The next few days were (and Sophie could think of no other word) perfect. She and Sirius seemed to be getting along perfectly now. They would flirt with each other in classes and they would walk around the grounds holding hands. Sophie's performance in her classes had improved once again and (to many of the teachers delight) Sirius had also become far more sensible in most of his classes.
Sophie and her friends were sitting down by the lake under their favorite beech tree talking and laughing with each other. Stella was off, once again, with Mathew Peters and Sophie could see them sitting together further down the grassy slopes. She was leaning against the tree trunk beside Remus who was eagerly reading defensive spells, when and why you'll need them. He only looked up when Sirius called for the groups attention.
"So... erm", Sirius began, "the other day, when Sophie and I were at Hogsmeade we went down to the shrieking shack and- "
Remus sat bolt upright closing his book and listening intently to Sirius.
"We overheard some people arguing in the bushes", he continued, "they were yelling about what happened at Gringotts."
Sirius told them what they'd overheard as well as telling them what they'd heard his parents say when they were there on Christmas. Sophie tried to help when she could, jumping in to tell the story whenever Sirius faltered slightly. Once they were finished they all sat in silence. Sophie wondered what was going through their minds as they processed what Sirius and Sophie had told them. Was it fear? Anger? Confusion? Sophie reached out to Sirius and grabbed his hand for comfort.
After a very long silence James was the first one to speak.
"He was the one who stole your vault key", James said, "which means he was the one under the mask who came in first."
"Probably", Sophie agreed, thinking back to the day at Gringotts.
"And one of the Black sisters was there too?", Storm asked.
"We think so", Sirius told them, "but were not positive it was either of them. Only that it was a female."
Sophie felt like her insides were twisting up inside of her. What she wanted more than anything was for no one to bring up her brother. She hadn't had the chance to talk to him yet and she really didn't want the others accusing him of anything before she'd seen him.
"So...", Lily began, "do you think we should go to Dumbledore? Tell him about what you guys overheard?"
"We can't", Sophie told her, "we've got no proof, only our word about what we heard them say."
She looked around at the group as they lapsed back into silence. Storm had a look of horrified realization on her face but she didn't speak. James was looking furious and looking between Sirius and Sophie.
"You guys can't go home", he said at last, "not if your both living with death eaters."
Sophie looked down at the grass. Sirius didn't reply either. Sophie felt as though she was going to be sick. The sooner she talked to Jock the sooner she could form a real opinion.
"I've got to go", she announced, standing up off the grass and slinging her bag over her shoulder.
"Now?", Remus asked, looking irritated.
"I'm sorry", Sophie apologized. She took off at a very fast walk back up towards the castle. She walked into the great hall which was almost completely empty as most people were spending their lunch break outside, and enjoying the nice weather. She scanned the Slytherin table but she couldn't see Jock or any of his friends. She didn't know where the Slytherin common room was so instead she decided to try looking in the library.
Making her way up the marble stair case she hurried towards the library. Madam Pince was sitting at her desk as usual, glaring at students as they entered as if daring them to speak.
She searched around the rows of books and eventually she spotted Jock, sitting alone at a desk surrounded by books and writing on a piece of parchment infront of him. For a second Sophie hovered behind the bookshelf, just out of sight. Her heart had begun to hammer in her chest. Was she ready to hear this? What if Jock really was a death eater?
With a deep breath Sophie steadied her nerves and marched over to her brother.
"I need to talk to you", she said to him. Jock looked up from his paper in surprise. Sophies heart thumped loudly in her chest when their eyes met. He smiled at her.
"Sure Soph", he said, "what's up?"
Sophie pulled up a chair and sat down on it.
"Do you remember that day that I was attacked in Gringotts?", Sophie asked him.
"Of course, Soph", he said, "I still feel so awful about it. I should have been there with you."
"Well... Erm... What were you doing Jock?", Sophie asked.
"I was at Regulus's house remember?", Jock told her, "Regulus and I were just at home doing our school work."
Sophies stomach dropped into her feet. If Jock was lying then he either knew that Regulus was there and was covering for him... Or he was at Gringotts as well.
