Happy New Year guys!!
On Halloween morning, Estella woke in a bright and cheery mood, rushing down the breakfast with her friends in excitement for their first Hogsmeade trip.
They lined up at the Entrance Hall where Filch was standing inside the front doors, checking off names against a long list, peering suspiciously into every face and making sure that no one was sneaking out who shouldn't be going.
"Staying here, Potter?" shouted Malfoy, who was standing in a line ahead of Estella and her friends with Crabbe and Goyle. "Scared of passing the Dementors?"
Estella shot a sorry look at Harry's retreating back as he ignored Malfoy and made his solitary pursuit back up the marble staircase.
She had little time to feel bad however, as she was soon engulfed in store after store of marvellous inventions and crackling candy.
She was dragged through Zonko's Joke Shop to look at exploding cauldrons and trick wands, Honeydukes to buy chocolates and confectionaries("Free samples!" exclaimed Hazel), the post office to see all the owls and what seemed every other odd place in between.
By the end of their extensive perusal, Estella was spent, and she and her friends retired into the Three Broomsticks for foaming mugs of hot Butterbeer, which seemed to re-energise them.
They sat there, surrounded by the busy chatter of their fellow students and customers. Estella rested her back against the soft cushion of their booth and let out a sigh.
"Should we head back after this?" Belle inquired. "The feast will start soon."
Amelia laughed. "I don't think I can handle carrying any more bags so yes."
With that, they finished their Butterbeer and made their way back up to the castle, dropping off their purchases in their dorm before meeting up again in the common room to go down to the feast.
The Great Hall had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats and many flaming orange streamers, which were swimming lazily across the stormy ceiling.
The food was delicious; even after all the Honeyduke sweets they had consumed, they managed second helpings of everything.
The feast finished with an entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a spot of formation gliding; Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had a great success with a re-enactment of his own botched beheading.
Estella and her friends followed the rest of the Gryffindors along the usual path to Gryffindor Tower, but when they reached the corridor which ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they found it jammed with students.
"Why isn't anyone going in?" Belle said curiously.
Estella tried peering over the heads in front of her. She placed her hands on Charlotte's shoulders to prop herself up on her tippy-toes.
"The portrait hole's closed," she informed her friends, frowning.
"Let me through, please," came Percy's voice, and he came bustling importantly through the crowd. "What's the hold-up here? You can't all have forgotten the password- excuse me, I'm Head Boy-"
And then a silence fell over the crowd, from the front first, so that a chill seemed to spread down the corridor.
They heard Percy say, in a suddenly sharp voice, "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick."
Estella's frown deepened and she scanned the crowd, finally spotting Hermione.
"Guys, come on." She grabbed Hazel's hand and dragged her towards her twin. The others followed.
"Hermit," she whispered, not wanting to break the silence in the corridor. "What's happening?"
"No idea," Hermione responded. Her brows were furrowed and her lips pressed firmly together.
"What's going on?" said Ginny, who squeezed in just after them. Estella shrugged.
Next moment, Professor Dumbledore was there, sweeping towards the portrait; the Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through and Estella moved closer with Hazel still clutching tightly to her arm to see what the trouble was.
"Oh my-" Hermione exclaimed and grabbed Harry's arm.
Estella was distracted from this however by the sight that greeted her.
The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor; great chunks of it had been torn away completely.
Estella stood there in shock, stunned into silence.
Dumbledore took one quick look at the ruined painting and turned, his eyes sombre, to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin and Snape, hurrying towards him.
'We need to find her," said Dumbledore. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."
"You'll be lucky!" said a cackling voice.
It was Peeves the poltergeist, bobbing over the crowd and looking delighted, as he always did, at the sight of wreckage or worry.
"What do you mean, Peeves?" said Dumbledore calmly, and Peeves' grin faded a little. He didn't dare taunt Dumbledore. Instead, he adopted an oily voice that was no better than his cackle.
"Ashamed, You Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful," he said happily. "Poor thing," he added, unconvincingly.
"Did she say who did it?" said Dumbledore quietly.
"Oh, yes, Professorhead," said Peeves, with the air of one cradling a large bombshell in his arms. "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see." Pevves flipped over and grinned at Dumbledore from between his own legs. "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."
✰♪
Professor Dumbledore sent all the Gryffindors back to the Great Hall, where they were joined ten minutes later by the students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, who all looked extremely confused.
He advised the students to stay where they were while the teachers conducted a search of the school. "I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately," he added to Percy, who was looking immensely proud and important. "Send word with one of the ghosts."
Professor Dumbledore paused, about to leave the Hall and staid, "Oh, yes, you'll be needing..."
