Chapter Nineteen:
( warnings and warnings )

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SPENCER KNOWS NOT TO let her defense down the moment she lands in another fireplace. Her eyes widen immediately upon noticing the wands aiming at her face in offense. She feels her chest heaving by the moments that passes and then weakly raises her arms up in defeat. The young girl is not about to defend herself against who she assumes is Molly and Arthur Weasley. They have the same red hair as their children, concern and confusion sweeps over their expressions and she can tell they do not want to appear rude, but necessary in case it has been any Death Eater.

"I'm sorry— Harry sent me here—" Spencer stammers in her words, only moving to get out of the fireplace. The older woman lowers her wand with a worried expression while the man still seems wary. "Let me just grab a letter.. okay? It's right beside my wand, but I'm not..."

Arthur Weasley stares at her in suspicion before nodding his head calmly. Spencer purses her lips as she trembles to retrieve the letter Harry wrote. She places it in between her fingers and shows it to them. Before she can open it up, Spencer is interrupted by countless of steps running down the stairs. The woman lets out an annoyed sigh and then turns slightly to yell, "Kids! Go back up!"

"But why— Spencer?" Ron Weasley begins to question before his eyes widen in surprise. He stops in the middle of the way and is push forward by his siblings who crashes onto him. His twin brothers both go beside his shoulder and look at what he is staring at before sharing a look.

"It can't be—"

"But it is—"

"Our dearest Spencer—"

"In our very home!" George finishes with awe. Just as they are about to run to the girl, their mother stops them with a flick of her wand. She glances at the girl and then back at her children.

Molly shares a look with her husband before turning to her kids. "You know her?" She points at the young brunette who tugs in the bottom of her shirt.

"Know her?" Fred questions in absurd. Ginny sneakily passes through them to get beside Ron. George toughens up and places his arm around his brother. "She's our favorite brilliant witch!"

"What about Hermione—?" Ron wonders out loud. The twins shrug in return.

"Well, of course her too," Fred waves off uncaringly. His excitement then soon dissolves as he notices his father's wand pointed at her. "What's going on?"

His question seems to make everyone take notice as well. All the children share a confused look and then glance back at their parents with a frown. Spencer cannot help but notice that in a short amount of time, they have changed their appearance a bit. Fred and George look older and taller all at the same. Their hair this time is parted in the same way, no doubt to use their tactics and trick people. She remembers hearing their plan about the store they have developed and finds herself slightly disappointed that she has not yet seen it. Spencer knows they try to trick their customers. Either way, she can tell them apart by the way their bodies are positioned and the ways their eyes differ in shape and how one ear is bigger than the other.

Fred stands taller and with a straighten back showing his confidence and defiance all in one. However, while George still gave off a vibe of confidence, he is more humble about it, keeping a cool and collected look on his face. She can tell they notice her exhaustion by the way George tilts his head curiously while Fred narrows his eyes accusingly.

"Can you prove you truly are the friends of our kids?" Arthur ignores his son's question and then asks one of his own to the young girl.

Spencer nods sharply, holding in her breath at the attention she received. All she wants to do is take some sort of Calming Draught. Her brain aches in pain and it is a surprise she still stands for so long. The man leans in to Ron's ears and whispers a few words. Her friend furrows his brows before frowning as he hesitantly asks, "What happened to me in March 2nd... the day after one of the Quidditch games?"

The young Montague blinks at the simple question and eyes him curiously before answering, "You threw up because of the nerves and I helped you clean up so the Slytherins wouldn't catch you."

A pink shade began appearing in his cheeks of embarrassment before nodding in acceptance. The twins let out an amused snort at the revelation. Molly lowers her wand slowly, but Arthur still keeps it up. He motions for the twins to step up and ask another question. George widens his smile and then questions, "Okay, what did we talk about when we first named 'Speeding-Spence'?"

Spencer glances at his mother and father before replying, "You wanted help for your grand trick of the year. We talked about Portkeys, Floo Network, and brooms."

