This story is rated T for profanity, death, blood, gore, child abuse, and copious amounts of alcohol. I DO NOT OWN HARRY & co. You all know I don't, so please don't sue! Now enjoy, loves!
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Little Cara Montgomery had been looking forward to going to Hogwarts for the first time ever. Sure, her little brother had been killed by someone from the magic world ,and Cara had cried for weeks over him, but mum had said Danny was in a better place now. And, alright, you-know-who was back...but she was too young to fully understand what that had meant. And, fine! Her older sisters had cried for two full days when they heard that their attendance at Hogwarts was mandatory this year. But Cara had still managed to be excited about her first year at "Magic school"!
She knew better now.
***
Cara loved colors. Always had, always would. Sometimes she would find herself staring into Jimmy Peakes' eyes just to see the little gold flecks in the deep blue, or at Ginny Weasley's hair just to count the shades of red. Kelly thought it was funny, but to Cara it was serious. Colors were normal, and they always stayed the same. Green was always green, brown was always brown, and pink was always pink, no questions asked. It was people that changed. Take professor Carrow, for example. One day she would be completely normal and sweet to the class, but other days she'd smack Lacy Madley across the face just for giggling. Carrow scared Cara, but change scared her even more.
"Cara? Are you listening to me?" Kelly's voice jolted Cara out of her thoughts.
She turned to look at her friend, "Yes...? You were talking about, er, homework?" Homework was always a safe bet with Kelly. She either talked about homework or the Carrows' new types of punishment.
Kelly sighed, "No. I was saying that the Carrows..." She broke off and looked up at the window where her amber-speckled owl, Hilda, was tapping at their dorm room window. The two girls had forgone breakfast and remained in bed for the first Saturday of the year, eating Cauldron Cakes for lunch and dinner. Hilda should have come much sooner, but she wasn't the brightest owl. Nine hours was a reasonable amount of time for Hilda to realize where they were and how to get there. Cara reached over, unlatched the window, and let Hilda in. Kelly snatched the Daily Prophet away from her owl and thumbed through it quickly. A small crease appeared between her eyerows, and she gasped.
"What?!" Cara asked tentatively.
Kelly put up one finger to signal quiet as she read over whatever article had made her gasp. That wasn't a good sign. Cara's mum did that whenever she was hearing something particularly scary or important. "Oh...oh no!" Kelly's chestnut-brown eyes were filled with tears as she flipped the newspaper over to show Cara the headline. It read:
40 YEAR OLD WOMAN FOUND DEAD WITH DARK MARK OVER HOUSE.
Cara felt her breath catch in her throat. Her own mom was closer to 50 but she looked 60 in light of recent events. But she still snatched the article away from Kelly and read it aloud, "On the 3rd of this month, Mrs. Pamela Dobbs was found murdered in her house..." Cara stopped reading, and her hand flew to her mouth, "Dobbs? Isn't that-"
"-Emma Dobbs. The fourth year in Ravenclaw." Kelly finished for her.
Cara's mouth fell open. She had heard of Emma from her sisters, who were in the same year, and she sounded like a terror. The stories that they had told had always been about Emma making fun of someone's hair, or Emma flirting obviously with boys, or Emma gossiping about someone behind their back. All that Cara could think to say was, "Dead? Why?"
Kelly merely shrugged her shoulders and grabbed The Prophet back, "Says here she 'withheld valuable information from important ministry officials'."
Suddenly, Cara felt sick to her stomach. Her own brother's article in the newspaper had said more or less the same thing about her mom, except the ministry officials part...instead it had said 'unidentified death-eaters and werewolf'. She glanced out the window at the sky. The sun was just setting, and it looked beautiful. Swirls of yellow and orange mixed together and cast a pink glow across the sky. The sky around the sun's glow was a pale blue, that deepened to a darker navy around the outer edges, and bright white stars littered the sky like grains of salt spilled on a blanket. Poor Mrs. Dobbs would never see a sunset again. Neither would Danny.
