Bonnie never spoke to me after that, and Harry was confused as to why she was ignoring me. It was quite funny if you looked at it one way. Bonnie ignoring me, me ignoring Harry, and Harry left on the side lines like a little loner.
I was in low spirits nowadays. I wanted to help Bonnie so bad but she just wouldn't let me. Every time I brought up the letters she would just storm out of the room in a blink of an eye. But I wasn't guilty for reading them; I met the true Bonnie Heart, and I found nothing wrong with her.
Harry was all Happy Pappy everywhere. He would have a bounce in his step and a grin on his face every time we left to Diagon Alley. To tell you the truth, it annoyed me to no extent. Why did he have to be all happy when I had to be miserable?
"I'm leaving," I mumbled in breakfast. Harry was chatting happily about how much better it was now that we left the Dursleys, Bonnie was glaring at her cereal like it just called her stupid, and I had been poking Harry's scar for the past hour, though he was too happy to care.
"Where?" Harry asked, flicking my hand away from his forehead.
"Anywhere but here," I glared in Bonnie's direction. I had given up trying to apologize to her, she was being irrational and stubborn, and it was unfair that I had to repeat 'sorry' one hundred times a day.
"Seriously!" Harry hissed in exasperation. "What happened between you two?"
"Nothing, Harry," I muttered darkly as Bonnie suddenly stormed out of the room. I glared after her. How could anyone help her if she would never give them the chance to? She said it herself that I was her sister, why didn't she want her sister's help?
I trudged out of the Leaky Cauldron and to the Quidditch store. I had my eye on a broomstick called the Firebolt, but I knew I couldn't get it. I knew it cost too much, even if I had a small fortune, all that money could go fast.
I just stared glumly at the broom with the rest of the children there, I knew I was being perfectly unfair. I had a Nimbus Two Thousand sitting near my trunk right now. I never lost a game with it. What was the use of emptying my Gringotts vault for something I didn't need?
There were stuff, in fact, that I did need. I had wasted all of my potions ingredients and my robes were a little short now.
I went to the Apothecary to replenish my store of potions ingredients, and as my school robes were now several inches too short in the arm and leg, I visited Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and bought new ones. Most important of all, I had to buy my new schoolbooks, which would include those for my new subjects, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Muggle Studies, and Astronomy. Hermione and I couldn't choose which was more important, so we talked to Professor McGonagall and she promised that she would find a way for us to do all subjects.
I got a surprise as I looked in at the bookshop window. Instead of the usual display of gold embossed spellbooks the size of paving slabs, there was a large iron cage behind the glass that held about a hundred copies of The Monster Book of Monsters.
Torn pages were flying everywhere as the books grappled with each other, locked together in furious wrestling matches and snapping aggressively. I pulled my book list out of my pocket and consulted it for the first time. The Monster Book of Monsters was listed as the required book for Care of Magical Creatures. Now I understood why Hagrid had said it would come in useful the day of my and Harry's birthday. I felt relieved; I had been wondering whether Hagrid wanted help with some terrifying new pet.
As I entered Flourish and Blotts, the manager came hurrying toward me.
"Hogwarts?" he said abruptly. "Come to get your new books?"
"Yes, " I said, "I need --"
"Get out of the way, " said the manager impatiently, brushing me aside. He drew on a pair of very thick gloves, picked up a large, knobbly walking stick, and proceeded toward the door of the Monster Books of Monsters.
"I already have one of those," I said grumpily. "And to calm them down all you have to do is stroke the spine."
Let's just say this was the worst summer of my entire life. I never felt so guilty and alone. I never regretted looking at her notes though, I'm glad I did. Though it did look like the end of me and Bonnie's friendship.
"Harry! Nixie! Bonnie!" I heard two voices yell one day while Harry, Bonnie, and I were deciding where to eat.
I turned and saw my best friend, Hermione Granger, and my other friend, Ron Weasley.
Hermione had a stern look on her face, almost angry, and Ron had an ecstatic one.
"Hello, Hermione... Are you mad at us?" I asked.
"Yes!" she yelled, storming over to me. "You ran away and blew up your aunt!"
“It wasn't in that particular order,” I said defensively. “And it wasn't me – it was Harry.”
"And Bonnie," Harry said with a glare in my direction.
"Enough about this," I brushed it aside as Bonnie was about to snap. "Hermione, I want to talk to you."
I grabbed her wrist without giving her time to answer and dragged her to the Leaky Cauldron, where I was staying. Bonnie had moved to Harry's room, mumbling about how nothing of her's was private with me, which caused us to burst into another argument.