"See, mum, dad, this is Spencer Montague— the brightest witch beside Hermione, of course," Fred takes over, grabbing the girl's shoulders as soon as his father puts away his wand. Spencer leans in the boy before a wave of dizziness splashes in her face. Her hands grabs onto his arms before feeling herself weaken and lowers down. Fred grasps onto her waist and stares at her with concern.

"Oh, my!" Their mother cries out in worry, bending down beside the girl in concern. "What's wrong, sweetheart? Are you in pain?"

Spencer shakes her head and feels the voices inside her head practically scream at her. "It's not that bad... it's just like a small dull ache," she answers with a heavy sigh. She rests her weight onto Fred who only narrows his eyes in anger— not towards her by the looks of it.

"Where?" Ginny leans beside her, parting her hair to the side in worry. She glances at Fred and gives him a short nod, letting the young Montague lean on her rather than the redheaded male.

Her eyes does not dare to look up to them. "Sort of everywhere," she reveals.

"Did they hurt you?" Ron questions quietly, glancing at his brothers who pushes up their sleeves and most likely are ready to Floo to her manor. Spencer does not answer his question and instead lifts up the note Harry gave her. He grabs the letter gently and begins reading it aloud.

The letter first begins with a memory that Harry had made with Ron and then with the whole Weasley family to confirm his identity. After that, it begins explaining how Spencer had found her way to his house in a need of help. She is glad that he mentioned about her family wanting to force her to get the mark— she is not sure she wants to say those words again. Her eyes falls to the floor as he also writes in his note that she appears weakened and exhausted more than anything before so it would 'help if they make sure she is alright and not have her say otherwise'. Harry finishes the letter with a request to welcome her in their household since she has officially ran away.

"Oh, honey," Mrs. Weasley says softly, quickly wrapping the girl in a hug. Spencer stiffens in the first few seconds before she becomes overwhelmed with the smell of baking and dust. The young girl has never been hugged by an adult figure... nonetheless a woman. She feels her eyes tear up and she leans her head forward not realizing how comforting it is to be held by someone older and loving. The woman helps her stand up and leads her to a chair. "Let's get you checked up, okay?"

"Ginny, sweetie, go to your room and make space for her to sleep in," Mrs. Weasley tells her daughter. Ginny nods in assurance and quickly raises up to her room. "Arthur, send a message to Remus. Perhaps he could get a Calming Draught."

"Yes, of course," Arthur nods in agreement. The man sends a kind smile to Spencer before making his way to where his desk is located.

Molly begins checking up on Spencer. "What type of injuries did you sustain?" She questions, grabbing a wet towel and patting it on the girl's face to clean her face. "Tergeo," the woman mumbled quietly.

"Muggle type. They— uh— came from my sister, that's all," Spencer answers vaguely. She prefers not to talk about it and it seems that Mrs. Weasley understood. The spell that the woman casted reminded her of Blaise Zabini. A boy she has not talked to since the last few days of classes. Some part of her would close her eyes and try to hear his voice— one of the things he said that she held on to. Don't let her win. There are times where she thought that her sister had won already. Those days she felt helpless. The last words parted from the two students had been the complete opposite of that sentiment.

"Well, you are welcome to stay with us. My children already have some fascination with you. You come from the Montague family, correct?" Molly continues on with their conversation. And the two continue conversing with one another, Spencer finding a new comfort in an adult who does her best to clean and heal her up. After a few spells and moments of conversations, Molly allows her to go shower to freshen herself up.

The young Montague does not grow accustom immediately to her surroundings, but she is in rather awe of how they have their place of home set up. She can feel the tender love for one another and it is one she feels when she is with Ricky. Taking a shower relieves her body of the dirt she had slept in the morning and the way to start a new day— a new beginning. When she glances at the mirror from the bathroom, she stares at herself seemingly exhausted with under-bags and her eyes darken to represent how she feels older despite still being fifteen. Technically, she will turn sixteen in about three weeks from now. Not that it matters since she never truly celebrates it. Everything in her household would be about Morgana. Morgana this... Morgana that... She wonders if they even know her birthday.

