in the corridor like an idiot.
- x -
The DA was found out and the members punished.
I’d stopped going to meetings months before, knowing I wasn’t welcome.
Just before the Easter holidays, Fred and George released fireworks all over the castle. It was amazing watching Umbridge try to get rid of them.

It happened after the holidays. Explosions were heard all over the castle as students traveled from one class to another.

Flying about in the entrance hall was Fred and George Weasley, causing mayhem in the way only they do best.
Professor Umbridge yelled up at them, “You two are about to learn what happens to wrong-doers in my school.”
Fred replied, "You know what? I don't think we are. George, I think we've outgrown full-time education... Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?"
"Definitely."

Standing at the edge of the crowd, I watched as he and his brother soared over the students who were thoroughly enjoying the performance. As Umbridge fought to get through the crowd, Fred floated in front of me.

“Here to turn me green again.”
He shook his head. “No, I’ve been thinking. So you despise your dad, huh?” He asked.
Hesitantly, I nodded.
“Funny thing,” he said, “I do to-despise your father that is. And your brother.” Fred bit his lip to hide his smile as he spoke. “What I was thinking is that nothing would piss off your father more than for you to quit school.”

“Quit school.”
“Yep, quit school. And for you to do so with a Weasley.”
“I’m not too popular with the Weasleys these days, in case you hadn’t heard.” I mumbled.
“Really? ‘Cause I heard that that one Weasley got over his issued.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Really. He figured out that he was being a git. And that he was letting go this wicked girl. So I guess the only thing left to ask now is: do you trust me?” He asked as he held out his hand to me.

“More like, do you trust me?” I asked in return.
The boy smiled at me. “Of course.”

I took his hand and he pulled me up onto his broom. We ascended into the air. Grabbing his face, I pressed my lips against his. The broom dipped suddenly as Fred forgot to control it while kissing me.

“Oops.” He murmured with a smile on his face. Laughing, I wrapped my arms around him.

Flying higher into the air, George yelled to Peeves to give Umbridge hell from them.
With that, we flew off, away from Umbridge, away from my brother, away from my family’s expectations. I was with Fred. That’s all that I cared about.