Clover Hawkings and the Triwizard Tournament

10. Violets

"You WHAT?!"

The voice echoed in my mind. A face hung there- blue eyes narrowed in anger, stray wisps of red hair floating into her mouth, teeth bared in fury. Although I'd only seen her this angry once- when her husband died- it was most definitely aunt Cass.

"I'm sorry," the woman standing across from her, apparently the object of her wrath, hung her head. Together with a dark cloak and hood that cast her face in shadow, it was impossible from the perspective I was standing at to see her face.

They were in Cass's kitchen- looking exactly the same as it did now, save..baby toys? A tiny baby girl with white hair sat in her high chair, looking from one furious adult to the next.

"You should be!"

"I'm sorry," the woman continued, "you feel this way, because I'm not changing my mind."

"Traitor," Cass growled, and I can't help flinching at the menace in her voice.

"No, sister, it is you who is doing the betraying here." the woman said icily. Her mouth continued to move and the scene played on, but I heard nothing but her voice, repeating the same word, over and over.

"Sister."

Sister.

Sister.

"Agg!" I wasn't aware I did the screaming. "Sister!"

"Oh, my!" I was aware of Madam Pomfrey, bustling over, giving me medicine, "hush, hush" ing me, setting chocolate and water on my nightstand, muttering to herself- it all passed in one huge blur.

Sister

Sister

Sister

Sister...meaning the woman in the hood was my mother. So Cass and her had argued a terrible argument when I had been less than a year old. My mother had done something she wouldn't change her mind about, and Cass was furious beyond fury. So angry, in fact, was it possible she had been the one to.....

I cut off that thought before it formed. What my aunt was, it wasn't a murderer.

~*~*~*~

When I wake, there's a blob in front of me. That's the first thing I'm aware of. The second is a stabbing pain in my arm and Madam Pomfrey sweeping away, syringe in hand, muttering something about a pee-tee-sss-dee, stupid Muggles making needles, and even more stupid people who wait the entire night at someone's bedside. The blob moves.

"Sorry," it whispered, sitting up and rubbing the dark circles. The green eyes and dark hair take me a second to connect a name to, but my foggy brain gets there surprisingly quick.

"Were you here all night?" I asked Artemis. "Also; night? Wasn't it day when I-I-"

"Passed out?" She grimaced.

"I was going to say forcing myself to sleep, but that works."

"Well, you shouldn't! Madam Pomfrey almost had a fit! And Scarlet fainted! Again! And I-I-" she buried her face in her hands. I stared, bewildered. What had I done?

"I brought you this," she gestured to a vase on the nightstand. It was full of purple flowers.

"Oh, they're beautiful," I said. I had never really cared for flowers, but their scent drove away the lingering smell of the hospital. "Er- what are they?"

"Violets," Artemis said proudly.

"Ooo. You know, in the 1910's through the 1950's, females would give other females violets to show their sexual identity as a lesbian or bi. My aunt told me." There was an innocent moment where I was proud of this fact- then the awkwardness of the situation sunk in.

"Oh my gosh," Artemis turned bright red. "I'm really sorry- I hope I didn't offend you-"

"Offend me?" I laughed. "I'm bi."

"Oh." she said. I hated how her voice changed. "Are you out to your parents?"

"My aunt knows, yeah." I said lightly, trying to not sound like this topic was something that upset me.

"Ah." Artemis nodded. "I'm not."

I almost melted with emotions. "You like girls?"

"I like girls," she confirmed.

Artemis. Sweet, soft, no longer straight Artemis. Did this-

No.

Still can't. Nothing has changed. Promises.

"Is there anything I can get you?" she asked.

"Yes. Get me out of here." I decided I would focus on the immediate problem- breaking out of the Hospital Wing- now and the other thing later as to not explode my brain.

"Um, Clover-"

But I was already hauling myself up with assistance from the bedpost. Waves of nausea passed through me. I stumbled up, trying to hold on as my stomach tried to crawl out, my ears were ringing and my hands shook. "Jeez, what did Karkaroff do to me?" I demanded, collapsing back down on the bed to ease the pounding in my head.

I saw Artemis purse her lips and look away, and deciding this was an expression of guilt, I announced, "That wasn't a rhetorical question."

"You should sleep," she said.

"I just woke up."

"You'll be fine soon enough," her tone was unconvincing. "How about I get you tea in the meantime?"

"Fine, secret-keeper," I scowled, not wanting to see her go. "Leave me."

"Oh, I assure you, I'm not leaving anytime soon," Artemis replied, and then drifted out of the room, leaving me with my confused thoughts, wondering what the heck that meant.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I was standing in front of a huge castle. It was broken and cracked in many places, and there were vines choking the wall.

A shrill, piercing sound interrupted me. A bird with beautiful red-and-gold plumage swooped down, the song still flowing from its mouth. In its black talons, it held a golden, heart-shaped locket. I watched the phoenix's claws loosen around it and then drop the necklace. I saw it fall. I should probably catch that. My arm extended and the locket landed perfectly on my pinky finger. My arm fell and my knee buckled under its weight- it felt like about a million pounds were packed into that locket. I gritted my teeth and held it in my palm.

The sky was deepening to a midnight blue, so the phoenix's gold feathers stood out noticeably when it circled around me.

"Take it back!" I called. "I can't hold it, it's too heavy!"

The bird just squawked and flew closer. Relieved, I held out the locket for him ( or her) to take-

A giant bolt of green light was tumbling down from the phoenix's claw. I screamed, but my voice wasn't working, my feet were rooted in spot, the bolt was going to crush me, oh how I hated green light-

"Shhhh, shhhhh, shhhhh," Artemis's voice whispers, cradling my body. I rest my head against her chest, panting, tears of panic swimming before me and blurring my vision.

"Oh!" I can hear Madam Pomfrey bustling around, shoving something that tastes like feet into my mouth, groaning about another two days of bed rest. All I can focus on is still breathing.

I don't relax, not when Artemis helps me drink my latte, and certainly not when her finger brushed my lip by accident. There's tension, like always after a nightmare, and I can see she's tired and trying to calm me down to no avail. For her sake, I don't scream my head off.

Madam Pomfrey waves another vial under my nose for me to drink and the second the cold liquid hits my throat I'm out to a dark, cool world of dreamless sleep.