A 'Mirrors' Story
Story 4
Part 4
Kate's Narrative
"What the heck is that thing?" I yelled suddenly. I was sitting in the Common Room with my friends. Haley and Betsy had gotten into a particularly boring conversation about Transfiguration, and Mary Graham and Claire were whispering quietly in the corner. I had been gazing out the window and had seen something pink fly by. I suppose I could've been hallucinating, but the pink thing looked so real........
"What's what, Kate?" Claire asked.
"Didn't you see that?" I cried.
"See what, Kate?" Mary Graham asked.
"That thing!" I insisted.
"What thing?" Betsy inquired.
"That pink thing!"
"What pink thing?" Claire asked.
"The thing that just went flying by the window!"
"Are you okay? Do you have a fever or something?" Haley asked, pressing the back of her palm against my forehead.
"You feel warm," Haley said, "Go see Madam Delanie."
"I'm not sick, really, guys!"
"Ya'll, why don't I take her by there on the way to breakfast? I can tell Betsy's starving," Mary Graham said.
"I'm not sick!" I told Mary Graham once again as she dragged me off to the hospital wing.
"I know, but they won't rest until they're positive. It doesn't hurt to check, does it? And you do look a little clammy," she added.
"Fine." So the two of us walked into the hospital wing, side by side, and let Madam Delanie examine me. She also insisted on checking on Mary Graham, after last night's events.
It turned out I had a fever, and Mary Graham admitted that she had had a few dizzy spells since last night, when she had passed out. We both insisted we felt fine, though, so we were sent on our way. We couldn't miss the first day of classes, could we?
There were no empty seats anywhere near our friends, so we slid into two empty seats across from a boy who looked only slightly older than us. A second year, maybe.
"Hi," the boy said shyly.
"Hi," we replied.
"My name's Griffin Armano. What are yours?"
"Mary Graham Lupin."
"Kate Carey."
"Pleased to meet you."
"Pleased to meet you, too, Griffin."
"Call me Grif. Everyone does."
"Oh." We didn't talk to Grif anymore, because a couple other boys came over and started teasing him. I wanted to do something, but Mary Graham pulled on my arm and dragged me over to the others. Several people had finished up, so we took their seats.
"Says here our first class is Potions. I wonder how to get there?" Jake said, peering down at a piece of paper in his hand. He handed Mary Graham and I our schedules. He was right, our first class was Potions. I was looking to see what we had in the afternoon, but Professor McGonagall walked over.
"Are you alright?" she asked Mary Graham.
"Yes, I'm fine, Professor," Mary Graham answered.
"That's good. Since you missed dinner, I suppose I should fill you in on the announcements made last night during the feast. First of all, the forest on the edge of the grounds is forbidden, it has been since God knows when........... The Welcome Back Dance is this Saturday at 7:00 p.m., and all years are permitted. I believe that is all that pertains to you.......... Well, have a nice day." And she walked away.
"We should've asked her how to get to Potions," Jake murmured.
"I suppose we could ask Grif," Mary Graham said, glancing to him in the corner.
"Who?" Jake asked.
"Grif Armano. We met him earlier."
"Ah," Jake said.
"Hey, Grif!" I called.
"Yeah?" he said.
"How do you get to Potions?"
"I guess I could show ya'll, it's on my way....... Who are your friends?"
"This is Jake....... Haley...... Betsy....... and Claire."
"Ah. Nice to meet ya'll."
So Grif led us to the Potion's classroom. Jake and Mary Graham fell behind, while Haley stayed up near Grif, which left me, Betsy, and Claire in the middle.
"I wonder what the professor'll be like," Betsy said as Grif pointed to a door and whisked away.
The six of us clambered down a dark stairway. There were a few dimly lit candles, but otherwise no light. The dungeon itself was rather brightly lit, but it smelled of rotten eggs and burnt toast.
We split up; Mary Graham, Claire, Haley, Betsy and I went to one table while Jake joined Dave and three other boys at another.
"Will you go to the dance with me?" Jake had asked as we walked to Potions. He and I had fallen slightly behind the others. We were just out of earshot, and I could tell Jake had planned it that way.
I looked at him. He was grinning nervously, and his face had gone a dark red. He looked so funny I almost wanted to laugh, but I didn't dare. What I really wanted to do was say yes. Because I did want to go to the dance with Jake, really I did.
"I mean, you don't have to or anything, I was just wondering if you wanted to," Jake said after a moment.
"No, I do want to go with you, Jake," I said quickly. I suppose I was just as nervous and excited as Jake.
