"PROTEGO!" someone had exclaimed, falling into Aine's sight as she watches a figure interfere between her and Ginny, shielding the redhead and deflecting the dangerous spell that Aine had shot. A large translucent shield was formed and it repelled Aine's attack just in the nick of time before things got catastrophic.
Aine froze, huffing and finally feeling the exhaustion as the energy drained out of her like an open tap. When the blurry smoke cleared up, she saw Harry standing in front of Ginny, his wand pointed in her direction as he had defended the girl. Aine's heart stopped for a second, unable to fathom what she had just done. She drops her hand holding her wand to her side and lets out a shaky breath, relieved that Ginny was safe even though she was drenched in sweat, clearly worn out from their duel.
There was a momentary silence and Aine glanced around nervously and warily, watching her fellow peers gawk at her with an enigmatic look on their faces. Was it shock, awe or fear? Probably all of the above.
She gulps, blinking away from the staring eyes until she had caught her reflection in the mirror walls. For a split second, she could have sworn there was another person behind her in the mirage who had long silvery hair and a pair of lilac-coloured eyes. When Aine turned around to see who it was, the figure was nowhere to be seen, almost as if they had faded into thin air, leaving without a trace but a faint memory.
"Wow!" a small voice squeaked from the corner, then there was a gasp followed by a clap and they all turned to Nigel. The boy was beaming brightly at Aine and Ginny before his friends followed, applauding the great fight and breaking the foreboding tension earlier.
Aine tucked her wand into her pocket, walking over to Ginny whose legs had given out into tiredness. Her friends had all gone back to their training after witnessing the show they had all watched. Only the twins, Luna, Neville, and Michael along with Hermione, Ron and Harry had remained, crowding over the two girls. Ginny sat on the ground, huffing and puffing as she inhales the air, taking in as much oxygen as she can to cool her lungs and calm her racing heart. Wiping her sweat with the back of her hand, she let out a chuckle, "That was bloody fun!"
"Gave us quite a bit of scare, Ai!" Fred attempts to lighten the mood that he had noticed gone sour. Even George was slightly taken aback by Aine's behaviour, noting her differences earlier. He slowly went to her and patted her back, hinting to her it was alright.
Harry met Aine's wavering golden pupils, her lips gaping slightly as they trembled before she quickly plastered on another expression to hide her thoughts. All he could wonder was what the hell had just happened. He looks over at his two friends, both sharing the same question in their minds. It felt as if they had seen this side of Aine before last year when she was duelling with Hermione and then again when she had a vision during the third task of the Triwizard tournament. Except it was somehow different though they couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. "Are you alright?" He asks Aine in a soft voice, careful to not startle her more than she already has been. He was still trying to process what had happened.
Aine nodded, meeting his worried gaze. "Yeah... I just— Got too fired up," she lies and Harry's expressions softened up. He could see through her uneasiness and how visibly shaken she was. "Thanks for protecting her, Harry. I went a little overboard, didn't I?" she cringes, guilt smothered all over her.
Harry smiled and tugged on her shoulders, reassuring her that it was fine since no one was really hurt. He made sure that they will have a talk about what had happened later when everyone was gone.
The raven-haired girl looks at Ginny apologetically, crouching down to have a look at her friend's face. With a bitter smile, she expresses her apology, "I'm sorry Gin, are you okay?" she asks in a timid voice, feeling a sense of shame at her actions. She could see Ginny's boyfriend, Michael literally glaring daggers in her direction, mentally cursing at her in his mind. Though Aine didn't pay any consideration to his opinions since she thought that she had deserved it, after what she had done.
"Of course, she's not okay! You almost killed her!" Michael snaps at her with a scowl and Aine flinched slightly at his last sentence.
Ron immediately took Aine's side, giving him a warning frown while Fred and George rolls their eyes at his snide remark. Even Ginny was offended by her boyfriend's comment despite him taking her side. She gave Michael a small squeeze on his hand before looking to Aine, brushing away the unsettling image of her weird behaviour when they were duelling. "I'm fine, Ai~ That was actually really tough but I really, really enjoyed it! Let's do that again sometime!" she tells her, waving off her deed. Ginny didn't need Aine to say anything for her to know that her best friend was already beating herself up for what she had done.
Aine's lips curled slightly, thankful that her friend was unharmed and had forgiven her. However, it didn't wipe away the horrible act she had done to her. That was too dangerous... She thought to herself. If Harry wasn't there to interfere and block her spell, she could only imagine the horror of watching Ginny being inflicted by her attack and getting injured because of her. Though unintentionally, it still didn't change the fact that she could have seriously wounded her best friend. "I'm sorry..." she murmurs.
Perhaps it wasn't wise to 'do that again'.
