Padma was a bit more sympathetic. "Gosh Anna, you must have been really tired! You usually get up earlier than I do…"
Anna yawned, stretching. "Where's Lisa?"
Just then, the revolving bookcase swung round, and in came Lisa, her face flushed pink with the cold. She rubbed her mittened hands together, smiling.
"And what have you been up to?" Padma questioned.
"Look out the window!" cried Lisa.
The other girls ran over to see what on earth could be so exciting. Mandy reached it first, pushing it open. "Snow!" she cheered.
Anna pushed herself between Padma and Ophelia. Indeed, large flakes were fluttering down from the sky, starting to cover the dull brown ground with a carpet of white.
"Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott stopped by this
morning at breakfast to ask if Anna and I wanted to take a walk with them. But
you were still sleeping, Anna, so I didn't want to disturb you… Anyway, we
walked down to the greenhouse and visited Professor Sprout – she was down there
covering some of the plants –
"Then we walked down to Hagrid's – you know, the ground's keeper – and had some tea. Oh, it was lots of fun!" The happy look on her face faded a bit as she glanced around. "What?" she asked.
"Didn't they invite us?" asked Ophelia, rather sulkily.
"Oh! Well, not by name, but if you had wanted to come, they wouldn't have minded at all… oh dear, I'm sorry – I suppose I should have asked you all, I was just so excited…"
Anna grinned. "Oh, Lisa, it's alright! Let's go out and have a snowball fight this evening, okay?"
Lisa looked very relieved. Padma however, muttered in a hardly audible voice, "easy enough for Anna to say. She was actually invited."
Anna turned, frowning. "Oh, come now. It's only because I sit with Susan in Herbology…"
"She's still a Hufflepuff though," interrupted Mandy. "Not to say that there's anything wrong with that… it's not like they're Slytherins or anything… But it would have been nice to inform the rest of us where you were going, Lisa. We might have been worried."
Lisa turned defensive. "Might have been? What does that mean – that you weren't? I was just having a bit of fun!" she exclaimed huffily.
"The night after a meeting?" hissed Padma, lowering her voice slightly.
"Come on guys," said Anna, "we're still best friends."
"Some of us are," snapped Ophelia.
Mandy hovered on the outside of the two groups, uncertain of where she should stand on this matter. "Look now," she said uncomfortably, "just as long as it doesn't happen again…"
"And what if it does?" asked Lisa defiantly, tears beginning to run down her face. She wiped them away hastily with the back of her hand. "Just because I have friends that respect me, and show an interest in me…"
"We respect you," glowered Padma. "Question is, do you respect us?"
"Padma!" admonished Anna and Mandy at once. Lisa, however, burst into sobs, and flew up the staircase to the first-year dormitory. Anna made as if to go after her, but Mandy caught her arm.
"I'll go," she said, glaring at Padma, "you were invited too, so she may think we're all mad at her if I don't."
Anna nodded, giving her a weak smile of thanks. Then she turned back to Padma. "You should apologize," she said. "You really hurt her feelings – just because you haven't made an attempt to make friends outside Ravenclaw…"
"Maybe I don't need friends outside Ravenclaw!" Padma shouted. People sitting at the nearby tables stopped their studying to gaze up at the scene. Anna turned scarlet.
"You just don't want to associate with other houses because you're still disappointed that you and Parvati were separated, and that she's making new friends too!" she cried.
She had hit the nail on the head. Padma's tanned face turned scarlet as well, and she clenched her fists, searching for something to shoot back for a moment. When she couldn't find anything, she stalked out of the room, pushing the bookcase extra hard as she went, causing the suit of armor to sway as he passed several times. The entire common room started at the bookcase as it returned to it's right side, and then shifted their gaze to Anna.
If it was possible, she blushed even redder. Ophelia sat in her armchair, watching. "You shouldn't have said that aloud," she said, frowning.
"And you shouldn't have said what you did either. You don't know what it's like not to fit in – you've lived in this world your whole life. Lisa's just starting out, give her a break! You don't know what it's like to feel alone…"
Ophelia turned a shade paler at this, and Anna instantly regretted her words. Who had felt the least at home the first month here? It had been Ophelia, while Anna and Lisa were becoming fast friends. Anna opened her mouth to apologize, but Ophelia stood up, taking her book with her, and walked out the door after Padma.
Anna sighed, then turned to slowly climb the stairs to the room. Mandy was sitting cross-legged on Lisa's bed, talking to her in a low, soothing voice. Lisa's eyes were still red. Anna walked over and hugged her.
