After the Great War[In progress]

Bethany Karkaroff entered Hogwarts as a transfer student in the sixth year. She had been sent by the order to infiltrate Slytherin. Dumbledore knew that Snape did not have enough power over Draco Malfoy to really get him to divulge information. Bethany was sent, then, to win over Draco and get him to tell her what his plans were. Bethany successfully tricked the sorting hat into putting her in Slytherin. Then she won over Draco, getting him to dump Pansy Parkinson for her. But Draco kept his life as a Death Eater a secret from Bethany. At the same time, Bethany formed a friendship with Harry Potter. She kept her motives a secret from him. Although Ron and Hermione both advised Harry against it, he could not resist the draw that he felt to her. But it was not a romantic draw, it was something else entirely. She seemed familiar to him.
All the time that Bethany was spending with Draco, her pre disposed hatred toward him almost disappeared. He was kind to her, he lavished her. It was clear to her that Draco had grown to truly care about her.
One day, when Draco said that he had things to do in Hogsmeade that she couldn’t accompany him on, Bethany met up with Harry. She told him that her mother was an auror. She didn’t know who her father was, but that he had fought Voldemort once until he betrayed his friends. She told Harry that her father’s memory had been wiped of both Bethany and her mother. Everyone else was told never to speak of them.
Harry figured it out without much help. He quickly went to Dumbledore who confirmed that Sirius Black was in fact Bethany’s father. He said that they never told Sirius about the memory charm, even after he was free, because it would have been too painful for him. Dumbledore never told Bethany’s mother that Sirius was innocent because she would have tried to break him free, which would have been impossible. But after his death Dumbledore had told her, and they had both come back to Hogwarts to help the Order. Bethany’s mother had much the same history as Sirius, she was a Karkaroff who had chosen the side of good.
Bethany failed in finding out Draco’s plans. The night that he was going to let in the Death Eaters, he sat her down. He told her that he loved her. Bethany was lost for words. She realized she had begun to care for Draco, even just a little bit. She knew why he was doing it, and she wanted to stop him. For his sake. But there was nothing she could say. She went looking for Dumbledore and Harry, both of whom were gone. By the time she was able to tell someone, it was too late.
In the seventh year Bethany stayed at Hogwarts. She was left with all the rumors to think about Draco. She was utterly alone. Harry had been the only one to know what she was doing. Draco had been the only one that cared for her. As more time passed, and she became more worried, she began to realize how much she really cared about him. She hated herself for it. When the war was brought to Hogwarts, she fought. Her mother was killed. Bethany was left in the rubble.





They had only just begun to clear away the bodies. Bethany sat at the end of one of the great tables, no one within three feet of her. She watched as Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked out. Of course he would want to be alone, just like she wanted to be alone. People around her seemed to notice, and although (or perhaps because) she hadn’t really made many friends in her two years at Hogwarts, that made her feel oddly lonely. Everyone in the room had someone to comfort them, or some kind of shoulder to cry on. She, however, was alone. The same image echoed through her tired brain. Her mother’s empty eyes as she lay on the floor next to all the other empty bodies. Not many of the order had been killed, but her mother had been one of them. And now she was completely alone.
“Bethany,” The voice was low, and a cold hand had been placed on her arm. Bethany felt shivers travel up her back. She was almost afraid to turn around and face whoever had spoken.
“Draco,” was all she could say. His eyes were sunken into his pale face. He looked lost, empty, just as she felt. The hand that gripped her arm was shaking.
“I shouldn’t have come, I know I’m probably the last person you’re wanting to talk to. But, I saw you here, all alone,” His eyes drifted off into some place that only he could see. “This entire year, not a day has gone by when I didn’t think about you.”
Bethany felt a surge of anger in her chest. Through all her lethargy the feelings that had been building inside over the year came up. Even though her relationship with Draco had begun as a ploy-a way of seeing into the Death Eaters- but she had started to form actual feelings for him. They were feelings that she had tried to deny at first, that she couldn’t fall for a Death Eater, but his constant absence and the wondering of whether he was even alive had brought all of them up front. She might have been in love with Draco Malfoy.
