Heirs of the Marauders

Kali was shaken awake a few hours later by Ginny.

“Hey sleepy-head if you don’t get up now you’re going to miss your chance to eat breakfast.”

“WHAT!” Kali screamed jumping up out of bed, half knocking poor Ginny to the floor.

Kali ran around quickly throwing on her clothes and brushing her hair. She started running down the stairs, but stopped realizing she forgot to thank Ginny in her hurry to get ready.

“Thanks Ginny!”

“No problem.” Ginny yelled back with a slight giggle.

Ginny had never seen anyone get that excited about missing breakfast before beside her brother Ron of course. Kali ran down the stairs as fast as she could and into the great hall. She basically fell into her set at the table because she had been going so fast she couldn’t stop.

“Where have you been?” Harry asked. “And where’s Ginny?”

Kali started eating. “Overslept and still in dorm.” She said between bites of oatmeal.

After a quick breakfast she had to get to her classes. Later that afternoon after Potions class Kali was reminded of worries that had come to her only last night. Amber, Ginny, Kali and now Maddi who had decided she would walk with them came out they ran into who else, Draco Malfoy. He was of course followed by his two moronic goons. No words were spoken he just walked by them. But his and Kali’s eyes meet as he walked by.

“Well this is a nice change.” Amber said, “He didn’t insult any of us today. Is he like sick or something?”

Lost now in her own thoughts Kali didn’t hear what the others said. Draco’s words from last night came back to her. “The Dark Lord. He’ll go after the Underground when he’s done with the Ministry and the Order.” What if the Death Eaters really could find a way into the Underground? Were her mother and the rest of the people she’d come to think of as family really safe?

“Hey Kali what’s up?” Maddi asked.

“Um nothing I was just thinking I should write a note to my mom that’s all.”

“Okay.”

And the girls continued talking not noticing how unnerved Kali was. To Kali it felt like supper took hours when it only took about a half an hour. Maddi, Ginny and Kali said good-bye to Amber and headed for Gryffindor Tower. Kali felt like running up the stirs but knew it would rise to many questions from the girls. With every step her anxiety seemed to get worse. What if the Dark Lord really could get them? What could she do? Nothing that’s what.

Normally the spunky, fang-toothed girl felt she could do anything, but now she doubted herself in every way, shape and form. And to her nothing felt worse than to doubt herself and her mother. Especially doubting her mother. This was a very first for her, because never before had anyone put any doubt in her mind that her mother couldn’t do something.

Kali grabbed a piece of parchment as soon as she was up in her dorm and quickly started to write the letter to her mother. Devi came flying in the window and landed on her bed, but she took no notice of this. At this moment she had a one-track mind and that was to get a letter to her mother asking her to contact her as soon as she could so they could talk.

“Is something wrong?” Devi asked in his weird little voice.

Kali jumped a bit having not noticed him there.

“Devi when did you get here!” she exclaimed

Devi leaned his head to one side. “I’ve been here for a couple of minutes.”

“Oh…” the brown haired girl said feeling awkward.

Devi look at the letter Kali had wrote and asked again. “What’s wrong? You can talk to me you know?”

“I know Devi. I just really miss Mom and want to talk to her. That’s all.”

“You sound so urgent in the letter though?” the little bat-rat demon continued.

“I do? I didn’t mean to make it sound that way.” Kali lied.

Not long after that Kali made her way up to give her letter to an owl. On the way back down to go back to the tower she meet Harry.

“Hey Harry, what’s the matter?” she asked seeing his expression.

“It’s nothing.” He said.

“Okay.” But she could tell he was obviously lying.

She stared back down the stairs but stopped as Harry called to her. She turned to him.

He looked her right in the eyes. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course you can.” She said cocking her head to one side.

“Do you think I would have a chance with Ginny?” he asked a little shyly.

Kali was taken back a little by the question. “I...uh…I don’t know. You would have to ask Ginny that.”

Harry’s face dropped. “It thought that’s what you’d say. Thanks anyway.”

He started to walk away. Kali just couldn’t figure out why he would ask her that question instead of just going up to Ginny and asking her out. But then she remembered being told how things had turned out for Harry with Cho Chang. Poor guy she thought to herself. She watched him go head hung slightly.

That night Kali could hardly sleep because she wanted to hear from her mother so bad. The next morning she just moved her food around on her plate hardly eating any of it. It seemed to her that she had been writing to her mother way too much since school started. First about the incident in Potions class, then the detention vision and now this.

“Hey what’s the matter? You’re always done eating before the rest of us?” Maddi said looking up from the drawing she was working on.

“Maddi’s right.” Ron said, “You even beat me.”

Kali looked up at them. “I’m just anxious to get a letter back from my mom that’s all.”

Just then the owl’s started pouring in. Kali’s heart leapt in her chest as she saw the tawny owl she had given her letter to. It swooped down and dropped the letter in her lap. As quick as a lightning she had the letter open and was reading it. It told Kali to meet her in the Gryffindor Common Room at midnight when everyone had gone to bed.

