In the middle of the night, when most people would be sleeping to prepare for yet another day in their lives, there was a girl wide awake learning how to cast a Patronus Charm that she so eagerly wanted to master.
Think happy thoughts. She reminded herself for the tenth time in her dark room.
It was the day before she would head to Hogwarts to start her fifth year in the magical school. Helena Rosemund sometimes still couldn't believe she was capable of doing magic. When she got her letter, she was quite confused. A school about magic? Helena or Nina, as she would prefer, was a muggleborn. So when she got a visit from one of the school's very own teachers, Professor Flitwick, everything was explained.
C'mon, brain. Give me something happy. She closed her eyes, furrowing her brows trying another memory. But her wand barely produced a twinkle.
"Ugh! Well, at least I know the Ministry won't come busting through my door for producing underage magic." She chuckled at herself.
Helena had received a letter from her friend Hermione Granger explaining how the danger-prone Harry Potter made his aunt blow up and float away like a balloon. Hermione of course thought Harry would be in trouble for doing such but then said that he only got a warning from the Minister himself. Being Harry Potter has it's advantages, I guess.
When Helena found it hopeless to try and come up with a decent good memory, she decided it was best to get some sleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I shouldn't have stayed up so late. She groaned on the way to King's Cross Station, her father driving her there.
Andrew Rosemund was a science man, as he would describe himself. He loved learning how things worked and he especially enjoyed astronomy documentals. When he found out his daughter was a witch he was in shock. But not because it had frightened him, but because his knowledge of the world he knew was only one half of it.
And now, his daughter would marvel him with stories about the magical part and wanted to know everything.
As Hermione had put it, Helena's father was the muggle equivalent of Mr. Weasley.
"Excited for the new year, kiddo?" They had stopped walking when they reached the usual wall that would take Helena to platform 9 and 3/4, her trunk and owl beside her.
"I have O.W.L.s this year, so that will be interesting." She wanted to get top marks, that's why she decided to get a head start on studying in the summer.
"Those are the test thingys, right?" Her father asked while trying to stroke Nina's dark brown owl, Alfie, who was ready to nip at her father's finger in annoyance.
She chuckled. "Yes, the test thingys." Helena noticed how fellow students were walking much faster to get to the platform than they did 5 minutes ago. "Dad, we better go. Don't want to miss the train, yeah?"
Helena got in the beautiful red train that would take her to Hogwarts after saying goodbye to her father and luckily found a compartment with Luna Lovegood. People often labeled Luna as, well, weird. But Helena found her company rather enjoyable. Luna would talk about the most unusual things and creatures, and Helena liked learning new stuff.
Nina saw the snack trolley pass by their compartment and suddenly felt hungry.
"I'll be right back!" she said to the blonde girl who was reading a book about mermaids upside down.
The fifth year pushed her dark hair back when she got out of the compartment and sprinted to the trolley when she bumped into someone who had just gotten out of their own compartment.
"Oi! There's enough Cauldron Cakes for everyone." said the person with an amused smirk and messy bright red hair. Helena instinctively rolled her eyes.
Then a second person emerged. Right, why would she think they would be apart from each other? She sighed, not having the energy to deal with the Weasley twins.
"Sorry, but I'm hungry and didn't get enough sleep. So if you would be kind enough to just" she swished her hand to the side.
“Now, now, Rosemund” said George, “no need to be rude.”
“I’m not being rude. I’m hungry.”
Helena was being blocked by the two red heads who were smiling down at her as she kept glancing to the trolley as if to somehow avoid it from rolling away from her.
“George, I think someone is still upset they didn’t make the Quidditch team last year.” Fred pouted mockingly.
“It’s not your fault, Rosemund” George put an arm around the girl. “You just suck at catching the Quaffle while flying—“
“—Nothing to be ashamed of,” Fred finished.