Ginny's hand slid into Aine's, holding it with reassurance. "I'm alright," she repeated to her friend, knowing that Aine needed to hear it again. "Don't worry! I think I've done some damage to you too earlier. Sorry about that..."
The two smiled, making up for their mistakes. With an outstretched hand, Aine pulls Ginny up and offers to treat her exhaustion while Hermione simply sighed out of relief, smiling at the two.
After the meeting, students began dispersing out of the Room of Requirement with Nigel and the Weasley twins taking turns to make sure they weren't seen. Aine bid Ginny and Luna goodbyes before staying back with Harry, Ron and Hermione. When the door finally closes and they were alone, Aine slumps onto the ground, her back leaning against the cold mirror. She runs her fingers through her braids, letting them loose as Hermione sat next to her.
The brunette places a hand on her, gazing over at the girl with eyes filled with concern. "What happened, Aine?" she asks and the girl exhales, massaging her temples as she tries to recall.
"Was it another vision?" Ron questions, plopping down with them as Harry paces around them before dropping ground to join the conversation. They all stared at the girl for answers and Aine finally nodded with a frown.
"What is it about?" Harry asks and they patiently waited for the girl to recollect herself. She was in such a dilemma whether to tell them or not, pondering over the fact that exposing what she saw will make them a target to danger. Even so, Harry allowed her to speak freely, knowing for a fact that it definitely concerned him as well.
"He was reaching out to something in the dark..." murmurs Aine, her brows knitting as she closes her eyes, trying to replay the vision again. But there was nothing she could see but darkness, just like before. "He was finding some sort of artefact and he wants it— Desperately... It maddens him that he couldn't get it," she tells them.
"Did you see where he was?" Ron asks in Hermione's stead and Aine shook her head.
"Everything was pitched black, but there were these, dark black tiles around him. Nagini was there too," she explained, recalling the snake that was following behind the Dark Lord. When she looked up to her friends, Hermione was furrowing her brow with confusion, Ron was tilting his head to one side, wondering who was 'Nagini' while Harry simply raised a brow.
"Who..?" The three of them repeated together.
"Nagini," Aine answers as a matter of factly.
"Yeah, who's that?" Harry inquired and Aine jerked her chin back, looking at her friends oddly.
"What do you mean 'who's that'? That's—" she pauses, "That's the snake's name," she said.
There was utter silence between them and Hermione exchanged looks with Harry, she shook her head. "How do you know the snake's name?" she asks Aine and the girl blinks back her surprise. She tries to remember how she came to know Voldemort's poisonous friend.
"Harry told me," she points to the boy in glasses who sat upright instantly, startled by his friend's answer. He shook his head and bit his lips.
"I don't even know it had a name."
"Aine, you're scaring me now. What's going on?" Ron nudges, baffled by the girl's disturbing replies. There were goosebumps forming on his arms now.
"If you didn't tell me, then who did?" Aine asks her friends and the redheaded boy shrugs. She gulps, her pupils trembling. She never knew when she had found out the snake's name, let alone how she managed to know. Was it through one of the visions she saw?
Aine continued to wonder in silence, she rubs her thumb on the back of her other hand, lost in her thoughts. "There were times..." she said in a small voice, "There were times where I could see things others can't."
"See what? Visions?" Harry went on.
"Yeah, but they're of another's mind. And at times I see through their eyes and I could feel what they were feeling like it was happening to me. When that happens, I couldn't control what I am feeling," Aine stated, clutching onto her scarlet and gold tie. She loosens it and exhales, "I could feel it plaguing me, tainting my mind at times and I start to lose what's my real feelings and what's not."
"So... You're reading into people's minds?" Ron asks, unsure of what Aine was feeling. Everything feels disconnected, and confusing to him that he was actually feeling afraid for his friend. Why is she feeling like this? What's happening to her?
"Mmhm... Remus did tell me once that I am actually performing Legilimency on people and had Aion train me along with—" Aine reveals to them.
Ron suddenly interrupts, giving her a quizzical look, "What's Legilimency?"
"It's the act of magically navigating through the many layers of a person's mind and correctly interpreting their thoughts," Hermione enlightens him, she grabs Aine's hand and furrowed. "But Aine... How did you do that? I read it once that it's extremely difficult to perform Legilimency and Occlumency!"
"She's gifted, duh. She's even smarter than you, Hermione!" Ron teases, only to earn a death glare from her. He quickly clenches his lips, not saying anything else.
"Nonsense," Aine rolls her eyes. She was in no way in a million years any smarter than her brunette friend. She took in Ron's compliment silently and tucks it in her pocket, grateful anyways before answering her friends, "I just sort of managed to do it subconsciously. Before I know it, I managed to do it more frequently even without knowing it. Aion had me trained so that I can control it."
