CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR:
— i'm at my wits end of it all !
( a taste of his own medicine )
ONCE WE'D ARRIVED at Hogwarts, we were soon greeted by Hagrid's booming voice, instructing all first years to follow him to the boats — just as we'd done almost two years ago. My body was still rather shaken up, and I could easily tell that Harry's was just the same. I don't think any of us knew exactly what had gone on — and I still couldn't get over that horrific screamed I heard...
"A dementor?" Ron questioned as we all walked at a reasonable pace to the carriages. "Like, I know they're looking for Sirius Black and all, but that's bloody scary how they're just allowed to galavant all over the train."
"Well, they're going to do whatever it takes to find him, so we're all just going to have to be extra careful from now on." Lisa said, receiving several nods of agreement.
Once we'd reached the carriages, the six of us clambered into an empty one, before it began trundling towards a pair of iron gates. Harry and I (in the company of the others, obviously) were told by Professor Lupin that the dementors would be surrounding the castle's grounds until Black was found. I'd caught sight of another pair of them standing on either side of the grounds, making my stomach take an uneasy turn.
Once the ride had come to an end, Hermione, Lisa and I stepped out first, with the boys following soon behind. Then, all of a sudden, a familiar voice made itself heard, along with those evil sniggers I knew too well.
"You fainted, Crow?" Malfoy spat. "Like, you and Potty actually fainted?"
Without any hesitation, Malfoy barged harshly into Lisa's side, blocking mine and Harry's way up the cobblestone steps leading to the castle. The two of us just sighed. If I was honest, I really couldn't be bothered with Malfoy at the minute, I had more important things to worry about.
"Shove off, Malfoy." Lisa spoke lowly, gritting her teeth. She then dusted down her robes and continuing to walk with Hermione. Without turning around, Malfoy sniggered under his breath and carrying on his way to the castle, soon to be followed by Lynch and Zabini, who had barged violently past Hermione, Miles, and Ron.
The six of us quickly hurried up the steps to catch up with the crowd of students, before entering the castle through a pair of large oak doors into the entrance hall — which was beautifully lit by overhead candlesticks. Once we'd entered the Great Hall, we split off into our different directions, the trio heading over to the Gryffindor table, while Miles, Lisa and I walked quickly to the Ravenclaw table. Once we found a few empty seats, the three of us sat down, awaiting the sorting.
A sea of first years were soon to flood into the hall, all looking equally nervous, yet excited. Once they'd reached the end of the hall, Professor McGonagall did her usual of instructing them to come forth when their name was called.
And so it began.
We'd had many students become Ravenclaws, quite a few Hufflepuffs, a-lot of Gryffindors, and unfortunately, a vast amount of Slytherins. But, once the sorting was over and done with, it was time for Dumbledore to begin the ceremony. The wizard was looking rather energetic, more than he usually did. He raised from his chair, adjusting his half-moon spectacles and readying to speak.
"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 it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast..." Dumbledore cleared his throat before continuing. "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."
I zoned out for a second, recalling the incident on the train. Still, I couldn't figure out what that screaming noise was, and I wasn't planning on asking any teacher about it either; they'd think I'd gone completely nuts again — just like last year...
"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises." He paused. "It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I, therefore, warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you."
A few whispers from several tables began to make themselves heard around the hall, most of them were unidentifiable. I let my eyes wander around the room, as I gently tapped my fingertips on the table.
"Well, this year's gonna be a whole lot of fun," Lisa muttered sarcastically, snapping me out of my daydream. "unless they find Black, these Dementors will never go away."
"Do you think they will find him?" Miles asked. "I mean, nobody's ever escaped from Azkaban before — I don't think so anyway."
"Hopefully they will," I added to their small conversation. "Because I'd hate to see Harry get hurt by this guy...he's dangerous."
And soon afterwards, the opening ceremony continued, with Professor Lupin being announced as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher, and Hagrid being the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, as the previous one, Professor Kettleburn, retired at the end of last year.
And with that, the feast began...
* * *
I awoke early the following morning and decided to go down to the Great Hall for a light breakfast. The first thing I was greeted by was Malfoy, who seemed to be telling a rather humorous joke to a group of Slytherins that surrounded him. I knew that in order to get to the Ravenclaw table, I'd have to pass him, and although I didn't want to, I did it anyway. Well, at least I tried to...
"Morning Crow!" Malfoy greeted rather sarcastically. "Didn't have another fit in your sleep, did you? Those dementors didn't give you nightmares, did they?"
There was a roar of laughter.
I turned around, noticing all of their cocky little grins. I approached him daringly, before narrowing my eyes and gritting my teeth.
"I'm warning you Malfoy..." I threatened. "You do not want to get on the wrong side of me this year, so I suggest you back off..."
The group let out a swarm of oooo's and ahhh's. Malfoy however, didn't take my threat at all seriously, as he burst out into a lone laughter, which was soon followed up by the little flocks of sheep behind him.
"Aw, and what's little Emma gonna do if I don't back off, eh?" I heard more sniggering from behind Malfoy's shoulders and decided to just let it go. So, I turned around, ready to walk away — before I had a frantic second thought — SMACK.
Without any hesitation, I'd turned back around and punched Malfoy full square in the face with all the might I managed to muster up. He began tumbling backwards, as his friends were in too much of a shock to move — they were all looking at me, shell-shocked.
"Stay away from me and my friends, got it?" I spat, grabbing my wand from my pocket and pointing it directly to the floor where Malfoy was lying. He quickly shot back up onto his feet, scurrying out of the Great Hall with the rest following in hot pursuit.
"You'll regret that someday, Crow!" He shouted from a distance. "Mark my words!"
For the next few minutes I did nothing but stand there, what had I just done? I'll tell you what I'd just done, I just punched Draco Malfoy in the face, and did I feel one ounce of remorse for doing it? Of course I didn't!
After a few long minutes of admiring myself, I was jolted out of my thoughts by a rather confused looking Harry, who seemed to have left the Gryffindor Common Room without Hermione and Ron in his company. He tapped me on the shoulder gently, causing me to turn around in mild fright.
"What are you doing just standing here?" Harry chuckled. "You look like a right idiot from a distance, you know?"
I laughed. "Sorry, must've just got caught up in the moment." I smiled cheekily into myself.
"What moment?" Harry asked.
"It's a long story." I grinned.
"Right, alright then." He chuckled.
"Well, it's not really, to be honest."
"Can you tell me then?"
"Maybe later, Harry."
And from that moment onwards, the two of us did nothing but talk. The others came down around half an hour later and joined us before we all had to go our separate ways to class. Whilst I was walking to mine, I felt good, things were going good, and I didn't want anything to ruin it.
But oh boy, was I in for a nasty shock...