Ravenclaw's Shadow

Chapter 16

“Nobody was at risk when I was feeding once a month!” I exclaim, “I'm not dangerous!”

“How close did you come to biting George?” he asks quietly. I feel my cheeks heat up and look at the floor.

“Okay,” I say, “every Friday.”

“Good,” Lupin nods, “go down to dinner, I'm sure George is waiting.”

“No Quidditch tonight,” George says at dinner on Friday, “do you want to hang out for a bit?”

I look down at my untouched food.

“I, uh, I have extra Defence class tonight,” I lie.

“What? Why?” George asks, “you get all O's in everything.”

I shrug, playing with my potato.

“My parents wanted me to do it,” I say, “looks good on my CV.”

George makes a face.

“Your parents are way too concerned with school,” he says.

“For the love of Merlin, don't tell Mum you're taking extra classes,” Fred chimes in, “she's already saying how we should do work experience at the Ministry. Thinks you're a little ray of scholastic sunshine.”

He and George exchange a dark look.

“Don't you want to do well in school?” I ask, “I mean, you're both smart enough to get O's in everything. You just...”

“Don't try,” Fred says, “yeah, we know, Mum reminds us constantly.”

“There're more important things in life than doing well in school,” George says.

“Like what?” I ask.

“Miss Dunmore, don't you have a lesson to get to?” Professor Flitwick appears at my elbow. I sigh to myself.

“Okay, I'm on my way,” I tell him. I stand up and sling my bag over my shoulder.

“I'll see you tomorrow,” I tell them.

I walk up to Ravenclaw tower, drop off my bag, change clothes and pick up my broom. I walk up to the Astronomy tower and take off. I fly out into the night, wishing I could've hung out with George tonight. I decide to fly a short way, maybe I can do this quickly and get back to school in time to hang out with George a bit before curfew.

I land on the outskirts of a city and hide my broomstick in some bushes. I pull my hood up and walk down the dark street. There's no sign of life in these buildings. They're run down, windows missing, doors hanging off their hinges. So it's a surprise when I see a young woman standing under a street light. She's wearing clothes that show off a lot of skin. As I near her, I notice track marks on her arms. I don't want to feed from someone with drugs in their system. I keep walking.

A few blocks down a man is standing outside a building, smoking. I'm not a fan of smokers, since their blood is usually thick and tastes funny, but I haven't seen anyone else and I've already been away for more than an hour. I'm wasting time.

I make a beeline for the man, pushing my hood back as I do. He glances over at me and raises his eyebrows. He stands up straight, drops his cigarette and puts it out with his shoe.

“Got a spare smoke?” I ask as I get close. He glances around at the dark, empty street and pulls a packet out of his pocket. I stand close to him. He glances around and reaches into his pocket again. I see a flash then then feel a blinding pain in the side of my neck. I choke and fall against the wall. The man sprints off.