"Mom and Dad were so worried when I told them what happened", Jock continued, "if only I'd insisted on coming with you guys instead of doing homework."
"It's alright", Sophie said, her legs were starting to go cold with fear, it took all her will power not to run away now. Jock, her older brother, was in league with Voldemort's Death Eaters.
"No its not", Jock grabbed her hand, Sophie involuntarily winced slightly, "I'm your brother. I should have been there for you. I should have protected you."
"It's not your fault", but Sophie knew she was lying, "I'm just glad that Remus came when he did otherwise those death eaters probably would have killed me."
"No!", Jock said quickly, "no, once they used you to get inside your vault I'm sure they would never have hurt you."
"What makes you so sure?", Sophie asked, eying Jock suspiciously.
"Well because there was no need to right?", Jock said quickly looking rather nervous, "I mean. There would have been no point in killing you."
"Do you really believe that?", Sophie looked at Jock in disbelief. If Jock had been aware of the plan did that mean he really believed Sophie wasn't in danger? Or was he lying to her?
"Well.. Erm", Jock stutters thinking of what to say. Sophie took her opportunity to pull her hand away from Jock and jump up out of the chair.
"Seriously", she told him, "it's okay. I don't blame you for what happened. I'm just lucky they didn't get inside."
"Hey Soph", Jock said quickly standing up, "do you know what they wanted to break into your vault for?"
"No", Sophie said honestly, "I have no idea."
She quickly turned around, grabbing her bag and hurried out of the room. Sophie walked as fast as she dared towards defense against the dark arts. She got their too early for class to start so she sat down outside the classroom and pulled out a book.
She read Hogwarts-A-history until she heard voices coming down the hallway. To her absolute distain non other than Lucius Malfoy, Alexander Gray, Rudolphus Lestrange, and Regulus Black came walking down the hallway. Sophie felt her legs go cold as she made eye contact with Black.
"Carson", spat Gray, glaring down at her.
"Gray, Sophie spat back. She loathed Gray more than anyone else at Hogwarts. Alexander Gray was one of her brothers closest friends.
"Really horrible what happened at Gringotts the other day", Lestrange laughed, "if only they'd managed to make it inside the vault. Then the tragedy that you survived could have been avoided."
Sophie felt a wave of anger as the four Slytherins laughed.
"Go away", Sophie told them.
"Poor Carson", Malfoy laughed, "always the victim. Even during our little moment in the trophy room you needed other people to save you."
Sophie reached into her robe and clenched her hand around her wand.
"Your one to talk", Sophie spat back, "you lost. You cheated and you still lost."
Sophie saw Malfoy reach for his wand, his expression deadly. But Gray grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Don't", she heard him whisper.
Sophie could hear other voices further down the corridor.
"Poor little Carson", Gray hissed, "can't do anything without your little friends."
"That's not true", Sophie told him angrily.
"Of course it is", Malfoy joined in, "poor helpless little Carson."
Sophie shook with anger.
"Shut up Malfoy", she hissed.
"Ooohhh grumpy little Carson", Malfoy laughed, "what are you going to do? hmmm?"
Sophie pulled out her wand and pointed it at Malfoy. Her wand hand was shaking out of anger.
"Leave her alone Malfoy!", She heard someone yell down the hall. James, Sirius, Remus, Stella and Lily were all running down the hall.
"Or what Potter", Gray laughed, raising his own wand, "what are you going to do you filthy blood-traitor."
James walked right up to Gray his wand raised pointing it at his head. The two of them stood two meters apart glaring at each other. Sophie was still pointing her own wand towards Malfoy.
"Carful Potter", Lestrange hissed, he and Regulus Black pulled out their own wands. Black and Sirius pointed their wand at each other, hatred almost radiating off them. Remus pointed his own at Lestrange. Lily and Stella also drew their wands.
"Don't be stupid", Sophie said, "it's six against four."
Their was a moment of silence the Slytherins glanced at each other weighing up their chances. They nodded at each other and Sophie only just had enough time to react. Their was a huge BANG and Sophie fired a spell at Malfoy while getting simultaneously knocked off her feet and flying back into the wall. Her sight went blurry for a few seconds as she hit the wall and collapsed onto the ground. She back ached from the blast.
