It's been days since I've spoken to anyone but my teachers.
Hermione gave me small smiles with sad eyes.
Harry avoided me at all costs.
Ron pretty much disowned me as a sister.
The new traveled fast about my relation to Sirius. The whole school knew by the end of a single day.
No one would talk to me but the teachers. People glared at me and whispered rude things. I was even "banished" from my dormitory because the other girls didn't feel safe. I slept in the common room each night, and had to creep quietly in to get my things in the mornings.
Whilst I had no social interactions with people my age, I had plenty with the teachers.
McGonagall gave me pity smiles and talked to me outside of class time.
Snape even began to like me more, since I wasn't talking in his class.
But every now and then, I'd turn my head to catch Harry staring at me. His eyes always looked watery, but he'd look away too quickly for me to really see.
Lupin and I had scheduled private lessons for me to learn how to defend myself from dementors; I'd wanted to know since that day on the train.
He informed me that Harry was also taking private lessons, so he made sure to do separate days with us.
"Now, Emma, the spell I'm about to teach you,is very advanced magic. It is way above the Ordinary Wizarding Level. It is called the Patronus Charm."
"Oh, Arthur has mentioned that once or twice," I chimed in.
"A Patronus is a positive force that works as a shield against the dementors. A Patronus is conjured out of a happy memory, a very strong, happy memory. The dementor feeds off of that happiness, instead of the wizard himself."
I nodded.
"I need you to think of a happy memory. Can you do that, Emma?" I nodded once more, although I didn't think I could.
I don't think I've ever been truly happy.
I've felt joy.
I've laughed and smiled all day.
But never truly happy.
"Close your eyes Emma. Think of the memory; allow it to fill you up and overpower every thought in your head."
I closed my eyes, but nothing happy came.
All I saw was the hate in my best friends' eyes.
The disappointment.
The anger.
"When you're ready, speak after me. Expecto Patronum." I repeated it softly.
He stepped out into the room and stood beside a cupboard with a total of twelve locks on the outside.
"Since your boggart isn't a dementor, we'll have to work with the real thing." He looked a bit worried.
"Wand at the ready, Emma." I lifted up my arm and pointed my wand in my sweaty hand. With a wave of his wand, each lock popped open and he carefully opened the door.
Out swooped a large dark figure: a dementor. It groaned and wheezed under its black hood.
I tried to think of happiness.
But it'd been so long since I'd even smiled. No one my age would even look at me without a dirty comment.
"Expecto Patronum!" I chanted. Nothing. I still didn't have a memory.
I was never happy.
As the dementor drew nearer, a cloud of black dust formed beneath it.
And then, I saw something.
I saw countless smirks and small smiles. Flashy green eyes, winking, blinking, and lighting up. Unruly, messy black hair.
I saw Harry.
Not the Harry who hated me.
The Harry who I adored.
Soaring over the Black Lake.
Jumping into his arms after a whole summer without contact.
His hand brushing against mine.
I felt warmth, for once. I felt love.
The stupid, useless love I had for The Boy Who Lived.
I still didn't feel the happiness.
But love ought to be enough.
"Expecto Patronum!" I yelled. A familiar white-blue light glided out of the tip of my wand. It curled out into the shape of an inverted umbrella. The dementor curved away once it hit the beam. Lupin excitedly, but cautiously, forced it back into the cupboard, locking it again,and charming it.
I dropped my wand and sunk to the floor with a thud.
-
-
-
"It's alright now, up you go." Lupin shook me away and helped me sit up. He handed me a piece of chocolate.
"Eat," he demanded. I did as told.
"I must say, Emma. Never, never, in my entire time, have I ever seen such a powerful Patronus form such a young witch!" he said proudly.
"Well done Emma, very well done." He smiled at me.
"Your mother would be so proud." He smiled again, but then his face dropped.
"You know... I was very close with them, Hayley and Sirius, when we went to school." I nodded.
"I don't know if you want to hear this but.. That night, that Hayley died - err, disappeared - along with the death of the Potters, Hayley left you with me, in case someone found her, as they did." I listened patiently.
"I would have raised you myself, you know, but... there was a certain condition in my household that would have made it unsafe for you to live in."
"You know, I knew who you were from the instant I saw your face. You have your father's brown hair and your mother's piercing blue eyes." I smiled. I liked to hear about my family before everything went wrong.
