Chapter 4
Preparation for a New Year
The days began to pass, coming closer and closer to the new year. Silvia tried to react with the others more often, considering she would probably be spending more time with them at school now that she is going to be entering into Hogwarts. Although, everyone has been quite different, especially Sirius; he became quiet and isolated from the group, barely making contact with anyone within the household. Silvia could see that Harry seemed rather troubled by his godfather's strange behavior. Lupin had also been pretty distant lately.
He had been running off to errands, being called by perhaps Dumbledore or he had to assist one of the members of the Order for some unknown reason. Silvia was happy to be going to Hogwarts and to be in a real school environment, but she also felt as though depressed considering she only had a few days left until she had to leave. She wanted to see her uncle for at least one more time before she left for the year.
On the last day of summer, Silvia decided to join Harry in his room for company. Remus still didn't come home for he had been out for the passed week without any word. She started to get antsy. What about her instructions for being a werewolf? Should she tell the others of her secret? Her mind was jumbled with questions as she watched Harry clean out his owl's cage. He glanced over at Silvia, noticing her tense with worry about her uncle.
"Are you all right?" he asked curiously. Surprisingly enough this was the first time he really ever spoken to her alone like this.
"I'm just nervous," she replied. "Remus hasn't been here all week and we're leaving tomorrow."
"Wait, you're going to Hogwarts too? I thought Professor Lupin taught you at home? Or at least that's what Hermione had said," Harry questioned, uninformed of her news that only Hermione, Ginny and the twins knew about.
"Yeah, my uncle made a deal with Dumbledore weeks ago apparently," Silvia replied. Harry smiled by her response.
"That's great. Congratulations," he commented.
"What's it like? Hogwarts I mean," Silvia questioned, feeling great curiosity and excitement rise within her. She sat on the bed, folding her legs from under her. Harry started getting his daydreams of Hogwarts return to him then he smiled at her, moving away from his chore. He sat down next to her thinking how to say what he truly felt about Hogwarts.
"Well, I guess the best way to describe it is that it's a home. You learn whatever stuff you need to know, you meet new people and you have a feeling as if you're in the comfort of your own home. You're accepted and sometimes you might not want to leave," Harry explained. He realized that he was describing what he thought of Hogwarts. It was a home only for him, a place where he had people who cared for him, a true home.
Silvia smiled at him with excitement.
"Well then I can't wait to see it then," she commented her smile beaming at Harry. He smiled too for only a moment until Ron walking into the room interrupted them.
"Booklists have arrived," he announced, throwing envelopes towards both of them and keeping one as his own. "It's about time too."
"I thought they would never come," Harry commented as he and the others tore open the envelopes fiercely.
"Only two new ones," Ron informed. "The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5, by Miranda Goshawk and Defensive Magical Theory, by Wilbert Slinkhard."
"Well it may be only two new books for you but I still need to get the rest of these," Silvia commented, looking at the various titles of wizard books she never even heard of before.
Suddenly, without warning, Fred and George Apparated into the room with a loud crack that followed them from behind. Silvia and Harry gotten so used to them that they didn't even jump from their entrance.
"You never knock, do you?" Silvia questioned with a laugh.
"Nope," the twins replied in unison.
"We were just wondering who assigned the Slinkhard book?" Fred questioned.
"Because it means Dumbledore hired a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," George mentioned.
"About time too," Fred added. "We overheard Mum and Dad with the Ears weeks ago and they said Dumbledore was having trouble finding a new teacher for the job."
"Not surprising, look at the last four," George commented.
"I see what you mean," Harry mentioned remembering every Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that remained in the school since his first year.
"The only reason my uncle left was because people found out about his…problem," Silvia defended. "He would've stayed if the parents weren't so demanding to fire him."
"He was probably one of the best that we had," Harry commented.
"Yeah but no one really wants to have a werewolf as a teacher too often," Fred mentioned.
"No offense," the twins added in unison. Suddenly everyone looked at Ron, noticing his mouth gaping in surprise.
"What's up with you Ron?" Fred asked curiously. He approached him, glancing at his notice, looking over his shoulder. Suddenly his mouth fell open too.
"What's with him?" Silvia questioned.
"Prefect?" Fred questioned in disbelief. With that word, George rushed beside him with disbelief.
"No way," George commented in a low voice.
"What's a prefect?" Silvia questioned with curiosity over Harry in a low voice.
