Letters - A Harry Potter FanFiction story
Chapter One - Nargyles, Time Traveling, and Toad-Faced Ministry Maggots
It was midday, midweek. I was laying on my stomach in the sitting room, trying not to stain the magnificent red velvet couch with the ink dripping off of my quill. I was sucking on the end of it, trying to figure out what to write, when Draco walked in.
Not that I didn't love my brother, but he was the subject of my problems. Constant teasing. No one to go to except for my four best friends. I needed and wanted his support, but I wasn't getting it. I cried myself to sleep over these three facts most nights, and the only thing that kept me sane was the letters. I'd read them over in the middle of the night knowing that Draco would never be a good sibling like one of my friends could be.
"Emberlynn, please don't drip your ink onto the couch. The upholstery is brand new and we both know who mum and dad would blame," Draco pleaded. His gray eyes were filled with fear and a shudder rippled through his body at the mention of what our parents might do to us. I cringed and put the stopper in the glass bottle of deep blue ink. "Thank you," he mumbled. I forced a smile, which felt so out of place in my miserable life. "Your welcome," I managed to whisper. Being a good sister to him was the least I could do to at least deserve respect. Not that I would get it either way, but don't they say "Treat others the way you'd like to be treated"?
Draco shifted to his other leg. I'd grown to notice faint details like this seeing as I was always so quiet and so focused all the time. I had never once been distracted, and nobody associated the words "loud" or "party" with my name. Emberlynn Azalea Malfoy. Such a beautiful name for such a beautiful girl. That was the only loving thing my parents had ever told me in my life, and suprise surprise, it came from mum.
Draco and I suffered a few moments of absolute silence, then a bright white owl swooped in the window. I recognized her as Hedwig, Harry's owl, and immediately guessed that a letter from Harry would follow. Of course, my educated guess was correct, and an envelope addressed to me in plain black ink and familiar handwriting was dropped into my lap. I stroked Hedwig and thanked her, but she grew impatient. I laughed on the inside - like owner, like owl, I thought. Harry could be so very...stubborn, when it came to time. The beautiful snowy owl began nipping at my fingers, so I tore open the envelope and removed the letter inside.
"Dear Ember," I read silently. "I've been put on trial for casting the patronus in front of Dudley, the fat pig." I giggled quietly at his vulgar language, and continued on. "For some reason, dementors were on Little Winging. Can you believe it? What do you suppose they were doing there? Do you think You-Know-Who has recruited them to his side?" I nodded, as if he could see my response. It seemed logical that the dementors would side with Voldemort - the cold hearted stand together, after all. "Anyways, I didn't feel like having my soul sucked out, so I performed the charm. But honestly, between you and me, it doesn't seem fair. If there was an attack, was I supposed to leave myself defenseless?" I shook my head no, once again as if he were there, telling me these things in person. "Well, they're putting me on trial anyway, but they just can't expel me from Hogwarts. What on earth would I do?"
"I'll need somewhere to stay, that way I can get to the trial. To tell the truth, I have no idea how I'm going to get there. Maybe I can stay with you and Draco. That would be nice." I smirked - my mum told me I looked exactly like Draco when I did that. Harry always tried to be nicer to my brother than he often deserved, for my sake of course. If it weren't for me, he'd have hexed the living daylights out of Draco long ago. "Thank you for the birthday present. I look forward to seeing you again. Yours sincerely, Harry." I folded up the letter and tucked it into the slightly battered envelope and began to open the ink bottle, Hedwig hooting her approval.
"Not on the couch!" Draco whined. I rolled my eyes, but moved over to the floor. I sat Indian style and dipped my nicest Eagle-feather quill into the navy ink. "Dear Harry," I wrote, pleased with the sound my quill made against the parchment. The sound of a quill scratching against paper was like a drug to me. "I'm quite disappointed to hear about this. When did it happen? You poor thing." I heard a snigger and saw Draco peering over my shoulder. I playfully smacked his arm, and he responded by getting up and moving over to my father's black leather chair. I prayed that dad wouldn't catch him sitting there; he'd get so angry that he'd explode on my poor brother.