By now, Helena was pissed for being reminded of how she made a fool of herself last year at the Quidditch tryouts. She loved the wizarding sport but to her disappointment, anything thrown at her just ended up falling away from her grasp. Or hitting her.
The twins grinned victoriously. If there’s something they enjoyed doing, other than pranking, was to bother Helena. She was like an older version of Hermione but who wasn’t afraid to get back at them. They usually would find her in the library, studying. Or in their common room, also studying. So when in rare moments when she wasn’t burying her face in a book, they would make the best of it.
“You know what,” she sighed in defeat touching the side of her temple, starting to get a headache. “Forget it. I will just go take a nap.” She turned her heel walking away.
The Weasleys laughed behind her when one of them shouted, “See you later, Hell!”
It was Fred.
He had given her that nickname since first year. Back then, the twins seemed determined to make their presence noticed by everyone who was in the same room as them, much like now. One day during a Transfiguration class, they were talking rather loudly and laughing at some piece of paper and Helena was having a hard time listening to Professor McGonagall, so she made a drastic move and set their little paper on fire making it turn into ashes quickly.
“Bloody hell!” 11 year old Fred had muttered and then turned to a grinning Helena. “Bloody, Hell.”
And although Helena had admitted to herself that the name was rather clever, she heard it in moments where she would be most annoyed.
She took out her wand whispering, “Accio Cauldron Cakes.”
And the pastries made their way to Helena’s hands and away from the Weasleys.
She took a dramatic bite from the Cauldron Cake that had shortly belonged to Fred.
“Mmm… Thanks for the cakes, idiots!” and entered her compartment with a triumphant smile.
~~~~~~
When they had arrived at Hogwarts, Helena had parted ways with Luna to join her house table for the beginning of the year feast. People were still shaken up by the Dementor incident back on the train. Helena was still feeling the cold and emptiness the Dementors had brought when they floated in the train’s hallway, bringing a memory that pained her to remember.
She was only seven when it happened.
Helena had just got back from muggle school silently crying, her hair in her face to cover her red face.
Her mother, Freya, of course had noticed the quiet and broken state of the child as soon as she walked inside their home.
The woman stopped what she was doing in the kitchen and walked to the little girl, crouching down to her eye level.
“What happened, honey?” Freya hated to see her usually happy and bubbly girl in this state. The mother pushed the girl’s thick black hair away from her face.
Young Helena looked down trying to hide herself, she didn’t like crying.
Freya held her daughter’s chin up and wiped away the tears with her thumb.
“T-They…” the girl was barely audible, “—the g-girls said, the girls said I…” she was about to cry again just remembering the hurtful words that had been said to her.
“M-Mummy, am I odd?” Helena looked at her mother with her dark brown eyes, red from all the crying.
Freya wanted to protect her little girl from any harm, if she could she would follow her daughter and be her bodyguard to keep those mean kids away. The woman was angry at them for hurting her child but she managed to stay calm.
With one swift move, she brought Helena into a hug, stroking the back of her head.
“Listen to me, honey” the girl sniffled, “There is nothing odd about you. You are smart girl. People are afraid of smart. It can change the world and how we see ourselves. You are more stronger than you think, Nina.”
Freya let go of the girl to look at her with a knowing smile.
“If they bother you again,” her daughter looked up with a hopeful gaze.
“Give them hell.”
Helena shook herself back to reality when Hermione appeared beside her and offered her some chocolate. “It looks like you need it.”
She took the piece of candy appreciatively and bit the corner already feeling much better, the warmth returning to her body.
Half of the memory still lingered in the back of her mind, at least the one that made her remember how much she missed her. The other half of the memory always made her furious and sad, even to this day a helpless feeling would take over her.
That was the memory that replayed in her mind when one of the Dementors had momentarily stopped by her and Luna’s compartment before floating away.
“Oh, Harry. We missed the sorting!” Hermione said softly.
Fixing her skirt in her seat, Helena noticed how Harry Potter had a stern look on his face.