"Someone who is picked from the headmaster. They usually are pick the fifth and six years. They are like the people who watch over the first years and all that rubbish," Harry explained while Fred and George teased their little brother of being head boy of Gryffindor house.
"Oh mum's going to be revolting, getting all over her youngest ickle Ronnie," George moaned. Suddenly, moments later, Hermione came flying into the room with excitement. She noticed the badge in Harry's hand as he examined it. This made Hermione shriek.
"I knew it!" she exclaimed. "I got it too Harry!"
"It's not me, Ron's the prefect," Harry told her head on. With that said, Hermione's jaw dropped in embarrassment, her face turned scarlet.
"I…well…Well done Ron! That's really-" Hermione began but couldn't find the right words. Silvia looked at the two of them with a smile of amusement on her face.
"Unexpected," George finished but Hermione refused. But as soon as she was about to look for the right words, Mrs. Weasley entered into the room with a basket of clean robes for each of them.
"Ginny told me the booklists came in," she announced. "Give them to me so I can get your books this afternoon and you start packing. Ron I need to get you more pajamas dear, what color do you like?"
"Get him red and gold to match his badge," George suggested with a sly smirk.
"His what?" Mrs. Weasley questioned placing Ron's pile on his bed.
"His badge," Fred repeated. "His bright new prefect's badge."
Mrs. Weasley looked at them with puzzlement. As soon as Ron held up his badge to support his brothers' taunting, she let out a shriek.
"Oh Ron! Now that's everyone in the family! How wonderful!" she exclaimed in excitement.
"What are Fred and I, your neighbors?" George spat out as she hugged Ron tightly in her bear hug. She kept on putting out how proud she was of her youngest son hugging him and kissing him. It was probably extremely embarrassing for Ron, since he tried pushing her away.
"So what do you want?
We gave Percy something when he turned Prefect," Mrs. Weasley
recalled. "You already have an owl."
With serious thought, Ron
finally gotten over the fact that he could technically have anything.
So finally he said his wish.
"Mum, can I have a broom? Nothing expensive just a new one," Ron informed, seeing that her face fell for only a second but then she smiled at his request.
"Of course…Well I better get moving. Oh by the way, Silvia, while I get Ronald's broom I'll get your robes too, all right dear," Mrs. Weasley reminded. "Remus told me your size already."
"What about my books?" Silvia questioned, not to give her something else to do or anything.
"Oh Remus is downstairs, perhaps I could ask him to get your things, while I get everything else," Mrs. Weasley suggested. "I'll be back as soon as I can dears."
With all that in hand, she went off and left the room, excited about her son being a prefect and all. Fred and George exchanged mischievous looks at one another.
"You don't mind if we don't kiss you, do you Ron?" Fred began.
"We could curtsy if
you like," George continued.
"Shut up you two," Ron
commanded, giving them an evil look.
"Or what?" Fred provoked. "Going to give us a detention?"
"I'd like to see him try," George agreed with an evil grin as equally related as his twin.
"We better watch our step George," Fred teased.
"Yeah it looks like our law-breaking days are over," George played along. With that they laughed hilariously, and then Disapparated behind a loud crack. Hermione gave an annoyed look, where the twins disappeared.
"Don't listen to them. They're just jealous," Hermione suggested to Ron.
"I highly doubt it," Ron refused to believe. He left the room, leaving Harry, Hermione and Silvia alone together.
"Harry?" Hermione asked nervously, feeling uneasiness at the pit of her stomach.
"Well done," he announced although his eyes did not look at her. "Prefect. Great."
"Thanks, um can I borrow Hedwig to tell Mum and Dad? I think they'd be pleased-" Hermione began.
"Yeah, no problem," Harry accepted. "Just take her."
It took a few moments until he heard the door finally close leaving he and Silvia alone in the room, as quiet as can be. He stood there leaning over his trunk silent. Silvia didn't know what to do; he just stood there in his place, silent as if had never spoken before.
"I'm sorry Silvia but can I just have some time to myself," Harry commanded finally with a bit of sternness in his tone. Silvia nodded in reply.
"Sure, I'll see you later then," she commented then headed for the door and exited the room, leaving the poor boy in the room alone. She made her way towards her room with Hermione and Ginny already packing their possessions in their trunks. Hermione was busy writing her letter to her parents with an excited scribble. She signed her name then gave the envelope to Hedwig after sealing it tightly. The snow owl clipped its beak and flew off out the window.