She looked up and was able to see the full effect of what had just happened. Malfoy was yelling and clutching at his chest (Sophie had managed to hit him with a stinging Jinx). Sirius was wobbling around the room, meaning Black had hit him with a Jelly legs Jinx. Black was standing unharmed meaning that Sirius either missed or Black was able to dodge the spell. James and Gray had ended up in a very interesting situation where they had both used the levicorpius Jinx on each other. This caused both of them to be hanging upside down held up by an invisible force. Lestrange had been exceedingly unlucky. Both Stella and Remus had attacked him. One of them had attempted to body-bind him while the other had used orbious which had sort of half sucked him into the ground of the castle. Lily's wand had been lowered as she obviously hadn't used it.
Sophie pushed herself up off the ground her back aching. She'd only just stood up when she heard an angry voice come from inside the classroom.
"WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOUR ALL DOING?!", The voice yelled. Sophie looked in the doorway of the classroom was Professor Henrys. His eyes were wide in shock but he looked angry. Everyone lowered their wands.
Professor Henrys continued to yell at them all as he went about fixing those who'd been hit with curses. He took ten points from each of them, meaning that Gryffindor lost sixty house points in one go... He also said that they would be talking to their head of houses and telling them what had happened.
Once everyone had been counter-jinxed or healed they went into the classroom silently. Sophie took her seat at the front in between Stella and Lily. They sat in silence for a few years waiting for the rest of the class to show up. Sophie didn't dare to speak. Her back was hurting her a lot more than she cared to admit but she was determined not to let Malfoy know. Inside of the classroom was freezing and Sophie felt her back begin to hurt even more than it had before.
She could hear Malfoy and Gray telling Narcissa Black what had just happened out in the hallway. They were talking quietly enough that professor Henrys couldn't hear but loud enough that Sophie could hear them laughing. Once the rest of the class had taken their seats Professor Henrys spoke.
"So", Professor Henrys said, standing up at the front of the classroom still fuming.
"As you all know next year will be your most important year of schooling. You will be doing your NEWTS. For the next few lessons we will begin looking at a few things that will come up in your exams next year", Professor Henrys gestured to a trunk sat in front of his desk.
"For todays lesson we are going to be learning how to cast a full bodied Patronus", Professor Henrys continued. Sophie shivered. The reason she must feel so cold and miserable was because Professor Henrys had locked a dementor in that Trunk.
"Now I am fully aware that a few of you can already cast a full bodied Patronus. These people will be testing their Patronus's against the real Dementor. While those of you who have not yet mastered the Patronus will be working on the other side of the room", Professor Henrys instructed. Sophie felt her stomach twist into a knot. Sirius, Remus, James and Lily were all able to cast full bodied Patronus's, which meant they would be off testing their skills on a real Dementor while Sophie would be practicing with a wall.
Professor Henrys had them split up into their sides of the room. Sophie and Stella went towards the back of the room while their friends all walked towards the trunk. Only a few Raven claws and Regulus black went to fight the real dementor. The rest of the class went towards the back of the room as well.
"So", Stella said, "what exactly are we supposed to do."
"You need to think of a really happy memory as you cast the spell", Sophie explained, "if the memory's not happy enough then it won't become a full bodied Patronus."
Sophie thought hard. What was her happiest memory? The first memory that came to her mind was when Sirius had asked her out on a date. She pictured the moment as clearly as she could in her head. They'd been outside the great hall. Sirius's hair had been slightly mess and cute, the way she liked it best. She tried to focus on her feeling of excitement when Sirius had asked her to go to Hogsmeade with him.
"Expecto Patronum."
Out of Sophies wand burst a large blue-grey cloud that appeared as though it was a tornado with the eye inside her wand. The effort of holding the cloud was immense however. It made her wand shake and her arm began to ache with the effort of keeping it steady. The cloud vanished and Sophie turned to grin at Stella.
"That was really good Soph", Stella grinned. She then closed her own eyes deep in though. She thought for a few seconds before opening her eyes again.
"Expecto Patronum."
Out of Stella's wand burst a huge slivery cloud just like Sophies.