I sat on my bed and dragged out all of my books I had for all the classes I was taking.
"So, you're taking every class too, then?" Hermione asked, taking out her bag also and dumping all the books on my bed. "McGonagall said she could find a way to make me take all the classes, I had no idea you asked too."
"Yeah, well..." My eyes filled with unshed tears and I grabbed Hermione in a fierce hug. She was shocked at first but then hugged me back comfortably.
"Nixie... what is it?" Hermione asked worriedly. I really couldn't blame her, I hardly ever cry.
I told her everything I read in Bonnie's letters and all of our arguments about little stuff and sometimes acting like we didn't even know each other.
"Well, for one thing, you really shouldn't have read her letters," Hermione said reasonably, only making things worse.
"Hermione!" I pushed her away from me in disgust. "You should have seen her-"
"And I'm sure she looked awful," Hermione spoke over me. "But it really wasn't your business."
"I don't regret what I did, Hermione!" I yelled at her, my temper rising. "She has been holding it in way too long - I needed to know-"
"Bonnie isn't all that open," Hermione seemed oblivious to the fact that all my anger at Bonnie was slowly turning to her. "She wouldn't tell anyone what was on her mind if it killed her."
"Well, then, that's the problem, now, isn't it?" I snapped harshly. "Bonnie should have told us about this! Yeah, she told us she was disowned but she never told us how much she was hurting!"
"... Well, in that way... she kind of reminds me of you, Nixie," Hermione murmured loud enough for me to hear. At the affronted look on my face she added quickly. "You know how you never like anyone to know you're hurting? She doesn't either. How would you feel if she went through your diary or something?"
My mind flashed to Tom's diary, making me cringe. If Bonnie had looked through that diary she'd be possessed, just like Ginny.
"I thought you would take my side, Hermione," I exclaimed fiercely, trying to disguise the pain I felt, though I think Hermione noticed it.
"I'm not taking anyone's side, Nixie," Hermione said softly, only making me more angry. "It's wrong for her to keep all of this to herself but its also wrong for you to look through her stuff-"
I didn't hear the rest of her sentence because at that moment I stomped out of the cozy room and slammed the door behind me. Deep inside, I knew Hermione was right, but I wasn't going to admit it out loud.
I marched down the stairs of the Leaky Cauldron and left through the front door. I needed to have someone on my side, someone to understand. No doubt Danielle Johnson would take my side, she would...
Danielle Johnson, one of my friends, reminded me too much of Bonnie to think about, and I pushed her name out of my mind. She was going to start her third year at Hogwarts with us, because she had been stuck at the age of twelve for so long she had finally moved on to thirteen.
I had just decided that I should go stare at the Firebolt again when someone came running into me.
We both stumbled backward and stared at each other.
It was a boy, who looked about eleven, he had spikey golden hair and dark blue eyes; he was tall for his age and definitely lanky. I blinked for a moment, probably looking like a darn fool. But I really couldn't help it, this boy looked exactly like-
"Sorry, didn't mean to ram into you,” he said cheerfully, his cheeks flushing as he looked up at me. Our height was only three inches different, me being the taller of the two. “I'm Tommy Heart.”
"Heart?" I asked thickly.
"Yeah," he said, his blush deepening. "I didn't choose my last name..."
"No, no, no," I said hurriedly. "I like that last name, its really cute. It's just I know your sister - Bonnie Heart."
Tommy's eyes brightened visibly. A glimmer of hope filling his eyes as he beamed up at me. He opened his mouth as though about to ask me something, but a large hand landed heavily on his shoulder.
My eyes followed the hand to it's owner and I took a step back.
It was a man with light brown hair, and a strong square jaw. At first sight, he looked very intimidating, but if you got used to it, he wasn't frightening at all. He looked like a perfectly cheerful man, but his eyes – those gave me the chills. The exact same color as Bonnie's, dark blue, but there was a hollowness in them that made me want to put as much distance between me and them as possible.
"Bonnie?" he asked hesitantly. "You know where she is?"
I was momentarily confused. Why would he care where Bonnie was? He disowned her, after all. Yet there was a deep sadness in his eyes that made me think otherwise.
"I do, she's-" I began, but a shrill voice made me jump about a foot in the air.
"Tommy!" a woman yelled, rushing over, tears in her eyes. "Oh, thank goodness, I thought, for a second, that you got lost!"
"No, Mum, I'm fine!" Tommy said, jumping with glee. "But you would never guess! Bonnie's fine! She's alright!"
