Harry and I looked at each other. I could see a scared look in his eye. I wonder what he could see in mine.
"Don't move, Potter." Snape lazily swept forward. His eyes were glimmering slightly as if he enjoyed the look of Harry facing a snake.
"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart I rolled my eyes and pulled out my own wand. Before I could do anything, though, Lockhart brandished his wand and made the snake fly backwards. The snake hissed angrily and went towards Justin Finch-Fletchley.
Harry hissed something that I couldn't understand. I gave him a funny look when the snake came to face Harry. I made a split second decision to cast a spell that came to me on the spot. Perk of being a child of of Hecate. The snake disappeared in one wave of my wand.
I turned to look at Harry who was grinning at Justin. Justin looked scared out of his mind, close to the way I currently was feeling.
"What do you think you're playing at?" Justin shouted. "Chosen one my butt! More like evil one!" Now everyone was giving Harry dirty looks. Ron came up and pulled Harry away with Hermione. I looked over at my friends, Grace who was now giving Harry a dirty look and Astoria who was looking sad.
I ran over to them, people parting to let me through. People were muttering to each other and sending me awed looks, but I ignored them.
"What was that?" Grace asked.
"I don't know," I said. "Something happened."
"Yeah, your brother is a parselmouth!" Grace cried. "That practically means he's evil!"
"Grace!" I said. I looked over at Astoria who was staring at Grace also.
"Grace, that doesn't mean he's evil," Astoria said. I was happy she chose to talk because I was about to throttle Grace.
"Yeah it does. The only other parselmouth is Voldemort. That means that Harry is practically Voldemort." Grace face was red.
"You're such a jerk!" I yelled. "What's the matter with you?" And in an urge of anger, I turned and ran out of the great hall, people once again parting and muttering.
Once I reached the entrance hall, the tears came. I ran to one of the corners and began to cry. I felt a hand on my shoulder and then rubbing soothing circles into my back."It's alright. It's fine. You're alright." I put my head onto Astoria's shoulder and I felt her stand me up and walk me upstairs. "What's the password, Emma."
"Blubber Grad," I said, and the portrait swung open. The common room was empty because everyone was still downstairs so Astoria and I made our way up to the 1st year girls room before everyone else got here. Ginny opened a bleary eye as we entered the room. I collapsed on my bed, the spell I cast having drained me, as Astoria explained to Ginny what happened. Ginny came over and gave me a hug, but I was already half asleep, with my contacts still in and my robes still on.
I woke up to light coming into through my hangings on my bed. My eyes were burning because of the contacts still in my eyes. I sat bolt up in my bed. It's monday. I have classes! I threw my blinds open to find Astoria camping on the floor between my bed and Ginny's. I saw Ginny sitting up, playing with her wand.
"Ginny! Classes!" I cried. Ginny looked startled before she smiled.
"Emma, don't worry. It's Sunday. And it's the last day until winter break. People are packing all day today. There are no classes. Remember?" Right. Christmas. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired. What time is it?" I rubbed my eyes and decided to just throw them out and put my glasses on. I threw my hair up into a messy bun.
"It's 9," Ginny said. She was still looking at me pityingly,
"Ginny, I'm fine. I swear. How are you? Are you feeling better?"
"Loads. Want to go get breakfast?" Ginny asked.
"Give me a sec to change and then we'll wait Astoria and go down." I grabbed one of my camp t-shirts and leggings and I put them on. I felt no need to put in my contacts so I left my glasses on. Lizzy used to call these my comfort clothes. These are what I used to wear after I was on a quest of Lizzy was on a quest and I needed a bit of comfort. I felt a pang of hurt thinking about Lizzy. I wasn't going home for Winter break because it would take way too much traveling and money to fly all the way back to new york. The good thing was that Ginny and Astoria were staying as well. I was sad that Grace was leaving but now not so much.