"The memory's got to be stronger", Sophie told her, "what were you thinking of?"
"My date with Mathew last week", Stella told her.
"Lets try again", she said.
Sophie thought again. She needed a happy memory. Perhaps her problem was that she was focusing on memory's that had more than one emotion attached to them. Before she was happy that Sirius had asked her out she'd been terrified about what he would say about their kiss the night before. She needed a memory that was purely happy.
Into her mind popped the memory of her receiving her Hogwarts letter in her fifth year and discovering that she was a school prefect. Sophie hadn't remembered that prefects were being picked that year so she hadn't been nervous about whether or not she would get it. The only thing she could remember about it was being excited and Happy.
"Expecto Patronum."
She watched as out of her wand erupted a large female lion. Sophie thought it was absolutely beautiful. She watched it prowl around bearing it fangs and pushing its claws out so that they scraped along the ground. She felt ecstatic as the creature paced back and forth in front of her, scanning the room for any sign of a dementor.
"You did it!", Stella gasped staring at the lion. The Patronus walked over to Sophie and nuzzled it's head against her affectionately purring loudly. The Lion felt warmer than Sophie had expected.
Gryffindor Sophie realized. The Symbol for Gryffindor house was a roaring Lion. Sophie now knew why the sorting hat had placed her in Gryffindor. She'd always wondered, despite the fact that her family came from Ravenclaw she herself had always found that Gryffindor suited her better. Now this creature standing in front of her, was absolute proof that she'd been placed in the right house.
"Sophie you did it!", She heard. Most of the class, she realized, had stopped to watch her Patronus as it began to once again pace back and forth in front of Sophie. She turned to see James, Sirius, Remus and Lily all standing at the back of the line grinning at her.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Gray, Malfoy and Lestrange all glowering at her looking furious.
"Well done miss Carson", Professor Henrys said, clapping his hands together, "five points to Gryffindor."
Sophie smile became even bigger. For the rest of the lesson they practiced their Patronus's. About half way through the lesson Stella was able to cast the spell and out of her wand burst a beautiful dove, which soared around the room. Stella was ecstatic about her Patronus.
"It's so pretty!", She'd squealed.
By the end of the lesson Snape was the only other person to have learned how to cast a Patronus. Snapes Patronus had been a doe, which was the same creature as Lily. When she'd seen it Lily had given Snape a look of longing, but James had pulled her away, telling her it was her turn to try her Patronus against the Dementor again.
They made their way back out of the classroom and into the great hall for dinner. Sophie walked beside Sirius talking eagerly about her Patronus's form.
"It makes perfect sense that yours is a Lion", Sirius was saying, "your the bravest person I know."
Sophie felt her cheeks turn red.
"I'm not", she said.
"You are", he disagreed, "I remember watching you when you battled the Slytherins in the Trophy room. You were incredible taking on Malfoy one on one like that."
"Everyone was brave there", Sophie reminded him, "it wasn't just me."
"I'm just saying", Sirius defended, "that a Lion as a Patronus suits you perfectly."
The two of them entered the great hall and sat down at the table together. They all discussed the previous lesson until Storm and Peter arrived. The two of them came back covered in snow talking loudly about the grades they'd received from Professor Kettle burn on their mid year test.
"It's so unfair", Storm was saying, "I identified all of the creatures perfectly and their habits, how did I only get an Acceptable."
"You still got the best grade in class", Peter comforted, "It's not your fault. Professor Kettleburns a really awful teacher."
"How am I supposed to get Outstanding in my Newts at the end of the year", Storm whined.
Storm threw her bag roughly at the floor before sitting down next to Lily. She glared down at the mashed Potato's on her plate as if it was there fault.
"Hey", Peter comforted, wrapping his arm around Storm, "it's okay my little thunder Storm. You'll have plenty of time to study before the real exam."
"Thunder Storm?", James pretended to throw up beside the table. Storm immediately blushed and Peter retracted his arm looking down at his own food.
"That's cute", Sirius teased, "how'd you come up with that one."
The two of them dissolved into fits of laughter causing both Storm and Peter to turn bright red. Sophie glared at James and Sirius. Why did they always feel the need to make others feel bad. No one else in the group was laughing but James and Sirius didn't seem to mind one bit.
