Madame Pomfrey kept me under close inspection for the morning, but after I showed no more ill effects of the near-drowning, released me from the hospital wing. She handed me Remus Lupin's black robe, which she had washed and dried. "No more dangerous stints like that, Miss Harkstone," she added as she dismissed me.
I had enough time to make it to the Great Hall for lunch. I sat with Lily, who took one look at me and jumped up from her seat, crushing me in a rib-shattering hug.
"Lily!" I gasped. "I'm fine!"
"You scared me to death, Amber Harkstone!" Lily cried as she sat down with me. Quite a few people were watching us. I felt my cheeks burn. "How many people know…?"
"About you almost dying yesterday?" Lily finished. "I'm not sure. I found out from Remus."
But judging from how many people were looking in my direction, I knew that number was a lot higher than just a few. I wondered who else Remus would have told, aside from Lily and our teachers.
"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" Lily fretted. "Your fingers are like ice!"
They had brushed against her hand as I reached for a fillet of grilled salmon. I shrugged. "Try falling into the lake during the middle of October. It's not exactly refreshing."
Lily watched me spear a piece of pink salmon into my mouth. "I thought you were a vegetarian."
"I'm in the mood for fish." I said darkly, imagining the salmon as a section of that stupid mermaid's tail. I never wanted to see another one in my life.
"I'm glad you're okay." Lily said. "I was really worried about you. Remus said a mermaid attacked you."
"Remus was right." I stabbed another piece of salmon.
Lily looked horrified. "But I thought mermaids were kind! I thought they were sweet..."
"Well, they're not." I recited the description of them from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Lily's eyes widened. "That's awful… I wonder what else we're mistaken about."
I didn't want to think about that. What other seemingly harmless or kind creatures were in reality monsters who wanted nothing more than to kill and eat? I added a scoop of basmati rice to the plate and dropped a pat of butter on top. Lily watched me eat with concerned eyes. "Are you sure you're alright, Amber?"
"I'm fine." I waved her off and threw a glance in Remus' direction. He was sitting next to Sirius and James, reading a textbook.
Lily followed my gaze. "You know Remus?"
I nodded. "He saved me from the lake."
Lily's eyes bugged out of her skull. Finishing my plate, I explained to her what happened. She whitened when I recounted how Professor McGonagall had wanted me expelled.
"She can't expel you!" She gasped, horrified. "You're a brilliant top! You're one of the top students in our year!"
I shrugged. "I don't think she likes me very much."
McGonagall was the Head of Lily's House. Looking distressed, Lily stood up. "Come on." She said, looking at McGonagall, who was sitting at the staff table. "Let's go to the library."
I rose from my spot, still holding Remus's robes, and followed Lily. We hadn't gone more than four steps when a loud voice snapped, "Have a nice swim, Harkstone?"
"Just ignore him." Lily whispered. I narrowed my eyes, biting my tongue.
"I heard you wanted to get makeover lessons from the mermaids." James jeered again. "Next time, just talk to Hagrid. I'm sure he can help you comb out that nasty hair."
Lily looked furious. I reached for my wand, my hand resting on the hilt in my pocket. "No." Lily whispered sharply. "Wait. We'll get them later."
Heart pounding like a war drum, I forced myself to take my hand off of the wand and follow Lily out of the Hall. I couldn't help throwing a look over my shoulder to give James a nasty glare. He crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue, his untidy black hair sticking up in all directions. Sirius pointed at my face and laughed. Remus did not look up from his reading.
Lily and I marched to the library, nodding to Madam Pince, who smiled warmly at our arrival. She handed us each a small bar of dark chocolate. It helped being bookworms with the school librarian.
Lily chose a table in the back of the huge room, hidden behind high shelves stocked with books. Her face was dark with rage as she opened her Potions book. "I cannot believe that Potter boy." She snarled. "He's always picking on you and Sev. And for what?"
I rolled my eyes. "Who knows. Maybe he's just mean."
