CHAPTER 26: EMMA GARNEY, PART II

"Professor Garney?" Hermione whispered.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

The travelers were back in Professor Dumbledore's office.

"About what?" Ron asked.

"Well, something must have been wrong with her sister." Hermione answered.

"Yes." Professor Garney squeaked. "If you want to know, I'll tell you."

Ron looked anxiously at Hermione and Harry. "All right."

Garney took a deep breath and sat down. Professor Dumbledore pursed his lips with sympathy. Harry was beginning to realize that this story was far more than any of them thought.

"When I was just a few years old, my sister Chessa was born. Now, it's true that every witch and wizard, when young and without formal magical training, has a few magical mishaps."

"Like the time that I made the glass at the zoo break and trap Dudley." Harry grinned.

"Exactly," Professor Garney smiled slightly again. "Well, Chessa had hundreds of such mishaps. But they weren't little innocent accidents. When Chessa was four months old, I was playing with her with this little toy she had… then I took it away because I needed to clean my room. Chessa wanted me to stay and play with her. She got angry."

"What happened?" Hermione breathed.

"Her eyes glowed red and she screamed loudly. Little lighting bolts flew from her fingertips and burned my skin." Emma Garney choked back tears. "She was evil, even then."

Hermione and Harry gasped. Ron gawped. Professor Dumbledore was silent and emotionless.

"As she got a bit older, her magic became even worse. Every time she was angry, her eyes grew red and I got out of her way. Once, when she was five, I teased her about her hair; it was short and ugly, and mine was long and smooth, so she magicked my hair away. Mum tried to make it go back, but even with mum's wand, nothing could undo Chessa's magic. I had to wait for my hair to grow back in."

Harry raised his eyebrows.

"When Chessa was nine, she set my broomstick afire while I was flying around on it. Chessa couldn't fly; Mum and Dad wouldn't let her, so she was angry. I didn't realize it was burning. Luckily, I had my wand, so I could put the fire out. But my broom was ruined. It was a wonderful broom." Garney's eyes gazed longingly at the wall.

"What happened next?" Ron urged.

"When it came time for Chessa to go to school, Voldemort was beginning to rise to power. Chessa was accepted into Hogwart's. She was Sorted into Slytherin. Mum and Dad were devastated. I was a Gryffindor, and they'd both been, as well. The first Slytherin in our family… Chessa had a terrible attitude about school. She had a disregard and disrespect for authority. She never listened. She got so many detentions, Mum eventually stopped sending Howlers. One time, towards the end of her first year, Chessa went into a trance. When she came out of it, she claimed she'd been speaking to Voldemort. Terrified, my parents decided to send Chessa as far away from Voldemort as possible. She was accepted into Welsnurth and transferred. But Chessa's adventurous spirit meant that she could find anything she wanted to."

"Anything? Like what?" Harry asked.

"Like the Road to Nowhere. She was brilliant, Chessa was. It's so sad, how she was such a horrible girl but such a genius. She was terribly introverted and had very few friends. When she wrote home, she claimed that she never wanted friends. She just wanted to be alone. Little did we know, Chessa was helping contribute toward the Dark Arts. When Chessa came across the Road to Nowhere and found out that it was a portal to anywhere in the world, she bewitched fifteen books. They showed the future. Chessa's best subject was Divination. The Welsnurth teachers said that she was the only girl they'd ever seen that they believed truly possessed the Inner Eye. She made the books tell the future, past, and present. She called the portal she'd found the 'Road to Nowhere' since it seemed to lead to no place in particular. It was said that only those who'd handled a copy of 'The Road to Nowhere' could navigate the Road."

"But what about Neville?" Hermione asked. "How did he do it?"

"Neville had touched Madeline's book." Ron said quietly. "Madeline showed it to me once, and Neville asked to see it. He touched it."

Hermione groaned. "Who else?"

"No one that I know of." Ron replied.

"Anyway…" Harry prompted Emma Garney to continue.

"Well, with Chessa having bewitched the Road, Voldemort could access American schools. He traveled to Welsnurth and Micksmeyer. He used the Imperious curse on the headmaster, who threw all Muggle-borns out of the school and only accepted children of Dark wizards and witches. Micksmeyer's earned a terrible reputation since then."

"They didn't like us very much." Ron frowned.

"I would suspect not," Garney carried on, "So, Chessa was fascinated by Voldemort. He thought that she would make an excellent Dark witch when she grew up. Chessa wrote back to my parents once saying that she wouldn't be coming home for Christmas. In reality, she and Voldemort attempted to seize Welsnurth and make it the American headquarters for the Dark Arts. The American Ministry of Magic caught her. Voldemort escaped into the Road to Nowhere. Chessa was brought back to the U.K. and she was tried in court, and sentenced to Azkaban. But just as the dementors were carrying her off, a man in the courtroom used the Adava Kedavra curse on her. We learned later that Chessa had told more than nine people, Dark wizards all, that if she was found guilty, to kill her. She figured she could still work for the Dark Arts as a ghost, but not as an empty soul."

Emma Garney's eyes were brimming with tears.

"Mum and Dad were absolutely desolate. They were disgraced and destroyed. We found out that Chessa hadn't shown up anywhere as a ghost. Not in any part of the Road. We knew this because one night, while I was at my aunt's, Voldemort came to my parent's house and demanded to know where Chessa was. He said he needed her." Garney sighed and stared blankly. Dumbledore looked sad.

"Voldemort killed my parents that night when they told him that they didn't know anything about Ch-Chessa…" Emma sobbed.

"Oh, Professor Garney, I'm so sorry…" Hermione's voice cracked.

"She showed up one day at Micksmeyer. A ghost. She still helps Voldemort."

"I'm very sorry." Dumbledore put his hand on Professor Garney's shoulder.

Garney said nothing. "She was never my sister. We were never close."

"Never?" Ron asked.

"No." Garney said firmly.

"Let's go," Harry suggested, "We've got some work to do."