With one casual wave of his wand, the long tables flew to the edges of the Hall, standing on their ends; another wave and the floor was covered with hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags.
"Sleep well," said Professor Dumbledore, closing the door behind him.
The Hall immediately began to buzz excitedly; the Gryffindors were telling the rest of the school what had just happened.
Estella spotted Ernie, waving frantically at her as he made his way quickly through the crowd.
"Stella! Stella, what happened?"
Estella stepped closer to him and said in a grave tone, "Sirius Black got into the castle."
"What!?" Ernie exclaimed, eyes wide in alarm. Around him, the chatter of the other students was enough to dissolve the noise, but Estella thought she noticed a pair of green eyes fixed on them.
"He attacked the Fat Lady; no one knows where she disappeared off to."
"That's terrible," he said, frowning in unease. He looked her up and down. "Are you okay?"
She nodded. "He was gone by the time we got there- must've arrived sometime during the Feast."
"So you mean to say... that he could be in the castle with us right now?"
Estella shuddered and hit him lightly, more as a way to distract herself. "Don't say that! We don't want to jinx it..."
Around them, people were asking each other the same question: 'How did he get in?'
"Maybe he knows how to Apparate," said a Ravenclaw a few feet away. "Just appear out of thin air, you know."
"Disguised himself, probably," said a Hufflepuff fifth-year.
"He could've flown in," suggested Dean Thomas.
"You can't apparate into Hogwarts," Estella said, frustrated at her sudden mind blank. "It says so in Hogwarts: A History."
Ernie fixed her with a wry smile. "I didn't know you read that."
"I didn't have to." A faint smile traced the edge of her lips. "Being twins with Hermione is enough."
"The lights are going out now!" Percy shouted. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!"
The candles all went out at once. The only light now came from the silvery ghosts, who were drifting about talking seriously to the Prefects, and the enchanted ceiling, which, like the sky outside, was scattered with stars.
"Come on." Ernie seized her hand and dragged her towards two empty sleeping bags; Estella's friends had disappeared in the crowd and darkness.
They shuffled in, trying not to disturb the faint whispering in the Hall.
Estella snuggled in, pressing the soft fabric against her face, closing her eyes and breathing softly, trying to forget what had happened.
Questions tumbled through her mind like rolling barrels of hay, plaguing her thoughts with unwanted fear and suspicion.
What if he hadn't gone to the dorms and come down to the Great Hall instead?... He's after Harry... Did someone help him? Quirrel had You-Know-Who on the back of his head first year... I could have died...
With all that, it was almost impossible to sleep, and she lay awake tumbling in her sleeping back, trying to find a comfortable position.
Ernie - along with most everyone else - drifted off sometime around three in the morning which left her feeling more alone than ever.
It was at this time that Professor Dumbledore came in.
Estella watched at he stepped around the students, making his way to Percy, who had been prowling between the sleeping bags.
They began talking in a whisper; too far away for Estella to hear(and she had never been good at lip reading).
After a while, the door of the Hall let out a creak and Snape entered. Estella strained her eyes, following his shadowed figure as he swept across the Hall towards Dumbledore.
When she grew tired of trying in vain to figure out their conversation(which was no doubt about Sirius Black), she let her eyes stray to the other people in the Hall.
Her gaze landed on a very familiar trio. Frowning, she noticed that Harry was slightly raised, and his eyes appeared to be squinted, although she could not altogether tell from where she was.
A more heavy indicator was Hermione. She was on her side, facing towards the whispering teachers and Percy, which was strange, as Hermione had always favoured sleeping on her back.
Estella rolled over again, looking up at the ceiling, which was still dark, sprinkles of silver dotting the inky surface.
She pressed her eyes firmly together. Hermione will tell me in the morning. I don't need to stay up. She'll let me know.
With that, she finally drifted off to sleep.
✰♪
Hermione didn't tell her in the morning, nor did she tell her the next day.
Infact, she made no indicator that she had heard anything, except that Estella saw her whispering with Harry and Ron a lot more often than before.
All around the school, the talk was of nothing by Sirius Black. Wild theories grew wilder still and the Fat Lady's ripped canvas had been taken off the wall and replaced with a portrait of Sir Cadogan and his fat grey pony.
Nobody was very happy about this. Besides spending half of his time challenging people to duels, Sir Cadogan used the rest thinking up ridiculously long passwords which he changed at least twice a day.
As Saturday drew nearer, so did the first match of Quidditch between Gryffindor and Slytherin, which successfully captured most of the students' interests.
✰♪
Three days before the match, Estella sat with Hermione as Harry and Ron complained.
