First post of the new year!
Elizabeth and Ginny were talking about Ginny's vacation to Egypt over the summer when the train lurched to a stop.
"We can't be there yet. It's only been a couple of hours." Ginny remarked. Elizabeth nodded, peering out the window. There were grassy fields surrounding them, a clear indicator that they were not yet at Hogwarts.
All of a sudden, the temperature seemed to drop an outstanding amount, so much so both girls started shivering. The door squeaked open, and Eizabeth saw a shadowy creature enter the compartment. Before she could react or say anything, her ears were full of a screaming voice yelling, "ELIZABETH! NO!" as her world went black.
"Elizabeth. . . Elizabeth. . . wake up, it's alright now." A soft voice said, sounding very far away. Elizabeth slowly opened her eyes, her vision swimming a bit. When everything cleared, she saw Remus hovering over her, looking very concerned.
"Be careful, don't rise too fast." Remus advised when she slowly started to sit up. She rested her head against the wall of the compartment. "My father… he was calling…" Elizabeth muttered, her head feeling very fuzzy, and her body very cold. She heard something being unwrapped, and Remus soon placed a bar of chocolate in her hand. "That's the effects of the Dementors. They make you relive your worst memories. Here, eat the chocolate, I promise it helps." Remus told her. Elizabeth took a bite, her stomach feeling rather uneasy.
"Where's Ginny?" She asked, remembering her new friend had terrible memories of her own, and was sure she must've had a bad reaction to the dementors as well.
"She was crying when I came in here, she was very shaken. I gave her some chocolate, and told her you were alright. Then, an older boy that looked like her, brother, I assume, came in to check on her. He took her out, saying he;d write to Mum about everything." Remus explained as Elizabeth nibbled.
"That sounds like her brother Percy. She told me he's very responsible, and a bit stuffy." Elizabeth said between bites. "We'll be at Hogwarts very soon. Madam Pomfrey will want to give you a check up as soon as we arrive." Elizabeth nodded. She wasn't thrilled with the idea of going to the Hospital Wing on the first night of the school year, but felt so strange she didn't argue.
Remus stuck by Elizabeth when they got off the train. She saw many people stare and gawk at her, whispers swimming through the crowd. She put her head down, staring at the ground as they walked. She didn't like all the attention, and hoped the newness of her being at Hogwarts would wear off soon.
Remus collected another person on their way to the Hospital Wing, a boy named Harry Potter. Elizabeth knew all about him from her lessons on the current magical world, but made it a point not to act starstruck around him, even though she was secretly impressed with his reputation as the Boy-Who-Lived. She quickly found she didn't like the attention, and she figured she should play it safe and assume Harry didn't like it either. He too didn't talk or do anything to draw attention to himself, so the three walked in silence.
"She should be fine, Minerva. Luckily Remus got chocolate in her immediately after she woke up, so there shouldn't be any side effects. Why Fudge ordered dementors to be stationed around the school I'll never know…" Poppy told Minerva and Elizabeth. She sat at the end of a hospital bed as Madam Pomfrey performed the check up. She was relieved to be cleared of any health concerns, and after Harry was cleared, Poppy sent them to the Feast.
The two walked through the corridors, once again in silence. The only time they talked was when Elizabeth warned him of a trick wall, another thing Rowena Ravenclaw had taught her about the castle.
Ginny's face brightened when she saw Elizabeth. She had saved her a spot next to her at the Gryffindor table, which made Elizabeth happy that her new friend had gone to that length for her, even if they'd only become friends hours earlier.
"I'm so happy you're alright! I was so scared when I saw you on the ground. Of course, the dementors didn't make that easier... " Ginny trailed off, caught up thinking of what the dementors had forced her to think off. "They're gone now. We don't need to think of that stuff anymore." Elizabeth told her. Ginny nodded, and they continued to eat.
After that, Elizabeth proceeded up to the Gryffindor common room. She met her roommates up in her dorm, Allie Freeman, Olivia Escabell, and Zarah Otchet. They were all nice and friendly, but Elizabeth could tell they were all very close, good friends, leaving Ginny as the outsider, though Ginny told her later as they were getting ready for bed in the bathroom they had tried to include her in their friend group at the beginning of the year, ut the diary seemed determined to keep her alone. She hadn't said anything after that, and Elizabeth knew not to say anything.
Later that night, sleep still hadn't found Elizabeth or Ginny, who had beds next to each other. Elizabeth was staring at the ceiling of her four poster bed, when she saw her bed's curtains ruffle out of the corner of her eye. She rolled over, and opened them. "Ginny?" she whispered. Ginny was standing on the other side, looking nervous. "Come on, I'll cast a silencing spell." she told the redhead. Ginny nodded and got onto her bed as Elizabeth did the spell, using her hands instead of her wand, not paying attention to her old habit until she was done.
"That was how I used to do magic back then. I can use a wand, but I guess the habit hasn't fully died." she said. She knew no one else did spells that rhymed, or specific hand motions, and knew this made her stick out like a sore thumb.
"I think it's cool. You shouldn't stop doing that just because no one else does it, that just makes it more unique." Ginny said. These words were very comforting to Elizabeth. She hadn't wanted to abandon using hand magic, it was one of the strongest connections to her old life, and one she was afraid she'd have to leave behind. Ginny's reaction, and what she had told her, had made her so grateful to have her as a friend. Then, she remembered that Ginny had things of her own to talk about, and she turned her attention to that.
"Are you alright, Ginny?" she asked. Ginny pulled her knees to her chest and shook her head. "I can't stop thinking of what that dementor made me relive. I try to forget, but every time I close my eyes, I see him all over again. Standing over me in the chamber… taunting me, saying he will rise again all thanks to me, and that death will come for me soon enough… " she started to cry, tears running down her cheeks. Elizabeth hugged her, letting her cry as Minerva had done for her months before.
"I shouldn't have told you any of this. We only just met, and I've dragged you into my mess." Ginny said, hiccuping from her crying. "No, no, I don't mind. In a way, I understand. We both have terrible memories of events that only just happened to us, and now people think we're supposed to be fine. Well, not me, not really, but you get the idea." Elizabeth encouraged. "And, honestly, I'm happy you're the one I met on the train. Anyone else would've asked me a lot of questions, or taken advantage of me, but we just seemed to click." Elizabeth pointed out. Ginny seemed to look a little better, and had stopped hiccuping. "I can't really sleep tonight either, my memories keep coming back, too." Elizabeth sympathized. Ginny now looked more and more relaxed, and her breathing had become steady.
When the sun rose the next morning, it rose over the second year girls dorm in the Gryffindor dorm, and in one of the beds in the dorm, Ginny Weasley and Elizabeth Gryffindor were asleep in Elizabeth's bed on opposite sides, sleep finally overcoming them late into the night after hours of conversation about their pasts, the good and bad. The two had bonded that night over their shared history with the chamber, and promised each other that they would never betray the other.