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"HOW COULD THEY?!?!?!" Emma shrieked, tears streaming down her face, "HOW COULD THEY KILL MY MUMMY? SHE'S MY MUM, THEY...THEY C-CAN'T KILL HER!!"
Professor Sprout extended her arm to the girl and pulled her into a hug, "I know sweetheart, I know. Let it all out...that's a good dear..." Emma was shaking. How could this happen to her? How? How could the death eaters just kill her mom like that? Like she was completely disposable?
"HOW COULD THEY?" She yelled again before letting out a wail of despair. They had just killed her...wiped her mum off the face of the planet forever. Her mom would never laugh at her stupid jokes, or tell her that everything would be all right again. She would never nag her to stop caring so much about her looks, or hug her when she was sad, or send her letters asking how things were going, or...or... "TH-THEY K-KILLED HER! AND...SOME OF THEM WORK HERE!"
Professor Sprout glanced around worriedly and hissed "Shhh! None of that now, dear." Emma stared up at Professor Sprout with beseeching eyes, and the teacher quickly continued in and even softer voice, "If they were to hear...Sweetie, it's blasphemous." She stared directly into Emma's eyes, and the girl involuntarily shivered, "I know your upset, Emma, but you need to lie low for a bit. Keep your head down, don't do anything to upset the Carrows, because they will come down on you a lot harder than before. Your mother..." Emma stared determinedly at a spot on the Greenhouse wall, "She was a very brave woman. She defied the bad guys, so they got mad."
Anger bubbled up inside Emma like a fountain. She wasn't a child! She was fourteen effing years old, not five!!! "Oh! The 'bad guys'? THE BAD GUYS KILLED MY MUM, HUH?!?!" She violently jerked away from Sprout, breathing heavily.
"Emma," The teacher protested, but Emma had already stormed out of the Greenhouse, "Emma! I need to walk you back! It's night and you'll get in trouble if you don't."
She slowed her pace a bit so that the teacher had caught up to her by the time they made it to the front doors. Filch was patrolling right inside, and he whipped around when they walked in, "Oh...It's you. Go on. Up to the Common Room with you..." He gestured towards Emma. Professor Sprout reached over to hug her, "Take care, Emma." But Emma had already taken off running towards Ravenclaw.
***
The next morning, Emma was still laying on the couch where she had cried herself to sleep the night before. She had been too tired to make it all the way upstairs, so she had crashed on the couch only to be rudely awakened by Kent Bradley falling down the stairs. Emma had yelled herself hoarse at him and eventually went back to sitting at the couch, staring at the wall. People had been coming up to her all day offering their condolences, and Orla had even plaited Emma's hair for her. But she still felt awful.
"Hey, Emma." It was Terry Boot. Again. He had already apologized for her loss with Michael and Anthony, but this time he was alone, "I just wanted to say..." He looked uncomfortable, "If you ever...need anyone to, er, to talk to, I'm a good listener." Emma cocked an eyebrow at him and fiddled with her braid, spinning the little golden hairs in between two fingers before answering, "Why would I want to talk to you?"
He sighed, and rubbed his face with one hand, "My dad died this summer." Emma released her braid, and it fell with a thump to her back. "I...I didn't know that," She leaned back into the couch, "Sorry."
Terry just shook his head and turned to smile at her. But the smile didn't reach his eyes, "It's all right. Believe me, I know how you feel." He reached over and patted her on the back, "Chin up, though. It'll get easier. I promise."
And with that, he left Emma to her thoughts.
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"Ten Sickles on Hooper."
"Ten on Peakes."
"What are you, stupid? Geoff is an amazing flyer!"
"Yeah, but I played with Jimmy last year. He's fucking amazing!"
"I flew with him too! He's good, but did you see Hooper try out last year?"