"Well now that that's settled," Hermione commented, returning to her trunk and gathering her things, carefully placing them one by one. Everyone was packing hastily, retrieving books and possessions that were all about their rooms. It was not 'til early evening at six o'clock that Mrs. Weasley returned from her errands. She dropped by the girls' room giving Silvia her new uniform robes that fit her perfectly.
She was so excited when she stuffed her new clothes into her trunk, readjusting the things she packed in there already. A few minutes later, as the Hermione and Ginny went downstairs for dinner, Remus entered into the bedroom, noticing Silvia pack her things. She noticed a box that held her wand, which she hadn't used for the passed few weeks. It was made of ash with the core magic of a dragon heartstring and was about twelve and a half inches long. She remembered when she went with her uncle five years ago to buy it for a birthday present. She was extremely excited; she took it out of the case and held it in her hand. Lupin smiled as he knocked on the door, holding her stack of books and some supplies that she needed for various classes. She turned to see the visitor, smiling to see it was him. She stuck the wand in her pocket as she hugged him.
"Hello love, sorry I haven't arrived 'til now. That place is torture, especially at this time of year," Remus commented with an amused smile. He placed her new possessions on her bed, giving off a tired sigh. As he stood up, Silvia hugged him tightly, feeling joy rush through her.
"I thought I wasn't going to see you," Silvia mentioned, her eyes looking into his.
"Now why would I miss my only niece's first day at Hogwarts without saying goodbye?" he questioned, holding her in his arms. "No I really needed to talk to you beforehand anyway. Come now, sit."
She and Remus sat on her bed, avoiding sitting upon her things and looked at each other.
"Now I know this is a big step for you, but it's also a step for me as well. I'm giving you responsibility for your actions. You have to be more cautious while you are at this school understand?" Remus began, leaving Silvia a nod in reply. "Now I bought more Wolfsbane Potion while I was at Diagon Alley for you. I also have a chart of the rest of this year and next years days of full moon so you could stay on top of that. I don't want to hear Dumbledore telling me that he had a werewolf problem just because some girl forgot to take her required doses of Wolfsbane."
"What about the others? Should I tell them?" Silvia questioned with anxiety.
"If you can keep it to yourself but if someone knows then you just need to be careful," Remus warned. "For who knows what they might do."
Silvia nodded with
understanding then hugged Remus tightly with thanks.
"You'll
love it there," he mentioned as he embraced her tightly in his
arms. "Oh and one more thing."
He pushed her far enough to look straight into her eyes.
"If anything should go wrong, with your transformations. There is a trap door underneath the Whomping Willow on the outskirts of Hogwarts. It will lead you to the Shrieking Shack. Stay in there until morning when you turn to your normal state. That's how Dumbledore protected me on the grounds when Wolfsbane Potion didn't even exist," Remus explained with a serious look. "If you have any other problems I'm sure Dumbledore or Professor Snape could assist you. If you run out of the potion, Professor Snape will hopefully give you a normal dose if he has the ingredients in stock."
"Okay," Silvia replied in full understanding.
"Are we clear on everything?" Lupin question to make sure she didn't have any worries about her upcoming challenges. Silvia nodded her head, her face somewhat worried.
"Good girl, now lets get downstairs and have something to eat, I'm just anxious to have some of that butterbeer Molly has downstairs," Remus commented with a smile on his face, helping Silvia up from her place and heading downstairs towards the kitchen.
Silvia felt more relieved now, as she and her uncle gathered with the others who celebrated both Ron and Hermione's choice of being prefects for Gryffindor house. Everyone was there, enjoying the party. Silvia remained with her uncle as he and Sirius made up a small conversation in the corner. She noticed Harry approach them as she grabbed three mugs of butterbeer for Sirius, Lupin and herself.
Ginny was asking if Sirius was ever chosen to be prefect but Sirius just laughed in amusement.
"No one would ever pick me as prefect. I had spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin, however, was the good boy and he got the badge," Sirius explained with a smirk.
"I didn't know you were a prefect Remus," Silvia announced.
"Well Dumbledore thought I could perhaps teach some discipline to my friends. Unfortunately I failed only on that assumption," Lupin replied with a playful smile. But as soon as Hermione began to talk to him about elf rights, Silvia had to escape. She couldn't stand hearing the girl talk about boring politics of magical creatures. Plus what was the point of all of it? She moved over to where Mad-Eye was, watching the Weasley twins bargain with Dung on Venomous Tentacula seeds (not that she knew what they were).