"Shut up James", Lily yelled at him, so loudly several Gryffindor's looked over at them. James stopped laughing and looked at her. Sophie glared at Sirius as he recomposed himself.
"Why do you have to be so rude to everyone", Lily continued angrily, "their your friends. There's no reason to act like that! You know what, come on Storm, come on Peter, lets go sit somewhere else."
James was staring at her, his mouth hanging open slightly as if he was surprised at her reaction. Lily stood up grabbing her back and glaring at James, Storm followed her. They both looked at Peter expectantly waiting for him to stand as well but he remained sitting.
"I'll catch up with you later", he mumbled not looking up from his plate.
Lily scoffed loudly towards James before stalking off, Storm beside her.
"It was just a joke!", James yelled after her. Sophie wasn't sure if Lily had heard him, but if she had she didn't acknowledge it.
"You know we didn't mean anything by it right Wormtail?", James asked Peter. Peter grinned at James and said 'yeah of course' but Sophie could easily tell that the smile had been faked.
Sophie didn't speak much throughout dinner. She still felt grudgeful against Sirius and James. She'd shifted herself away from Sirius slightly and closer to Stella as subtly as she could. Half way through their meal Mathew Peters had come over to them and asked to talk to Stella. Stella had eagerly agreed and left with Mathew, leaving her school bag and her half eaten dinner behind. James and Sirius talked casually as best they could throughout dinner but they were both speaking half heartedly.
James seemed to be glancing at the door of the great hall every few seconds, as though waiting for someone. Eventually James and Sirius got onto the topic of the second quidditch tryouts. James had held them by himself last night and they'd chosen Dominic Baldwin to replace Stella as the third Chaser. Dominic was quite a large boy and he was only in his fourth year. Sophie herself had barely talked to him but according to James Dominic and Margret Parish were rather good friends.
James told her that they would be having their first quidditch practice as their newly formed team on Friday night. Sophie looked up at the staff table. It was a long table that stretched across all four of the house tables at the end of the hall. Headmaster Dumbledore was sitting in the very center of the table his long white beard was tucked carefully into his belt to keep it out of his food. To his sides sat the four heads of houses. On his left sat Professor Welsh, who was head of Gryffindor house and beside her sat Professor Henrys who was the head of Ravenclaw house. On Dumbledore's right sat Professor Slughorn who was the head of Slytherin house, and beside him was Professor Higglepomp, head of Hufflepuff.
Along the rest of the table sat the rest of the staff. All chatting with each other talking merrily about things Sophie couldn't hear. Infront of the staff table sat four hour glasses each placed one in front of each house table. These hour glasses were each filled with jewels which represented house points. At the end of the year the house with the most house points would win the house cup. As of current Slytherin house had the most points by quite a bit. They had four hundred and twelve points while Gryffindor had only three hundred and fifty.
Finally they all finished up eating and decided to head back to the common room to do their homework from the day. Realizing that Stella had never returned to dinner Sophie carried her school bag back up to the common room. She walked with Peter as the other three boys sped ahead chasing each other and laughing. The two of them walked in silence together all the way to the common room. Peter was staring at the floor making no attempt at conversation. Sophie wondered what was going through his mind.
When they arrived at the portrait hole the lady in the painting (also known to the Gryffindor's as 'the fat lady') asked them for the password. Sophie gave it to her and the picture swung open to reveal the Gryffindor common room. The inside was filled with people and loud noises. Several people were playing exploding snap at the tables while others sat dejectedly staring at various pieces of homework.
Sophie saw Storm and Lily sitting together at a small table in the far side of the common room. They both had their books out but Sophie noticed that neither of them appeared to be reading. Their eyes remained fixed in place on the page except for the occasional glance over towards Sirius, James and Remus who were talking loudly with Dominic Baldwin about quidditch.
She expected Peter to go over and sit with Storm and Lily but instead he gave a dejected sort of sigh and then climbed up the stairs towards the boys dormitory. Sophie hesitated on where to sit, she looked between the boys sitting on the couch and then over to Storm and Lily sitting in the corner. Eventually she chose to go sit down beside Storm at the small table. She had to grab a chair from a neighboring table which scraped along the ground loudly.
