Chapter 1 - Chloe Walters
One Monday morning when the bell rang for the first day of classes, Ginny Weasley got up from the Gryffindor table, kissed good-bye her boyfriend, Harry Potter, and slowly walked to her first class - Charms. That class was her favourite, although she wasn't the best at it. In fact, she wasn't the best in any main classes. The fifth year students had a genius too. Her name was Chloe Walters.
Chloe was a very strange and unique person. She always gives above 100% on everything that's to do with writing and work. Except, that is, speaking in public. No one has ever heard her speak. She keeps her head down in class, buried in her books. Her two extra classes are even Ancient Runes and Arithmancy which are the ones with the least amount of talking involved, according to Hermione. No one has really ever payed that much attention to her after they try to say hello. When they do, she just looks up at them with her big black eyes.
As Ginny was wandering down the corridor to Charms, taking her time, a big rush of air swept past her. Chloe was trying to be the first to class. Suddenly, Ginny had an idea. She would sit next to this Chloe Walters and try to get a story from her. Plus, they kept the same seat all year long.
"Excuse me, is it alright if I sit here?" Ginny asked Chloe kindly, pointing to the empty desk next to her.
Chloe immediately went pink and nodded, keeping her eyes glued to her books.
"So, you're Chloe Walters, right?" Ginny said.
She nodded.
"Top of the year?"
She nodded.
"Well, that's pretty impressive."
Chloe made a noise, a mumble that Ginny thought not even she, herself heard.
"Pardon me?" she said, trying to force her head up with her eyes.
"Thanks," Chloe said, much louder this time, finally looking up.
Ginny tried to stifle a gasp. She had finally cracked the quietest girl in school. The strangest thing was that she swore she saw pink and purple on her eye's iris.
"So, what do you do after a normal school day?" Ginny asked, trying to make Chloe more comfortable.
"Um..." Chloe seemed to be hiding something from Ginny, but she ignored it, "Homework."
"Homework?" she said in disbelief, "What kind of an activity is that?"
Chloe smiled weakly.
"I like doing it... besides, it's better than wasting my time on card games that don't get me anywhere in life," she said.
"Well, they get you friends," Ginny said.
Before Chloe could open her mouth to reply, the late bell rang.
"Alright class... today we are going to learn the Silencing Charm," Professor Flitwick said after climbing up his large stool onto his platform, "Now who can tell me how this Charm is performed?"
Chloe Walters, the quietest girl in Hogwarts, slowly lifted her hand, making Flitwick almost fall off his stool.
"Miss Walters?" he said.
Everyone in the classroom gasped at this. Dead silence filled the air to let her voice ring through the classroom, being the only sound.
"The Silencing Charm is a charm cast to make the animal or human lose their voice. The voice box will be gone until the counter curse is performed. The word you must say is Silencio while waving your wand in a small figure eight," she said.
"So I guess you had the counter curse performed on you this morning," Anthony Farrell of Slytherin said.
Chloe sunk lower in her seat as all the Slytherins roared with laughter.
"Enough!" Flitwick silenced, tapping his wand on his stand, "Excellent Chloe, ten points to Gryffindor. Five from Slytherin."
Ginny congratulated her, now seeing a twinge of yellow on her iris.
When the bell rang for lunch, Ginny rushed out of Potions and into The Great Hall to meet Harry for lunch.
"Hey Harry, could we go for a walk?" she said after seeing him at the Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione.
"Sure," he said, draping an arm around her shoulders.
"You know that Chloe Walters?" she said as they walked down the front steps of Hogwarts.
"You mean the mute one?" Harry asked.
"She's not mute," she defended, "She's just very lost... and very lonely. She does homework for fun and thinks friends are a waste of time."
"Well, has she ever had a friend?" Harry asked.
"No, I don't think so."
They took a seat under the Willow tree.
"Well, then why would she say friends are a waste of time when she's never even had one?" he said.
"Maybe it's after watching everyone else mingle and she uses that as evidence that friendships are stupid," she thought out loud, "But hasn't allowed herself to feel anything. She's never shared any feelings before."
"Yeah, that's probably it," Harry said, looking around at Ginny, surprised, "You know, it's really a shame she's in your year... you're a really smart girl."
Ginny smiled and kissed Harry lightly.
They walked back up to the castle, hand in hand. Ginny had Herbology next.
She would be partners with Chloe.
When the bell rang, she walked with a bounce in her step to Herbology.
"Hey Chloe!" she said cheerfully, prancing over to her pot, "Partners?"
Chloe looked up at her with cold, blue eyes that surprised Ginny.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"How dare you act like you know me?" she spat, a tear running down her cheek.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Ginny stuttered.
She must've heard me and Harry, she thought.
"You know perfectly well what I mean," she muttered, only loud enough for her to hear. Her eyes swirled with red and blue, scaring Ginny enough for her to back off and find a different partner.
"Hey, Gin!"
A voice behind her made her jump. She spun around.
"Luna!" she gasped.
They both began jumping up and down, hugging each other.
"How was your summer?" Luna asked.
"It was terrific! Me and Harry got together," Ginny replied, "Yours?"
"Well, finally!" she said,"Mine was ok."
While they worked at their pot, Ginny told Luna all about her day with Chloe.
"Wow... so she's not mute?" Luna asked.
Ginny laughed, "Why does everyone assume that?"
The next few days at school were pretty much the same. Ginny would try to talk to Chloe, but it was no use. She was as stubborn as a bull. Six days passed and suddenly it was already Saturday.
"Man, I can't wait for Quidditch tryouts on Wednesday," Harry said at breakfast to Ginny.
"Yeah, me too," Ginny said, forcing a smile. She was feeling so guilty about the whole Chloe thing, she was hardly touching her breakfast.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked, "I thought chocolate chip pancakes were your favourite."
He knew her far too well.
"It's just the whole Chloe Walters thing... I feel so terrible for talking about her behind her back," she said, "I even made her cry."
Harry rubbed her back in comfort, "It's alright. She's just sensitive. If you talked about anyone else, I'm sure they wouldn't still be mad at you."
"Thanks," she said, resting her head on his shoulder, "I don't know what I'd do without you."
The day went by in a daze. She sat in the library for nine long hours, finishing up her homework and getting ahead, since she knew things would speed up once the school year got underway. At seven o'clock that night, she decided to pack up and practice Quidditch for the tryouts. She decided not to tell Harry where she was going. He'd make it a competition, even when she just wanted to fly around and practice moves. When she stepped onto the pitch, a very large surprise met her eyes.