Chapter 7
By may twenty-second everyone was studying for their end of the year exams. Amelia and Katie had decided to study outside, in their favorite spot by the lake. It took them all of ten minutes to start talking about anything but homework. Mainly Amelia's feelings for Oliver. She had trusted Katie with her feelings and confusion and Katie had tried her best to help.
"So have you decided what you're going to do?" Amelia shook her head at Katie's question.
"No. I don't know what it is, Kates. I love Oliver, but I'm not in love with him. Do you know what I mean?" Katie nodded her head in answer. "But it might be just a faze." Before Katie could answer they heard familiar voices calling out to them and they soon were joined by Oliver, Lee, the twins and Angelina. Alicia was still in the library, looking for the books she needed. Lee had brought them all lunch and they spent a few hours enjoying the sun and the sights of the giant squid roaming the lake. Suddenly Fred and George jumped to their feet, an angry expression on their faces. Amelia turned around to see what had gotten the happy duo to switch their mood this quickly. She was not happy with the answer. Marcus Flint had made his way to their group, his group of cronies following him closely. Amelia locked eyes with one of them, before noticing that his arm had been forced behind his back, in an undoubtly painful way. She could feel a feeling of fear creep up on her, as she let her eyes flick over to her friends.
"What are you doing here Flint?" George growled lowly.
"Nothing Weasley. We just thought that Sterling would like to see her little boyfriend." She felt Oliver's gaze burn into the back of her head.
"Let him go Flint. Your problem is with me, not with him."
"You'd think so, right? But our fathers are quite close, and I doubt his dad would like him messing around with a little Gryffindor slag like you." Amelia felt her fingers twitch, as she tried not to look at her friends' faces. She was afraid of the horrified and disappointed looks she would see on them.
"Shut your mouth you bloody oaf!" George's voice came from het left and she heard the familiar low growl of a livid Fred on her right.
"I can handle this George." She chanced a look at the twin on her left and saw his angry gaze, which was still aimed at Flint. "Flint, you are going to let Eric go, right now. Or I'll punch you in the nose again." Flint grinned wickedly.
"Yeah? You and what army?" In answer to his mockingly asked question, her friends all stepped up to her side, easily outnumbering Flint's group. Flint's grin disappeared, making place for a menacing glare. He pulled out his wand and Amelia ducked, just in time, to avoid a jet of orange light, which she recognized as infernum ignis.
"Mr. Flint! How dare you use such a vile curse on another student? You are coming with me! Right now!" Never in her days at Hogwarts, had Amelia ever been this happy to hear McGonnagals voice. And he had been caught using a spell against her... She knew what this meant. He was going to be kicked out of school. As Flint's cronies released Eric and started to retreat, Amelia turned back to her friends, looking a bit guilty.
"Thank you." She was met by a crushing hug from Katie.
"I'm glad you're okay. That spell could have killed you!" Amelia smiled at her and then turned to Eric, who was awkwardly standing there, straightening his robes, the slytherin green catching several eyes.
"You okay Eric?" He nodded.
"Never better. Except for my shoulder, I think I'm getting quite a bruise. Stupid Garble pushed me into the wall a few times." Amelia grinned at him, before introducing him to her group.
"Guys, this is Eric Forrest. Eric, the gang." A few of her friends waved lamely, while the rest was just looking at them with curiosity in their eyes. She met Oliver's eyes and looked into them with uncertainty.
"Explain." Angelina said, after listening to the silence for a few moments. Amelia took a deep breath.
"It's nothing really. We just saw each other at this boring party Cass dragged me to and we kind of became friends."
"Where did Flint get the idea that you two had a... fling?" Amelia grinned at Lee's question.
"Spin the bottle. I was teaching some of them how to play it and he must have seen us."
After she had explained everything, her friends seemed to loosen up a little, despite the fact that Eric was a Slytherin. It helped that he explained that he didn't believe in all the crap most purebloods did. While Eric was slowly taken in by her friends, Oliver made his way over to Amelia.
"We need to talk." Amelia nodded, following him to a tree a little ways away from their group. "Amelia I... We... Bullocks. How do I say this?" Amelia had a feeling where this was going, so she tried to help him.
"What you're trying to say is that you love me as a friend, but nothing more." Oliver tried not to look like a gaping fish. "I've been feeling the same way lately."
"So... We're breaking up?" He asked softly, his brown eyes boring into her blue ones.
"I think we are." Even though it was a mutual decision, there were still tears clouding her vision. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him in a warm, friendly hug. Amelia finally felt like she had gotten her best friend back.
