In the process of revision
Sixth Year
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been late getting on the train, and were now looking for an empty compartment. While this usually was a hard task, today it seemed impossible. A malfunction had occurred in the train's inherent magic, and the charm that helped the compartments defy physics by being larger than they actually were had a glitch in it. The result was that the charm had to be taken off every compartment, and repaired. Therefore, this trip to Hogwarts took place in much smaller compartments. Every compartment they had passed was not just full, but stuffed. Even compartments with Slytherins in them, who usually had only one or two people to a compartment due to their own reasons as well as the fact that no other Houses willingly sat with them, were full, sometimes with the occasional impressionable First Year or frightened Hufflepuff. The compartment with Sixth Year Gryffindors in it had come and past, having been crammed to the fullest with Neville, Lavender, Parvati, Dean, Seamus, Ginny, Luna, and some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs unrecognizable underneath the baggage piled in the room, except for the borders on their robes. In fact, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been forced to go to the Prefect compartment together, with the one non-Prefect waiting out the door for the meeting to end, as there were no compartments in sight. As of now, they were just looking for a couple of benches to sit on.
But to their complete and utter amazement, they, at last, found an empty compartment. At least, empty except for one person. The only occupant of the room was a Second Year Ravenclaw. A second glance confirmed that she was the familiar girl Harry vaguely recalled seeing around the school from time to time.
Hermione was about to ask if the compartment was reserved, but the girl beat her to it. "Oh, did you get in?" she asked, looking somewhat disappointed. "I was hoping that the Notice-Me-Not Charm would last a bit longer."
"Notice-Me-Not Charms only last for a while," Hermione said, launching into textbook mode. "They last even shorter if cast on inanimate objects, or large objects. Is that why your compartment is empty?"
"Yes," the girl smiled slightly. ""I was trying it out. I didn't really expect it to work, and I expected that someone would enter the compartment soon anyway."
Hermione cast a contemplative look at the door before raising her wand and muttering a spell under her breath. "There," she said satisfactorily. "That should hold until we get to Hogwarts. That means the snack witch won't come in here, though."
"A small price to pay for a peaceful trip to Hogwarts," the girl said.
Hermione turned her gaze onto the girl before finally speaking. "You're Avilla, aren't you? Oliver Wood's sister."
Avilla nodded. "And you are, of course, Harry, Hermione, and Ron. I've heard all about you, of course."
"You have?" Ron asked, partially interested.
"Oliver comes home every summer just raving about you three," Avilla said. "Tabby was most interested in hearing his stories."
"What's living with Oliver like?" Harry wanted to know, wondering if Avilla had ever been told to "get the Snitch or die trying."
There was a silent pause. "Trying," she finally said. "My parents bought me a new broom for my birthday, because I like to fly—though I dislike Quidditch." She ignored the boys' shock and continued. "The morning after my birthday, I was ready to take my brand-new broom out for a test flight—when I discovered that Oliver had filched the Nimbus 2000 (an older but still trustworthy model) and was flying it. I was really mad." Her eyes gleamed. "He wasn't allowed flying for the rest of the summer, and didn't get any present for his birthday."
"He flew your new birthday present?" Hermione sounded shocked.
Ron blinked. "Cool. If Ginny ever gets a broom, that's what I'll do."
Hermione sighed, and using the heavy textbook she had been planning on reading, whacked Ron in the head.
Harry, meanwhile, was thinking back to his own Nimbus 2000.
"And," Avilla continued, "he keeps on using up all of the stuff in the broomstick servicing kit we're supposed to share. I use it perhaps once a month. He uses it once a day!" She was about to continue with her tirade on Oliver Wood's many faults, when the train screeched to a stop.
Ginny flung open the last door. "Ron! Hermione! Harry!" she said, eyes aglow. Her eyes fell on Avilla. "Oh, hi," she said distractedly. "Guess what!" she said. "Did you look out of the window?"
"Look out of the window?" Hermione asked, puzzled, even as Ron did so.
"Blimey," Ron said, "I can't believe it.
"Believe what?"
"Why ... it's Lupin!"
Harry and Hermione ran out of the door, Ron following closely behind them, and they ran to greet Professor Lupin excitedly.
Avilla and Ginny were left behind in the compartment. The two exchanged glances, and each departed to greet their respective friends.
--
Avilla Wood blinked as she paused outside an open door. She could have sworn that she had never seen this room before, or this door. Not that strange doors were unfamiliar in halls like Hogwarts'. Hearing a low murmur of voices coming from inside, she found that she could not squelch her insatiable curiosity and she peeked inside.
There were many faces inside, and conversation almost instantly stilled. She recognized a few, mostly the Ravenclaws. There was Luna Lovegood. There was Cho. There was another Fifth Year she didn't know very well. There were a number of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, and even two Slytherins, glaringly obviously in their green and silver amidst all of the other colors.
"Am I interrupting?" she asked somewhat hesitantly, about to retreat immediately.
Hermione smiled at the hesitant Second Year. "Of course not," she reassured. "We like to meet occasionally and discuss issues of interest. We also help each other with schoolwork. You can come whenever you want. As long as it's not class time, there's usually one or more of us here."
Avilla looked around at the noticeable lack of other Second Years and First Years, murmured something about meeting her friends, and left. Maybe she would come back, but at a time when there were less upperclassmen looming around.
She headed back to the Ravenclaw Common Room, but her path managed (unfortunately) to cross that of Malfoy and his goons. She backed warily away. Oliver had told her that Malfoy was nothing but a bully, and a weak one at that. Of course, Oliver was also older and larger than Malfoy, so he had nothing to worry about. Cassius had been in Slytherin and thus had nothing to worry about. But Avilla had a vague memory of him, a long time ago, warning her never to cross a Malfoy.