“So did you think of me when you were torturing old wandmakers or killing your old teachers?” She said harshly.
“I never really did any of it. You have to understand, I hated doing all of it, but if I didn’t he would have killed all of us. As if it wasn’t bad enough what he was already doing to us.” He sat down on the bench next to her, but turned away. Bethany thought she could see a hint of tears in his sallow eyes.
“I’m sorry Draco. But, you can’t have imagined what it was like. All this time, not knowing. I waited every day, for anything.” She could feel the tears in her own eyes, and felt desperate. She was suddenly realizing just how dire her situation was. Even Draco, who had done unspeakable things and followed Lord Voldemort for two years, had a loving family to go back to. And now she, Bethany, had nothing. She had a father she had never known and a mother who was her best friend, both slain in the war against Voldemort. If she pushed away Draco, she would be completely alone.
“I wanted to, the whole time. Last year, up at that tower with Dumbledore, he told me that he could take my family into hiding and protect us, if I didn’t kill him.” He said softly.
“What’s the point?” Bethany said quickly.
“The point is that I wanted to! I was ready to lower my wand and run away from the Dark Lord, for you.”
“For me?”
“You and my parents. I was picturing us, is some little cottage way off in some distant country. I wanted to Bethany, I did! But by the time-it was too late.” He looked down, a small smile on the corner of his lips. Bethany looked back at the Malfoys, both glaring at their son sitting next to the wild- haired gypsy girl.
“Your parents would never approve of me,” she said with a smile.
“You’re a pureblood, and in Slytherin, and brilliant!”
“And Sirius Black’s daughter.” Draco’s face fell a bit.
“I heard about that,” he said. They both sat for a bit until Draco, eager for a change of subject, said quickly, “so where are you going to stay now?”
“I don’t know. Our house was destroyed by death eaters. I-“ then a voice spoke from behind her.
“Will stay at number twelve, grimmald place.”
Draco looked up to the speaker, an unreadable expression spread across his face. Bethany shot around to be looking into the face of Harry Potter.
“I thought you left,” she said softly.
“I did, but I remembered that there was something I had to do.”
“What was that?”
“Invite you to move in with me. Sirius gave me the house, but I’m sure if he knew about you he would have given it to you. Or at the least, the both of us.”
Bethany felt an involuntary smile spreading across her face.
“Really? You mean it?”
“Yeah. As soon as we all leave from Hogwarts. Mr. Weasley told me they would be getting rid of all the charms on it. I mean, it’s not much, dark and lonely, but Kreacher’s a whole lot better now. And there’s tons of rooms! But, you can have Sirius’s.” The last statement seemed to tear him a little bit to say, and it made Bethany’s heart swell up. She hadn’t spoken to Harry in a year, either, and since none of the DA knew her secret they wouldn’t let her join them in their fight. But here Harry was, inviting her to live with him, in her father’s house.
“Thank you,” she said. Harry nodded shortly and turned. She watched him walk for a moment before remembering Draco.
“You can’t live with him,” he said.
“Not this jealousy again, Draco. Harry and I, it’s nothing like that. He’s head over heels for Ginny Weasley and I’m, well,” She looked down, a small pain shooting through her chest.
“He won’t let me visit you.”
“He will, if you just, you know. Be nicer.”
Draco’s jaw tightened and it was clear just what a sacrifice it would be for him to “be nicer” to Harry Potter. He grasped Bethany’s hand, and wiped some of the blood that was still falling from a gash on the side of her head. “Alright Bethany. For you.” He kissed her, and Bethany felt like her insides were being pulled apart. There was no doubt that most people in the Great Hall hated Draco Malfoy. She thought she should hate him to, after all that he’d done. But she couldn’t. She wanted to just kiss him and forget about everything else except the two of them. Draco pulled away, and gave a sideways glace toward where his parents were sitting.
