She Would Always Love Him

Author Note: Alright, so since it got deleted when the glitch crap happened..... Here it is, I'm revising the story now as I go, so if all the chapters aren't up right away that's why. Thanks to all who read it before and I hope you like what I've done to it.
Oh yea, Review Review Review. Love ya.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own or take any compensation for anything that is Harry Potter. I am simply borrowing the work, got that, just borrowing. I do however claim ownership of the character Amber, she is all mine.


ARRIVAL

The small, dark haired, woman with piercing blue eyes walked past the giant front gates and across the dark front yards of a school she once knew. The lake was calm and black; and the gardens were silent as the flowers soaked up the moonlight. She stood for a moment basking in the blue white light as it turned her pale skin to an opalescent white. Scents of her past flooded her nasal passages and she was barraged with the memories that followed…

~ Flashback~

She walked through the ominous front doors into the castle. Her breath caught in her throat as she went through the golden hall to another set of huge wooden doors. Beyond them she could hear all the other students talking and having a good time at their evening meal. She looked in at four very long tables, packed with students in robes, with another long one perpendicular at the front, which she assumed to be the teacher’s table as it was full of adults. As she walked through, most eyes turned to look at the new girl. She was petrified that she would be unaccepted here, unsafe here, and that she would die here, alone. That was until the headmaster stood up and announced her presence to the mass of students surrounding her. Then she felt worse.

“Please, if you will, a moment.” He began and the room became as silent as a grave. “I’d like you all to welcome our newest student; she has just come from America and will be joining the 7th years. Come, Amber, come, let us put you into a house and then you may be seated.” Dumbledore smiled a small, all-knowing grin and winked at her, his eyes twinkling furiously. She finally made her way to the head table and stood there, waiting. Suddenly, an odd hat was placed on her head.

“Well, well, an American…..where to put you. You are very brave no doubt and gentle too I see. But you are also very sly and intelligent. You would do well in either house....”

“Just put me somewhere, please, I don’t want to be on display anymore. Put me somewhere safe.”

“That settles it…………..GRYFFINDOR!” It shouted at last. Amber looked up at Dumbledore hopefully.

“Alright, Amber, that there is the Gryffindor table. Take a seat and meet your housemates. Professor McGonagall will meet you after dinner.” She hesitantly and silently walked to the table and took the only available seat, next to a young man with jet black hair and circular glasses.

“Hello, Amber, I’m Harry, this is Ron and that’s Hermione.” He greeted and pointed to a red-haired boy and a brunette girl.

“Hi.” She replied quietly.

“I know, it’s scary, but it’s going to be alright, we’re all really good people in Gryffindor, I swear.” Hermione said sweetly.

“Yeah, don’t worry, we’ll make sure you get settled and everything.” Ron said. Amber smiled at them some but was still extremely quiet. She was still shaken up over the abruptness of her leaving the states and being put into this school.

“Thank you very much. It’s just all so sudden.” She finally said after a moment of awkward silence.

“Take your mind off of that. Uh, how do you like Europe so far?” Ron asked.

“It’s nice; I haven’t seen much of it. I just got here this morning.”

“Wow. That’s quick, did you move here with your parents?”

“No.” She replied softly. The three realized that was what was keeping her quiet so they left it alone.

“Would you tell us some about the states? We’ve never been.” Some of the other Gryffindor students perked up to the conversation then.

“Um, ok. What do you want to know?”

“Well, for one, your accent is very cool, but, I mean, where are you from?”

“Connecticut, it’s in New England.”

“What kind of school did you go to there?”

“I went to one similar to this one; it was in the Peekskill’s Mountains, that’s in New York State.”

“Great.” After that, dinner was about over and McGonagall came to fetch Amber.

“Thank you three for helping to loosen her up a bit.” She said quietly as she led her away. Amber was led through painting covered corridors to McGonagall’s office where she was given her schoolbooks and school robes, black with a red and gold crest on it.

“I know how hard this must be for you Amber, but-“

“Do you? Do you know how hard it is to lose your parents and be shipped off to another country all in one week? I’ve lost all my friends and everything I ever knew! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY KNOW HOW HARD THIS IS?” Amber collapsed into an armchair after she’d finished screaming. She covered her face with her hands as tears began to fall freely from her eyes for the first time since her parents’ murder.

“Maybe I don’t, but I know someone who does Amber, and you met him just this evening.” Amber looked up at her hopefully.

“Who?” She whispered.

“Harry Potter.” Amber thought back to the attractive young man with the jet black hair and circular glasses.

“How would he know?”

“Harry Potter was the one that got rid of You Know Who to begin with. He lost his parents that night, and had to live with the most horrible of relatives until he could come here. So my dear, I would talk to him. He is the only other person who knows what it is like to come face to face with You Know Who and come out alive.”

“Ok.”
Amber was astonished that there was someone else who understood what she was dealing with and as she was walking to the Gryffindor common room she couldn’t wait to talk to him. The fat lady in her old Grecian chiton, dozing lightly in her painting, guarding the door to the Gryffindor tower was very welcoming to her and let her in immediately. She hesitated for a moment before stepping through the door into the plush comforting room. Inside sitting in front of the fire were the three she had met at dinner.

