Credits: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and company. I own this- at least, I wrote it...
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Chapter 13
Dumbledore looked unusually serious. Snape shifted
nervously under the headmaster's piercing gaze.
"And, Severus, you're positive Voldemort tried to
deliberately kill Nirry?" he said at last. He seemed to be
deep in thought.
"Yes, I heard him right before I got to him, the girl
was right before him-" Snape replied quickly. Dumbledore loked
at him sharply.
"Voldemort caught no glimpse of you?"
Snape nodded. Dumbledore then veered off the course he
had been pacing on the floor of his office and sat at his desk.
"There can only be two reasons for this.." he
mused, his hands absentmindedly twiddling with a quill. "Yes, two
reasons, very peculiar..."
"Headmaster?" interrupted Snape awkwardly,
"perphaps- that is, there is nothing else to do, right? About
Hogsmeade?"
Dumbledore nodded. "Severus, if you could go back
to your common room, make sure they're all right?"
Snape nodded slightly and then exited quickly, leaving
Dumbledore still at his desk. Once the door had shut, Dumbledore sighed.
"We're going to have very hard times ahead of
us..." he shook his head, almost pityingly. "My poor
Nirry."
* * *
"Harry?" three voices asked tentatively.
"What?" Harry answered groggily, sitting up and
putting his glasses on. Nirry, Hermione and Ron were seated on either
side of him.
"Are you- okay?" asked Nirry anxiously, peering
into his face, her big hazel eyes gazing into his. Harry tried to smile,
and found that he could. He sat up all the way, leaning against the head
of the bed.
"Yeah, I am- hey, what happened to them?" He'd
seen all the other occupied beds around them, full of witches and wizards from
the Hogsmeade attack.
The other three looked at each other. Hermione cleared
her throat. "Oh, Harry- you see, there- there was an-
attack." Harry looked at the others' faces, who were carefully
avoiding his. "An- an attack? You mean, an attack, as in,
Voldemort attack?"
Ron didn't wince. "Yes. An attack.
And- well, he attacked us." With this, Harry's face looked shocked.
"Voldie came up to us-" Nirry began, but Hermione
and Ron interrupted with two large snorts.
"Voldie?" they gasped, giggling
hysterically. "Voldie?"
Nirry looked annoyed. "Well, yeah, Voldie.
What do you think?" Harry started to smile as well.
"What is so funny about VOLDIE????"
"Well- Voldie, I mean, you don't really- is that
some kind of American thing?" Ron laughed, laying his head on
Hermione's shoulders.
"I am Canadian," sniffed Nirry
haughtily. Then she faltered. "Well, I think I
am..."
Harry stopped smiling. "Well, what happened?
Vold-" (he paused) ,"Voldemort came up to you, and...?"
Nirry was pleased to see that Ron and Hermione had stopped
laughing hysterically. "He kind of raised his wand and shouted
something, and then green light came out of it, and then-"
"Nirry pushed us to the ground, and then-"
"We thought she was dead. Voldie-er, You-Know-Who, he'd
yelled the killing curse at her..." Ron finished. Harry looked
confused.
"But that would mean that she was- do you think- Nirry,
maybe- maybe you dodged it?" He said, trying to think. Nirry
shook her head gravely.
"No, it didn't- look, you can feel it- it pierced my
head, it actually went through it." She took Harry's hand in her own
and brought it up to her hairline.
Harry felt a slight bump, like a cut, but not a cut- it was
a thin line that marked the edge of her hair, a clear raised edge that was
about four centimeters in length. Harry felt a turmoil of emotions in his
head.
"But- it actually passed through?" he
stammered, withdrawing his hand slowly from her head. Nirry nodded and
started to speak but was cut off.
"You three again! It's been four minutes, now, really,
this boy has been in considerable pain- out, please..." Madam
Pomfrey came bustling over to where they sat, stirring a a purple something in
her hands. With good-byes for Harry, Nirry, Hermione and Ron left,
feeling a bit deflated- Nirry most of all. She ran her hands throught her
hair, carefully avoiding the bump. Then she walked out behind the others.
* * *
Over the next few days, an air of anxiety had settled
over everything. The Gryffindor fifth years came into their Potions class
on Monday very bleary-eyed- all had stayed awake talking in whispers about the
attack. Snape stood at the head of the classrom wearing a very peculiar
look- he seemed to be looking every where but at the tables where Ron and
Hermione, and Harry and Nirry sat. Over at the Slytherin side, Crabbe and
Goyle sat like rocks, the space beside them empty. Draco Malfoy was still
in the infirmary- intensive care.
"Very well, we will be making our Sleeping Potions
today. Get your things ready."
He began to lecture them about their ingredients, but nobody
was paying that much attention. They stared into their cauldrons and
half-heartedly threw in ingredients. Even Hermione looked preoccupied.
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Weasley." Ron had
accidentally dropped his beaker of boiling heron's hair, and it spread all over
his shoes. Disgruntled, Ron grabbed a towel and scrubbed at his feet.
"Oh Ron, don't worry- it doesn't do anything.."
said Hermione in a low voice, "it doesn't even stain!"
"How would you like to have bird hair all over your
shoes?" he replied, frustrated. Harry glanced over from where he and
Nirry stirred their own completed potion in silence.
"She's right, Ron- it's only a bit of hair, what's the
difference?" he hissed. Nirry suddenly gave a start.
"Hey!"
The Potions class stared at her. Snape shot her a weird
look- almost as if he were afraid, thought Harry.