Lily sighed heavily and flipped a page. I craned my neck. "Wait… that's not Potions…"
She was reading a Charms book, her eyes scanning through a list of spells. Her face brightened. "Look! This is the perfect one."
I squinted. "This one? Are you sure?"
Lily grinned. "Of course I am. You get Black, and I'll get Potter."
I smiled at her nasty smirk. "You really don't like Potter, do you?"
Lily cracked her knuckles. "There's a special place in the dungeons for bullies. And I intend on making him pay for what he's done to my two best friends."
Grinning, I spread open my homework binder and pulled out the assignment for Transfiguration. "McGonagall wants me to read through Chapter Five. I guess a third peruse wouldn't hurt."
Giggling, Lily pointed her wand at my head. "Curlaeus."
I shook my head. Reaching up, I felt elaborate curls where my hair had just hung down straight as a curtain. "How did you do that?"
Lily looked delighted. "It's a new charm I found in Witch Today. It has a whole list of spells you can use to change your hair color, change the style, and even how to put on makeup!"
Lily had always been more into girly things, much like Virginia. I kept touching my new curls as I read through Chapter Five again of the Transfiguration homework and began to write down answers on the questionnaire.
"You know," Lily said as Madam Pince walked by, smiling, "I think I just had a thought."
"You think?" I said sardonically, flipping through the pages of Witch Today.
Lily grinned. "I've just gotten a great idea for punishing those boys."
Intrigued, I leaned forward. "Tell me."
Lily's green eyes glittered. "Well, look at this spell right here…"
I walked into Charms class after Lily and I had finished in the library. I took my seat at the table beside Remus. He was nose-deep in a novel.
"Whatcha reading?" I asked casually, pulling his robes out of my book bag.
Remus glanced over. "A book."
So we were back to Mr. Loner again.
Rolling my eyes, I slapped his folded robes on the space between us. "Thanks for saving my life."
Remus didn't look up. "No problem."
I drummed my fingers on the desk. Remus said nothing.
"Are you really going to keep ignoring me?" I blurted.
Remus sighed. "I don't want to talk about this right now."
My temper began to rise. Narrowing my eyes, I slammed my Charms book onto my desk, hard enough to draw the startled eyes of a few students ahead of us. "Talk about what? The fact that you're friends with two complete arses like James Potter and Sirius Black?"
Face reddening, Remus opened his mouth to speak, but before he could a squeaky voice interrupted, "Oh, I know I didn't just hear such vulgar talk from one of my star pupils!" Professor Flitwick piped up as he strolled back. "I'd hate to take five points from Ravenclaw, so I'm giving you a warning, Miss Harkstone! No more strong language in my classroom."
Fuming, I clenched my teeth to keep silent.
Remus stuffed his robes into his bag while Flitwick began scrawling words onto the chalkboard. "Today, students, we will be reading and learning about the softening charm! Can anyone tell me what the incantation for this charm is?"
Remus began to raise his hand, but I waved my wand and muttered, "Arresto momentum." just as Hannah Young answered Flitwick's question loudly, "Spongify, Professor?"
Remus' hand froze just before he could move it higher than two inches above the desk. He threw me a startled look.
"We need to talk." I muttered hotly. "Stop avoiding me."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Stop being a child."
Anger boiled in my veins. "Can a first year use second year level charms?" I said, referencing the spell I'd just used on him.
He looked irritatingly unimpressed.
"If you want to hang out with jerks like Potter and Black, you owe me an explanation." I hissed.
Remus's pale green eyes flashed. "I don't owe you anything. I saved your life, remember?"
Heat flooded my cheeks. "Don't remind me. Forget I said anything."
Remus tried to move his still frozen hand. "Would you mind?"
I flicked my wand under my desk. "Resumere momentum."
Looking supremely annoyed, Remus raised his hand, answering the next question that Flitwick had asked that I hadn't even heard. I scrawled down the notes the pint-sized professor had been recording on the chalkboard at the front of the room. After class, Remus rose quickly and kept his back turned to me. Feeling spurned, I stuffed my textbooks into my book bag and headed for the exit. Angelina Azadian met me at the door to my next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts. "Professor Munkee cancelled." She sighed.