Hermione had called her over after rubbing her temples and declaring that she couldn't suffer through any more Quidditch talk on her own.
Estella thought about denying her this favour(she still felt rather miffed that Hermione hadn't told her about the conversation on Halloween) but she convinced herself that perhaps her twin had simply not known that she was awake and decided that she didn't need to know.
Still, hadn't they once told each other everything? What had happened to that?
That had long disappeared with the beginning of their Hogwarts escapade.
"Malfoy's not even injured!" Ron exclaimed, throwing his hands out in indignation. "He's faking it!"
Harry nodded. "He just doesn't want to play in these conditions."
Estella looked outside the window, where rain was pouring in thick, resolute sheets. "Are you sure it's safe? I mean, can't you postpone the match; force Malfoy to play?"
The two boys stared at her.
"You can't postpone Quidditch Stella!" Harry cried.
"McGonagall did last year," Estella pointed out. Their eyes all flickered to Hermione.
"That was only because another attack happened," said Ron.
"I think Estie has a point," said Hermione. "It doesn't look safe at all."
"It'll be fine," Ron said dismissively. "Besides, Hufflepuffs are pushovers. Harry destroyed them last year in a matter of minutes."
"Hey," Estella frowned. "Don't say that! They're not pushovers at all."
Hermione almost smirked. She nudged her playfully. "Are you just saying that because Ernie's a Hufflepuff?"
Harry and Ron exchanged a swift look.
"Huh?" Estella frowned. Truth was, somewhere along the time they had spent together, she had stopped seeing him as Ernie from Hufflepuff, but simply as Ernie, her friend. "Oh, no of course not!"
Hermione was still smirking so Estella shoved her in her chair.
"Hey!"
"I'm just saying, you shouldn't disregard them because of one match. They're a pretty good team and the people in their house are nice. We shouldn't say bad things about them."
"What if it's true?"
"Ron!" This time, Hermione kicked Ron's foot with her own.
"Besides," Estella said, ignoring Ron's cry of pain, "their Captain, Cedric's really good."
"Is he?" Harry grumbled.
"He's a new captain, Stella," Ron said. "How would you know?"
"Well, he seemed pretty good at their practice," Estella said simply.
"You went to their practice!?" Ron yelped in alarm, startling the people nearby. "Honestly Stella, whose side are you on?"
Estella rolled her eyes. "Harry's, obviously, and don't get it twisted. I only went because my friends think he's cute. Quite a lot of people showed up to see him actually."
"He's not even that great," Harry scowled, though he seemed a little relieved.
"Harry," Estella said warningly, fixing him with a downward stare from her perch on the armrests of Hermione's armchair. "I'll have you know, that when almost the whole school believed you were the Heir of Slytherin - despite you being a Gryffindor which is totally ridiculous - Cedric was one of the people who tried to convince everyone you were innocent."
"Oh," Harry said, sobering a little.
"I still don't think Hufflepuff have a chance," Ron said with finality.
"Well," Estella said, pushing herself off of the chair and onto her feet, "believe whatever you want but I'm telling you that Hufflepuff have a decent chance this year - I heard so from Larissa and she has a surprising amount of knowledge about Quidditch."
"Harry's on the team!" Ron said indignantly.
"Still," she shrugged. "We shouldn't count them out."
"You're saying all this but you're not even that athletic Estie," Hermione teased.
Estella raised her hands up. "True, but it's not just me saying it."
"You mean Ernie?"
Estella nodded. "Speaking of him, we were going to meet up before Herbology."
Again, strangely, Ron looked at Harry. "Meet up? You're going to see each other in Herbology. Why are you meeting up before?"
"Why not?"
"Uh-"
"See you guys." Estella gave a light wave and turned, starting to leave.
"Wait, Stella," Harry said suddenly. "Since you were at Hufflepuff's practice, can you tell us their strategies?"
"You do know I'm hopeless when it comes to sports right? You might as well ask Ernie, he was there."
"Wait, Ernie- Ernie was there?"
"See you."
"Stella-"
What was that? Estella wondered to herself as she exited the portrait hole, firmly ignoring Sir Cadogan who held out his fencing stick and tried to engage her in a battle.
Had she imagined Harry's strange reaction, his and Ron's consistent looks?
She took a breath in and shook her head.
She didn't need to feed her delusions.
✰♪
Estella was delirious. At least, she felt so.
Against her will, she seemed to notice Harry more and more; out of the corner of her eye as she ate lunch with her friends, passing books around in classes and in the odd hours in between.
Was it just her? Or did he seem to be making more of an effort to be there?