The three girls went down to lunch. Padma and Ophelia were there, Ophelia still clenching her book tightly in her hands. Mandy choose a seat at the opposite end of the table from them, and Anna and Lisa followed her. Padma refused to look in their direction, but instead, started up a conversation with a group of second years. Still, Anna found it hard to swallow her roast beef sandwich, feeling as if something was drastically wrong with the Quindecimdei sitting apart. Both girls at the other end stood up and walked off soon after, but were there long enough to witness Susan and Hannah walking into the Great Hall, and waving hello cheerfully to Anna.
"So sorry you couldn't come this morning, we had the greatest time!"
Anna smiled half-heartedly, and glanced out of the corner of her eye to Padma. Padma's lips were pressed firmly together, but still, she refused to look at Anna as she brushed past out into the entry hall.
What should have been a wonderful day, full of snowball fights, and with steaming mugs of hot cocoa for desert, turned out horribly. Anna sat up in the common room, pretending to study her astronomy chart, feeling miserable all the while. Guilt was eating at her. The day seemed to drag on forever. Anna made up her mind that as soon as she saw Padma and Ophelia, she would apologize. Every time the book case swung open, her eyes skipped up. But it was never them. The clock had chimed six o'clock before they finally entered. Anna stood, her star-chart dropping from her lap. But as she opened her mouth to speak, Padma cut her off, in a nasty tone.
"I noticed you weren't at dinner. Where were you, out with Susan and Hannah?"
Anna felt her face flush crimson. "Where were you," she shot back, "off making new friends of your own?"
"At least they're Ravenclaws!"
Ophelia shot them both a frightened look before heading up the stairs. Seething, Anna gathered her things. She marched over to the bookcase, and swung it open. She didn't stop walking until she reached the Great Hall, where she sat down for dinner, although she wasn't hungry. She served herself some pork chops, with potatoes on the side, but sat there toying with them unenthusiastically. Roger leaned over several seats, where he was talking with his friends.
"Are you going to eat that or not?"
Anna slid it down the table listlessly. "You can have it." She stood to leave.
Roger raised his brows. "You alright?"
Anna nodded, a tight lump gathering in her throat. She had the sudden urge to cry. No, she wasn't alright at all. "I'm fine," she said.
Roger shrugged, "Okay then," and set about eating Anna's dinner.
Anna returned to the dormitory. Mandy and Lisa were still up, but Anna felt very tired. The day had been quite draining. She noticed both Padma and Ophelia's curtains were drawn. "Ophelia?" she whispered uncertainly. "Padma?" There was no response. She changed into her pajamas quietly, and got into bed, snuggling the heavy blue blanket around her. Anna lay there for the longest time, staring at the top of her blue canopy, unable to sleep. She heard Mandy and Lisa pad quietly up the stairs, heard them get into bed, whispering goodnight. She listened as the grandfather clock down in the common room chimed nine, then ten, eleven, twelve, one… her mind was still racing with the things that had been said today. Poor Lisa, who was only trying to be friendly and find her way in this new world. Poor Mandy, who was caught between her friends. Poor Padma and Ophelia, who were having trouble adjusting to life without their sisters. Anna had seen the way Padma's eyes had followed Parvati out of the Great Hall lunch. She had been chatting steadily with Lavender Brown, and hadn't even smiled or glanced Padma's way. And Ophelia – dear Ophelia, who had trusted Anna with her secret loneliness, and had been betrayed. And poor, poor Anna, who lay there, unable to get to sleep.
Suddenly, an idea came to her. She would go down to the edge of the forest, and call for Aurora. If the unicorn didn't come, she could always come right back. But Anna hoped fervently that she would come. So, she silently slipped on her heavy cloak over her pajamas and headed down the stairs.
She had a near miss as Peeves came bouncing along the halls. Anna ran into a classroom, and hid behind the door, waiting for him to pass. Sure enough, the cackling faded, and Anna slipped down to the main hall, and past the great doors. They creaked on their hinges, and she said a silent prayer that Mrs. Norris would not appear – the only cat she was ever unhappy to see. But no one came, and Anna stepped outside with a sigh of relief.
The snow had stopped around noon, and was not very deep. Anna trudged through it, ignoring the tracks that she left in the snow. She would cover them when she returned. She walked out to the edge of the forest, teeth chattering, cloak wrapped tightly around her, and paused.
"Aurora!" she cried, her voice lost in the wind.
"Aurora!"
They had not traveled so fast the last time, but
here at the edge of the forest, where the trees were not so thick, they flew.
