Like a whirlwind, the memories of the night a few months ago flooded back to Selena.
And she remembered everything.
It wasn't a dream at all.
The Dark Lord will be so pleased with me when Potter is dead.
Selena had to clap her hands on her lips to cover her mouth, else she would have screamed. She stumbled back in shock, the memories hitting her like a stunning spell. However, before she could stop herself, her foot bumped the last crate, the Skrewt that had been inside launching itself out in anger. The pale skittered across the grass, stinger poised over its back.
Maryana shrieked and ran, ducking, as the skrewt chased after her. Renee burst out laughing as the Slytherin jumped onto a pumpkin in Hagrid's garden patch.
Hagrid carefully handled the Skrewt, putting it back in the crate, and just narrowly avoiding getting punched in the eye with a stinger.
Maryana stepped off the pumpkin, and stormed over to Selena. She pointed a slender, olive finger. "You! You did that on purpose, you idiot!"
"Maryanne, I-I," Selena stuttered, looking into the girl's blazing green eyes.
Rolf laid a steady hand on Selena's shoulder, staring at Maryana. "Don't get your wand in knot, Mary."
"Mary?" Renee echoed confusedly from her spot, still sitting on the crate.
Rolf shrugged.
Professor Hagrid looked at Selena. "Is everything alright, Miss Malast?"
"Uh-" Selena looked around at everyone's faces, all staring at her now - Maryana seemed less concerned than the others, and more like she just wanted to feed Selena to the Skrewts - and swallowed. "I bit my tongue. Sorry, it won't happen again. I'll be careful."
Professor Hagrid only smiled. "No worries. Now, why don't we get the Skrewts-"
"Are you joking?" Maryana said with an indignant laugh. "She could have killed me!"
Their tall teacher looked down at Maryana, glanced at Selena - who could feel her face flaming - and sighed. "I think detention is enough trouble to you all for now, Miss Callahan. Now, back to the Skrewts."
Maryanne threw her hands into the air and stomped towards an empty crate, muttering to herself.
Selena sighed, brushing her hair behind her ear. Great...
2 Hour Later
Selena shut her notebook and stuffed it into her schoolbag. She could barely remember half of the stars she had to chart for Astronomy class, too distracted to really care about homework at the moment. Silently, Selena cleaned her ink supplies and tucked the quil and ink-pot into the bag pocket. Then, getting up from the stone bench in the study hall, she walked beside Elizabeth, looking at her shoes.
The Dark Lord will be so pleased with me when Potter is dead.
The line reverberated in Selena's brain without end, filling every neuron and synapse. At first, she wasn't even sure she was remembering it correctly. Had it just been a dream? She'd gone to the Library that night, she hadn't gone to Professor Moody's classroom to spy. And then she'd run into Professor Dumbledore that morning, walking back to her dorm after waking up, having fallen asleep reading.
But then the memories of the Library seemed like a dream themselves, quickly becoming like wisps of memories she was trying to recall. And then the events of the night came back instead, clearing up in a fog. Professor Moody talking to himself about the Triwizard Tournament, Selena letting go of the glass, waking up in the stroge closet.
Obliviate.
Her blood boiled when she recalled that. The professor might've taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, but he must've been poor at Memory Charms. The false memories that had magically put in her brain - going to the Library - were just that: a spell. Selena felt a little sick when she thought about it. How easily she'd been made to forget about it, how those false memories had lived in her brain as if it was reality. For two months she'd forgotten.
And now that she remembered, she wasn't entirely sure what to do. Professor Moody was proving to be more and more dangerous. That, or possibly delusional. Then again, she thought, perhaps that will just make Moody more of a danger to himself or to Harry Potter.
The Dark Lord will be so pleased with me when Potter is dead.
Elizabeth looked over at her as Hazel joined them, books tucked under the Hufflepuff's arms. "Why so glum?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you..." Selena grumbled, glancing away from her friends. She felt like she could cry, feeling trapped, but no tears came. Instead she just kept talking. She was tired of keeping secrets. "I only know that Professor Moody probably has Dumbledore's office under check."
Hazel stopped adjusting her notebooks, catching Selena's eyes. Selena didn't look away, feeling pinned to the spot. "Sel... We have been through too much for you to say that - we would believe you. Now, spill."
After telling them the story in the corridor on the way to their dorms, Hazel gasped. "That's impossible... In less than a week, a professor - an Auror - is going to try to kill Harry?"
Selena nodded. "Yes! And I can't figure out what to do. No teacher would believe me, and Dumbledore's... well, like I said. I think Moody is lurking around just waiting for anyone to try to tell Dumbledore about it. And I have no idea what to do about the Terrible Twins, or how they even play into this. I wonder if the even know what's going on... They're just students..." Selena groaned, burying her face in her hands. "Harry Potter wouldn't even believe me... I feel like I'm crazy or - or like there's nothing I can do." She sighed, dragging her fingers down her face. Selfishly, a piece of her wished she hadn't remembered.
Elizabeth tapped her chin. "Not necassarily..."
Selena cocked her head. "What's going on inside your head, Liz?"
Elizabeth smiled, hazel eyes bright. "Remember when you and Ree set off those bombs in the hall? What if we did the same? Tonight?"
Tess gasped, stopping in the middle of the moving stairs. "No! I will not get into trouble!"
