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"Envy is a symptom of lack of appreciation for our own uniqueness and self worth. Each of us has something to give that no one else has."
-Elizabeth O'Connor
Chapter 20: Being Different
Rain slammed down on Hogwarts the next day, which spoiled the joyful mood of many whom still had thoughts of the ball on their mind. Even though some spirits were dampened, students kept going up to people asking if they would go to the ball with them and even though the seven Gryffindors were not planning to attend, they received their share of invitations. Lily was asked twice, James thrice, Remus once, Peter once, and even Sirius and Kyra were asked by others at least once. It seemed people didn't want to believe that the two of them were dating.
This ritual of asking to go to social events with others, made Cora feel even worse. She looked at her left wrist; five scars lay on it. One was still fresh from the night before. Not only had Dumbledore told her something that would change her life, but also the normal stresses of being a teenage girl had caused her to break. She felt lost, alone in a world that was holding the stirring wheel of her life. She knew her friends were still there for her, but what would they say if they found out. She didn't want to know. So, getting up out of bed she traveled down to the Great Hall, although she wasn't planning on eating anything.
She found Kyra and Lily at the table; Lily's face was an unhappy one.
"What happened?" Cora asked, as she sat down at the table.
At the question Lily pushed her plate away and put her head down.
"Don't mind her, she's just in denial," Kyra said, with a smile.
"What do you mean?" Cora asked.
"Our little Lily has excepted a date from Mr. Potter," Kyra said, the smile on her face getting wider.
"No," Cora said, in disbelief; it was the only emotion she could feel at the moment.
"It's not a date, just sometime to hang out," Lily said.
"Hang out alone, which qualifies as a date to me and you, right Cora?" Kyra said, turning to Cora.
"I'll say," Cora said.
"Yeah, well, whatever this private time is, I wish I didn't have to go," Lily said, her head still on the table.
"You know you want this, so don't even try to get out of it," Kyra said.
"How do you know I want this?" Lily asked, her head coming off the table.
"Don't even start with me Lily. You are only causing more drama in your life, so stop being such a drama queen," Kyra said.
"I am not a drama queen!" Lily said.
"Then stop acting like one!" Kyra said.
While the two kept arguing, Cora began to think. Was she, Cora, a drama queen? Was she over reacting to the little things happening in her life? She knew she wasn't a vocal drama queen, she kept to herself. But did she over react?
"Cora!" Kyra yelled.
"What?" she said, coming out of her thoughts. It seemed that the two had stopped arguing.
"We asked you a question, what happened with Dumbledore last night?" Kyra asked.
"Yeah, why did he call you in?" Lily joined in; she seemed to be happy the focus wasn't on her at the moment.
Cora remembered last night, but she didn't want to talk about it.
"Come in Miss Tetherwood," Dumbledore said, gesturing to the chair opposite him.
Cora sat down. Her palms were sweating, she was extremely nervous. What if something happened to her brother, he was the only person she had left besides her friends. Or, what if he knew she was hurting herself. She expected a friend to give her the "you shouldn't hurt yourself" speech, not a teacher.
"I will make this brief, since I know you have class tomorrow morning," Dumbledore said, his eyes studying Cora as if she were a book. "I received this yesterday morning," he said, holding up a black letter. The black letter was similar to those given to people to tell of a death by the dark side.
Cora panicked at the sight. The only family she had left was her brother and if she lost him, it would mean, after her two friends, that she had no one else in the world. Being alone meant that when her friends were off in their own homes, married, she would have to live alone. She feared living alone.
"No need to panic my dear," Dumbledore said, his blue eyes twinkling. "This letter does not bring bad tidings, but news that could change the wizarding world as we know it."
"Then why am I here? If this concerns the whole wizarding world, why aren't the professors or the head students here?" Cora asked.
"This secret surrounds you, and only you. Of course you may tell who you wish, but be careful whom you tell. If this information got into the wrong hands, it could lead to disaster," Dumbledore said, his voice stern with importance.