As if he was deliberately manipulating their paths to collide, like some sort of divine puppeteer.
Sure, they were in the same house... and classes... and electives - okay, so maybe it was no coincidence that they saw each other so often, but Estella couldn't help but feel his piercing gaze on her more times than not.
And was it just her, or did he seem extra bothered by her ever-blossoming friendship with Ernie?
No? Just her?
Fine. She was delirious.
She had never really had a crush before; not in primary, not in the Muggle world.
She had had brief infatuations with a few people who she deemed to be fairly appealing, but over the years, these silly lapses of judgement had faded.
She could recall one boy, with messy brown hair and a glowing smile. His name had been Arthur, and besides the two of them being far too young to properly deduce any feelings of romantic attraction, he hadn't know her as more than Estella Granger, the pretty popular twin sister of Hermione, the smartest girl in their grade.
It had been nothing more than a Hallway Crush, and that faded quickly.
None of the boys who had confessed to her had been ones that she had liked. She always felt a little guilty, watching their dejected faces, but she had been(and still was) focused on her own ambitions and plans.
Until now.
Until now, it seemed, when she had allowed a certain boy with messy jet black hair creep into her mind far too often for it to be sane.
Yes, that was it.
She was going insane.
Pining after someone who would never return her affections and making up crazy delusions to fuel her want.
Insanity. Well, there was no easy way to cure that.
She instead tried to focus herself once again on her studies, her friends, her studies, her concerningly ever-increasing distance with Hermione, her studies, and on and on and on. Definitely not the worrying amount of rain that was pouring and how it may affect a certain team - ahem player -'s safety in the match next Saturday.
(Key word: tried.)
✰♪
The day before the match, the winds reached howling point and the rain fell harder than ever.
Besides worrying about something she definitely shouldn't be worrying about, Estella found something else to distract her.
This came in the form of their Defence Against the Dark Arts class, where the teacher that greeted them was none other than Severus Snape.
Alright, I've got trash luck, she noted with a sigh as she sat down and took out her books, maybe I should've found a field of four-leaf clovers instead.
Speaking of, she wondered how her daisies were going; if they were holding up against the storm.
She hadn't had a chance to visit the glade due to the persistent downpour and frankly, she wasn't quite in the mood to traverse past the Dementors again after Sirius Black's infamous break-in.
And really, what had she done in the Daisy Glade except cry, and cry and cry. Okay, noted, she had done a lot of crying.
And self-pity, she added, a whole lotta self-pity.
Yeah, she definitely didn't need that weighing on her right now. Not with Snape glaring beadily at the students and the match not being delayed.
Despite all that, the glade really was pretty, and it had become something of a comfort spot.
She would visit it when the storm cleared up and the grounds had a chance to dry, she decided. She was definitely in favour of not getting her head blown off by a rocketing piece of tree debris.
Where's Harry? Her heart subconsciously scouted him out, even when she had begged her mind to forget it. But it didn't matter how hard she tried to spot him today, because he wasn't in class.
She frowned, wanting to look around, but at that very moment, Snape opened his mouth, starting to criticise Lupin's 'lack of organisation' due to not having been left a lesson plan.
Estella buried the side of her cheek into her palm and rolled her eyes out of sight.
She had had just about enough of Snape's slanderous judgement when Harry decided to pull the door open and dash inside.
"Sorry I'm late, Professor Lupin, I-"
"The lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we'll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down."
But Harry didn't move.
Estella was caught between not wanting him to be in further trouble and enjoying the delay in Snape's vapid lecture.
"Where's Professor Lupin?"
"He says he's feeling too ill to teach today," said Snape with a twisted smile. "I believe I told you to sit down?"
But Harry stayed where he was.
"What's wrong with him?"
Snape's black eyes glittered. "Nothing life-threatening," he said, looking as if he wished it was. "Five more points from Gryffindor, and if I have to ask you to sit down again, it will be fifty."
Harry walked slowly to his seat and sat down. Snape looked around the class. "As I was saying before Potter interrupted" - Estella inwardly groaned - "Professor Lupin had not left any record of the topics you have covered so far-"
"Please, sir, we've done Boggarts, Red Caps, Kappas and Grindylows," said Hermione quickly. Estella's eyes widened. She could see where this was going and she silently begged Hermione to stop talking. Of course, she didn't. "And we're just about to start-"
"Be quiet," said Snape coldly. "I did not ask for information. I was merely commenting on Professor Lupin's lack of organisation."
"He's the best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had," said Dean Thomas boldly, and there was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the class. Snap looked more menacing than ever.
"You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardly over-taxing you- I would expect first-years to be able to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows."