There was an awkward silence and Harry fiddled with his fingers, "So can you control it now?"
"Somehow. I'm still learning and practising it too. But yes, I've gotten the hang of it so it gets a little easier to prevent myself from looking into others' minds and likewise, protecting mine from being seen by others. Except..." Aine trails off and Hermione grew anxious.
"Except?"
"I just can't seem to control these specific visions. They always caught me off-guard when I least expects it. And when it happens... I can never get out of it until I've seen what it has shown me." The raven-haired girl's expression darkens, she couldn't help but feel anxious. What does it mean? What will happen?
"Do you think there's something wrong with me?" she asks them worriedly. Ron sighs, looking straight at Aine before retorting.
"Nothing's wrong with you Aine! If there's anyone to be blamed, it's definitely the ones who made you see these visions!" He yells, balling his fists as if he was going to fight anyone who claims otherwise. Hermione stifles a titter next to him, her cheeks flushing as she saw how determined Ron was. She took Aine's hands and patted them.
"Whatever it is to come, we promise that we will always be next to you, Aine! We'll figure it out together! Like we've always had," she reassures the younger who smiles softly. She mutters a small 'thanks' to her friends who got her back, even Harry who had gone quiet mustered a grin in her direction, agreeing to their little promise.
Although Aine hadn't gotten any answers pertaining to her questions, there was no doubt she felt a little better with her friends' comfort and reassurance. Even for a little while, she believed that in time, the unknown will be known and the secrets that were hidden, will finally be told and brought to light.
The girl bids her friends a temporary farewell before heading to the Owlery, wanting to write a letter to her family to tell them about her visions. It was getting late and with the new curfew that Umbridge had reinstated, walking around at this hour will probably get her into detention and that was the last thing Aine ever wanted— To sit in the pink office and get herself tortured with lines etched onto the back of her hand while listening to her professor giggling crazily all to herself. However, Aine wanted to send word to her father as soon as she can. It had concerned her more than the painful lines which she had grown to endure.
As she made her way to the Owlery, her steps halted halfway and her breath hitched when she heard footsteps nearing her followed by a couple of snickerings down the corridor. She shuts her lips and listened to the chuckles, it definitely didn't sound anything high-pitched like a certain pink woman's. Nevertheless, Aine decides to keep her guard up, acting like there was nothing wrong. Just because curfew is coming, doesn't mean she's actually wandering around aimlessly trying to break the rules. She needed to get to Hestia so she could send her family a letter and that was a valid reason.
"Wait till everyone sees your marvellous pin..!" a girl squeals with delight, her footsteps pattering like she was jumping around.
"Your father will be so proud!" another male's voice replies and the girl claps, giggling once more.
"I don't really think it's anything to be proud of..." the student grumbles, dragging his feet against the marbled floorings.
Taking a deep breath, Aine finally turns at the end of the aisle. Trying her best to look normal, it was probably just a couple of her schoolmates who were still loitering around just like her.
Or so she thought.
Aine's eyes narrowed at the familiar person ahead, his blonde locks covering his eyes as he cast a dispirited look down. But what caught Aine's attention wasn't just that it was her friend or the person she had secretly gotten butterflies in her stomach.
It was the violet and silver pin with an alphabet 'I' on the house crest of his robes that made her heart sink. She knew all too well what the badge displayed on his uniform was and who had placed it on him. She knew who they were in front of her eyes now.
The Inquisitorial Squad.
She staggers back a step when the boy looks up, and just like Aine, his heart dropped too.
"Ah~ Look. Who. We. Found!" the girl next to the blonde boy sang, her lips curling into a smirk in Aine's direction. She loved the expression she was seeing on the Gryffindor girl, it was the best one she had ever seen.
The boy's eyes fluttered, his grey pupils wavering, flabbergasted by Aine's appearance. He froze on the spot, wanting to run to her, call her name, maybe even both. All he knew was that there was a lot of explaining he was going to do to make sure she doesn't get the wrong idea.
But it was already too late when Aine took another step back, her lips trembling before she sprinted away as fast as she can.
Oh... All he could think of was that he was so screwed.
─── ⋆⋅☀⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☀⋅⋆ ───
Dun... Dun... Dun!! Looks like someone didn't see it coming! Oh, I just absolutely love seeing the training sequence in the Order of the Phoenix film! I really wish there were more scenes but hey, still grateful that we got some! How did you guys find this chapter and the book so far? Any theories you guys have? Do leave your thoughts in the comments! I would love to see your opinions!
Anyways, we're really close to Christmas in this book! I have so many scenes planned out in my mind and all I need to do is string my thoughts together and write them down! I hope you guys are excited about what's to come!
Do give this chapter an upvote if you have enjoyed it and see you in the next one!
- Zeneria