As she finishes brushing her hair, she exits the bathroom and fortunately found Ginny in the same hall as her. The redheaded girl smiles kindly and immediately heads beside her, placing her arm with hers as they go to what she assumes is the girl's room. Spencer begins feeling a slight guilt building up in her system. Back in the manor, she has a big room, the house is the size of three times the Burrow. Ginny's bedroom is about a half of where Spencer slept, and yet, it feels completely like the redhead. She quite enjoys how it looks since the window that the girl has gives a view of the orchard. The walls are painted pink contrasting her old plain white ones. Posters of whom she assumes are Quidditch player hangs around the room as well as a poster of The Weird Sisters.

"Nice," she compliments honestly, her eyes wandering around impressively. The redheaded girl blushes and shrugs light-heartedly.

"It's probably not as big as the one you had," Ginny waves off in embarrassment.

             Spencer sends her a smile. "No, but it feels like a home." She places down the bag she brought with her and stares at the clean space the younger girl has left for her. Two desks rest in each side of the bed. Spencer assumes easily that she will be sleeping with Ginny— and once again the guilt raises up. "Hey, I'm sorry... this probably is not ideal for you," the Montague girl apologizes.

Ginny stares at her curiously before scoffing at the words. "Don't apologize, I don't mind! This is basically going to be like having sleepovers every day and that's awesome," she corrects with a smirk.

Before Spencer can thank her, someone knocks loudly on the door to the room. She jumps in surprise while Ginny rolls her eyes in return like if this is a normal occurrence. "What!"

"We have visitors!" Ron yells back loudly. For some reason, he still sounds a bit rough in the edges.

Spencer glances at Ginny. "Is he still mad you're with Dean Thomas now?"

The redhead nods with exasperation. "He is! I love him, but he does not know his limits. Neither do the rest, however," she grumbles in return. Her eyes brighten up in the topic of conversation. "Speaking of, have you actually dated anyone?"

The Ravenclaw scoffs and shakes her head. "Nope. I don't seem to get it— and not the type where I'm not capable of romantic feelings, but I just... it's hard to explain. I find people attractive, but usually I don't want to date them...?"

"Who was your last crush?" Ginny cannot help but ask in surprise.

Her mouth dried up as she thought of someone before quickly waving it off. No, no, it couldn't be him. "I don't tend to have crushes, though, I do find some people more attractive. Like Cedric, actually. But everyone had a crush on him," Spencer responds. Ginny nods in agreement (apparently she found him attractive too). The two girls exits the bedroom together and went down the stairs where they hear a few voices talking to one another.

"Who is the Calming Draught for?" Spencer hears a familiar voice question in wonder. She feels herself tremble slightly at the sudden chills of remembrance, but she places a thin smile on her lips as Ginny turns to her in concern. The sink is on by the way water is smoothly heard being splashed around. She can tell that Mrs. Weasley is the type of woman who chooses to stay at home and take care of all her kids.

"It's for a previous student of yours, Remus. Her name is Spencer," Molly informs him vaguely. There is the sound of tea stirring in a pot and Spencer finds herself being right as she steps into the same room as them. Professor Lupin is sitting in a stool, his left hand holding a potion bottle with a small label on it. His eyebrows raises at the reveal and before he can say anything about it, Ginny sighs loudly and heads to where the teapot is. This in turn causes their heads to turn their way and Spencer let her eyes wander aimlessly around the room.

Molly smiles warmly at her and motions for the girl to get beside her. Professor Lupin stares at her curiously before asking in a humble tone, "What was your boggart during your third year?"

Spencer's thin smile falls from her lips. "Uh— my aunt with..." she trails off and finds herself stuck saying the words. Today is Morgana's birthday. Today. Today. Today. Her sister's birthday is today. She will be receiving the Dark Mark and her fear from her third year will turn into a reality.