I came out of the bathroom and found Astoria grumply getting up as Ginny continued to play with her wand. I pulled out another book on different dueling spells that I was reading while I waited. Finally, Astoria was ready so we all left and went downstairs. We were stopped in the hall by a large group of students all shouting and pushing each other while Peeves cried,
"Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done,
You're killing off students, you think it's good fun-"
"It's Harry," I muttered to Ginny and Astoria and began to push my way through the crowd. People parted once again for me, muttering something about the new chosen one. Once again, I ignored them and just focused on making my way towards where Harry was standing by a black and smoking Nearly Headless Nick and a pale, petrified Justin Finch-Fletchley. McGonagall was there also, yelling at Peeves. I took one look at Harry's pale face and immediately ran over to put my arm around his shoulder.
Justin was taken by Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra. Everyone left except for Ernie, Ginny, and Astoria who was given a large fan and told to blow Nick up to the Hospital Wing.
"Ms. Potter, go to breakfast. Mr. Potter, come with me," McGonagall said.
"No. I'm coming too," I said, stubbornly refusing to remove my arm around of Harry's shoulder.
"Emma, I'll be fine," Harry said. "Go to breakfast. I'll meet you. Tell Hermione and Ron where I am, ok?" He gave me a smile that I couldn't bring myself to return. I removed my arm from his shoulder and nodded my head. They walked away and I returned to Ginny and Astoria.
"Everything alright?" Ginny asked.
"I hope," I responded before starting to walk to the great hall with them. Grace wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"Why are people staring at me?" I asked. Ginny and Astoria shrugged. Hermione and Ron sat down next to us.
Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "They think you're the real chosen one, not Harry," Hermione said. I looked at her like she was crazy. "I know, right. It's so stupid. But I guess that little bit of magic you performed last night lead them to think that you're the chosen one and Harry is just evil."
"That so stupid," I said incredulously.
"I know, right. Anyway, where's Harry?" Hermione asked while Ron hoveled food onto his plate and Ginny rolled his eyes at him.
"He's at Dumbledore's office," I replied, gloomily.
"Does tis have something to do with what everyone is saying happened to Justin and Nick?" Ron asked. I nodded and they both groaned.
"The good thing is that this will blow over soon. Everyone is leaving tomorrow and then the news will be Christmas in two days," said Hermione. A few minutes later, Harry returned and he, Hermione, and Ron left to go "get some homework done" which I seriously doubted, but I decided not to pry. Instead, Astoria, Ginny, and I ordered presents for everyone for Christmas. I ended up getting Astoria a silver necklace with an emerald green jewel in it and a new book on runes which she was expressing her interest in a lot. I got Ginny an owl because she always is stealing Addy from me. I got presents for Ron, Hermione, Lizzy, and Kyle also. We decided to skip dinner because none of us were exceptionally hungry, and once again, Astoria slept in our dorm that night. She hadn't yet resolved her fights with the other Slytherins yet so we convinced McGonagall to move another bed into our dorm for her.
The next morning, as people began to leave, Ginny, Astoria, and I met up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the common room and we all walked down to breakfast together. The best part was that Fred and George Weasley thought it would be funny to walk in front of us and say "Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through…"
Percy Weasley didn't find their behavior as funny as we did. "It is not a laughing matter," he said as we walked.
'Oh, get out of the way, percy. Harry and Emma are in a hurry," Fred said, and I gave him a look for bringing me into this.
"Yeah, Emma's off to vanquish another dark Lord and Harry has to go to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with his fanged servant," George said. "Afterwards, they are going to have some sibling bonding time." Ginny didn't find it overly funny either. She rolled her eyes at her two older brothers and then pushed me slightly when I laughed. We made our way to the great hall and we all sat together at the Gryffindor table. It was only us that were left along with Malfoy and his cronies who we pointedly ignored.
"So, Harry, are you scared that Emma will have to vanquish out since she's the chosen one?" George asked as we began to eat.
"Oh, I'm scared of Emma for more reasons then one, so yes, yes I am." We all laughed when he said that and continued to aimlessly chatter about different things as we ate. I felt someone come up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. I was startled by this, and the rest of my friends looked just as confused. I turned around and saw Lizzy standing there, in all of her blond haired glory.
"LIZZY!" I cried and jumped up and grabbed her in a hug. SHe laughed and squeezed me back.
"Wow, Emma. I don't think you've ever been so excited to see me. Normally, your telling me to go away," Lizzy chuckled. I swatted at her arm and continued to squeeze her.