"Um, sorry," Nirry mumbled, going slightly
red. "But, Harry, it's Halloween." she whispered after
making sure no one was looking at her.
"No it's not," he said automatically before he
realized this was true. It was October 31. With everything
that had happened- the Quidditch game, the Hogsmeade attack-, everyone must
have been confused.
"Amazing as that may be- that is, your knowing the days
of the week- Potter, five more points will be taken from Gryffindor for your
disruptance of my class." Snape breezed by their table, voice even
more sneering than usual, though they couldn't see his expression. Nirry made a
face at his back.
"You know, he was the one who actually saved us-
me..." Nirry whispered to Harry who gave a start.
"He did?" he asked out of the side of his
mouth.
"Yup."
* * *
Sure enough, when they came into the Great Hall for the
feast, it was decorated with the usual pumkins and bats that always adorned the
Hall for Halloween. Most people's faces showed an expression as though
they were determined to have fun tonight and to forget about the attack and
everything else.
"Oh, how cool," exclaimed Nirry, turning round and
round to see all the decorations fully. "Hey, Harry, look! They're
little pumkins with- OH!!!! live hats!!!!"
Harry, Ron and Hermione looked amused at Nirry's
amazement. "Yeah, look- you can see the pumpkins making faces
at the suits of armor," said Ron, trying not to laugh.
Nirry sat down, still staring at the pumkins.
"You guys, come on. Admit it, this is cool."
"You should see the Christmas decorations,"
Hermione said, pulling out a chair at the Gryffindor table and sitting
down. "Last year, especially..."
Nirry sat down, then turned to her friends with a quizzical
look. "What happened last year that was so special?"
Hermione and Ron glanced at Harry. "Erm- well..
Harry was in the Triwizard Tournament..." Hemrione said hesitanlty.
Harry pretended not to hear them talking. He hadn't
thought about Cedric Diggory that much lately, and he wanted it to stay that
way. Nirry saw Harry's sudden movement, and hastily added,
"Well, I mean, it's okay if you don't tell me, it's
just that, well, you know, I only came here this year, and..." she trailed
off.
They had no time to answer, since Dumbledore just stood up
and was making a speech about the Hogsmewade attack and how they should be
careful, however, the attack came as a surprise for everyone involved.
The four at the table listened in silence, though Nirry
looked slightly preoccupied.
As Dumbledore sat down, the plates in front of them suddenly
filled with scrumptious food and drink. They all helped themselves to
heaping plates full of their favorites. Nirry loooked in distaste at
Harry's, Ron's, and Hermione's glasses of pumpkin juice.
"I can't see how you guys can drink that stuff,"
she said, taking a long sip of her water. "I mean, pumpkin juice?
Gross."
"You like pumpkin pie," Harry pointed out, nodding
towards the slab of pie on her plate.
"Yeah, well, pie- it's different." she took
a bite from the mentioned food, then went on in a casual voice, "So, guys,
what was your life before Hogwarts?"
Hermione gave a snort. "You sound like Rita
Skeeter."
Nirry cocked her head, meaning, Who's Rita Skeeter?
Hermione sighed and looked at Harry.
"She was a reporter- I caught her last year, she was
listening in illegally on conversations here..." Hermione said
nervously then took a huge bite of steak and sheperd's pie.
"Oh, last year," Nirry said, pretending to
block the words with her hands as if she was restricted to them. "Of
course, last year..."
"Look, okay, I lived with my -erm- relatives, the
Dursleys. On my 11th birthday, Hagrid came and took me to get my school
stuff and I found out I happened to be a wizard. Come on, Nirry, tell us
about yourself," Harry interrupted the awkward conversation. Nirry
looked slightly abashed.
"Well..."
"Where were you born?" asked Ron. Basically,
they knew next to nothing about Nirry's past life.
"I don't know. I mean, I know I was born in a
hospital, butI don't know where," said Nirry, concentrating on her
food. "I think I've lived all my life in Canada, the farm- the
people there took me in a a sort on permanent foster home, I guess because of
my mother's wishes. I think she's dead now, I'm not sure."
The other three looked slightly awkward.
"Oh," they said in tiny voices.
Nirry looked a bit more cheerful. "Yeah, well, who
cares. And if you're wondering about my father, well, I never knew
him." Nirry gave a slight cough, looking for a change of
subject. "So, well, that's enough about my fascinating personal
life... um, how's Malfoy, Harry?"
Harry started. "Er- Malfoy?" he asked, as if
wondering why on earth anyone in their right minds would ask about
Malfoy. Nirry looked at him expectantly. "Well- I guess he's
okay, why?"
"Oh, just asking," Nirry said nonchalantly,
turning her attention back to her food. Harry returned to his as well,
confused. He'd had no idea that she was an orphan as well. And why did
Voldemort have no effect on her?
He looked up in time to see Nirry laugh at something George said.
On the other side of the table, Ron and Hermnione were talking, their faces
very close to each others'. Harry smiled at the two of them.
"Yeah, they're so cute, aren't they?" a voice
asked to the left of him. He turned to see Nirry's intense gaze upon his.
"They are, aren't they?" he agreed. Nirry nodded.
They sat back to watch the Halloween entertainment, a sort
of circus with wizards dressed up asd skeletons and mummies directing their
"pet" dogs and cats to do Stupid Human Tricks.
Harry looked at them dreamily, not really registering what
they were saying.
Her eyes were so intense...