"I don't believe any of it. Sirius Black was a great man; somewhat mad, but that made you love him. He wouldn't have killed Peter and he wouldn't do anything to harm the Potters." Lupin sighed.
"Thank you," I said blandly. I stood up carefully, as I was still a bit woozy.
I walked towards him and smiled.
"Barely anyone thinks that way."
"Most people see the just the top layer, the madness. But your father was, and will always be, a great man."
-
"Beautiful day." My head snapped around, I heard Hermione storm into the courtyard.
"Gorgeous. Unless, of course, you've been ripped to pieces. " They argued a lot more when I wasn't around.
"Ripped to pieces? What are you talking about?" Harry was lost once again.
I watched them stroll through the courtyard
"Ronald has lost his rat," Hermione said sternly.
She turned her head towards me. She must have seen me out of the corner of her eye.
She waved a little and I gave her a small smile.
Harry was watching her, so his head snapped to the direction she was waving at.
Our eyes locked, but I turned away quickly.
I saw him look down from the corner of my eye.
"I haven't lost anything. Your cat killed him." Ron kept on arguing.
"Rubbish." The three of them were cutting through the courtyard.
"Harry, you've seen the way that bloodthirsty beast of hers is always lurking about. And now Scabbers is gone!" Ron was still complaining loudly.
Hermione stopped walking and turned to Ron.
"Well, maybe you should learn to take better care of your pets!" Hermione spat.
"Your cat killed him!" At this point I stopped listening. I was focused on the tall, messy, black haired boy that stopped walking and continued towards me.
I looked around me to see if I could talk to anyone so he'd leave me alone.
But I forgot that everyone hated me or didn't trust me.
I backed up a little until I hit the stone wall.
I looked down.
It wasn't long until he stood right in front of me.
"Emma.." he pleaded. I couldn't look him in the eyes. I was too afraid that I'd see that anger and hatred again.
"Please." He took hold of my wrist. I winced a bit, frightened what he might do.
He loosened his grasp slightly at my reaction.
"Emma, please look at me," he pleaded once more.
I reluctantly lifted my head up slowly. My eyes met with his.
The stunning electric green meeting my pale blue.
I didn't see anger as I thought I would.
I saw glassy green eyes that threatened to spill over with tears.
He opened his mouth a bit, as if to say something.
But he didn't.
Instead he flung his arms around me, one around my torso and the other cradling the back of my head.
"Emma, I'm so sorry. I had no need to know. You were just trying to protect me. It was your business and I should have left it alone. I'm sorry I yelled at you, and I'm sorry I ignored you. I'm a terrible pers-" He stopped talking when I hugged back.
"Just shut up," I mumbled into his shoulder. I could feel his smile.
"Ron forgave you a while ago. He said it was your family, so it's your business. And Hermione was never mad. I'm just a hot head. I take things too personally." I laughed lightly at his comment.
"Are we okay?" I asked. He was still holding me.
"Do you want to be?"
"Oh god, yes." I hugged him even tighter. I was crying a little too because his apology had shocked me: I thought he was going to scream at me again.
He let go of me.
"We're going down to meet Hagrid, wanna come?" I nodded and followed him out of the courtyard.
-
"How did it go, Hagrid? The hearing?" Hermione asked. Hagrid stood in the water and was skipping stones.
"Well, first off, the committee members took turns talking about why we were there." Hagrid scoffed and threw another rock.
"And then I got up and did my piece, said 'ow Buckbeak was a good hippogriff, always cleaned his feathers. An' then, Lucius Malfoy got up. Well, yeh can imagine. He said Buckbeak was a deadly an' dangerous creature who would kill yeh as soon as 'e'd look a' yeh." He angrily skipped another flat rock.
"And then?" I asked.
"An' then 'e asked for the worst, did ol' Lucius."
"They're not sacking you." Ron said sadly.
"No, I'm no' sacked." He skipped another. Each stone would skip 6 or more times.
"Buckbeak's been sentenced to death!" Hagrid started to bawl. He angrily threw a rock into the water and a large splash followed it.
-
As the days went on, more people started to feel comfortable around me again. I still slept in the common room though: the Patils were frightened of me.
I laid on the couch and watched the roaring fire flicker in the common room.