Kali felt happy that she would get to see her mother and get to ask her the question that was haunting her, but then suddenly fear went through her. What if her mother realized that it had been Draco whom she had been talking to? Her mother hated the Malfoy’s with a passion, but Draco didn’t seem that bad. If her mother found out she had gone to meet Draco alone wouldn’t that give her cause to pull her out of Hogwarts and right back to her old school. She sure didn’t want that! She loved it at Hogwarts way too much.

“Kali are you ok? You look a little pale?” Harry said.

“Yeah I’m fine.” She said in barley above a whisper.

Her head was spinning. She couldn’t seem to think strait. For the first time in her life she was afraid of her mother! And she had thought that Draco wasn’t that bad. Something was really wrong with her. The rest of the day went by in a blur to the 15-year-old witch. Kali sat up late in the Common Room waiting for her mother to contact her like she said she would. The last of the students had wandered up to bed when there was a tapping on the window glass behind her. Kali had been watching the fireplace, expecting her mother to talk to her that way but when she turned around to face the window her reflection was replaced with that of Emily. Her mother waved and smiled.

“How ya doing, kid?”

“Okay, I guess. Unless I’m going crazy,” Kali leaned close to the glass.

She could see threw her mother’s reflection to the rain pouring down over the grounds. It was rather eerie.

“So, what’d you need so urgently?” Emily chuckled.

“Well….” Kali felt a little embarrassed.

Emily’s eyebrow’s quirked and she studied her daughter closely. Kali cringed. For the first time in her life she was afraid of her mother’s mind piercing gaze. In the past it had been a comfort that her mother could read others so well but one it was a danger.

“How do you stop Death Eaters from getting into the Underground?” Kali spouted before she could lose her nerve and then with that first question out more poured out revealing all the fear she gained for the sake of her family over the last couple days, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is getting stronger and once he’s done with the Ministry he’ll go after you guys! Maybe he’ll even go after you first! I just want to know you’re safe.”

Emily leaned against the window as if she could go through to Kali but her shoulders seemed to stop at the glass.

“You stop that right now,” she frowned, “Those are my concerns. The only thing you need to worry about is school.”

Kali lowered her gaze slightly ashamed. Emily sighed deeply.

“You’ve lived down here all your life...I supposed though you wouldn’t really know what we’re about since you weren’t born until after the founding…”

Kali’s head shot up, “What we’re really about?”

Emily pulled herself onto the window ledge so that she was sitting with one leg hanging over the edge. It made it look like she was perched precariously over the grounds.

“After my friends died that night I cried for the first time since I was a very small child. For the first time I was around people I could be myself with. Looking the way I did I had to toughen up or be the butt of everyone’s jokes for the rest of my life so I chose to go tough. But after those bastards killed them…I grew up that day. I began training my successor for the House Mofia and then concentrated on a new goal. I would make a place of my own, probably a lot like the House Mofia since it was something I was familiar with running, and I would never allow another incident like the one that happened with Raven and Kelly occur again. I began to gather strong wizards I could trust and we built the Underground. After that we took in anyone who had a past they wished to forget. I knew I could trust people like that as long as I made the Underground feel safe. Unlike the Ministry I got to know the people working for me and before I knew it I knew all the hundreds of people who worked for me by name, history, and habit. That’s why I know the Death Eaters could never get in and that’s what we’re really about.”

“Preventing history from repeating itself” Kali said slowly.

Emily nodded and smiled at her daughter, “One day you’ll take my place here if you like, and then you’ll understand why I’m so confident. I have to protect my friends and family.”

“I’m not sure if I’ll do near as well as you” Kali felt her spirits droop.

“I’ll still be around when that happens so I can train you and if something happens that I’m not then don’t worry because Shawndee, Frederick and Andrew will help you.” Emily quirked her head to one side.

Kali thought about her mother dying like she nearly did in her dream.

“If you die I’ll bring you back,” she said defiantly.

“Oh no you won’t! That is the most selfish thing you’ve ever said, Kali Hittlet!” Emily reprimanded.

Kali looked at her mother wounded. Emily didn’t look angry though, in fact she was smiling.

“You’re the most important thing in the world to me, you’re my daughter. But there are people waiting to hear what I’ve been up to in the afterlife. I can’t keep them waiting forever. Besides, life is for the living! And you’ve just started your life so I won’t let you dwell on dark thoughts. Now get to bed and dream of all the trouble you can cause in Snape’s class.”

Kali smiled and headed up the stairs. She didn’t see Emily sigh, look around the common room reminiscently, and then vanish. Kali got up to her dorm and was about to lie down when suddenly there was a loud bang and a flash of light from outside!

The other girls of the dorm and Devi were woken with a jolt by the first loud bang.

“What on earth!” Ginny exclaimed.

Kali, a grouchy Devi, and all the girls in the dorm flew towards the windows and looked around for the source of the lights. Reds, blues, greens and violets lit the grounds and a small figure doing a jig in the light of many fireworks while playing what appeared to be a flute. Suddenly the figure took the flute and held it to another rocket causing it to shoot into the sky and explode.