"Unbelievable", Lily was muttering.
"What?", Sophie asked.
"James, he's acting like he can do no wrong and I'm so sick of it", Lily growled, "he's got this huge ego and someone needs to knock him down to size."
Sophie didn't reply. She had the very sudden feeling that she was going to be sick. Sophie rested her head in her hands and tried to take deep breaths. Her head was aching more than it had done before. Sophie stood up rather suddenly, which caused the whole room to spin in front of her eyes, she caught the table edge and used it to steady herself.
"Woah", Storm gasped, putting down her book and grabbing Sophies arm, "you okay?"
"Fine", Sophie muttered, "just dizzy, I think I need to lie down."
Storm leg go of her arm and Sophie stumbled up the stairs her head aching badly. She collapsed onto her bed as soon as she got into the dormitory and rubbed her temples. It felt almost as if someone was attacking her head. She closed her eyes and could feel sleep almost calling her. Despite the throbbing pain in her head she fell asleep with ease.
She was standing back at Gringotts it was empty except for two people. All of the desks usually filled with goblins had vanished and the whole room was bare of furniture. Sophie didn't recognize either of the two people standing in the middle of the room facing each other. The first was a tall man with short well kept black hair and blue eyes, he was wearing a muggle business suit. The other was a shorter man who looked only in his early twenties, he had black hair that was short but unkept.
"A rather large disappointment", the man in the business suit was saying, "I must say my master was unimpressed by what happened."
"It wasn't my fault Radgulf", the younger man whimpered, "you said that if we had the key the goblins would let in into her vault without a fuss."
"What went wrong is of no concern to the dark lord Pierce", Radgulf dismissed, "what matters now is how we find where the artifact is now."
Radgulf pulled out his wand and waved it, out of thin air a scroll of parchment appeared glowing.
"It took weeks to track down the list", Radgulf continued, "it's owner put up quite the fight..."
Pierce shuddered but Radgulf pretended not to notice. Sophie crept around to get a better view of the names written on the list. On the scroll was written:
Eye of Merlin Location list
Below that was a series of names and dates beside the names. Sophie scanned the list and looked for any names that were familiar. To her surprise she saw James Potter written down about halfway down the list. Finally the bottom name read: Sophie Carson.
Radgulf scoffed loudly and made the scroll disappear with a loud Pop.
"The new owner has not yet appeared", Radgulf told Peirce. Peirce nodded seeming very eager to not upset Radgulf.
"So the eye is no longer inside the Carson girls vault?", Peirce asked, flinching as though he thought Radgulf would hit him for asking.
"Of course it's still inside her vault", Radgulf explained angrily, as though Peirce's lack of knowledge was irritating him, "but the vault has been sealed until the Goblin elders decide on a new vault to store it inside."
Peirce nodded vigorously bowing his head slightly.
"Until the new location has been decided someone must take the blame for the fiasco at Gringotts yesterday", Radgulf hissed at Peirce.
"Surely not me?", Peirce looked horrified.
"Who else", Radgulf smiled gleefully raising his wand to point it at Peirce. Peirce made no effort to defend himself however, he closed his eyes and waiting for Radgulf to strike.
"Oh no", Radgulfs smile increased even more, "your punishment will not come from me Peirce. This was a mission set directly by the dark lord himself. So it is he, who you will answer to about your failure."
"No!", Peirce expression was truly terrified, "please! You can't hand me over to him! He'll kill me Radgulf!"
Radgulf advanced on Peirce as he backed away, his hands raised pathetically pleading with Radgulf. Radgulfs face showed no remorse as he advanced. It appeared either as though he didn't like Peirce or that he truly believed Peirce should be punished. Radgulf pointed his wand at Peirce and bound him from head to foot with ropes causing him to collapse sideways unable to move. Peirce screamed and cried desperately as Radgulf advanced on him. He grabbed Peirce by the arm and lifted him to his feet easily.
Pierces last desperate scream rang in Sophies ears as she jolted awake in her bed with a jolt.