"Umm, Emma. Who's this?" I broke apart from Lizzy to turn and face Harry.
"Guys, this is Lizzy, my friend from America. Lizzy, this is Ginny, Astoria, Ron, hermione, Fred, George, and Harry." I pointed them all out to her and she smiled at all of them before her eyes finally landed on Harry.
"So you're the fabled brother," she said. Harry nodded.
"That would be me. So you're the fabled friend," he responded.
"That would be me," Lizzy said. They stared at each other for a minute before Lizzy and I sat down.
"So what are you doing here?" I said.
"What, can I not come and visit my half sister at her school?" Lizzy asked.
"Half-sister?" Harry asked, confused.
"Technically," Lizzy said at the same time I said, "Long story."
"So how's school?" Lizzy asked.
I thought about the question for a minute. "Different," I said slowly and Lizzy gave me a knowing look that plainly said, we'll talk about this later.
Deciding to change the topic, I said, "How's camp?"
"Good question," Lizzy said. She gave me another knowing look so I put it in the back of my mind of things I want to ask her later. Instead of answering, Lizzy started to chat, being her usual bubbly self I had not realized how much I missed. She immediately became friends with everyone as she told them embarrassing stories from when I was little. Fred and George left the table first, telling us that they had some pranks to pull. Percy, who over heard them, immediately got up and raced after them. Harry, Hermione, and Ron left next, claiming once again that they had some homework to do, and once again, I didn't believe them. Ginny and Astoria came upstairs with me and Lizzy but they decided that they would rather go sit by the fire then give a tour of the drafty corridors, so Lizzy and I were left alone.
"So why are you really here?" I asked.
"Something's happened at camp," Lizzy admitted.
"God, what?" I asked, feeling a sense of dread set in.
"Ok. you have to promise not to freak out until you hear the whole story, ok?" I reluctantly nodded for her to continue. "So Kyle, Caroline, and Michael were sent out on a quest. Nothing major. There was just a small monster disturbance in brooklyn that Chiron wanted us to deal with. They haven't come back yet and they were sent out in October. And they haven't checked in with us. The only thing we got was Kyle's hat and a note saying that if we didn't send you out, alone, within the next month, the three of them were going to die."
"What," I said, my voice shaking slightly, whether with fear or anger, I couldn't decide. "When did you get this note."
"A little less than a month ago," Lizzy said and then she flinched slightly at my look of pure anger.
"Then why am I still here? Why are we not out there looking for them?"
"You don't think we haven't tried? Chiron is not risking you to maybe get them back. Emma, they're strong kids. I was just sent to warn you. Somebody out there is trying to get to you."
"Why?" I asked. "I'm literally just a daughter of a minor god. What's so special about that?"
"But that's the thing. You're not a daughter of a minor god. You were blessed by one, making you more powerful than any other daughter of Hecate in existence. You're also a daughter of two wizards. You are literally a spawn of magic. And somebody wants to hurt you for that."
"I'm going back to New York," I said. "Let me go pack and then we can go home."
"That's not happening," Lizzy said, and I sent her a venomous look. "Emma, listen. You're safer here. I was just sent to warn you. We have it under control at home."
"But I want to help!" I cried. "They're my friends too."
"I get that, but we need you in school now. Practice your magic and get it strong."
"But the month is almost up. Are we just going to let them die?" I asked.
"No, we're going to find them."
"Can't I go back to camp? It's almost definitely safer there."
"Not if they're a demigod," Lizzy said.
"What?" I said.
"We think that they might be a demigod. The monsters aren't smart enough to plan something like this. It can't be a human so…"
"Then can't they get into the school?"
"Not if they don't know you're here. Other than Chiron and I, nobody else knows you're here. We made sure of that. They just think that you are off with some family you found and that you'll be back over the summer."
"I'm not ok with this," I said. "I want to go find them."
"I know," Lizzy said.
Chapter done! I know it's one of my shorter chapters and I'm sorry but it just felt like a good place to end it. Next chapter will be a weasley/potter/astoria christmas. I hope you all liked it. See you next week!