Chapter 27 (Ava)
He had known.
Draco had known how angry I would be with him.
I had barely seen him, so I knew he was avoiding me. I was glad for that, because having to exchange any words with him would only have resulted in me shouting at him. He hadn’t even bothered to talk to me about it before he’d done it. And he’d caused the near-death of another student.
He was being incredibly reckless.
“Ava- you need to stand in front of your hoop.”
I glanced up at Neville, slightly startled. I’d been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I hadn’t even noticed that the Ministry wizard, Twycross, had asked us to take our places.
Over the course of the few weeks that we’d been doing Apparition, Neville and I had taken to standing next to each other. We had decided that it was better to fall over together so that it was less embarrassing. We had both become better at not falling over though, and we were both much more confident.
“On the count of three!” Twycross shouted- he still had as much enthusiasm as he’d had at the beginning, “One- two- three!”
I spun around, but did nothing apart from lose my balance momentarily. I shook my head- it was so difficult to Apparate! I’d expected to learn it within a few lessons, but so far- no such luck.
We were dismissed from the Great Hall, and Neville smiled,
“See you around, Ava.”
I nodded at him as he made his way out. Harry and Hermione were just in front of me, but they hadn’t seen me. Harry was muttering something, but Hermione shook her head,
“I’m going to the Hospital Wing. I just want to make sure Ron’s alright.”
Harry shrugged,
“Well, be careful- Lavender told me she might be seeing him tonight.”
Hermione just tutted,
“I don’t care about Lavender visiting Ron.”
I scanned the hallway for Draco, but I couldn’t see him. It was a relief to know that I myself didn’t have to bother with the avoiding.
But that didn’t stop Pansy Parkinson from bumping into me.
“Oi, Potter! On your own again?”
Before I could reply, she snorted,
“Well, it’s not like you’ve ever really had any real friends, have you? And if you ever do, they don’t stick around for very long. It looks like even Draco’s got bored of you. Well, I suppose that’s what happens when you spend too much of your life surrounded by muggles.”
I glared up at her,
“Pansy, I seem to remember Draco spending absolutely no time with you last year. He seemed to stick around me quite a bit, didn’t he?”
Pansy pouted stubbornly,
“Well, at least he knows the right people to hang around with now. Just like everyone else. You’re lonelier than ever, and you don’t have anyone to turn to.”
I gulped. How could I defend myself if I knew that every single word was true?
“Go back to your muggle life and hope that someone will accept you. You don’t belong in the wizarding world, Potter. Don’t you see?”
“Hey!” A voice from behind called out, “Leave Ava alone!”
I turned around and stared at Harry as he pulled his wand out of his pocket.
“You’ve said enough, Pansy. You can leave now.”
“What makes you think I’ll just leave?” Pansy sneered.
Harry pointed his wand at her,
“Because I won’t hesitate to use a spell on you. You’ve seen the spells that Ava can do- well, let’s just say that we both know plenty more.”
I pulled my wand out of my pocket slowly. Pansy’s expression turned sour.
Blaise was standing next to her, and he tugged on her sleeve,
“Come on, Pansy. You don’t want to start a duel in the corridor, do you? Anyway, we said we’d do Draco that favour this afternoon. I don’t fancy being stuck in detention, do you?”
She clenched her left fist, her eyes narrowed as she hissed,
“Don’t think that you can always scare me off like that, Potter. You’re lucky today, though. I have an errand to run.”
Pansy turned to me and spat on the floor by my feet before walking down the corridor singing,
“See you around, Potter.”
I stared after her, my heart pounding. My hands were shaking, and I could feel my eyes pricking with tears.
“Ava? Are you alright?”
Slowly, I turned around to face my brother. His expression was soft- he wanted to help.
It was just a shame that he was helping a traitor.
“Thank you, Harry.” I whispered, “For saving me.”
If only someone could save him.
Before I could say anything else, he wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly. I didn’t hug him in return; I was trying too hard to hold in my tears.
Eventually, he broke away. I muttered,
“I have to go. Thank you.”
Harry looked confused, but I walked away from him before he could see my face crumple. Seeing Harry feeling protective over me only made me feel worse about my mission.
The tears finally spilled over onto my cheeks, and I didn’t bother to wipe them away.
The Slytherin common room was fairly busy, so I made my way straight to the dormitory, knowing it would be empty. I needed to find something, anything to do to distract me from the guilt eating away at me.
I bent down to look underneath my bed for my quill and a piece of parchment. I could get started on the Charms essay that Professor Flitwick had set me.
It was dark underneath my bed, and I couldn’t see a thing. I reached into my pocket for my wand when my hand clasped around a small object.
I slowly pulled it out from underneath the bed and gasped quietly.
It was the charm bracelet that Fred had given to me for Christmas.
The fizzing firework charm brushed against my fingertips and a smile tugged at the corner of my lips.
I sat on the floor, studying each of the charms carefully. They were filled with so many memories. So many good memories.
I noticed a small silver ball charm, and stared at it for a moment. The last time I had worn the bracelet, the silver ball had turned into a snake.
Now, I slipped the bracelet onto my wrist and watched the charm in silence as it turned into a lion. A Gryffindor lion.
Suddenly, I knew what to do.
I stood up, grabbing my cloak from my bed and making my way out of the dormitory.
I knew what to do.