"You should be able to stay here, and I'm sure that my mother would be happy to bring you to your hearing." My mum, unlike my father, was quite kind and caring, and very motherly to Harry, as if he were her own son. I was very pleased with that fact, because never once had my father won one of their arguments. Mother always came out victorious, so Harry would be safe if he showed up here. I started a new paragraph: "They can't expel you from Hogwarts! It would be completely unfair, and if there was an attack, they really can't blame you for wanting to defend yourself! I think all of them are scared of the dementors, even the minister himself. Not that you're scared or anything, but still. You have to admit they are frightening."
"Harry, feel free to stay at our home the rest of the summer, too. I doubt you'll be able to stay the whole year, though, if they do manage to get away with expelling you. I'll try my best. With love, Emberlynn." I sighed contentedly, blowing on the parchment to hopefully dry the ink faster. Once the blue words on the page no longer glistened with wetness, I folded it up, stuffed it hastily in an envelope, and gave it to Hedwig. She was a tiny mass of white feathers in the distance within minutes. I strode over to Draco and sat on the arm of his chair, carefully as not to accidentally sit on his arm.
"Draco?" I asked. He looked up at me with questioning eyes that gleamed stormy gray like a raincloud before a thunderstorm. "What?" he responded, his voice steely and ice-cold. I felt vulnerable, like hiding underneath a rock would solve my problems. But a rock couldn't make Draco a better brother and a rock couldn't get Harry back into Hogwarts. "W..well, Harry's been put on trial because there were d...dementors and he cast the patronus in front of his c...cousin and he needs somewhere t..to stay," I stuttered. Draco paused and pondered this for a few moments. "He can stay here as long as mum says it's okay, but really, it's not up to me," he said, his voice lightening considerably. He shrugged.
I smiled down at him and patted him on the shoulder. "Thank you, Draco!" I responded excitably. He shrugged again, but I looked into his gray eyes and found that inside, he had to be smiling, too. I guessed, at least. Draco was hard to read, and I think that was his problem in expressing himself. "As I said, it isn't my choice," he mumbled, though I acted like I hadn't heard him and bound away to ask mum. I knew that he was right, though, just it seemed polite.
"Mother!" I exclaimed when I finally found her. She was at work in the kitchen - we hadn't had a servant since our last house elf, Dobby, which Harry was so kind as to set free with some careful last minute scheming. She looked down at me. "Emberlynn, I'm busy," she sighed, returning her attention to her cookbook. I refused to go away. "But mum, it's Harry!" I whined. She looked at me again with affection in her eyes. She sat down at the kitchen table and folded her hands together. "Tell me what happened," she prompted, sighing quietly one last time.
And so I told her about how the dementors were attacking his cousin and how he cast the patronus charm and how he had a hearing at the ministry and needed somewhere to stay. When I finally finished, I remained quiet, removing the panic from my voice. "Please mum?" I begged. She sighed; she does that whenever she's overwhelmed or needs to think. After a few moments of pondering, she stood up to face me. "Your friend can stay here if he needs to," she finally said. I smiled and hugged her. She seemed a little surprised, but returned my hug anyways. Finally, I pulled apart and went to go write to Hermione, Ron, and Luna.
I didn't feel like laying on the floor anymore, and I was sure that writing my letters on the couch would provoke Draco, so I took my supplies up to my miniscule bedroom on the top floor. The walls were painted a bright white and everything else in my room was either navy or white as well. The few pictures I owned - the one of me and Draco on Thanksgiving, Luna and I over holiday break at her house, and Harry and Hermione, clipped from an inflammatory article in the Daily Prophet last year when Harry was picked to participate in the Triwizard Tournament - were tacked messily to a cork board that hung over my small bed. My bedroom was overall the smallest room in the house, but I didn't really mind because I loved it up there.
I set my supplies on my desk, which was painted white with detailed deep blue vines along the legs. Pulling out my chair, I sat and once again began to suck on the end of my quill, wondering what to write. I decided to reply to Luna's latest letter, because hers were always amusing, telling me about the imaginary-or-not "Nargyles" and how they had been tormenting her lately. I pulled it out of the desk drawer and started to scan the major parts of the letter. I remembered that she had went on vacation in Norway for a couple of weeks, searching for another sort of weird creature mentioned in her dad's wizard magazine, the Quibbler. I also remembered that she had written about how she saw an article about Harry in the Daily Prophet, calling Cedric's death a "tragic accident" and denying the fact that Voldemort was back. Sadly, I had to believe Harry because I knew it was true. My stupid father was a Death Eater, a supporter of Voldemort, and has been feeding him information about the ministry ever since he learned that he was back and functioning again. I was expected to respect him, seeing as he was head of the household, but that was hard to do because I was so ashamed to have to think that my father was a Death Eater. I retaliated, though, by telling Dumbledore all the information I was hearing from him.