Jack Sloper surveyed the two fourth year boys stretching on the quidditch pitch. It was mid-sunday morning, and a few Gryffindors had decided to go outside and play quidditch. Unfortunately, not too many people had gotten a lot of sleep last night (due to the fact that they had been worrying about Emma Dobbs, and wondering if their parents were next) so their game had lasted about five minutes before Demelza and Vicky quit. Jack had only come to hang out with the girls so he had gone to sit with them. Andrew dropped out a second later, and Ginny Weasley hadn't seen the point of staying with only three guys left. Three people weren't really enough for a quidditch match, so Ritchie had come up with the idea that they would just race around the quidditch pitch. Geoff and Jimmy had some vendetta against each other and had decided that now was as good a time as any to settle the score.
Andrew tapped him on the head, "Who're you betting on?" Jack considered the boys. Geoff was skinny and a fast flyer, but Jimmy had been flying for much longer.
"Seven on Jimmy to win...twenty on Geoff to cry afterwards." Andrew snorted, and Demelza whipped around to glare at him, "Don't be mean, Jack! Just because Geoff can fly better than you and Drew combined..." Vicky and her high-fived, and Andrew muttered something under his breath.
"OI! ARE WE GONNA START, OR WHAT?" Jimmy's shout reached the stands. "ALL RIGHT, BOYS!" Vicky stood up, "MOUNT YOUR BROOMS...GET SET...GO!"
The two boys took off, speeding across the pitch. At first, Geoff was way out ahead, but Jimmy was coming up behind him, slowly gaining speed. "C'mon, Jimmy!" Ritchie was bouncing up and down in his seat, "I need this money!" Vicky turned to look at him, "What the hell do you need money for?"
"Who doesn't need money?" Ritchie was still bouncing, "Oh! Oh! Lookit! Jimmy's about to overtake him-COME ON JIMMY!"
Jack leapt up and looked down at the field. Jimmy and Geoff were neck and neck, about to make the final turn. "COME ON GEOFF! YOU CAN DO IT!" Demelza was jumping up and down, even higher than Ritchie. The two boys were no more than two red blurs speeding above the green grass.
"AND THE WINNER IS..." An excited smile rested on Vicky's face as she leaned forward, "...PEAKES! PEAKES WON!!" Jack wasn't entirely sure how it had happened, but somehow, Geoff had ended up laying flat on his back while Jimmy finished the race.
And aghast Demelza yelled, "WHAT? How did he....what the hell?" The five spectators ran down out of the stands to see what had happened, but someone else got there first.
"WHAT DO YOU LITTLE BUGGERS THINK YOU'RE DOING??" Amycus Carrow's voice rang out across the field, and Jack froze on the stairs, "DID YOU TRY TO KILL HIM?" By the time that he caught up to everyone else, Carrow had Jimmy at wandpoint and was practically spitting with rage. Both of the Carrows were scary, but Jack was personally more afraid of Amycus. He was bigger than his sister and meaner, too. On the first day of school he had threaten to Cruciate Andrew for no reason besides the fact that he had snorted aloud.
"DO YOU THINK THIS IS A JOKE?" Amycus turned around and fixed his gaze upon Demelza. "N-no, sir." Ritchie answered, "We were just having fun and-"
"FUN?" The man roared, "YOU LITTLE-" He let out something that could only be described as a growl. "Ritchie's right!" Jimmy squeaked, "We didn't mean any trouble! Geoff just fell, and we weren't disturbing anyone!"
For a minute, it looked like Carrow might buy his point. Then he turned and sunk his fist into Jimmy's stomach. Jimmy let out a cry of pain, and doubled over clutching his stomach. "If I ever catch any of you out here without MY permission, I will see to it that all of you are strung up by your ankles in the dungeons for a week! Do you understand?"
No one answered, so Jack called out, "SIR YES SIR!" For a minute, Carrow looked confused like he wasn't sure whether to be angry, or pleased. He compromised by kicking Geoff as he stalked angrily off the field.