Aurora's graceful looking body held a power that Anna had never realized before
this moment as she felt the muscles stretch and flex beneath her. Snow flew up
all around them, and Aurora sped on through the dark trees. Moonlight
illuminated the snow, and cast strange shadows across the shimmering white
blanket that covered the earth. Anna clung tightly to the unicorn's neck, her
hair coming lose of her streaming tails and whipping itself
Aurora's legs increased their strides. Racing, the trees became grey blurs, the snow, a dull silver. The wind whistled in Anna's ears, begging her to stop, telling her that if she went any farther, she would never be able to turn back…
They came to a sudden halt. Anna, gasping for breath herself, felt Aurora's sides heaving. They had returned to the clearing. The waterfall, now half-frozen, was a glistening cathedral of ice. The stars and moon were reflected in the frosted mirror that had been the pond, only a month earlier. Anna raised her eyes to the sky. Majestic in the deep blue heavens was the moon, ringed with white. Snow again tomorrow Anna thought.
She did not stay long this time, as it was so cold. Soon, Aurora was nudging her to climb onto her back once more, and start the trek back to the castle. Anna did so, not entirely sad to be leaving the cold, though the clearing was lovely. They cantered back at a much slower pace than they had come, but it didn't seem to take much longer. Anna suspected that the unicorn had led her on a tour of the forest, circling around at first. At the edge of the trees, she dismounted, kissing Aurora's warm nose. "Thanks," she whispered, "I needed that." Aurora nuzzled her slightly, then returned to the darkness of the forest, eventually fading in with the snow.
Anna walked back up to the castle, this time carefully melting the snow with her wand where she had walked, causing any trace of footprints to vanish. It would freeze over again before morning, leaving only a funny, winding path that could have been made by any creature – rather than the shoe-prints of an eleven year old girl.
She had almost made it back to the suit of armor unspotted, when a gentle voice came from behind her. "What are you doing out and about so late dear?" it inquired, not unkindly. Anna whipped around, her face flushed with guilt. A hand flew to her mouth.
"Oh!"
It was the ghost of a tall, slender woman, dressed in a beautiful gown dating from another time.
"You're the Grey Lady, aren't you?"
The ghost nodded. "And you are Anna Moon."
Anna was bursting with questions to ask her, the main one being if Ophelia's stories about her had been true. But she though it would be rude to ask. Uncomfortably, she waited for the ghost to say something.
The Grey Lady smiled. "I do not know if your mother would have been pleased to know that her daughter would sneak around the castle after hours."
This was the thing Anna had least expected. "You knew Madeline?" she blurted out.
"Yes, quite well. She was a prefect, you know, known and liked by everyone. Well," she restated, frowning a bit, "almost everyone, I should say, as she was murdered, the poor dear. Such a sad thing…" The ghost seemed to lapse back into her thoughts. Anna waited, silently. "Ah – but she did leave me a bit of a puzzle for you to ponder, yes… of course, I think she was planning on being alive to see the result, but none-the-less… it is a spell. Remember these words carefully now, Anna – Amo Materna."
Anna repeated the phrase silently several times. Then she looked back to the Grey Lady. "And then?"
"Oh, dear," the ghost said smiling. "She wouldn't tell me the rest. Said that her child would have to figure it out on her own. And I'm sure you're bright enough child – you're the daughter of Madeline Prewitt!"
Anna frowned. "But my mother's name was Moon."
"Not when she was here, dear. Your mother wasn't born married, remember." The Grey Lady glanced at a watch hanging from her waist by an invisible chain. "Ah, look at the time! I must be off. And you," she said, fixing her gaze on Anna, "should rest. Heavens knows, you'll need it or the months ahead."
Anna opened her mouth to question this as well, but before she had a chance, the Grey Lady glided through a wall and was gone. Anna headed into the common room, her mind racing as it had been before. How was she going to sleep?
But as she entered, her eyes met the bright light of the fire. What was it doing, still going so late? Then she saw the four figures, huddled around it.
Padma jumped up, hands on her hips. "Where were you?" she demanded. "We've been worried sick!"
"I was out walking with some Hufflepuffs," said Anna sullenly. Not this, again.
Padma looked for a moment as if she would cry, then flung her arms around Anna. Anna was shocked. She hugged her back, rather uncertainly.
"It's okay, Anna," said Mandy. "Ophelia woke up and discovered you were gone, so we all came down here to see if you were here, and you weren't so we started talking, and oh, Anna… it's alright, we've all made up!" Anna glanced over and noticed Lisa's arm around Ophelia, who looked as if she had been crying. Anna sat down next to them, and gathered them both in a hug.
"Oh, Phelia, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say any of that to you, or to you Padma," she said, looking up.
Padma grinned, a bit warily. "No," she said, "I should be sorry. I provoked you all, and I said some things I shouldn't have. It's alright if we all have friends outside the club. In fact, Ophelia and I were saying that we were all squabbling more like sisters than friends. 'Cause that's what we are anyway, blood sisters."
"And next time Susan invites us on a walk, we're bringing you all along," said Lisa, firmly. Anna grinned.