"Dear Luna," I wrote. "I'm sorry that you didn't find anything in Norway. I knew that your father was very excited about writing this article." I chuckled a little bit, imagining what she might say to me if we were having an actual conversation. "Oh, it's quite alright, my dad's managed to find information about the Crumple-Horned Snorcack elsewhere." I started to write again: "I hope you had fun anyways. I hear Norway is beautiful this time of year, despite that it's awfully cold. Please do tell me all about it when we get back to Hogwarts!" I shook my head in disbelief while starting the next paragraph. "Did that evil Rita Skeeter lady write the articles about Harry? Because if she did, I'll have to tell Hermione. Rita's an unregistered animagus and Hermione wanted to turn her in if she didn't stop writing lies. Anyways, it's awful that they're denying that you-know-who is back. Harry couldn't and wouldn't have made it up. That's just cruel of the ministry - they're just a bunch of gits who are way too full of themselves!"
My quill scratched across the paper angrily: "Harry's coming to stay with us because he has a hearing. The ministry is expelling him until then, though, because he cast the patronus charm in front of his stupid Muggle cousin, Dudley. Harry says there were dementors and I believe him. Oh, I do hope he's alright. Mum is going to take him to the hearing." I took a deep breath to get the anger out of my system. I didn't want to end up poking a hole in the parchment. "Take care. With love, Emberlynn." I slumped back in my chair while the ink dried. The ministry could be so aggrivating sometimes, and I think that's the only thing my family could agree on. We never fought about the ministry, that was for sure, although my father distasted them for different reasons, reasons having to do with being a Death Eater. I shuddered thinking about this. For some reason, my father was tied to Voldemort and there was nothing we could do about it. My mother tried and I helped her, but he was stubborn as a mule and just wouldn't give up his lousy politics. Boys...
I folded up the letter and carefully tiptoed down the stairs, sure that if I made too much noise, my father would start to yell at me. Or blame it on Draco. That happened often. Draco was sitting on the couch now, so I assumed that when I got downstairs and the room was in my full view, my father would be overseeing his activities. I was correct. Draco was pretending to pour over a book about the history of Quidditch, but I knew better than to believe it. Father was arguing with mother, so I knew that he had to be listening for more information about His side. Draco told me everything he heard from them so I could tell Dumbledore, and I figured this kind of deceit was what got him into Slytherin. I was sorted into Ravenclaw, for being witty but not exactly smart. All my friends joked that I would've done better in Gryffindor, except for Luna, because, no offense, she wasn't exactly one to talk about smarts.
I tapped Draco on the shoulder, and luckily for me, my parents were too busy bickering to notice. "What do you want?" he hissed under his breath, not looking up at me. "Can I borrow your owl to send a letter to Luna?" I murmured. He thought for a moment. "Fine," he snapped, still not making eye contact. I thanked him happily then went skipping up the staircase and into Draco's room, the second largest of them all.
Anyone who knows how Draco acts at school would think he had Dark Mark posters hanging on the walls, a torture chamber, and a quilt made from chain in his bedroom. In reality, it was decorated quite nicely. Even I could hardly believe that the emerald green comforter, intricately weaved rug, and Quidditch pennants were picked out by Draco. It looked exactly like any spoiled wizard boy's bedroom. His wand was set on his bedside table, right beside a hooting owl with black feathers. I opened the cage and immediately, Draco's owl flew out and landed on top of the cage, ruffling its feathers. I held out the letter and the jet colored owl snatched it up in its beak. "Take this to Luna Lovegood, alright?" I murmured, patting the owl on the head. It hooted and took off through the open window, where sunlight was streaming in and reflecting off every metal surface in the room.
