Chapter 15 (Ava)
I walked out of the bathroom with my clothes on and walked towards the mirror, going to pick up my brush. I stopped when I noticed a girl sitting on her bed combing her own hair. Before the night I’d been sent to the Hospital Wing, I would not have cared for the other girls in my dormitory. But now I knew I had someone to thank.
I stepped forwards and smiled,
“Excuse me?”
The girl looked up and me and cleared her throat as if she felt awkward talking to me. I stood up slightly straighter,
“Are you the girl who ran to Professor McGonagall a few nights ago when I was having a nightmare?”
She looked at me for a moment before nodding. I sighed with relief,
“Well, I just wanted to say thank you. That has only happened once before so I’m sure you didn’t have a clue what to do.”
She shrugged and looked down at her shoes,
“I thought going to a teacher would be the best option.”
I nodded,
“Well, thank you again. What’s your name?”
The girl looked up,
“Sophia. I know who you are though. Ava Potter.”
I glanced down at the floor,
“Yes, that’s me.”
Sophia looked at me to see if I wanted to say anything else before silently turning around and leaving the room. She seemed a bit icy towards me, possibly because I was Harry’s sister. But at least I’d said thank you to her.
I quickly brushed my hair and left the dormitory. There were a few students standing in the common room talking to each other quietly. They didn’t stare at me like all of the students had just after I’d spent the day in the Hospital Wing. All sorts of rumours had been flying around. The majority of the students didn’t know why I had been screaming, so they’d made things up. After a few days had passed, I was no longer the topic of people’s conversations.
The Great Hall was buzzing with excitement for the Quidditch match. It was Gryffindor playing Slytherin, so the tension was high.
I sat down at the Slytherin table and started to butter a piece of toast. Pansy was sitting next to me drinking her pumpkin juice as she sighed,
“Draco! I was planning to cheer you on at the Quidditch match! I didn’t realise you weren’t playing.”
He looked up at her,
“I sorted the team out but I just decided I need to focus more on my studies this year.”
I snorted into my cup and Pansy raised an eyebrow,
“Got something to say, Potter?”
I shook my head,
“No. Although I would like to hear more about Draco’s sudden interest in focusing on his studies.”
Draco scowled at me,
“I’ve always cared about my schoolwork. I’ve just decided this year to put more effort into it.”
I raised an eyebrow,
“Of course.”
I knew what he really needed to focus on, but I couldn’t bring up his mission for Voldemort in front of Pansy.
I finished off my piece of toast and stood up,
“I really hope you’re not going to start belting out Weasley is Our King this year.”
Draco smirked,
“No, we decided not to do that this time. It caused all sorts of arguments at the end of the game last time. You remember, don’t you? You were watching as the fighting unfolded, and all you could do was let Weasel boy hold you back.”
I took a deep breath, trying to block out the memory of Fred’s arms wrapped tightly around me as he desperately prevented me from lashing out at Draco.
Without saying anything else, I walked away from the Slytherin table towards the doors of the Great Hall. I was surprised to see Hermione storming angrily away from her own table. I caught up with her quickly,
“Hermione? Are you alright?”
She turned around,
“Ava! Well, not really.”
I frowned,
“Why not?”
Hermione shook her head,
“Your brother just put something into Ron’s drink, and I have a very strong feeling that it’s Felix Felicis. I mean, is he crazy? He could get expelled for cheating!”
A small smile formed on my lips, but I tried to hide it,
“Come on Hermione, don’t you want to beat Slytherin in the Quidditch game?”
She sighed,
“Well, it would be nice. Hopefully we will- I heard Malfoy’s not playing.”
I raised an eyebrow,
“That would be correct. Pansy was absolutely distraught that she couldn’t scream his name from the crowds. What a shame for her.”
Hermione turned to look at me and smiled. It dawned on me that I hadn’t seen Hermione smile at me like that for ages.
All of a sudden, I realised that I’d been talking to Hermione so casually as if I didn’t have the mission to take her best friend to his death. I stepped away from her and gulped,
“I have to go. I’ll er- I’ll see you around.”
She had the look of surprise on her face as I turned and scuttled away from her down the corridor.
* * *
Ron flew out in front of one of the goal hoops and hit another Quaffle out of the way. The Gryffindors all cheered and called out his name, and the Slytherins booed. I smiled to myself and quietly chanted Ron’s name into my scarf. It was soon drowned out as the Slytherins around me started to sing Weasley is Our King, even though Draco had told me they weren't going to. I glanced up at Harry to see if he was trying to stop them, but he was pretending to conduct them. I laughed loudly enough for my surrounding housemates to hear and a couple of them turned and sneered at me.
Harper, the Slytherin Seeker, approached Harry and slammed into his shoulder from behind. I stood up and shouted after him along with the Gryffindors, but Draco grabbed onto my arm and pulled me down,
“Potter, what are you doing?”
I glared at him and shook his hand off of my sleeve.
Zacharias Smith shouted through the megaphone,
“And I think Harper of Slytherin’s seen the Snitch! Yes, he’s certainly seen something Potter hasn’t!”
Harry seemed to stop for a moment before he whizzed after Harper. Just as the Slytherin Seeker reached out to grab the Snitch, Harry shouted something at him. I watched in disbelief as the Snitch fell out of Harper’s grip and my brother grabbed onto it instead.
Harry flew towards the ground and held the Snitch high. I stood up and cheered for him. Draco frowned,
“Why are you cheering for Gryffindor?”
I looked down at him,
“Why can’t I? Harry’s on that team.”
He mumbled,
“You’re showing Slytherin up a bit, don’t you think?”
I stared at him,
“It’s not like you cheering Slytherin made much difference anyway. Gryffindor won by a clear mile.”
Everyone started to leave the seats and make their way back to the castle. The Gryffindors were chanting and cheering with large smiles on their faces. I envied them just for having fun. That clearly seemed to be something I couldn’t do anymore.