"What? Again?" I tried to peer inside of the small window in the door, but it had been blacked out.
She shrugged. "He's probably been injured by another one of Professor Kettleburn's creatures. Last time it was a particularly resiliant lethifold, I think."
The weight of heavy books made the strap of my bag dig painfully into my shoulder. If Professor Munkee was out of commission again, it gave me a free period to study.
"Do you want to go outside and watch the Gryffindor team practice Quidditch? I hear Thomas Bearace is offering to talk to some of the spectators."
Rolling my eyes at Angelina's girlish blush, I started towards the distant Ravenclaw tower. "I'm going to pass. You go have fun."
"Alright! See you at dinner, Amber!"
"Mental, that one." I muttered, unsure of why Angelina, as nice as she was, made it a point to try and befriend me.
At this time of day when classes were in session, I was surprised when I noticed a crowd of people near the base of the Ravenclaw tower. Uneasy, I clamped a hand around my bag's strap and approached slowly.
There was a nervous babble of commotion. I caught things like "looks like he was trying to break in" and "I hope it's not broken" and "Sneaky little Gryffindor" and, "Is that blood?".
I pushed my way through, most of the crowd made up of fellow Ravenclaws, and found myself staring down at a short, pudgy boy with a bowl cut of mousy brown hair. He was crumpled on the ground, motionless, on his side. A small pool of blood had gathered underneath his head.
Dropping my bag, I hurried forward, undaunted by the sight of blood. How many times had Virginia coughed it up, or snapped a bone? I bent down, pressing my fingers expertly against the boy's neck. A pulse was there, but alarmingly weak.
"Someone get help!" I shouted, silencing the murmur of whispers. "Don't just stand there! Go get Madam Pomfrey! He needs to be in the hospital wing now!"
There was the sound of someone moving away very quickly, running to get help. I racked my brain for spells that Mum would have used to stop the bleeding or heal a broken bone, but the adrenaline shooting through my veins made my hands shake and memory inaccesible. The small pool of blood slowly spread out.
"Is he dead?" A student whispered.
"He's hurt!" I snapped, beginning to feel the first flashes of fury that no one else had bothered to help this boy. He could have been no older than me, maybe ten. Hardly eleven. His red and gold tie gave away his status as a Gryffindor student.
The boy stirred faintly, groaning. One arm was bent badly out of position. His blue eyes opened slowly, one of them bloodshot. Internal bleeding. I thought, remembering my frail sister.
The boy's face crumpled and he let out a low moan of pain. He seemed to be coming to, and let out another moan, but this time it rose into a shriek of agony. "My arm!" He screamed. "My head!"
"You're going to be alright." I said, trying to calm him down. "Please, help is coming."
The boy seemed not to hear me. "Mommy! I want Mommy! OUCH! My head! My arm!"
"What's this?" A booming voice demanded. "What's happened?"
I turned slightly. Professor McGonagall stared down at the blood-covered boy and floor, her eyes huge. She froze for just a moment and then bent down quickly, helping the sobbing boy to his feet.
"Come, boy. Off to the hospital wing with you. Now, let's go." She pointed to a fifth year. "You! Come with me. Help me bring him to the infirmary. Yes, you! Now!"
As the other student helped the injured student, others looked at each other in confusion and disbelief. "How did that even happen?" I asked, rising to my feet, staring at the puddle of the boy's red blood on the ground.
"I saw him." A third year said gravely. She had short curly brown hair and a large blue headband. "He was trying to sneak into the common room. He tried coming down the stairs, but he missed a step and fell."
There was a collective sharp gasp of air. "How far did he fall?" One girl asked, face white.
She grimaced. "Pretty far. At least fifteen feet. Maybe more."
More students were staring at me. Averting my gaze, I started up the winding spiral stairs to the common room.
