ghost stories - h. potter

Twelve

A few days into December, Belle found herself more and more excited for the Christmas holidays. With the distraction of her new friends, homework and the newly-hatched dragon that was quickly becoming a trouble-maker for her and Pansy in Care of Magical Creatures, any lingering thoughts of Emilia and her nightmares had been pushed from her mind.

On the tenth of December, however, just a day before they were supposed to leave to return home for the holidays, Belle found herself in her bedroom, refusing to speak to anyone. Luna had left her alone and she had asked her sister to go away, just wanting to be left by herself. It was Emilia's birthday and she was supposed to be turning nineteen. 

Emilia and Belle had spent each of Emilia's birthdays doing something different since their first year at Hogwarts. In their first year they went Fairy hunting in the Forbidden Forest and managed to come across a nest of them, who had very much enjoyed the attention they received from the two girls. 

In their second year, they threw a party in the dormitories as it was too dangerous for them to go outside with the danger of the Chamber of Secrets very much present. Rhylee's mother had sent a large package of muggle sweets and foods and they had pushed all their beds into the middle of the room, spending the night giggling and whispering with each other until the early hours of the morning.

Their third year had consisted of sneaking out into the Forbidden Forest once more, only they were looking for Hippogriffs this time. They had managed to come across a family of them that Hagrid was looking after. After hearing about what one of them had done to Draco Malfoy, Emilia preferred to stay behind but Belle had been lucky enough to have been accepted into the family of Hippogriffs. The baby one had taken a liking to her especially and fell asleep on Belle's lap, where she was curled up next to Emilia.

In their fourth year, Emilia had insisted they go swimming in the Black Lake. Belle had called her crazy and she had almost refused to go, but after Emilia had prompted her by saying she'd get a better look at the Giant Squid up close if they were lucky enough, she agreed. They had both caught terrible colds the next day and vowed never to go near the Black Lake again in winter time.

In their fifth year, Belle had come across the Room of Requirement, after overhearing a couple of Slytherins talking about it the day after they had busted the original Dumbledore's Army for holding secret meetings. Belle had turned the room into a history museum for Emilia and the girl had spent the night there, completely in awe as she stood, untouchable in the middle of major events that shaped the Wizarding world into what it was today. Goblin wars, Wizarding wars, even the defeat of Grindelwald, Emilia had managed to experience it all. That was where she and Emilia had shared their first kiss.

In their sixth year, Belle and Emilia found themselves in the Room of Requirement once more, only that time Belle had turned it into a cinema  - something that was fairly new to Emilia as her family was full of pureblood elitists and they'd forbidden her to ever go out into the muggle world and associate herself with anything they did. 

They hadn't done anything two years ago in December. She had disappeared for the day, taken away by her parents as they had important matters to attend to. Important matters that Belle came to know as her initiation ceremony into Voldemort's ranks. She had felt like a failure of a Ravenclaw when she figured it out months later. There was a reason why Emilia had been distant and acting differently after her birthday - Belle just hadn't figured it out until months later. 

Not wanting to speak to anyone as she spent the day grieving, Belle stayed up in her room with the door locked and the covers over her head. She spent most of the day crying and wondering why she was still upset over a girl who had used her to get into Dumbledore's Army, had killed one of her friends with the help of Bellatrix Lestrange and then proceeded to try and kill her.