"So," Mad-Eye began, his eyes on her. "Remus tells me that you are going to Hogwarts this year."
Silvia looked up, realizing that he was talking to her. She nodded in reply.
"I also hear that you have the same…trouble once every full moon," Mad-Eye continued. With that said, Silvia looked at Mad-Eye suspiciously. "Don't worry kid, you're secret safe with me."
"Thanks," Silvia
nodded over then noticed Harry approach them.
"You all right,
Potter?" Moody asked noticing his disturbed look.
"Yeah fine," Harry lied simply. Silvia could tell something was bothering him by the look on his face the whole night they were downstairs.
"Here, Potter, I got something that might be of interest to you," Mad-Eye mentioned pulling out something from his pocket. It was an old moving photograph, taken years ago by the look of its dusty and worn outer edges. Moody pointed out everyone in the picture that he remembered to Harry as Silvia stood beside them and took a fresh look. After a few moments however, Harry decided to run for it.
"I just realized that I haven't packed my…" Harry began to excuse himself but then Sirius fortunately distracted Mad-Eye for him so that he could get out of his presence. Silvia watched as Harry left then decided to follow him anxiously.
He paced up the stairs without anyone noticing, (except for Silvia of course) and stopped at the foot of the steps. He noticed Silvia had followed him.
"Harry?" she asked with concern in her tone, then approached him. She stood beside him as he continued to tiptoe up the steps and onto the first landing.
"Shh!" he commanded, not wanting anyone else to follow him. Then all of a sudden they heard noises, most likely in the drawing room. Silvia stood beside him as they stood there in the darkness listening.
"Do you hear that?" Silvia whispered. She proceeded down the hallway with Harry following her from behind. They reached the door of the drawing room, which remained slightly ajar. Harry pushed Silvia aside for a moment as he stood by the door.
"Hello?" he called out but no one answered. Someone still was crying behind the door. They entered into the room, noticing a shadow leaning against the wall, wand in her hand. She was shaking drastically. The two of them entered the room fully. Suddenly Silvia gasped at the sight of a body that was dead; it was Ron. Harry looked over on the carpet, his breathing stopped in disbelief.
"Mrs. Weasley?" Harry called out in realization after a few painfully silent moments. It couldn't truly be Ron; he after all was down stairs showing off his broom.
"R-r-riddikulus!" Mrs. Weasley cried her wand violently shaking in her hand. But it was useless; the blasted creature just transformed into Bill, his eyes wide open.
"R-riddikulus!" Mrs. Weasley cried out again but it just turned into Mr. Weasley into the same lifeless position.
"No! Riddikulus! Riddikulus! RIDDIKULUS!" Mrs. Weasley shouted at the top of her lungs as frightened as ever.
"Harry, help me get her out!" Silvia screamed. She came over to Mrs. Weasley grabbing her arm along with Harry but she wouldn't budge. Silvia stood in front of the boggart taking her wand out of her side pocket. The boggart stared her down, ignoring Mrs. Weasley and focusing on his new victim. Suddenly Lupin entered into the room.
"What's going on?" he asked. Suddenly, as Silvia looked back at the creature, a werewolf took form, growling at her grimly. She stared at the beast for a moment, thinking of something that she could do. But it was useless; her uncle stood in front of her for protection, allowing the fowl thing to transfigure into a silver orb of the moon.
"Riddikulus!" he enchanted causing the image to disappear in a puff of smoke. Harry stared at the two of them with curiosity as he stood there with Mrs. Weasley sobbing uncontrollably. Lupin looked at Silvia for a moment then towards Mrs. Weasley to give her comfort. Harry remained looking at her, confused. She averted the boy's gaze feeling a sense of uncertainty rise within her.
Silvia looked at her uncle, suddenly feeling the intense fear of what just occurred. That very thing she feared every night in her dreams. She felt herself break down, regretting even trying to help with something as severely disturbing as a boggart. She passed the members of the order, making her way towards her room, not wanting to listen to any more of what was happening. She slammed the door, realizing she was the only one there. She sat on her bed, her head in her hands as she tried to breathe deeply in order to calm down.
"It was just a boggart," she told herself over and over. "It wasn't the real thing."
She lay down on her bed, trying to wash her nightmares away with happy thoughts like tomorrow when she would be getting on the train to Hogwarts for the first time. Without knowing it, she fell fast asleep, allowing everything to disappear around her.