Well seeing as our last teacher was an incompetent fraud and the one before that had the Dark Lord on the back of his head, I don't see how you expect us to have learned anything.
Snape continued. "Today we shall discuss-" He flicked to through the textbook to the very back chapter, which he must know they hadn't covered. "- werewolves."
"But, sir," said Hermione, seemingly unable to retrain herself, "we're not supposed to do werewolves yet, we're due to start Hinkypunks-"
"Miss Granger," said Snape, in a voice of deadly calm, "I was under the impression that I was taking this lesson, not you. And I am telling you all to turn to page three hundred and ninety-four." he glance around again. "All of you! Now!"
With many bitter sidelong looks and some sullen muttering, the class opened their books.
Estella could feel her anger mounting like a balloon expanding inside her chest.
"Which of you can tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?" said Snape.
Everyone sat in motionless silence; everyone except Hermione, whose hand, as it so often did, had shot straight into the air.
"Anyone?" Snape said, ignoring Hermione. His twisted smile was back. "Are you telling me that Professor Lupin hasn't even taught you the basic distinction between"
"We told you," Larissa said suddenly, barely concealing her annoyance, "we haven't got as far as werewolves yet, we're still on-"
"Silence!" snarled Snape. "Well, well, well, I never though I'd meet a third year class who wouldn't even recognise a werewolf when they saw one. I shall make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore how very behind you all are..."
Estella gritted her teeth, her fingers tightening around the protesting textbook page she had flipped to, the paper threatening to tear in two.
"Please, sir," said Hermione, whose hand was still in the air, "the werewolf differs from the true wolf in several small ways. The snout of the werewolf-"
"That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger," said Snape coolly. "Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all."
Hermione went very red, put down her hand and stared at the floor with her eyes full of tears.
Estella felt the balloon inside of her explode with a sudden pop.
Before she knew what she was doing, she had shot up out of her seat, her chair scrapping loudly against the wood of the floor, her hands coming down to slam her textbook shut.
"What kind of teacher insults his student and expects her to respect him!" she shouted, raising a finger to point at him accusatorily. "No wonder you're always alone! People would rather die than spend any ounce of time with you!"
"MISS GRANGER-" Snape was yelling too.
Ron cut him off, standing up adjacent to Estella. "You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don't want to be told?"
Suddenly, scarily, Snape advanced on the two of them, stopping just close enough to face them both.
"Detention, Granger, Weasley," Snape said silkily, the class deathly still. "And if I ever hear you ciricise the way I teach a class again, you will both be very sorry indeed."
No one made a sound throughout the rest of the lesson. They sat and made notes on werewolves from the textbook, while Snape prowled up and down the rows of desks, examining the work they had been doing with Professor Lupin.
Estella's ears were still ringing with her yells. Her face was hot from anger and embarrassment.
She almost regretted her decision to stand up, but one look at Hermione convinced her she had done the right thing. She would do it a thousand times over if it meant defending her.
When the bell rang at last, Snape held them back.
"You will each write an essay, to be handed in to me, on the ways you recognise and kill werewolves. I want two rolls of archment on the subject, and I want them by Monday morning. It is time somebody took this class in hand. Weasley, Granger, stay behind, we need to arrange your detention."
Her friends gave her sympathetic looks, trying to delay the inevitable by prolonging their exit out of the classroom - not that it mattered, Snape started the moment the stream of students thinned.
Charlotte squeezed her shoulder as she went past, silently gesturing to Estella's bag, which Estella knew she would take up to the common room for her.
When Snape dealt their punishment, he dealt it swiftly and effectively, each word an arrow through her skin.
It was not the punishment itself - scrubbing out the bedpans in the hospital with no magic - that made her scowl the rest of the day, but his vindictive look that set her skin crawling and her fingers itching to strangle something.
She and Ron exited the classroom in towering rages, bonding over their shared hatred of Snape.
When they finally caught up with Harry and Hermione, Ron wasted no time ranting about the Potions Professor, Estella joining in to berate him.
"Will you two be okay?" Harry asked, although Estella could've sworn he set his gaze to match hers.
Estella nodded dismissively. "It's alright. Hermione and I have chores we do at home - I'm used to functioning without magic."
"You shouldn't have said anything," Hermione said in concern, lacing her fingers with Estella's. "Snape will definitely be after you now."
"I'm not going to let that fool push me around," Estella said with her jaw set. "No one insults my sister and gets away with it. Don't be an idiot."
A fond smile crossed Hermione's face and she said almost teasingly, "Except you?"
"Except me," Estella confirmed, with a matching smile and nod of her head. "No one except me."