The Amazing Thing About: Friendship. Chapter seventeen.

"So Dumbledore thinks you have an emotional block stopping you from harnessing your magic?" Hermione asked during lunch. After leaving his office Eliza had been left with more questions than answers. He'd gone on to tell her about his own struggles when he'd been young. Long before becoming the famous wizard he was today. It was relieving to hear that she wasn't the only one that had this problem and he'd instructed her to read the third chapter of the given book that described the struggles of a young muggle-born witch who'd never even known she was capable of magic until she was well into her thirties but lived on to be one of the first witches to teach magic in her part of the world. But how was that supposed to help her?

When she nodded Ron shrugged and bit into his food. "That should be easy. You just have to find out what the problem is and fix it, right?" He spoke after a swallow of his food. His words caused Hermione to cringe in discomfort. Kelly shot him through with a glare as she gave Rikki scraps from her plate. While her friends hadn't brought up what they'd overheard Eliza had a feeling they were just being polite by not asking. Ron's question likely brought it to the forefront of Kelly's mind from what Eliza could gauge from her reaction.

"If it was that easy don't you think she'd have already done it?" Harry said and she could have hugged him for being understanding. "Right." She agreed. Ron swallowed before frowning. "Whatever. As long as she takes it out on Malfoy she can stay emotionally clogged up." His tone was light and playful but it earned him a roll being beamed at his face from George. "Bloody hell! I was only joking!" He exclaimed. Fred had a roll in his hand as well. "We can give you something to clog you up."

While it was amusing Eliza didn't want to add anything to their plates. This wasn't their problem and she wasn't trying to make it so. "I'll figure it out." She said before getting up from the table. She already knew what the issue was but talking about it openly wasn't an option. Not now. "Time for class." She announced and the twins stayed behind saying they'd catch up while she left with Hannah and Kelly. They asked her about what she planned to do but Eliza didn't have much of an answer for them. Instead, she changed the subject to how Hannah had been hanging around with Cas a lot more asking her to introduce her to her brother.

"I don't know why you don't just do it yourself." Eliza said as they grabbed a few seats in the middle of the classroom. "Because I'm shy." Hannah said and Eliza laughed. "My ass." Between her and Kelly there was no shortage of confidence between them. It was one of their most admirable traits. They didn't much care for what others thought about them and they were happy enough to let people know.

"Language." Said Fred and George from behind them as they took their seats and Lee joined them. At this point, the six of them were more likely to sit together than apart as long as they made it to class in time. It felt like a big family unit almost and though the boys could be a distraction she wouldn't have it any other way. It was at times like this she really appreciated having them all around. She didn't feel the sting of loneliness as often anymore.

That loneliness was present constantly during detention. For the next several weeks, every night after dinner she reported to the detention hall for two hours. She spent her time there doing homework and reading the book Dumbledore had gifted to her. A lot of the stories had commonalities such as struggle and strife in the lives of wizards and witches who some learned to overcome their obstacles or others who let themselves be consumed and never achieve their dreams. She didn't want to be stuck in a rut for the rest of her life but aside from giving it time she didn't know what to do about her past and its effects on her present and possible future.

Those weeks were frustrating. While she was still able to make time to see and talk to her friends it wasn't the same. To have to leave them and only return once it was time for bed made her feel isolated. Plus she wasn't able to practice much aside from any study blocks she had. But in those she was alone. There was no one to encourage her or give her pointers. That was the real sting of it.

Dumbledore was nonplussed at her lack of progress. The only time he was able to get her to be able to so much as make a book wiggle on the shelf was when he got an emotional response from her. Something that he would apologize for but say was necessary. Sometimes he would simply ask her about the book and they would discuss which chapter she was on and who she related to. She'd gotten into the habit of bringing Rikki with her. Dumbledore allowed him to explore his office and over time she became more and more comfortable around the man.

"You have quite a study group." He commented one day as they were finishing up. It had been somewhat rough but she'd been able to make a candle flicker out for a moment. Dumbledore insisted that small steps were the key for her. "Do you enjoy helping the younger students?" He asked. Eliza nodded as she collected Rikki and lured him into her bag with a treat. "They make it easy." She said. At least the study group was something she still had time for. After the incident with Malfoy the group had gotten smaller as rumors made their way around about her being unstable. As the weeks passed those rumors lessened but the group had dwindled to five students.

Dumbledore was standing by a large window and gazing at the sky. "Have you ever considered being a teacher?" He asked and Eliza fumbled with the strap of her bag. "I'm sorry?" She thought she'd heard him wrong, but when he turned to face her, it sank in. A teacher? She'd never considered that as a future path. "I don't know about that. My parents-"

He held up a hand. "Our parents often play significant roles in who we become but I know very few wizards who have been happy living by their wishes." He said making Eliza stop and consider. For the longest time, she'd assumed her only option was to work for the ministry. Her father often brought it up and though her mother didn't say it out loud she could feel that she agreed with him. "I'm sure your mother and father only want what's best for you but I think you should start to think about what you want."

When she didn't answer he only gave her a warm smile. "Think it over."