Cora just looked at him, not knowing what to think or say.
"You remember Professor Median, the teacher who taught complex dueling?"
Cora nodded her head, she was trying to figure out what all this meant.
"She should have said in class that only a few people could perfect the art of complex dueling. This letter here, tells me that she found that one student in our seventh year Defense Against the Dark Arts class has this ability. I thought it would be best to tell you in person that you are that one student," Dumbledore said, as he smiled at the girl.
Cora's eyes widened at the news. There had to be some mistake, there were other students, like Sirius, who were able to do all of the spells. However she was only able to do three. Sure that was more then a lot of kids, but…it didn't make any sense.
"There must be some mistake, other students were able to do much more then me. She must have put the wrong name down," Cora said, acting very nervous.
"I assure you, there was no mistake," Dumbldore said, handing the letter to her.
Cora took the letter from his hand, but did not open it. This was a prank, some stupid prank that James and Sirius had got Dumbldore in on. This letter probably would tell her it was a big joke. Well, she was going to get the last laugh. She decided to question Dumbledore until he popped.
"Let's say this letter does concern me, what does it matter if I can do complex dueling. We don't learn that kind of magic here."
"You have to attend a special school for two years, after Hogwarts of course. All the details are in that letter," he said, motioning toward the letter.
He was quicker than she thought.
"Where is this school?" Cora asked.
"In France, again that piece of information is found in the letter. The letter also says you have to contact them to verify that you are attending next September."
"Does anyone else from this school attend?"
Dumbledore's eyes watched her for a few moments and then he spoke again. This time it was in a more amused tone, "I can assure you that this is not a prank."
Cora's mouth dropped. How did he know what she was thinking? She knew he was a powerful wizard, but she didn't know he could read minds. Cora stiffened, if he could read minds, did that mean he knew about the scars. No, he couldn't know about that…could he? Was it possible? Cora gave herself a mental note to check the library on that the next time she got the chance. If he could read minds, it meant she would have to stay as far away from him as possible until she stopped what she was doing.
"I know this news is sudden, but the ability can only be found after years of normal wizard training. If you have any questions you can ask me or write to the school yourself, talk to others who have graduated from there or currently attend. Though if you read that letter, many of you questions will be answered, I believe."
Cora got up from her seat, but before she reached the door, Dumbledore called her back, "Tell Professor Bideon to come in, he has been waiting by the door for quite a while."
Cora nodded and left the room. She found Bideon outside of the Headmaster's room.
"He says you can go in now," Cora said, not looking him in the eyes.
"Thank you for the message," Bideon said, with a smile heading into the Headmaster's office. This freaked her out a bit, but it was soon forgotten when she remembered what the conversation had been about between her and Dumbledore. She didn't know what to believe. Was this some elaborate hoax? Or was this real? She didn't open the letter when she got to her dorm, she was afraid it might make true her worst fears, that this was the truth.
"It was nothing, I left my book in a room," Cora said, coming out of her thoughts; she also wasn't sure if she should tell them about it.
"He called you up to his office to return a book, that's a bit odd," Kyra said, she obviously didn't believe Cora's story.
Lily just shrugged her shoulders, unsure of what to think.
"But that reminds me, I forgot a book in my room. I better go get it or Flitwick will be furious. I'll talk to you guys later!" she yelled, leaving Lily and Kyra bewildered.
"Think she made it obvious enough that she is hiding something," Kyra said, when Cora was not longer in sight. "She has all her books, anyone with half a brain could see that."
"But what would she have to hide from us?" Lily asked.
"I don't know," Kyra said.
Lily then began to search her mind for instances when Cora was acting weird. She only remembered times when she was smiling at them. She didn't appear to be hiding anything, but with Dumbledore calling her in his office, something was definitely going on.
"She hasn't been acting odd around you in the dorm, has she, when I'm not there?" Lily asked, trying to put some sense into the story.