The light was dancing on the polished wood floor, too, and I smiled to myself, thinking about how beautiful it was. I left Draco's room quickly, afraid that he might get upset if I stayed in there too long. I skipped to my room happily - the light had served as quite a pick-me-up for me and it had really lifted my spirits. I realized that in just a couple of days, I'd be leaving for Hogwarts again. This was both good and bad news. The good news was that I'd get to see all my friends again, hopefully including Harry. I'd get to study magic again, go to this year's ball, and find some great ways to cause mayhem. The bad news was that I would get taunted and teased again. I'd have to take my O.W.L.s, I probably wouldn't get a date, and I'd probably get lots of detention from Filch. Either way, I was ecstatic for school to begin again.
I liked to think that I was a compulsive organizer and that was the reason that I liked to do things in advance and stick to my schedule and such, but really, I wasn't OCD. I think the real reason is that I liked things to be orderly. I felt secure when things were organized and when I knew what to do ahead of time. Thinking ahead was a specialty of mine, and nobody disagreed when I brought it up. Therefore, as soon as I'd made it to my bedroom, I picked up my quill and started to make a list of everything I would pack for Hogwarts. I laughed. If Ron were there, he'd have made some snide comment. I could almost hear Hermione yelling at him: "Maybe if you planned ahead you wouldn't be forgetting things everywhere!" Then Ron would've turned bright pink and Harry would have started to laugh at the whole scene, including me bent over my parchment like Hermione writing an essay.
I thought about it hard for a moment, then decided on what clothes to bring. I'd bring my uniform, of course, and my Quidditch uniform, too. I played keeper for the Ravenclaw house team. I'd also bring my glittery white gown, a Christmas present from mum, to wear to the ball. I eventually decided on casual clothes - three pairs of skinny jeans, four pairs of cutoff shorts, one pair of gray leggings, a babydoll top, my favorite Falmouth Falcons t-shirt, and various other tops and bottoms. Then, I started a new column labeled "School" and started to fill in the items on my school list. I wrote in "wand" and a few other various books for light reading, too. Finally, I started a last column called "Other" and wrote in my prized possessions - my Firebolt racing broom, just like Harry's, my cat Quimby, and a locket that I've had since I was born.
I lugged my trunk out of my too-small closet and began to remove the items from their various storage places. It took me awhile to find my jacket, but that's because it was buried under my bed from the time Draco got in a huge load of trouble and ended up having to clean every room in the house. A punishment from father, not mother. Mum would never be so harsh on anyone, except for maybe dad. After a while, everything was neatly folded and put in the trunk, except for Quimby, of course. I wouldn't put him into his carrier until the day-of; that poor cat would get much too restless.
It was getting close to night by the time I finally finished packing everything, and by the time I was done with dinner and such, it was time to get to bed. I dressed in sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt because really, who cares what you look like in your sleep? Honestly, I know a Ravenclaw girl named Cho...oh, gosh, I despise her! She sleeps in these lacy silk pajamas and it gets on my nerves, because to be honest, it just makes her seem kind of trashy. I think Harry likes her. That could be a problem, seeing as I know what she's actually like outside of classes. She's a complete mess and has a mental breakdown every night.
I sat on my bed and pulled out my hairbrush and started to comb out my blond ringlets one-by-one, being careful not to mess up the arrangement of each curl. I finally turned off the lights and closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep. It didn't work so well. I couldn't get to bed no matter what I tried. I seemed to be wallowing in my pain - the pain came back at the end of the day, the pain of not having the right type of brother, one who will be there for you. We were twins. How do you abandon your twin like this?
I was finally going back to Hogwarts. Mum somehow managed to get all of us to King's Cross by using side-along apparition, which was amazing considering Harry tagged along and she only had two arms. Mum had been happy to escort Harry to his hearing, and he had (thankfully) not been expelled from Hogwarts. I was now attempting to lug my trunk and was letting out a long string of words I can't repeat. Who knew clothes and such could get so heavy? "Need a hand?" I heard a familiar voice from behind me say. "RON!" I exclaimed, letting my trunk go completely and giving him a flying tackle hug. He seemed taken aback by this. I was so excited that I didn't let go until I heard sniggering behind him.
