Damaged (A Marauders Era story)

First Year, Part 25 (The Leaving Feast)

Lily then mentioned that their chances of winning the house cup would have been much greater if it weren't for Potter and his group always getting hard-earned points taken away from them with their misbehavior. The two had proceeded to get into an argument over this.

The feast went by so fast and before I knew it it was over and it was time to leave.

When Lily, I and the other girls went up to our dorm after the feast we found our wardrobes empty and our belongings all packed neatly in our trunks and ready to go.

As all the students piled out of the castle and over to Hagrid, who was there to take us down to the boats that sailed across the lake, we were all handed notes, warning us against using magic over the holidays.

"How will they know if we use magic?" I tucked the note in my pocket as Aileen and I got onto the boat.

"We're all underage, so we all have the Trace on us," Aileen answered.

"Right, I remember learning about that in Charms." The Trace was a charm that let the Ministry know the area in which any magic was used, and therefore knowing if there were any underage wizards or witches in that vicinity. The Trace could only detect magic in an area around underaged wizards and witches, but it couldn't detect the actual caster.

"You're lucky," Aileen said. "You'll be able to sneak and use magic and they won't know it's you because you live with your aunt. There's no adult witches or wizards around where I live."

"Your parents are muggle then?" I didn't know much about Aileen's parents. She never talked about them at all. The only person she ever spoke about back home was her sister, and she didn't speak much about her either.

"No, they're not," Aileen looked uncomfortable. "I just, I mean - nevermind."

I wondered if she was ashamed of having muggle parents like some were, but I dropped the subject. I, of course, didn't care what her parents were, but if Aileen didn't want anyone knowing that her parents were muggle if they were, I wasn't about to pry it out of her.

"You can come stay over at my Aunt Cora's house," I said. "I'm going to have nothing to do all summer and there are no other children around where I live. I'm going to be bored to death." Even if there were any other kids, they wouldn't be friends with me. Especially if they were muggle children. They looked at me even worse than witches and wizards did, and that was saying something.

"I'll try," Aileen agreed. "Maybe I can get them to let my sister come to. I don't want to leave her there by herself. Do you have a backyard for flying? I would want to bring my broom to practice."

"Yes, it's huge. We live way out in the country, away from any muggles. But do you think your sister would want to come stay?" I gestured to my leg and eye. "Don't you think she'd be scared or freaked out?"

"No," Aileen shook her head. "She's one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet. We're complete opposites, you know. But we still get along really well. We could all go exploring or something. I've only ever seen the countryside passing by. I live in a crowded area and there's no empty space for miles."

Aileen and I talked about what we planned on doing this summer the whole boat ride there, and before we knew it we were boarding the Hogwarts express, still talking excitedly about our summer plans. The train was so loud with talking and laughing students I could barely hear when Aileen spoke to me.

We ended up sitting with Frank and his friend, Mathew on the trip home. Although I managed to convince Aileen to sit with us, she didn't speak to the two Gryffindor boys the whole way there, only choosing to speak to me. They didn't say more than two words to her either, but somehow it was still okay. I was just happy to be able to be in the same compartment as my two best friends, even if they didn't get along.