She turned to Hermione to ask her what was wrong with the boy but before she could, she got her answer.
“Potter!” the blonde boy from Slytherin, Draco Malfoy, yelled/whispered.
Is it true? You actually fainted?” he asked amused in a really annoying way.
He was making it hard to not want to punch him in the face. One of his friends sitting beside him pretended to faint. What a wonderful dramatization, Helena rolled her eyes.
After Hermione had told Harry to ignore him, the raven haired boy still looked bothered.
“I can always hex him for you, Harry” Helena offered. "He would never see it coming”
She smiled rather evilly, making Hermione go wide-eyed knowing that the girl was being serious and very much capable of doing so.
Both Harry and Ron laughed at the sheer panic in Hermione’s eyes.
“It’s alright, Nina” Harry said. “Thanks, though.”
Helena winked at the boy making a saluting motion with her hand and then turned to the staff’s table waiting for the headmaster to make his annual beginning of the year speech.
“Welcome!” said Dumbledore, the warm light of the candles above shinning on his long beard. “Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think is best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast…”
Dumbledore continued explaining how the dementors inside the Hogwarts Express were going to stay on school grounds on Ministry of Magic business.
Those close to Helena immediately began to comment on how notorious mass murderer Sirius Black was behind all of this intrusion.
Living her summer vacation on muggle territory didn’t stop her from finding more information about the prisoner, especially after Hermione had mentioned in one of her letters that Sirius Black was wanted in both the wizarding world and the muggle world.
“On a happier note,” the headmaster continued, “I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.
First, Professor Lupin who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.”
Not many people applauded at the announcement. Maybe it was because Professor Lupin, although young, had some gray hair appearing to be much older and looked rather shabby next to the other teachers who wear wearing their best robes.
But Helena didn’t mind the state of the new teacher.
Ron had pointed out how Snape seemed to be shooting invisible daggers with his loathing stare at Professor Lupin.
Helena chuckled remembering how he once had a similar look when one of the Weasley twins had made a funny but unnecessary comment during a Potions class. If they asked her, seeing that menacing glare directed at the twin was even funnier than the joke itself.
“As to our second new appointment,” Dumbledore said after the few claps for Professor Lupin had died away. “Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs.”
Helena had heard the Fred and George saying Let’s give him a hand in unison. It took everything in her to not laugh.
“However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties.”
Gryffindor house was the first to break into a tremendous applause after a few seconds of surprised shock.
It makes sense, Helena thought. Only Hagrid would assign a biting book.
“Well, I think that’s everything of importance,” Dumbledore said. “Let the feast begin!”
And on cue, the food appeared in front of Helena and she quickly made her way to the mashed potatoes, taking a mouthful before continuing to serve herself more delicious food.
After the feast, they were all dismissed by the headmaster. Hermione, Harry and Ron had gone off towards Hagrid to congratulate him on his new job, so Helena made her way to Gryffindor Tower.
I really need to start exercising. She’d gone out of breathe half way up on the marble staircase leading to the portrait entrance.
“You wouldn’t have lasted under Wood’s training,” a voice said behind her.
“Would’ve dropped dead right in the middle of some laps, if you ask me.” Fred Weasley chipped in on the conversation his brother had started.
Helena was about to reply but she hadn’t regained her breath and her heart was thumping fast. Oh, God… yes, I would have died.
But she wasn’t going to admit that they were right.
“See, Georgie? I taker her breath away,” Fred stood tall with his hands on his hips.
“Must have realized after all these years that she finds us irresistible.” George flipped his long hair with a swish of his hand.
She took a deep breath that hurt her left side, “Like hell I would!”
Fred and George looked at her, grinning like idiots. “You will!” they said together.
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a/n *screams* Ok so it's out there! Hope you liked it. I'll try to update twice a week so pleaseeeee be patient with me.
Thanks! :)
Ok a/n2 sorry if my story description is lame but i didn't know what to write LOOOL