At first I thought it was Draco, but it ended up being Ron's older twin brothers, Fred and George. "Shut up!" I whined. Draco took a step forward, but mum took his arm. She hugged him goodbye and then disapparated, leaving us all on our own. "Ickle Ronniekins has finally got a girlfriend, eh?" George teased. Ron's ears became pink. "I am NOT his girlfriend!" I yelled, adding: "No offense," quietly so only Ron could hear. Fred laughed. "That was priceless...and all we wanted to hear," he said, and the twins turned their backs on us and began to walk away. I started swearing again.
Fred turned around and winked. "I can see why you don't date her, by the way. With a mouth like that...who would?" He ran ahead and went to join his twin. I rolled my eyes, knowing Luna and I would get stuck sitting with them. It always happened like that - Harry, Ron, and Hermione end up in one compartment and Fred, George, Luna, and I end up in the one across from them. Draco joined us in third year...I really don't want to think about that.
Ron took one end of my trunk and I took the other, struggling to balance Quimby's cage on top of that. "MEOWWW!" he screeched. I looked accusingly at Ron. "You're letting that side fall! Quimby is going to fall off!" I exclaimed. He lifted his end of the trunk a little higher and started grumbling something about "girls and their stupid cats". Thinking that there might be more than one "girl with a stupid cat", I looked up. "HERMIONE!" I screamed, and gave her a huge hug, almost making her fall over. "OWWWW!" "MEOWWWW!" Ron had been bitten by Quimby, who had probably bitten Ron because I dropped one end of the trunk. "Good kitty," I muttered. Hermione started to laugh, stroking her cat, Crookshanks.
I ended up giving up on the trunk and forcing Ron to carry it, while I held onto Quimby tight. Ron wouldn't stop mumbling something about "cats from Hell" and I eventually decided that I didn't want to know. Draco was nowhere to be found; he'd left us for Blaise Zabini, who Luna, once we finally found her searching for Wrackspurts, couldn't stop talking about. "Such a gentleman...he opened a door for me, you know," she said dreamily, although everything she said was in that airy, dreamy voice of hers, so really I couldn't tell if she was forming a crush or not.
"You look just like your brother, you know that?" Luna told me as we stepped onto the train, Ron sweating and breathing heavily behind us, staggering with my trunk. "Hellcats...why do girls pack so much?" was all I managed to decode from his incomprehensible muttering, and I figured I didn't exactly want to know the rest. I nodded, to answer Luna's question. I had his gray eyes, his porcelain skin, his thick, white-blond hair. Nobody needed to hear my last name to know we were related, and that was kind of sad because I was judged and ridiculed for being related to Draco.
"Well, I suppose this is where we go our separate ways," Harry sighed once we got to our two usual compartments. We never broke tradition, although we sometimes wondered why the same two compartments were always empty every year. Maybe it's because nobody wanted to see me angry. Always assuming...people probably thought I had Draco's flaming temper. Hermione agreed: "No use breaking the tradition now," she said. We parted, Luna and I on one side of our compartment, leaving the other side empty for the twins, whom we knew would be joining us shortly. I drummed my fingers against the glass impatiently.
"I wonder if your brother and his friend would mind joining us," Luna pondered. I rolled my eyes and grinned. Luna was most definitely infatuated with Blaise, which made me laugh. Then, the compartment door opened and two identical redheads joined us on the opposite side of the seats. "Nevermind," she decided as soon as they slipped in. "Miss, Mrs.," George said, nodding in recognition. I glared at them. "And whom exactly, might I ask, am I married to?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Fred smirked. "Oh, Ickle Ronniekins, of course!" he explained. I kicked Fred in the shin. "Fiesty," George acknowledged. I rolled my eyes.
"Did anybody go to any Quidditch games this summer?" Luna asked to diffuse the tention. I glanced at her in a moment of thanks, turned to the compartment that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in and mouthed "Help!" earning some laughs on Harry's part, and shook my head. "Nobody would go with me to see the Falcons game," I said sadly. "Well that's too bad," Luna said with a frown. Fred and George sniggered. "They're like the worst team in the league!" Fred exclaimed. I narrowed my eyes. "And the most violent," George added. I smirked at them. "Well, then, I'm sure they could beat the crap out of you then," I stated. They shut up about my choice of Quidditch teams after that.