"Part of the problem is that we don't have any railings!" One student said loudly from the bottom of the stairs.
It was exactly why Ravenclaws were careful to stay close to the walls and mind their steps. It wasn't hard to see how a Gryffindor could have injured himself trying to break into the Ravenclaw's common room.
The area was deserted, leaving me free to study for Charms class. My thoughts were distracted by that of the boy. He had seemed so familiar. Perhaps it had been the blood all over his face that had kept me from recognizing him.
I was joined by a few students in the next hour, but the remainder of the afternoon passed in relative uneventfulness, except every time I walked to a new class, students would be talking about the nameless Gryffindor student who had fallen from the stairs in Ravenclaw's tower. It wasn't until dinner when I sat beside Lily that I finally learned who it had been.
"Poor Peter Pettigrew." Lily murmured as she helped herself to a serving of treacle tart. "I heard he fractured his skull and had a broken arm."
Instantly I remembered the blood loss. "He was in a lot of pain." I remarked, hardly touching my pumpkin pie.
Lily studied me carefully. "Do you think he was trying to sneak into Ravenclaw's common room?"
I shrugged. "What else would he have been doing?"
She seemed troubled. "Peter doesn't seem like the kind of person to do stuff like that. He hangs out with Black and Potter, but he doesn't have the brains like they do."
"He's in your year?"
She nodded absently. "I just can't fathom why he'd do something so utterly stupid. He's not completely brainless, but he's in the company of those two goons. Maybe… maybe they set him up to it!"
Her fork clattered against her plate as fire burned in her eyes. "Those complete arses! I bet they did!"
"Did what?" I said uncertainly, not following.
She stared at the two boys twenty feet away, sitting near Remus. All three boys were smiling and talking. None of them seemed concerned at all over what had happened to Peter.
"I bet Potter and Black sent him to do their dirty work. A dare, or a prank. Something horrible. You know, they're always bullying Sev."
"Even Remus?"
She shook her head. "I don't know why he chooses to be with those two toerags. Remus is so polite and… well, it just doesn't make any sense!"
I closed my fingers around my ash wand. "Do you think we should do something?"
"Do something?" Lily repeated. "I think Professor McGonagall will sort those two out."
I shook my head. "Listen to yourself, Lily. I don't think she will."
"Please." Lily said hotly. "Have you ever met McGonagall? She doesn't put up with them. Especially that Black boy."
"Do you honestly think Peter will squeal on them?" I reasoned. "I've seen how he looks at those boys. Like they're the greatest thing since sliced bread."
Lily looked defeated. "You're right… but how? They'll never take anything seriously."
"What about that charm in the magazine?" I recalled. "Wouldn't something like that work?"
Lily's eyes brightened. "You're right." She pulled out her willow wand discreetly. "Follow me. When you get close enough to Black, hex him. I'll get Potter."
"What about Remus?" I added, as Lily rose calmly and innocently.
She shook her head. "He's done nothing wrong."
I felt a flare of indignation inside of me. Hadn't he? By treating me like some annoying troll?
Too quickly, we were already passing the three boys. The freebooters. I saw Lily whisper something from the corner of her mouth as she passed Potter, her wand flicking slightly. Nothing happened.
I was right behind Remus and Black, who were completely oblivious to our presence. I gave my wand a tiny wave at Black's back. "Capillos rosea."
Just before I passed, I flicked my wand at Remus and repeated my curse. I followed Lily out of the Hall, her eyes dancing with mischief and righteous excitement.
"They got what they deserved." She squealed.
"I hate to say this, Lily, but I didn't see anything wrong with them."
Lily, who was always so innocent and sweet and against pranks, grinned wickedly. "You will tomorrow morning at breakfast. Don't you worry."
Clack clack clack. Sharp footsteps approached. Lily and I turned towards the source of the sound. Professor McGonagall was marching through the open double doors, her intense green eyes fixated directly on me. My stomach dropped and my blood turned to ice.
"Harkstone." She said in a clipped tone. "Come with me."