I had a hard time sleeping; so many things were racing through my head.
The only noise in the common room was the crackle of burning wood, so it was easy for me to detect the soft rhythm of foot steps. I sat up and turned my head to find the source of the footsteps.
It was Harry, the Marauder's Map in his hands.
"What are you doing up?" I asked. He jumped. I guess he didn't bother to look at the common room on his map, because he was definitely startled to see me.
"I could ask you the same thing." He lowered his wand and the map.
"Patil is still afraid I'll 'kill her in her sleep' or something," I said mockingly.
He chuckled.
"So I have to sleep out here, and it's hard to sleep when you can't stop thinking." He nodded.
I tossed my blanket away from my legs and stood up.
"Why the map?" I asked.
He glanced from side to side, even though it was past curfew and no one was up.
"Do you remember, in the pub, the Minister mentioned Sirius killed a man, Peter Pettigrew?" I nodded, my fists tightening at those words.
"Well..," He pointed at the map. A pair of footsteps were zig-zagging through the corridors.
Under the footprints, a banner was labeled with the name "Peter Pettigrew."
"Isn't he...?" Harry nodded.
-
Harry convinced me to go out of the common room with him. I walked behind him and peered at the map in his hands. We were trying to catch up to Peter.
Harry held his wand to the map for light.
The paintings barked at us to turn the light off and that they were trying to sleep.
Peter drew nearer and nearer. He swerved through the halls. I kept looking up from the map, to see if he was visible.
Closer and closer he came, but I didn't see a person anywhere,
Closer...
Closer...
Closer...
Now he was directly in front of us. Harry and I spun around to get a look at the person who wasn't even visible.
He curved around us with ease. No one was there though. It was just Harry and I standing in the corridor.
We stood in the empty corridor for a moment, staring at the map as the feet trailed away.
I gasped when I saw the footsteps of Snape in the next hall. I pointed to it to get Harry's attention.
"Mischief managed. Nox," Harry whispered, the map closed up and the light went out.
I held onto Harry's arm in the dark.
A second later another light came on, it was Professor Snape's.
"Potter. Black. What are you doing wandering the corridors at night?"
"I was sleepwalking..." Harry said awkwardly.
"Along with another student?" He glared at me.
"How extraordinarily like your father you are, Potter. He, too, was exceedingly arrogant, strutting about the castle," Snape snapped.
"My dad didn't strut," Harry spat. "And nor do I. Now, if you don't mind. I would appreciate it if you could lower your wand."
Snape did so, with a angry expression.
"Turn out your pockets." He commanded. Harry just stood there.
"Turn out your pockets." He repeated sternly. Harry jerked the cleared map from his sweatshirt pocket.
"What's this?"
"Spare bit of parchment."
"Really? Open it." Harry did so. Snape pointed his wand to it.
"Reveal your secrets." He chanted.
I peered at the map as it began to fill with ink But it wasn't the map, it was an insult to Snape. I snickered.
He swiftly pointed his wand in my face.
"Quiet." He snapped.
"Read it."
"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs offer their compliments to Professor Snape and..."
"Go on."
"..and request that he keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business." Harry smirked.
"Why, you insolent little..." Snape raised his wand. I grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him back a little.
"Professor." Lupin came up from behind Snape. Snape spun quickly to face him.
"Well, well, Lupin. Out for a little walk in the moonlight, are we?" Snape mocked.
"Harry, Emma, are you alright?" I nodded quickly and quietly.
"That remains to be seen." He ripped the map from Harry's hand.
"I have just now confiscated a rather curious artifact from Mr. Potter. Take a look Lupin. Supposed to be your area of expertise." Lupin opened it up.
"Clearly, it's full of dark magic."
"Oh, I seriously doubt it, Severus. It looks to me as though it's merely a parchment designed to insult anyone who tries to read it. I suspect its a Zonko product," he laughed.
"Nevertheless, I shall investigate any hidden qualities it may possess. It is after all, as you say, my area of expertise." He moved the map away before Snape could take it back.
"Emma, Harry, would you come with me please?"
"Professor, good night." Lupin warded Snape away.
As we walked away, I heard a painting yell at Snape. I chuckled a bit.
-
Not that interesting, I know.
But I had to post something.
I hope you guys like the story so far though.
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See you in the next update.
Bye!
-Leah