"Bonnie..." The women was short and plump. She reminded me of Mrs. Weasley, but instead of red hair, she had golden locks so much like Bonnie's, and warm brown eyes that gazed at Tommy lovingly. I was taken aback.
This wasn't making the slightest of sense. The way Bonnie wrote about her parents in her letters, it was almost as though they were evil, but these people were nothing but happiness and love.
"Yes! Sweety, Bonnie!" The man cried, beaming at his wife.
"Well," I said uncomfortably. "I guess if you want to meet her..."
"Yes!" The women cried. "Take us to her!"
"Follow me," I waved them over and they were all practically jumping with joy. I was so confused, why did they disown her, if they missed her so much? Was it possible that Bonnie lied in her letters? But why would she?
My head spun as I gestured them into the door of the Leaky Cauldron. They all shot me an admiring gaze and stepped into the building with a slight bounce.
As I watched them from the corner of my eye, I led them to Bonnie's and Harry's room, and I knew why they were Hufflepuffs. They were definitely very loving people, but they looked as though they were scared of their own shadow, because every time something scuttled across the floor they would clutch each other.
Tommy was immediately put into the bravest of the three category for me. He was more curious than jumpy and fearful, but he did have a Hufflepuff aura around him. It was odd to think that Bonnie, a girl who calculated everything she said before she opened her mouth, was related to this family.
I opened the door without knocking, knowing that Bonnie wouldn't open it for me anyway.
Bonnie was pacing in the middle of the dirty room, running her hand through her hair, seeming deep in thought.
"Bonnie?" Tommy asked. Stepping in the room, tentative. "Is that really you?"
Bonnie's head snapped up and her eyes brightened at the sight of Tommy, but then her eyes settled on her parents. She darkened. I coughed as dust from the ceiling fell in front of me - that was when Bonnie noticed me. Her eyes still on her parents, she smiled.
"Tommy, Mum, Dad," Bonnie said. "Its been long."
"Oh, deary," her mum cooed, tears streaming down her plump cheeks.
I stood there awkwardly as the family stared at one another, I felt oddly left out. I coughed falsely and everyone started to stare at me.
"I'm just going to... go..." I hurried out of the room and slammed the door behind me, breathing in deeply.
I was really confused, what was with the Heart's? Why did they have to be the strangest family known to wizard?
I slid down the wall and waited for the Heart's to leave. I needed some answers... quick. My head was about to explode form pressure. I placed my ear to the wall, hoping to hear their conversation.
"- So, you still don't accept me," Bonnie's voice said, forcing calm. "Why did you even bother to come?"
"We know who that girl is," the voice of Mr. Heart said, sounding teary. "Nixie Potter. We thought - being good friends with her - would make you forget about this... obsession."
There was a long silence, in which questions flooded through my mind, almost making me miss what Mrs. Heart said next.
"Bonnie, this thing with the Dark Arts, it's not natural," she said angrily, her cheery voice gone, but she sounded worried and concerned. "It's why you were out in Slytherin - it could turn you evil."
"You'd think that after so many years of knowing me," Bonnie said harshly. "You would trust that I would never turn evil. I was put into Slytherin because I wanted to go there, I thought you might be proud. I was really wrong about that. because the second I told you, none of you wrote to me-"
"We were scared you might betray us!" Mrs. Heart insisted. "All of our friends betrayed us! We didn't want to feel the pain that you would cause if you turned into a Death Eater also!"
"I ONLY LIKED THE DARK ARTS BECAUSE THEY WOULD BE A GOOD WEAPON TO USE AGAINST THE DEATH EATERS!" Bonnie lost control. "IT WASN'T LEARNING THE SPELLS THAT GOT ME INTO SLYTHERIN! I AM A SLYTHERIN! YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT! YOU ABANDONED ME, LIKE I WAS NOTHING! LIKE I WAS DIRT!"
"No, Bonnie!" Mrs. Heart insisted in a pleading tone. "We never meant to hurt you, we just wanted to avoid us getting hurt! All our friends argued this too! That they wanted to learn the spells to use it against the Death Eaters! They used it against us instead, Bonnie! Against us!"
"I'm through with the Dark Arts, Mum," Bonnie said. "I realized how it tore our family apart. I was just so angry that you didn't believe me... I missed you three, and I'm sorry. So very sorry."
"Are you coming home?" Tommy asked hopefully.
There was a silence.
"Yes," I heard Bonnie say. "I would love to."