“I better go,” he said quickly. Before he could get up, Bethany grabbed his arm. The question that had been digging inside her finally came to surface.
“Pansy Parkison kept saying how you were writing her. She even said that you proposed to her. I know its stupid but-“
A small smile spread across his face. “Of course I would never write to stupid Pansy, Bethany, I love you.” He seemed to be waiting for a response. Bethany wanted to say it, she wanted to tell him that she loved him too. But her lips were frozen. Draco seemed to understand, and with a small nod, he left her. Bethany placed her head in her hands, wanting nothing more than to just close her eyes and be gone from this place. She knew they were going to have to bury her mother, and her grandmother living in Egypt would want to take Bethany home with her. But she didn’t want to. She wanted to live at number twelve grimmald place with Harry Potter and be the girlfriend of Draco Malfoy.
As crazy as that sounded.


All she had with her was a semi-large trunk, it was bright blue had had a large B in fancy script across the front. She had enchanted it to follow her through the doors of number twelve, and as she stepped up to the top step she was greeted by Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny. She smiled shortly, feeling her cheeks flush as they rushed forward to help her. She felt oddly out of place and alone, as Hermione and Ron grasped each other’s hands firmly and she saw the look in Ginny’s eyes as she watched Harry help Bethany inside. She dropped her trunk to the floor and faced Ron and Hermione. They knew about Sirius, about why she’d done the things she did, of course Harry had told them. But in all her time building a friendship with Harry she had never so much said a friendly word to these two. The awkward air sat between them until Hermione, without any warning, threw her arms around Bethany’s shoulders in a tight embrace.
“I’m so so sorry. I said horrible things about you and I’m sorry. But I know.” It sounded almost as though she was on the verge of tears, and it shook Bethany. “Anything you need, I’m here.”
“Okay,” Bethany said simply.
“Come on Bethany, Sirius’s room is up here.” Harry said, pointing up the staircase. He led the way and Bethany followed him with her suitcase. Her body was shaking. Harry opened the door to his room. The Gryffindor posters were everywhere. Moving pictures of the father she never knew assaulted her. Bethany felt the tears in her eyes. Harry looked at her knowingly.
“I think Kreacher is going to make dinner. Whenever you’re ready,” he looked around awkwardly. Bethany nodded. He left the room and closed the door behind him. Bethany heard his footsteps continuing down the stairs. She stood completely still until she couldn’t hear them anymore. Her body weak, she fell to the floor and wept into her arms. She hoped with everything she had that they couldn’t hear her.

Two days later the family of the dead went to a vigil. That night, Draco was waiting inside Sirius’ bedroom. Some of the color seemed to be returning to his face. He looked lively, handsome. Of course he did, he had nothing to mourn over.
“How did you get in?” Bethany asked. She closed the door behind her so that Harry wouldn’t hear or see him.
“Kreacher let me in,” he said, a hint of a smile on his face. “I figured the house would be empty because of, well. I knew I couldn’t show up there but I thought I would be here for you when you got back.”
Bethany’s chest began to open up. She felt like she could breathe again. She sat down on the bed next to him. They stared at each other silently, neither needing nor wanting to say anything. He wrapped his arms around her tightly. He felt whole, and he smelled like warmth. He hadn’t smelled like that since the first month of sixth year. After that he had begun to smell like fear. The weight he had put on fit nicely on his body.
“I missed you. I missed you so much,” she cried into his robes. Her whole body shook in his arms. “I just- I wish this could be easier. I wish everything didn’t hurt so much.”
“I know. I know.” Was all he said. She began to think about the things he had done. The things he must have seen while he was away. He was sorry for it. His conscience burned about those things, she had seen it in his eyes and his sunken cheeks. He had a heart. He had a heart that he really loved her with. He picked her head up and kissed her. It was the first time she had kissed him, kissed anyone, since that night in sixth year. That night he let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts and tried to kill Dumbledore. Everything felt different this time. His kiss was different. It made everything better, just for that moment.