She nodded and was ready to leave when he stopped her before she reached the door. "I think your friends are critical to unlocking your potential, Eliza. Maybe you should spend more time with them." He said which made her frown. How was she supposed to accomplish that? She was doing her best but there was only so much time in a day and she was already stretched pretty thin."I would like to but-"

He shook his head to stop her. "You've learned your lesson. You can consider your time in detention over."

Eliza stumbled over his words to thank him. She still had another week of detention before it was to be up anyway but for him to let her off a bit early was great news and did wonders for her mood. "I expect to see you at the quidditch match tomorrow between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff." He said and before she could respond followed it up with "I'll see you next week."

Dismissed, Eliza quickly made her way to the great hall to meet up with her friends. When she informed them of the good news Kelly and Hannah immediately started making plans for that night to celebrate but the twins protested. "Sorry, Ladies but Izzy has some important business to catch up on." Fred said. "Very important." George agreed. So she figured out a way to do both. She agreed to hang out with the girls after checking on what they needed. Turned out it was that they'd been selling quite a bit of her potion and wanted her to make more. They'd done a good deal themselves, but it took up their time which they needed to work on other trinkets and products. They complained that it was starting to feel like work.

They'd upgraded to three cauldrons and asked her to brew in larger quantities to have extra stores. The holidays were coming up and they said they were expecting a large uptick in sales from kids returning home over the break. While she got the potion started they caught her up on all the work they'd been doing while she was stuck in detention.

"We turned Filch's cat green last week." Fred said as she stirred. "I heard about that." She replied. "And we set off dung bombs in all of the bathrooms in the school. Big job, that one." George looked very proud. "Had to get help from Peeves to cause a distraction for long enough." Fred sounded equally pleased with their accomplishment. It felt good to be back in the routine of things.

"Are you coming to the match tomorrow?" George asked as she set the cauldrons to simmer and checked over her work. "Dumbledore hinted that it was a condition of letting me off detention. Said my friends were important to fix whatever is holding me back." She was satisfied with the slow simmer and began putting away the ingredients she no longer needed.

"Been meaning to talk to you about that." Fred's tone sounded almost hesitant which was highly unusual for him. "What's there to talk about?" She asked as she checked on the ingredient stores. They had enough for a week and a half and that should produce enough to handle any sales they might make. She'd try to crank it out quickly as she planned to go home for Christmas and wanted to take time before that to relax a little. They said they were trying to come up with some brand-new ideas for her and she could only imagine by the time she returned they'd have something if not a list.

George picked up the jar of nettles and tried to look occupied. "This thing with your magic..You already know what's causing it don't you?" He asked but it sounded more like a statement than a question. She took the nettles from him and put them away. "Yeah. So?"

"Does it have to do with what you said to Victor?"

Fred's question made her heart drop into her stomach and she stopped what she was doing for a second. She'd thought they'd forgotten about that or at the very least hadn't taken it seriously. "I don't want to talk about that." Her tone was flat and she stomped down on her anxiety and turned to place the ingredients under the floorboard.

"The thing is.." George trailed off and she focused on not letting her hands shake as she replaced the floorboard. "We looked at your records." The board slipped from her hands and her head whipped in their direction. "Excuse me?" Her voice cracked. The twins both had their arms crossed and were staring at the floor.

George quickly tried to back peddle. "We wanted to help. After what you said that day.."

"And then what happened with Malfoy. We thought we could get an idea of how to-" Fred was scrambling along with his brother as they tried to explain.

"Help?" She finished for him. They both nodded. "You snooped through my records. Does the phrase 'invasion of privacy' mean nothing to you?" Eliza couldn't tell if she was mortified, infuriated, or some awful combination of the two. "Have you met us?" Fred was trying to make light of the situation but George was attempting damage control. "We're sorry. We thought if we knew it would make it easier for you to talk about it." She felt vulnerable. Exposed. Betrayed.

"Did it ever occur to you that I didn't want anyone to know?!" Eliza hissed and the two nodded. "Afterward..Yeah."

She wanted to yell at them. She wanted to tell them they had no right to do what they had but what good would it do now? The deed was done.

"What did you see?" She asked.

Fred shifted uneasily. "Everything." He said and her stomach did a backflip. "Everything?" She asked. What exactly did that mean? She didn't even know what was included in those records. She assumed only what she'd been open about and what had been publicly witnessed. "It was vague but we got the gist of it." George was avoiding her gaze. The two of them looked guilty, something she'd never seen from them. She doubted they often felt remorse for the things they did but this? Even Fred had stopped trying to joke and was looking everywhere but at her.

"Did you tell anyone?" She asked. Their answer would determine whether she would be able to speak to them again. It was one thing for them to go behind her back the way they did but if they'd shared what they found she didn't know what she'd do. In her current mental state she was heavily considering dropping out of school.

"No!" They both exclaimed. The answer made her let out a long breath of relief that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Rikki padded up to her and she picked him up as she got to her feet. Having him against her chest while she petted him calmed her a bit but she was having a hard time processing the news. It wasn't like they knew the details but what they did know made her feel like she wanted to disappear. "I have to meet up with Hannah and Kelly." She muttered as an excuse to get away.

"Izzy, wait." Fred tried but she was already headed for the door. "Please shut up. I can't stand the sight of either of you right now. So just...Leave me alone for a while."