Luna tucked a lock of her wavy blond hair behind her ear, and I subconciously did so, too. Fred smiled, and for once, it didn't seem mischieveous. "You two are like twins," he said. "You and Luna." I laughed. "I have a twin, Fred," I reminded him. "Well maybe you're long lost triplets," George suggested. We all started to laugh. "I don't think Luna and Draco are from the same planet," I explained, smiling and shaking my head. "Neither are you and him," Fred said. I glanced over at him. His face was dead serious for maybe the first moment in his life. "I'm serious," he continued. "Just think, he's got a temper and you're always calm. You're quiet and shy sometimes, he's always trying to get noticed. He's cruel..." I interrupted: "Shut up about my family, Fred. Draco isn't the nicest but he's still my brother." Luna looked at her feet awkwardly. She whispered in my ear: "I think their brains are affected by the Wrackspurts." I smiled and whispered back: "Yes, I agree. It's obvious, don't you think?" She laughed and started talking about her vacation in Norway.
"Well!" George exclaimed when she finished. "I think we have made some very interesting conclusions from that story." Fred muttered: "Like that the Crumple Horned Snorcack isn't real." I smacked his thigh. "Ouch!" he yelled. "That's what you get for messing with my sis!" I shouted, putting my arm around Luna. We all laughed. George started to run his hands through his hair, which confused me, until I saw Angelina Johnson, a Gryffindor chaser, walk past. "Oooh-oooh!" I cooed. "Somebody likes Angelina!" Luna announced. I smiled. I wished that everyone who made fun of her could know her the way I did. George went red and didn't say anything for a whole ten minutes, which Fred pointed out "had to be some kind of a record".
"Bleu cheese isn't actually blue," I finally said to break the awkward silence. Everyone except for Luna looked at me, confused. "It's true," Luna said. "The blue parts aren't cheese, so the actual cheese isn't blue." George looked impressed; I gave him the evil eye. "Just because Luna has some interesting insights doesn't mean she isn't smart," I whispered. He rolled his eyes as if to say "I knew that, now shut up". "Then what exactly are these blue parts?" Fred asked stupidly and sarcastically. "Mold," Luna and I said in unison. We cracked up, although George looked kinda disgusted.
Fred started staring at me. And wouldn't stop. I noticed that his eyes were green, which surprised me - not because they were green, but because we'd been sitting together for five years now and I still didn't know what color his eyes are. "Fred Weasley, what are you doing?" I asked. He stared at me wide eyed, concentrating hard. "I'm trying to make myself see double," he explained. His twin slapped him across the face. "Snap out of it, woman!" George exclaimed. Luna and I had to stifle our laughter when they broke out into a catfight, with full-on smacking and spellcasting. When they finally calmed down, Fred had a bloody nose and a pink bow in his hair and George had green hair and a few broken fingers.
"Do you want me to fix that?" Luna asked about George's broken fingers. "Um...no, that's...that's alright," he stuttered. "I'll do it." George picked up his wand...with his broken fingers. "Ow, ow, OW!" he exclaimed. Luna took the wand from him carefully, then pulled out her own. "No, here, let me fix that," she said kindly. "Episkey!" Luna said, flicking her wand. There was a disgusting-sounding crack and George called out in pain. Fred started laughing. I smacked him. "There's nothing funny about your brother being hurt!" I exclaimed, then went over and sat next to George and took the hand that had originally been broken. "Does it feel better now?" I asked seductively, throwing a vindinctive glance at Fred, who was in a huff. "Uhh...yeah," George said, winking at his brother. Fred scowled and I moved over to my original seat next to Luna, crossing my arms and wearing a smug expression.
"You over Angelina now, eh, brother?" Fred asked, eyeing me suspiciously. George blushed. "Very much, sister!" George hissed. Fred gave him the evil eye and then stared straight ahead of him. Luna and I slumped back in our seats awkwardly. And when I thought the train ride wasn't going to get any weirder...
"CRASH!" The train halted to an abrubt stop. It reminded me of third year when the dementors had invaded. Harry had been attacked by one and saved by possibly our best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher ever, Professor R.J. Lupin. But that couldn't be the case, could it? No, it couldn't be. In a few moments, we picked up again as if nothing had happened. I was confused and everyone else seemed to be, too.