“You’re parents are going to worry about you,” she said.
“I’m an adult. There’s no more Dark Lord, they know I’ll be fine.” He kissed her again. Her whole body burned. She was so tired. Sleeping had been so hard. They laid down together and he held her in his arms, his lips pressed against her forehead. It was the first dreamless sleep she’d had in a year.

In the morning, Draco was gone. He left a note on the dresser.
Wanted to leave before Harry saw me. I’ll come back as soon as I can. I love you.
Bethany’s heart ached. Her body felt cold again. She wanted to feel him next to her again. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted that feeling that came with kissing him. She got up and walked downstairs. Harry was eating breakfast in the dining room.
“Ginny and Ron are on their way. I won’t tell them about Malfoy,” he said simply. His voice sounded slightly angry. No, he sounded betrayed.
“Kreacher gets breakfast for mistress Bethany,” Kreacher said. He placed a plate on the table next to Harry. Bethany sat down, unwilling to meet Harry’s eyes.
“You saw him?”
“I heard him. I wouldn’t miss that voice anywhere.” Harry ate his food angrily.
“He’s not like you think,” she started. Harry cut her off.
“No, he’s probably exactly like I think.”
“You don’t understand, Harry. You still have all these people around you that love you. I don’t have anyone. Draco loves me.”
“You have us.”
“No, I don’t.” Suddenly she wasn’t hungry anymore. She stood up.
“Hermione and Ron are your best friends. Ginny is your girlfriend. The Weasleys are your family. All I had was my mother and she’s gone now.”
“Don’t for one second that I don’t know what it’s like to lose someone. I’ve lost every father I’ve ever had. Don’t for a second,” This time Bethany cut him short.
“I didn’t assume anything of the sort. But you’re still Harry Potter. Who am
I?” She left the kitchen and went back into her room. She didn’t talk to Harry until the funeral.


They buried the aurors together. Bethany sat at the front, with the rest of the immediate family of the dead. She could see down the isle, Tonk’s mother, holding a very still and quiet baby. Her heart ached for the woman, having lost her husband and her daughter. Bethany’s mother’s casket was just a few feet to the left of her. She looked around once more, almost out of habit this time, for Draco. She had invited him, told him he could sit up front with her, but she’d known all along that he wouldn’t come. It would be nearly dangerous for Draco Malfoy to show up at the funeral of the aurors, she had known that when she asked. Perhaps part of her had wished he’d drink some polyjuice potion. As long as she had someone there next to her, someone who cared, it didn’t matter what he looked like.
After the funeral, they all gathered at the Three Broomsticks. Bethany hadn’t wanted to go, but Harry told her that she should. She sat at a table, alone, her eyes still burning from her tears. She thoughtlessly stirred her finger around the rim of a mug of butterbeer. Someone had sat down in front of her.
“You look lonely.” George Weasley was looking directly at her, his missing ear and desperately combed hair. His eyes were red, and he had a weird look about him like someone who didn’t quite know what to do with himself.
“I could say the same for you,” Bethany replied. She was unconsciously twirling a piece of her black hair around her finger. George shrugged.
“Well, it’s kind of hard when you have someone next to you your whole life and then suddenly, they’re not there anymore. It’s almost like-“
“Like a part of you has died.” Bethany finished for him. George nodded. He smiled slightly, but it was a sad attempt. His pain was nearly visible, and she could hardly imagine how hard it must be for him. Not only because Fred was his brother, but his twin. It had to feel like a piece of him had been ripped away.
“Harry told me, well, told all of us,” George said quickly. Bethany didn’t have to ask what exactly Harry had told them. The Weasleys had been over for dinner a few times, but Bethany had never been down to join them. She always felt out of place, awkward, unwanted. But she had been sure that at some point Harry had told them all about Sirius and her mother, because Mrs. Weasley seemed to be looking at her with a new sense of pity.
