A/N: Hi guys sorry for the delay, again, but I was busy with my exams. Not to worry though because as of today, they are all over. I am free!! I realize that this is a short chapter but it's also one of the important chapters. I promise, that the next one will be longer. :) Anyway, enjoy!
7) Rumours
Ella
Oh, please, Merlin, let Sirius be able to perform magic! I look at the wolf in front of me, pleading.
"Try shaking your head, Padfoot," James suggests. Sirius shakes his head but to no effect. Nothing happens. He tries howling, blinking, everything that we can think of but his wand seems to be lying in his insides, uselessly.
"James, Remus, I think I'll leave you guys here. Let me know if there's any change." I say before leaving them behind. I know it's not very nice of me to think this but I am starving. And I'm not going to be able to come up with any solutions to Sirius' problem on an empty stomach. My stomach growls in agreement.
"Ella!" Lily exclaims when she sees me. Several heads turn and for a moment, I think, a sudden hush falls, before dispersing into whispers. Do they know? They can't. How can they know? I know that news travels fast but this is too fast.
I walk over to her when a cold voice stops me.
"Hey, Priestly! What's your favourite pet?" I freeze. I can vaguely hear some laughter and pathetic imitations of a dog, but my head is filled with the echoes of those words. "What do you think of dogs? Or wolves?"
They know. How can they know? I don't have to turn around to see who the voice belonged to. Rodolphus Lestrange.
But how did he know? Confused, I sit down next to Lily listening to her going on about this "rumour that's been going around". Defeated, I tell her what happened. She listens in a shocked silence.
When I stop, she stares at me blankly, her mouth agape. "How can you do that? How did you do that?"
"I didn't mean to do it!" I snap at her. Why does everyone keep implying that I intentionally turned Sirius into a shape shifting animal?
"I'm sorry. I know you wouldn't do anything like that." I don't say anything to her. I can't. Everything's so wrong. "So how are you going to turn him back?"
"I don't know." I want to be alone at the moment. I just want to get away from all of this for a while. "Listen, I have to go. I'll talk to you later." I pick up a sandwich before Lily has a chance to complain about my dietary habits.
As I leave, I couldn't help noticing the squeaking laughter at the end of the Gryffindor table. Oh I hate it when he laughs like that. I don't know how James and the lot can live with him. Peter Pettigrew is so annoying.
As I'm walking along the snow covered ground, trying to think about how I'm going to get out of this mess, a weird and completely useless thought occurs to me: How did everyone know about my overactive magical powers? Who started that rumour?