That was before Cassius had been-
But no, it did not good to think about that. It was better to think of how to deal with Malfoy, who was the present threat.
"Hello," she said as evenly as possibly.
"Wood," Malfoy said in a soft, contemplative voice very different from his usual, smug tone. "Avilla Wood, isn't it? Your brother has told me about you."
"That's nice," Avilla said evenly. She rather doubted that it had been Oliver that Malfoy had talked to.
Malfoy had a rather far-off look in his eyes. "He said ... for me to tell you ... that he misses you."
Avilla barely kept herself from gaping. As it was, she was sure that her shock was very evident. Cassius? Missed her? She couldn't overcome her extreme shock.
Malfoy recovered himself, and looked as if he were about to sneer, but decided against it. Instead, he turned to leave.
Before Avilla could stop herself, she had called out to Malfoy's back, "Tell him ... tell him I miss him, too."
Malfoy paused in mid-step, and then curtly nodded before continuing on his way.
Avilla looked at his back rather speculatively.
--
"Pssst," a voice beside Avilla startled her. She turned to face Melody and Harmony, Ravenclaw's resident beauties.
Avilla blinked at the pair of fraternal twins, both Fifth-Years with reputations as tramps and vicious gossips. "Yes?" she asked, privately wondering why they were whispering. It was, after all, dinnertime and they were in the Great Hall, and everyone else was certainly being loud enough.
"We wanted to know-" Melody began breathlessly, and Avilla grew apprehensive.
"-whether it's really true-" Harmony continued.
"-that your brother is a Death Eater," Melody finished.
Avilla blinked. "Oliver's not a Death Eater," she said automatically. "He probably doesn't even realize that there's a war going on, what with Quidditch and all that."
"Not Oliver," Harmony tittered. "Your other brother."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Avilla said firmly, turning to her food and ignoring the guilt she felt at denying Cassius's existence.
"Oh?" Melody asked, her innocently inquisitive voice replaced by another, slyer one.
"Have you looked at the Daily Prophet yet?" Harmony asked, a smile playing on her lips.
Avilla shook her head. "Why?" she asked suspiciously.
"Most people don't read it anymore," Melody explained, "but we find it informative, to say the least."
Harmony put a copy of the Daily Prophet in front of Avilla, who looked at it with some shock. The headline was an unusually cumbersome one and screamed, "EXCLUSIVELY REVEALED: GRINDELWALD-ERA HEROINE HAS DISOWNED DEATH EATER SON" in big black letters.
Avilla quickly scanned through it. It took apart her mother's life story, making up facts when it didn't have any (which was often), and made a mockery of their family's decision to disown her older brother.
But it referred to her mother by her maiden name, and certainly didn't mention her own name anywhere in it. "What are you talking about?" she asked feebly.
"We know that your mother is the Cathy Edgewood," Melody said dismissively.
"We figured it out a long time ago," Harmony nodded. "She changed her C to a K, and married your father, but Katherine Wood and Cathy Edgewood are the same person. It's not that hard."
"We pride ourselves on knowing most secrets in this school," Melody said proudly, and then her eyes flickered to the Gryffindor table hesitantly. "Except, of course, for the Golden Gryffindor Trio's. Theirs are always life-threatening-"
"-and we rather like our lives where we are, thank you very much," Harmony finished.
"So," Avilla frowned. "What do you want?"
"Oh," Harmony tittered again, "you don't think we sit on that great big pile of secrets and not do anything about it, do you? We're Ravenclaws."
"What do you mean?" Avilla asked, confused.
"Five galleons at the beginning of each school year sounds appropriate, doesn't it?" Melody asked. "You can pay us off and not worry for the rest of the school year. We won't bother you again, we're very ethical about the whole thing. And I know you have the money. It's just once a year, after all."
"Are you blackmailing me?" Avilla asked, aghast. "That's .. that's so Slytherin!"
"No, if we were Slytherins, it would be fifty galleons and a lot of favors." Harmony paused, at looked at Avilla shrewdly. "If you add in three extra galleons this year, we'll even make sure that nobody in the school suspects a connection between you and the article."
"How would you do that?" Avilla asked, wondering whether she had gone mental, even contemplating about paying the twins off.
"We'd spread a few outrageous rumors and nudge a few people in the wrong direction," Melody asked with a toss of her hair.
"Simple."
Avilla thought again of how much she would regret doing this later, but pulled out three galleons. "My mum's sending me more pocket money next month," she explained. "This is all I have right now."
"We'll need collateral, something to hold until you give us the remaining five galleons," Harmony said contemplatively.
"Something very valuable," Melody said, "preferably something of great sentimental value."
Harmony's eyes lingered on Avilla's hair. "An Oath will do, actually," she said rather gleefully. "Perhaps ... if you do not pay us the remaining five galleons within a month, you must cut off your hair."
"All of it?" Avilla gasped. Avilla's hair was a deep, dark brown, the single trait she had inherited from her mother. Since the day she was born, she had only trimmed it, never cut it. Of course, she never exactly needed a haircut, as the hair usually stayed at the same waist-length it had been since she was five. Her hair was usually braided, as it was now, and she loved its reassuring weight everyday.
"All of it," Melody nodded.
"Very well," Avilla said with purpose. "I solemnly swear a Witch's Oath that if I do not pay Harmony and Melody five galleons within one month, I shall cut off my hair."
It was only five galleons, and she could just write her mother for an earlier shipment of pocket money. Or she could borrow some from her friends until the pocket money came.
It was only five galleons. Right?
To be continued ...