“But hey, there’s no sense in dwelling on the past right? He wouldn’t want me to.” George raised his mug of butterbeer so quickly that nearly half of it spilled out and onto his robes. Bethany couldn’t help herself, she laughed, perhaps for the first time in a year. George laughed too, and with a quick wave of his wand, his robes were dry again. “And no use crying over spilled butterbeer, right!” Bethany smiled, and her eyes met George’s. For a split second, her stomach began to rise up into her chest and her heart began to beat very quickly. Then, they both looked away and the feeling was gone.
“I-I better be going.” George said sheepishly. He stood up, and then looked back quickly.
“We’re having dinner down at the burrow tomorrow night, I don’t know if Harry told you,” he said. Bethany shrugged, she vaguely remembered something like that. “Well a whole bunch of people are coming, Fleur and Bill, Hermione, you should come.”
Bethany shook her head quickly.
“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to-“
“No no! I’m inviting you. Mum’s been saying that she really wants to meet you, all the great things Harry’s been telling us about you. Wants to size you up, see if your fit for the Weasley inner circle.” George winked at her and turned around. Bethany smiled to herself again, an unfamiliar feeling rising in her stomach.



Bethany was lying on her bed, on Sirius’s bed, staring at the large Gryffindor banner hanging on the opposite wall. She was wondering if her father would be proud of her. She had been in Slytherin, the house that both of her parents had despised. The hat had wanted her in Ravenclaw first, then “no, no, I see great bravery, must be Gryffindor”, but it was still relatively easy to convince the sorting hat that she should be in Slytherin. She had death eater blood in her family, Karkaroff on one side and Black on the other, even if her mother had been in Ravenclaw and her father in Gryffindor. But she was almost sure that he would be proud of her, just as her mother was, when she set off trying to infiltrate the innermost circle of future Death Eaters at Hogwarts. She hadn’t succeeded, much, only in telling Harry when Draco’s plans were failing. But she hadn’t been able to tell them when he was letting death eaters into the castle. Dumbledore and Harry had both been missing, and by the time she found her mother it had been too late.
Her father would not be proud of her for falling for Draco Malfoy, she was sure of that. When she had not-so-subtly mentioned once, her mother had nearly bit her head off. She had betrayed them, she was almost sure of it. Even without having ever met her father.
The door opened and Kreacher slid in, a tray full of sandwiches on his thin arm. “Master said that Mistress Bethany might be hungry. That she has been up here in her room all day.” He set the tray on a table close to the bed.
“Thank you Kreacher. Tell Harry I said thank you.” Kreacher bowed and began to walk out.
With a turn he said, “Is Master Draco coming again?”
Bethany sighed deeply, a sinking feeling in her stomach. “You know as well as I do, Kreacher.” She said. Kreacher nodded and left the room. Bethany sighed, turning over onto her face. Draco hadn’t visited her since the vigil, and all that she’d heard was a short letter- “I can’t talk much, Mum’s had me really busy. I’ll visit soon, I love you.” As Bethany buried her face in her pillow, her head flooded with thoughts of George Weasley. She tried to push them out, but they fought their way back in. Surely, though, whatever her rising feelings about him he would not feel the same way about her. He was nearly famous, a good amount of money, and a very handsome boy. No, pity was probably the only emotion he felt for Bethany Karkaroff.
Nevertheless, Bethany stood up and moved over to the mirror, staring at it slowly. She had dark circles under her eyes. With a wave of her wand they were gone. Another wave and her face was powdered and blushed. Finally, her hair curled itself into tight pins that fell to her shoulders. Fairly satisfied, Bethany opened her trunk and looked through her clothes. A turquoise robe that she knew fit her in the right places fell out, and Bethany smiled. She slipped it on just in time to hear Harry knocking on her door. She opened it and Harry smiled at her.