"Not really, except that she really doesn't want to talk a lot at night, but you know about that all ready. Other then that, everything is the same," Kyra said, who was also trying to figure out what was wrong with Cora.
"But that could have something to do with you dating Sirius; nothing abnormal," Lily said, putting her hand to her chin.
The girls sat in silence for a bit, both searching their minds for moments when Cora was acting sad or abnormally. Neither could think of anything.
"We will just have to watch her carefully from now. We are also going to have to pay special attention to her at night, because she probably has a reason for not talking to us then."
"You don't think it is anything serious, do you Lily?" Kyra asked, her voice being deadly calm.
"Probably not. Cora isn't one to do anything rash. I'm sure it's something a few nights of talking will fix," Lily said, truthfully.
"You're right. Cora always thought things through before doing something or reacting in a certain way," Kyra said, in a way that made it sound like she was trying to convince herself it was the truth.
Both girls knew Cora was the thinker of the group, but still they felt that something bad was happening to their friend. Good news was never kept a secret. Cora was hiding something, but neither of the two knew how bad it really was, or how bad it was going to get.
That night a secret meeting was held, in a secret location. The death eaters were restless, especially the new ones. They wanted to feel important, but only those who had been the Dark Lord's followers for a long period of time were given the most important assignments. But tonight all this was going to change. He could not use his most trusted death eaters, so he was forced to use those newly admitted into the group.
"Where is he?" a male voice said.
"Keep quiet, he will know we are talking about him," another voice said.
"Of course I would," the Dark Lord said, "You surprise me Snape, you are usually the quiet one of the group."
"I am sorry my Lord," Snape said, bowing to the Dark Lord.
"That comment you muttered has caused me to rethink how loyal you are to me," Voldemort said, raising his wand toward Snape, "Crucio
Snape immediately began twitching madly and screaming in a deathly manner. The Dark Lord released him of the curse after a while, "Anyone else have a comment?" he yelled.
Everyone fell silent.
"Good. Now I don't think a bunch of low lives like yourself should handle an assignment like this, but you are the only ones who can. I have been informed by one of my most trusted followers that a rare gift has been discovered at Hogwarts. You now see why I need to use you instead of the others," Voldemort said, a smile forming on his face.
The group grew excited; this was their first real assignment as death eaters.
"This is your chance to prove your worth in my numbers, don't disappoint me." He said, with venom in his voice that could have matched a snake. "A girl has been discovered at Hogwarts, a Gryffindor," he said the word Gryffindor as if it were scum. "She excels in a certain art form thought to be extinct. I do not want you to harm her, badly, just enough to make her join our side."
The murmurs of 'yes Master,' and other things of that nature filled the air.
"Tetherwood, you know her well." The Dark Lord said, to one of them in particular, "I want you to watch her, find out what her weaknesses are; most importantly, who matters the most to her. If she denies our proposal, we will have to attack the most destructive part of the body; the people in her heart. Stupid children, still holding on to love, best to harden your heart early, while you still can," he said, a horrid laugh leaving his lips.
The death eaters left after the Dark Lord had dismissed them. They all were excited to do the assignment, except one.
This death eater was different then the others. He wanted one thing, and one thing only; a girl. This girl was someone he had dreamed about since he saw her on the train in his first year. That was why he had joined this side. The Dark Lord promised him her, if he joined his army. Being the weakling he was, he agreed. But now he was unsure. He didn't want to hurt one of her friends. He started wondering, did he do the right thing?
A/N: Sorry I didn't update earlier but things have been really crazy. I am going into surgery tomorrow and because of that I wanted to go out with my friends before it happened. It isn't major surgery, but I will have a swollen and/or black eye for a while. Anyway this chapter is really just a filler to get more in touch with the other characters. I think that there is also too much dialogue in this chapter, but I did the best I could. Next chapter is going to be the ball one, or rather the ditching ball one. Lots of Lily and James in that chapter smiles evilly! PLEASE REVIEW!
Kudos for all those who reviewed! You guys ROCK!
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