“Amber! Hello again,” Harry said grinning. Amber saw the scar on his forehead and understood instantaneously what McGonagall had been talking about.

“Harry, hi, um, could I talk to you for a minute?” She asked slowly and quietly.

“Of course,” he replied, but made no move to get up from his seat.

“Privately?” She whispered glancing up at him.

“Oh, yea, sure,” he jumped out of his chair and they went over to the other side of the room. The two sat on a bench together.

“Harry, I’m going to be blunt, how did you survive it, I mean how did you deal with the fact that your parents were murdered?” She questioned quietly looking deeply into his eyes.

“No one’s ever asked me that before.” He paused briefly to collect his thoughts about it. “Um, well, coming here where I was welcome was a good starter, I grew up with my mother’s relatives and they didn’t like having me at all, but, it just took time you know, time to realize that I survived for a reason and that they would want me to be as happy as I can be. That and I’ve fought the man who did it so many times now it’s as if I’m getting some bit of revenge each time.”

“Oh. I wish that it didn’t hurt so much at first though. Some moments I think that I don’t want to keep moving.”

“Why? Did somebody kill your parents?” It was at that moment that he noticed the bandage on her neck. He realized that someone had in fact murdered her parents and nearly killed her as well.

“Yes…He did.” When he looked at her quizzically she started to remove the bandage. His eyes grew wide when he saw the fresh wound on her neck.

“He’s still alive?” He asked as she covered the lightning bolt wound again.

“Kind of, he was really disgusting, like the undead, but more like a creature than a human… And for some reason, he came looking for me and my parents in America, like he knew where we were…”

“But why?”

“Maybe because my parents aren’t from America, Harry, they moved when my mom got pregnant so that He couldn’t hurt them. But he found us and he killed them, and then came after me, if I hadn’t been at school where there were alarms to warn us...I might be dead too.” She started to cry again and he wrapped his arms around her. Inside he was kind of glad that wasn’t the only one who could beat Him. Ron and Hermione heard her sobs and looked over; Harry motioned for them to come.

“Is she ok?” Hermione whispered. Harry shook his head.

“Amber, it’s all going to be alright, Harry, Hermione and I are here for you, ok? You can trust us.” He reinforced the trust point again. Then all three had their arms around the young woman.

Ginny and Neville came down the stairs to see the four of them like that and walked over, confused as to what was going on. Harry heard them and looked at them with worry and sadness in his eyes. He had just met her and already he knew they would be a vital part of each other’s lives until the day they died. Ginny and Neville quietly left the group alone. They left the common room to take a walk before curfew.

“Wasn’t that the new girl?” He asked. Ginny glanced back to the group.

“Yea, Dumbledore said her name was Amber. I hope she’ll be ok.” Ginny whispered.

“Me too.” Neville agreed as they walked.

Finally, after almost twenty minutes of sitting in silence listening to her, she stopped.

“I’m sorry.” She said.

“Don’t be.” Harry replied. “Hermione, why don’t you show her where the girl’s dorm is?”

“Yea, Amber come on, it’s time for bed anyway. Classes are tomorrow.” Amber let Hermione lead her away and up the stairs. She crawled into her new bed and laid there; awake, almost the entire night, like she had all the other nights since it happened. Finally when the sun was poking through the curtains she decided to get out of bed. She glanced at her schedule and saw that she had an hour and a half until breakfast and two hours until her first class so she went to take a shower.

She let the water pour down on her head and let her mind go. She regretted it the moment it happened. Instantly flashbacks of that fateful day thrust themselves into her mind and nearly knocked her over.

*“Quickly! Get the students out of the hall!” Headmaster Jones had screamed as the hall was filled with the screeching sounds of the alarm being triggered. The students began to run off to the auditorium where the doors could be barricaded and they could be safe. But it was too late. The front doors blast open and a dark hooded man stormed in, his eyes searching for his prey. The headmaster shot an Expelliarmus at him, but the man countered it with the killing curse. Then the red eyes of their attacker found the young girl he had been searching for.

“Ah. Amber, there you are.” He smiled, his red eyes beginning to glow. Some of the teachers followed his gaze to see him staring directly at Amber Thibodeau.

“Avada Kedavra.” The man said and two of her teachers lunged in front of her taking the curse and falling to the ground.

“NO!” She screamed. “Expelliamus!” She yelled at him. But it didn’t work and he just laughed at her, sending images of her dead parents to her in her mind. Instead of the reaction he wanted, she got angry, very angry.

“EXPELLIAMUS!” She screamed at him at the top of her lungs and his wand miraculously dropped from his hand. Not far mind you, but enough. He was shocked for a brief moment as she advanced upon him.

“Die you fucker.” She whispered but he held out his hand and smiled.

“Avada Kedavra.” He whispered smiling devilishly at her. The curse hit her in the neck and she flew backwards instead of falling to the ground. Stunned she just lay there. And he, thinking he had killed her, left while the rest of the school crowded around the bodies…”*

As the memories faded again and Amber built up her defenses against them she found she had sunk to the floor in the bottom of the shower and pulled her knees tight to her chest. She closed her eyes tight and gritted her teeth before she got up and finished her shower. When she was finished she got out seeing the other girls coming in, so she hurried back to the room to change, covering her exposed neck with her hands.