“You look very nice.” He said. Bethany felt pleased, although both of them knew it was a completely platonic statement. She was relieved that Harry seemed to have gotten past their argument about Draco.


When they arrived at the burrow Hermione and Ginny were waiting for them. Hermione let out a cry of glee.
“You look amazing, Bethany!” she said. She threw a sideways glance at Ginny who added, “Yeah, George will hardly know what to do with himself.” Bethany’s eyes widened.
“What do you mean?” she asked quickly.
“Well he hasn’t stopped talking about you has he? Ever since Harry told them about how you weren’t really in with Malfoy George has been well-“
“Kind of annoying.” Ginny finished. Bethany’s heart sank. She looked quickly at Harry, who frowned. So he hadn’t told them that Draco had been visiting them, or that Bethany was secretly dating him. She frowned too, and followed them outside where a large table was set up. Almost everyone was already sitting. Mrs. Weasley rushed over to her, placing her hands on her face.
“So you are the Bethany that everyone has been talking about!” She exclaimed. “It so nice to meet you.” She shook Bethany’s hand feverishly. Bethany smiled back at her, taken aback at the warm welcome. She expected forced smiles and blank stares, what she was used to experiencing. “I met your mother just before, well,” she looked away shortly. “She was an amazing woman and your father a good man. I know that you must be just as great.” Bethany smiled warmly, feeling her cheeks flush.
“Come on now, Come sit,” Hermione took her hand and rushed her towards the table. There were two strategically empty seats between Ron and George, and Bethany felt butterflies rising in her chest.
“Hermione,” she said pleadingly. Hermione grasped her hand tightly.
“It’s fine, you’ll do great,” she said with a smile. Before she could think, she was at the chair. George turned around, dropping a piece of bread onto his lap. He seemed to give Hermione an assaulted look. “I think you two know each other?” Hermione pulled out the chair and Bethany reluctantly sat in it.
George looked at Bethany as though he wanted to say something, then fell short, turning back to the table and stuffing his mouth with bread. Across from them Fleur was fussing with bills hair, smiling coyly.
“So Bethany, Harry’s told us that you grew up in Egypt?” Bill said. Bethany was taken aback at his interest.
“Yes. My mother was an auror for the African Rule of Magic. We’ve lived in a few places, Kenya, South Africa, but Egypt was my favorite. My grandmother still lives there.” Bethany said quickly.
“And ‘vere did ‘ou say ‘ou ‘vent to school before ‘ogwarts?” Fleur asked.
“I went to la escuela de brillante, in Salamanca.”
“The school of brilliance?” Hermione said. Bethany nodded. “Spain,” she whispered, a far off look in her eyes. Bethany felt pleased that they all seemed so interested in her. George, on the other hand, looked frustrated. He seemed to be ready to speak again when Mr. Weasley asked Bethany,
“So what are your plans now that you’ve graduated?” George sat back in his chair, folding his arms angrily.
“I’m not sure,” Bethany answered honestly. “My school in Spain trained you for your trade starting in your fourth year, and the classes were all different. I was training to be a, well, I don’t know if there’s a word for it in English. But it is sort like a healer and sort of not. When I spoke with Mrs. McGonagall she told me that it would be almost impossible for me to get my classes to be any real career. You know, at the Ministry or a Healer, or even a teacher.” Bethany looked down, the weight of what was really happening to her falling down on her shoulders.
“But you were in a lot of newt classes, and totally brilliant!” Ron said. Then, Bethany heard him whisper, “Of course not more brilliant than you.”
“Dumbledore pulled some strings even though I’d never taken OWLs. But they weren’t even career specific NEWTS, really. So I pretty much don’t have a career,” Bethany trailed off. Finally it seemed as thought George could get his word in.
“Well we need help at the shop.” He said it all in one breath as though pausing for air would mean that he would lose his opportunity. Bethany turned to him. He flushed red. “I need help in the shop,” he said more quietly this time.