"Live a little," Elizabeth said casually with a shrug. "I expect you never thought I would either? Alisson or Renee would instead?"
Once they reached Gryffindor Landing, Hazel said goodbye. "See you tomorrow in Potions... if Moody doesn't kill us all first..." She shook her head in shock, like she accepted what Selena had said but still couldn't fathom how it was possible that they were under the tutelage of a possible murderer. Selena watched her friend leave, heading to the Hufflepuff Common Room somwhere else in Hogwarts, vanishing down another moving staircase. Her stomach twisted with worry. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to burden Hazel with what she'd said.
Elizabeth continued her with her argument, drawing Selena's attention back. "Seriously, we should! Are you up for it? I'll be with you, we can get to Dumbledore's office."
Selena bit her lip, twisting the black bell sleeve of her robe. "No, we'd get expelled if we did that twice and got caught. I'm going to be like Fred or George, always in trouble... I already have detention with Professor Hagrid." Besides, what if the plan didn't work and Dumbledore didn't believe them? He'd already let her off the hook once for it, Selena didn't think trying again was such a smart idea.
As the approached the Fat Lady, Elizabeth shot her a look behind her glasses. "The one time I want to get into some trouble, no one else wants to?"
"Not up to trouble, I hope?"
They both looked up at the Fat Lady, the woman peering down at the girls with an arched brow.
Selena and Elizabeth shared a look, Selena forcing a smile as she looked back at the pink-clad painted woman. "Of course not...
Selena undid her tie, feeling constricted. All the exhaustion from chasing around Skrewts, and everything else, was catching up to her. "Anyways... I'm not in the mood. In fact, I'm not going to dinner."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Sissy."
8 Hours Later
June 19th, 1995. Saturday.
4:12
"Sel..."
Zzzzz...
"Selena..."
Zzzzz...
"Selena Malast!"
Selena wiped her eyes, hearing the angry whisper from beside her bed. Groaning, she rolled over. "What?"
Elizabeth's eyes glowed in the moonlight, silver rays dripping into the room from the window. Her friend's pale hair looked ghostly. "I decided to go to Moody's office by myself, and see if I found anything. Instead, I saw him, in the hall!"
Selena cocked an eyebrow, her voice sounding calmer than she felt inside. "Two things. One, why did you go? What are you, mental? And two, what's the big deal? He's supposed to patrol the halls. It's not like he's killing anyone yet."
Elizabeth wrung her hands. "That's the thing. He was talking about that. He said that-"
"No, I want the pancakes..." Selena and Elizabeth turned to hear Renee talking in her sleep.
Elizabeth grabbed Selena's wrist, her fingers cold. "Get on a robe. Let's go the Common Room."
10 Minutes Later
"Incendio!"
Flames flared to life in hues of orange and yellow, a wave of heat hitting Selena's face. The fireplace began to glow, the smell of burning wood calming Selena. She tucked her wand into her robe pocket, walking across the plush carpets to sit next to Elizabeth on one of the squashy couches.
"So, as you were saying?" Selena said, watching the fire lick the air, flames dancing.
Elizabeth swallowed. Her confidence from last prior evening had dissapeared. "He was saying something odd. At first, I couldn't hear, just because he was whispering so low. Then, I decided to get closer, and I saw who he was talking to."
Selena didn't respond for a moment, frowning. If anything had happened to Elizabeth, she would've felt partially responsible, she was the one who told her about what Moody was planning. "Who then?"
Elizabeth gulped in air. "He was talking to Erebus and Iceyeyes!"
Selena sat there for a moment, feeling unsurprised. If Moody was schemeing with anyone, it would be those two. "Well... I mean... yeah?"
Elizabeth sighed, her features taking on the same exapserated look they got whenever she tried to tutor Selena about Potions. "Don't you get it? Sel, Professor Moody was saying 'you're just the fitting puzzle peice to my plan! You'll both see, you'll see, when the Dark Lord returns.'"
"What?" Selena said quietly. They were both silent for a moment, the fire crackling. The words settled between the two girls, Selena feeling numb. Suddenly she understood how Hazel felt. "But that's... that doesn't make any sense... Why would..." she shook her head, unable to complete a single thought, let alone a sentence. "Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived... killing him... oh, Liz, what do we do?"
Elizabeth shrugged, looking defeated. "How should I know? I just had to tell you."
Selena nodded. "I was wrong. We may not be able to get to Dumbledore, but we should try to warn Harry! Even if he doesn't believe us."
Elizabeth licked her lips, her eyes darting to the dark corners of the Common Room. "When? Next Thursday is the competion! The Third Task is in six days!"
Selena nodded again. "So be it. We'll tell Harry tomorrow morning. First thing."
Hi guys!
Sorry that I haven't been writing! Our computer got a virus and for two months, we didn't have somputer access. But, I do now on my bro's laptop!
Hope you haven't forgotten my story yet!
I WILL NOT EVER GIVE UP ON THIS STORY! OKAY? OKAY.
So, what do you think will happen? Will Selena manage to tell Harry? Will he ignore her? What do you think of Elizabeth's little OUTING?
Well, please reveiw! if i get ten, i'll update before Friday. And ten different people! Haha, I know what your thinking!
Now because I put 24 chapter into each year, this is the 22nd chapter of this year. I'll only have two more after this one. The next is the third task, and the one after it is the aftermath.
I can't wait to hear your thoughts!
~Meghan