We all leaned in towards the center of the compartment, creating our own little huddle of sorts. "What do you reckon that was?" George whispered. I shrugged. We all stared at Luna, knowing she would have an explanation of her own sorts. She shrugged, too. "Nargyles, maybe? But this climate doesn't seem right for them," she said. Fred looked at her like she was a maniac, while George mouthed the word "Nargyle" over and over again with a thoughtful expression on his face, like he was trying to figure out what that was. I did nothing - with Luna being my best friend, I was used to the references to creatures like that. "Get used to it," I told Fred playfully, a huge smile on my face. He smirked and ran his hand through his firy red hair.
I looked out the window - we were above ground now, on tracks high up and all I could see for miles was greenery. There was another awkward silence, so I decided to do one of the things I do best - people watch. I like to watch people because I'm very good at noticing small details and patterns in behavior that most people don't usually see. I like that.
George was nodding off against the wall of the train, drooling. I smiled at how peaceful he looked; not at all like the troublemaking Gryffindor boy that he was when he was awake. Fred was fiddling with a chip in the seat, pulling out stuffing. Normally I might've stopped him, but I was much too bored and I liked watching him. His mind didn't seem to work in the same ways as other people, like he was in his own imaginary world. Like Luna. In fact, that was what had drawn me to be friends with Luna in the first place. I watched him for a little while, then turned to see what Luna was doing. Her gaze seemed to be fixed on the clear compartment door. I was confused at first, but then I turned to see what she was looking at.
Draco, Blaise, and two of his gorilla-faced cronies were outside harassing Harry. Draco had a sneer plastered to his face. I gasped out loud and felt a tear coming to my eye. I knew my twin could be mean, cruel even...but I'd never seen him do this to Harry before. Furiously, I opened the compartment door and stood in an empty slot between Harry and the Slytherins, crossing my arms defensively. My brother and his gang looked angry, like Harry had just said something offensive, all except for Blaise, the one I actually liked, who flanked Draco but stared at the ground, saying nothing. "Draco, leave Harry alone, please," I said annoyedly. Draco opened his mouth like he was going to retaliate, then closed it. "C'mon boys. Let's go," he finally said, fuming with anger that was obvious even in his "I'm-trying-to-be-cool" voice that I recognized so well. "Bye Emberlynn," Blaise said, lifting a hand in a wave. He looked at Luna and I noticed a smile playing at the corners of his lips. Luna waved back and I simply grinned at him.
"Thanks, Ember," Harry said weakly, like the battle had worn him out. I smirked. "Don't mention it," I said, waving at my other friends and closing the compartment door behind me. Luna had much to say. "Blaise really is quite charming," she said dreamily, smiling. I looked at her and grinned. "He's one of Draco's nicer friends. He's actually thoroughly kind-hearted," I told her. She nodded. "I've noticed," she stated, then looked out the window to watch them walk away, and sat back in her seat again. "They're gone." We both sighed in relief and I went back to watching Fred mindlessly doing ridiculous things.
It was a long train ride the rest of the way to Hogwarts, and I was thoroughly bored for most of it, absorbed in my people watching and thinking of witty comebacks to use on Professor Snape during potions class. I was now sitting in a carriage, riding towards the castle, and I was engulfed in an argument with Ron about Draco's behavior. "I'm telling you, Ronald, he's not bad if you know him the way I do," I explained. Ron, being the mulish, angsty teenager that he was, had to retaliate. "The way you do! And how exactly do you know him, Emberlynn?" he fired back. "Cool down, hot-head, he's my family," I said. Ron furrowed his brow. "I'm not a hot-head, I'm just explaining that he had no right to talk to Harry that way!" he shouted. I rolled my eyes. "He did have no right to be cruel to Harry, but that's just his nature. He's insecure, you need to understand that if you want to understand the way he acts," I defended. "Insecure! I'll show you who's insecure!" he mumbled, looking like he was going to throw a punch. Fred "yawned" and put his arm around me. "Hey, no hitting girls, Ronnie," he stated. I picked up his arm and put it in his lap, then elbowed him; he was getting a little too close for comfort. "Get off me," I mumbled and he grinned. "Anything for Ickle Ronnie's girlfriend," he crooned.