"Spencer?" Ginny's gentle voice brings her back to the light. The redheaded girl is standing beside her with her head tilting to the side in worry. One of her hands is placed right on her shoulder carefully like if she is made of porcelain. The other is holding a cup of tea she served for herself.

"Sorry..." Spencer apologizes, blinking numerous times in a matter of seconds before staring at the adults in the room. It is then she realizes that Professor Lupin does not come alone. Right beside him with a cup of tea in their hands is another man— a very familiar one at that. "Daniel Gray? The FBI agent?" She changes the topic to another level, her eyes widening in surprise. She is not sure what she is more surprised at— that the author of one of her favorite book is there or that he knows about the Wizarding World.

The man chuckles softly and nods his head as his answer. Before she can try and tell him how his book on behavior is one of her most-read books and if he can actually sign it (yes, she took the book), Professor Lupin clears his throat and glances at her with a concerned look.

"What's wrong, Spencer?" Her former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor questions. He wears a kind look on his face that makes Spencer just want to reveal all her thoughts to him because of how any adult rarely looks at her like that— though, of course, apart from Professor Flitwick and McGonagall.

What's wrong? More like what was not wrong.

"I've run away from my manor," she confesses directly. There is no point trying to scheme her way around it. Everyone else in this household knows of it already, she can feel the pity stares. The funny part? She doesn't even call it 'home'. No, she just ran away from her manor. From the people she is biologically blood-related to. But they are not home. Spencer is far too smart to consider them one even in the slightest.

Professor Lupin stares at her in surprise while the man beside him seems to have a look of familiarity. She cannot help but gaze at him longer than she should have. There is just something about him that reminds her of... well, something. Instead of complying to her thoughts, she looks back at the professor.

"That is a big decision... are you sure you agree with your actio—?" Lupin tries to question once more.

However, Spencer interrupts him, "Yes. There is no regret for what I have done— it's just— look, I'm fine. I don't need a Calming Draught." Lie, that is a fat lie because she most likely does.

Everyone seems to give her a doubtful look. "Harry was worried about you and no offense to him, but he's the most unobservant guy I've met," Ginny contradicts, frowning at the way Spencer refused treatment.

"Are we sure that your sister does not need any saving...?" the FBI agent asks curiously. Almost immediately her face darkens which does not go unnoticed by anyone. Spencer begins to chuckle humorlessly and shakes her head. It is only Ginny who does not have the same look as her parents and the adults.

"No," she mutters bitterly. "I don't think she needs saving when this is the birthday gift she's been waiting for years."

Lupin leans his head back in acknowledgement, figuring out quickly what she means. He had her sister in his class before, he's seen how she is always trying to make herself seem sweet among him, but as soon as he would turn the other way he would hear the comments. A slight perk of being a werewolf.

"She is getting the Mark today?"

Spencer nods. "And if I had stayed... I would have received it as well," she admits, letting herself fall to the couch. The others stays silent as she feels her throat tightened up again. So maybe she does need that potion. Her hand rubs her temples in serious overthinking that begins hitting her mind once more. She ran away. And it was all in a moment of weakness after having her father threaten her limited freedom she had in the house. That was an impulsive thought without thinking or planning and usually those never go good.

The man Lupin came with stands from his seat and sits beside her. "Hey," he calls out softly. Spencer wouldn't have imagine him to sound like that. He always seems like some badass agent. She does not look at him knowing that tears were resting in her eyes. "There this muggle known to the world for having been blind and deaf her whole life—"

"Helen Keller," Spencer connects right away, letting her eyes close as she listens to his words.

"Yes, Helen Keller. You know, she once said, 'Although the world is full of suffering—"

"'—it is full also of the overcoming it'," Spencer finishes quietly, raising her head up to acknowledge the words. The man she knows to be called Daniel Gray lets a smile appear on his face.

"I assumed you have read Optimism, or have you just been caught up in quotes," he chuckles, thankfully bringing the topic to something else. Spencer shakes her head and answers, "No, I have read it."