"That's great," Jake said, his nervous half-smile turning into a broad grin. I smiled back, and we jogged to catch up to Kate, Betsy and Claire, who were trailing Grif and Haley by about the same amount Jake and I had been trailing them.
The six of us clambered down a dark stairway. There were a few dimly lit candles, but otherwise no light. The dungeon itself was rather brightly lit, but it smelled of rotten eggs and burnt toast.
There were two tables that sat five people each; Jake went to sit with Dave and the other three Gryffindor boys while Kate, Betsy, Claire, Haley and I sat at the other table.
The professor was sitting at a desk in the front. He was no more than thirty, I think. When we were totally silent he cleared his throat and took role.
"Black, Claire."
"Present."
"Carey, Kate."
"Here."
"Grisham, Andrew."
"President." The boy next to him sniggered.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize we had royalty in our midsts. Welcome to Potions, Mr. President," the Professor said. He spoke in a kind way, not at all mean or sarcastic. It was the kind of thing a kid would say. Naturally, all of us burst out laughing.
"Lupin, Mary Graham."
"Here."
"Martin, Sam." That was the boy who had laughed when Andrew had said, "President."
"Absent."
"Not funny, dude," Andy said.
"Nordine, Haley."
"Present."
"Potter, Jake."
"Hi," Jake said weakly.
"Thompson, Mac."
"Status: Available."
"Weasley, Dave."
"Right here, sir."
"Wimberly, Elizabeth."
"Please, call me Betsy, sir. And yeah, I'm here."
"Well, hello, Betsy. I am Professor Barnes and I'll be your Potions instructor for the year. Today we will be making a simple Swelling Solution. You should have time left over at the end of class to socialize." And we did. After we had made the Swelling Solution, we were allowed to chat for the last twenty minutes of class.
"Grif asked me to the dance earlier," Haley said. Kate had gone over to talk to the boys, and Claire was talking to Andy.
"Jake asked me," I said.
"No fair. Why hasn't anyone asked me?" Betsy asked.
"Someone will."
Just then, Claire walked back over, and Sam came with her, asking to speak to Betsy.
"Andy asked me to the dance."
"It's so weird. I mean, we just met these people, and already it's like we've known them forever. It's like we're all best friends all of a sudden."
"Yeah. I think a dance this early in the year is a little much for first years."
"No kidding."
Betsy returned quietly to us after having spoken to Sam, Kate at her heels.
"That settles it, then. We all have dates for the dance," Kate said.
"Who're you going with, Mac or Dave?"
"Dave? Never! Mac, of course."
"Poor Dave, he doesn't get a date because of Grif."
"I wouldn't have said yes to him anyway!" Haley objected.
"If you were desperate you would have, Haley, and you know it," Claire said.
"I suppose so, yes."
At the end of class, we trudged back up to the Common Room. We had a free period before lunch, since our flying lessons didn't begin for another week or two.
Kate, Haley, and Betsy stayed in the Common Room with Mac, Sam, Andy, and, suprisingly, Grif, who had a good half an hour before his next class. Jake and Dave had gone up to their dorm, and Claire and I did the same.
"M.G., can we talk?" Claire asked me.
"Sure. Why?"
"I need your help. I've been so preoccupied the past nine years that I almost forgot the promise I made to my dad when I was little."
"What promise was that? And why do you need my help?"
"I need your help, and Jake's, too, I'm assuming. You know our families have been very close in the past. Why, if it weren't for Voldemort and his fires, our families would still be really close. And I know I can trust you guys."
"What is it you need our help with?"
"Well....... It may sound stupid, and you don't have to help, if you don't want...... I mean, the man's been dead for years, and there's no real point, no reason..... There's no way to change the past or anything, but....."
"Claire, just tell me!"
"Help me clear Sirius' name."
"Master, the foolish girl wishes to try and clear Black's name."
"Fool! What matter is that to me! Why do you disobey me?"
"I haven't disobeyed you, master!" the servant cried.
"You are too friendly with them!"
"I need them to trust me...... So I can get the information needed out of them............." The boy shuddered. He was afraid of his master, very much afraid of him.
"I suppose what you say is believable............ But keep a closer eye on Wimberly! She knows valuable information that she could let slip to her friends, and she knows you, too, were serving me. She could turn you in, and I would be very disappointed with you, small one. Just as disappointed as I was with the Pettigrew girl............. Do you understand me, wee one?" All the servant could no was nod nervously. He didn't dare disagree with Voldemort. That was why he had come to serve him..........
*Finis*