X- Harry Potter –X
Amelia was walking towards the lake. Her exams were done and her friends were all celebrating in the common room. Her and Oliver's break-up had not come as a surprise to their friends, most of them had already noticed the lack of sparks between the two of them. But that didn't stop them from asking question after question, eventually making her want to be away from them. She was just about to go left, towards the lake, when she heard a scream, coming from the direction of the whomping willow. She went out to investigate the source of the screams and sounds that followed, arriving at the tree, just in time to see the fairly recognizable figures of Harry and Hermione dissapear into a hole in between the roots of the tree. Knowing she did not have any time to lose, as the tree was still occupied with trying to swat away a few bats that were flying by, she jumped into the hole after them. She knew what she was getting herself into, because following boy wonder always led to danger and adventure. She slid down a steep slope, ending up face planting the ground in a low tunnel. She had to crouch through it, to avoid hitting her head and followed the two third years silently, trying to make sure they didn't hear her. After about fifteen minutes later the tunnel started to rise and twist, before ending in a very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls and there were stains all over the floor. When her eyes got used to the dark, caused by the boarded up windows, she noticed that all the furniture was broken, as though someone had smashed it to bits. With a start Amelia realized that she wasn't just in some beat up old house. She was in the beat up old house. The shrieking shack. She was sure that the rumours of ghosts haunting the old house weren't true, because ghosts couldn't break furniture. She was distracted from her observations when she heard Harry and Hermione climb the stairs, which immediately told Amelia why they never had the element of surprise on their side. Merlin, they were loud. Because she had been so distracted, she didn't hear the person coming out of the tunnel behind her. She gasped when she was grabbed by the arm and a hand was placed over her mouth. The hand muffled her startled screams.
"Shhh. It's me." Recognizing the voice of her professor, her screams died down, making him remove his hand.
"What is going on, professor?" Lupin softly explained his presumption about the situation, before they silently started climbing the stairs. They heard Hermione scream at them that they were up the stairs, joined by Sirius Black. Had Amelia not known of Lupin's theory, that name would have halted her, even if it would've been for just a moment. Instead, they just kept on climbing the stairs, more quickly this time. They barged into the room, Lupin immediately disarming Harry, who had been standing over a bleeding, crumpled man. Amelia realized with a shock that she recognized his face from the wanted posters. He didn't look anything like the man in the pictures Lupin had shown her every now and then. She focused back on the situation at hand.
"Where is he, Sirius?" Amelia could hear the emotion he tried to hold back and noticed Harry's confused look that went back and forth between the two grown men. Black's face was expressionless. For a few seconds he didn't seem to move at all. Then, very slowly, he raised his empty hand and pointed straight at Ron. Amelia saw the bewildered look in Ron's eyes, he obviously didn't know what the man was talking about.
"But then-" Lupin's voice was soft, almost unrecognizable. "Why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless-" His eyes suddenly widened, as he realized something he obviously didn't calculate into his own theory. "-Unless he was the one... Unless you switched... Without telling me?" Black nodded, very slowly, his eyes never leaving professor Lupin.
"Professor Lupin," Harry interrupted the silent conversation the two men were having. And quite loudly at that. "What's going- " The question would never fully leave his mouth, apparent by the shock on his face and the dropping of his jaw, as Lupin lowered his wand, walked over to Black to pull him to his feet and embraced him, like an old friend would.
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione's shout broke the silence that had followed Harry's dropped jaw and she started freaking out. Amelia was not in the least shocked by the revelation that Lupin was a werewolf, because he had told her himself, not too long ago. That had been one fun conversation. She tuned back in when it came back to the subject of the trio's adventure of the night.
"No one was with us!" Harry's voice was filled with anger, shock and confusion.
"And then I saw another dot, moving fast towards you, labeled Sirius Black. I saw him collide with you, I watched as he pulled two of you into the whomping Willow- "
"One of us!" Amelia recognized the angry growl in Ron's voice, the one all the Weasley's had.
"No, Ron," Lupin said. "Two of you." He had stopped pacing the floor, which he had been doing for the past three or four minutes. "Do you think I could have a look at the rat?"
"What? What's Scabbers got to do with it?" Amelia was just as confused as Ron in that moment. What did Lupin want with Scabbers?
"Everything. Could I see him, please?" After a slight hesitation, Ron started to pull Scabbers out of his robes. Amelia sighed at the stupidity of the two adult men and the situation they were in. What in the bloody hell did Lupin want with the old rat? Scabbers had been with the Weasley's for.. Then it dawned on her.
"That's not a rat." It was the first time she'd heard his voice. It was hoarse, after years of not being used, and it sent shivers down her spine.
"What d'you mean- Of course he's a rat- " Ron said even more confused.
"No, he's not, " Said Lupin quietly. "He's a wizard."
"An Animagus," Black said, his voice slightly back to normal. "By the name of- "
"Peter Pettigrew." Amelia finished for him. Her words seemed to remind everyone that she was there.
"Who are you?" Sirius said, as he kept his eyes focused on the rat in Ron's hands.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asked, confused. Amelia sighed and shook her head.
"I saw Harry and Hermione jump into the tunnel and decided to try and help if I could. Turns out, professor Lupin had the same idea." She turned to Black. "As for your question. My name is Amelia Marlene Cassandra Black. And I'm your daughter."