Ginny smiles heartedly as Fred and George reach her side out of a sudden. Fred grins, "There is no book Spencer has not yet read—"

"She is quite the fast reader that we even named one of her cool inventions after her," George finishes. The young Montague rolls her eyes, feeling herself lighten up among them.

"That's a lie, I have not read all the books," Spencer disagrees. Fred makes a face. "Fine, you still need muggle literature."

"I don't get your fascination with philosophy—"

"Boys, calm it down," Molly sighs out, sending Spencer a look of apology. The young girl waves it off enjoying how George and Fred can simply talk and increase her mood. She then turns to the man beside her who she has not yet actually greet herself too.

"Anyway, I'm Spencer Montague," she greets, holding out her hand for him to shake. The man had already placed his own in hers before she finished. However, when she stated her full name, he froze up in recognition. She furrows her eyebrows in worry, noticing how pale he became in a matter of seconds. Has she said something wrong? "Mister Gray— I mean— Agent?"

He pushes himself up from his seat and stares at her intensely. "Montague?" The man repeats. "As in the pureblood bloodline of the Montagues?"

Spencer nods her head slowly, unaware of where this is heading. She feels her eyes widen as she gazes up at him. His brows furrow in surprise and he questions, "Are you the niece of Glorious or...?"

She glances around the room and notices their surprise-filled face as well. Professor Lupin is staring at his friend curiously wondering what is going through his head. Clearly, none of them were expecting him to burst out with questions. "Daughter..." she answers unsurely.

"But that can't be..." Agent Gray sighs out, tapping into his chin most likely in thought. Spencer feels a rush of emotions pass through her immediately. Morgana and her do that too... why does he do that? It's not uncommon for people to do that, right? There is not a study that she has read about it on, but three people who she knows absolutely always do it. And despite not wanting to... her mind brings her back to what her aunt had told her. You're just as pathetic as your brother. No... no he couldn't be. He just could not be! Her aunt was just manipulating her. That is all this is. Manipulation!

"How old are you, Spencer? And uh— your sister?" The man questions once more. Her face falls into one of void. He is asking the questions that make it sound like... why? Why is he sounding like it's possible. It's not possible!

"No, no, you can't just ask those questions," Spencer snaps angrily, standing up as well. Mrs. Weasley places a calm hand on her shoulder and she flinches at the touch. She feels her chest heavily go up and down as they near to the topic. "Why are you asking those?"

Is it her or is the whole room starting to spin?

"Before I became known as Daniel Gray... my birth name had been Daniel Montague," he reveals hesitantly. "And my mother's name is Glorious."

Spencer feels herself breathing harshly, the room spinning around in circles continuously. Her mind overlaps with thousands of words and thoughts altogether. She can hear them call out her name, but they feel miles apart. Someone grabs her shoulders and brings her down to lay. After a few seconds passes, she fees a liquid pass through her throat and then her mind silences. She stares up to see that Professor Lupin had took Agent Gray— Agent Gray to another room perhaps to ask questions and right beside her on each side are Fred and George. They are looking at her with a slight pitiful look, and although she hates being the one to receive them, her eyes closes in relaxation and grasps Fred's hand as she leans on George.

(Can you believe it's still July 31st, Morgana's and Harry's birthday?).

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:
yeah you guys read right ❤️ anyway, i was
originally gonna have him like keep it a secret
but spencer would figure it out so easily so why
bother lmao SO meet daniel 😃 he's cool rlly
and like i created him because spencer's family
SUCKS so there just had to be one person cmon

spencer has mentioned him to blaise before (in ch6) and
in the christmas chapter she already thought he
looked familiar and that's because of her own
father AND professor flitwick kinda hinted it during
the time they were talking about careers 🥵🥵

anyway, the friendship between spence and ginny
just came to thought because rereading the books makes
me gay for her and yeah. (spencer thinking about
blaise when ginny asked her who her crush is eye—)

i'll clear up some questions about daniel next chapter
though because i too would be confused BUT TRUST
me when i say he is genuinely good 🥺💓