The carriage halted - we had made it to the castle. Ron proceeded to chasing Fred down the trail that led to the front gates. I couldn't help but laugh when Hermione and George stalked off after them, talking about how crazy the two brothers were. Like George was one to talk! Either way, Luna and I were left alone with Harry, so the three of us linked arms and started arguing about how Ravenclaw was totally going to beat Gryffindor to win the House Cup this year. The groupings felt somewhat out of balance, but in a natural way, as if Luna and I were destined to befriend Fred and George, but that when things shifted, fate shifted with them.
"I'd love to go back in time," Harry finally said. I smiled at him, knowing what he was thinking. "Your parents were probably lovely people, don't waste your time worrying, hon," I assured him. He sighed and stared at the ground. "But think of how different things could be if I did know them!" Harry exclaimed. I looked at him, staring right into his electric green eyes, beyond the round glasses and the sullen expression. "You might not have us," I said, meaning Luna, Ron, Hermione, and I. "You might've ended up in Slytherin and befriended my brother," I added for dramatic effect. He pondered this for a moment. "I guess you're right," he finally admitted. I smiled and we continued down the dirt road, headed for another year at Hogwarts.
I sat at the long Ravenclaw table inbetween Luna and (sadly) Cho Chang during the start-of-the-year feast. I was delighted to be back at Hogwarts. Everyone around me had already gotten to the gossip. Cho was giving me dirty looks, Filch was taking away the twins by the scruffs of their necks, and I'm pretty sure I caught Blaise Zabini staring at Luna. Things were like old times, except that this year, everyone was boy or girl crazy.
The ghosts were swooping through the air happily, and thank God, Peeves the Poltergeist was nowhere to be found. Probably causing chaos in some corridor somwhere. Funny, the Bloody Baron was nowhere to be found, either. Uh-oh...
Professor Dumbledore was giving a speech, but nobody seemed to be paying much attention. People were whispering amongst themselves, except for the Prefects and Head Boy and Girl, who were such goody-goodies that nobody would talk to them anyways. Maybe that's why they remained silent.
I didn't catch much of the speech, but I heard Harry say from the Gryffindor table: "She was at my hearing." I figured he was referring to the plump witch dressed from head-to-toe in pink. I was later informed that that toad-faced ministry maggot was going to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"You know what this means, don't you?" I whispered to Luna as we walked to the common room. She shook her head. "No, frankly, I don't," she said quite cluelessly. "The ministry is interfering at Hogwarts," I muttered. She went into a period of shock after that and didn't say anything until we reached the common room door.
"He does not know your name and never will. Why?" was the riddle. It was quite easy, actually, unlike most of the admission riddles us Ravenclaws had to answer. "He's dead," I answered plainly. We were granted admission right away.
Later that night in our dormitories, Luna and I stayed up late chatting about the day's events. I cracked a joke about the riddle - I said that maybe the ministry was interfering with that, too, which earned laughs from just about anyone who was still awake. I mean, what other explanation was there? Dumbledore wasn't nearly that obliviously stupid, and neither were we. In a way, I was insulted.
Luna and I also talked about Blaise a lot because she mentioned the topic quite a bit. Not that I minded, I just thought it was funny. Luna didn't really strike people as the type of girl who would like somebody. Maybe she didn't like him, but it certainly seemed that way. "He seems to notice things. Like you do. You two are awfully similar, you know," Luna compared Blaise and I. I smiled at this statement. I didn't really think so until she said it, but I did notice once she had brought it up. We were both quiet, passive, and liked to observe rather than play a larger part in a situation. I liked to shy away from drama, much like him. But if she was trying to get me with him, it wouldn't have worked. Two people so similar could never work. Opposites attract.
Luna eventually fell asleep on me, mumbling something about Nargyles, time traveling, and toad-faced ministry maggots. I couldn't help but wonder if I'd thought aloud, because I thought I'd kept that description to myself. I wasn't exactly sure, though. I was about to fall asleep when I heard footsteps. Afraid, I turned out the light and laid down. But there was something on my pillow...
~AUTHOR'S MEMO~
Hello everyone! I hope you liked the first chapter. I was having doubts about it, but I'm actually really pleased with the way this chapter turned out. I was having a hard time writing in the way Emberlynn carries herself because it's so different from the lighthearted way I think. Ember analyzes everything, so I had to be very descriptive. Please review - it would mean a lot to me!