Disclaimer: We don't own Harry Potter.
2. Trust
Spending a summer without his newly graduated twin brothers causing havoc all over the house had been oddly lonesome for Ron. Though it was a relief they weren't teasing him for his crush on, well, he didn't want to say, he had missed Fred and George's jokes and pranks and stink bombs.
"How the bloody hell did they find out anyway?" Ron grumbled to himself a week before school was scheduled to start again. Then he wondered why this question hadn't occurred to him earlier. Of the many reasons he thought of, it didn't happen to come to mind that he was a teenage boy who had more on his mind than his brothers, which sometimes made him a bit stupid.
Remembering the former question, he strained to recall when Fred and George had first found out. "I think it was at school, maybe. Everyone was in the common room, and, well, no, not everyone. Harry was in the hospital wing because that bludger hit him, and Hermione was probably off in the library looking for the name of that curse thing or whatever. What was I talking about? Oh. I was playing chess with someone, some first year, I think, when Fred or George made a joke about Hermione being a bookworm, and, uh, I think I said something to them in 'Mione's defense, and then Fred or George made a crack about me liking her, and then I, um, bloody hell! I blushed! No wonder they found out. ERGH!" Ron slammed his face into his pillow. He was blushing even now as he thought about it.
His head hurt from having to think so far back. When had that happened? March, maybe? He stopped thinking since it was aching worse now that he was trying to remember dates.
"Damn Fred and George," Ron grumbled, wrenching at his flaming red hair. "Like I miss them, the prats."
"Ronald Weasley, if you don't get down here and degnome the garden right now, I swear I'll bite your legs off!" Mrs. Weasley screeched from the kitchen.
Ron heaved a sigh. Now he wished that Fred and George were here. Having to degnome the garden by himself was three times the work now that his older twin brothers were out making toys and candies in the large, wide wizarding world.
"Ronald Weasley!"
*****
" 'Oh-oh, here she comes! Watch out, boy. She'll chew you up!' " Singing and dancing around, Amamnemosyne was eagerly packing her trunk.
" 'Oh-oh, here she comes! She's a maneater!' " She rotated her shoulders to the beat. " 'Here she comes! She's a maneater!' " Amamnemosyne sang, tossing her fluffy blonde hair around her face and flinging a shirt decorated with cartoon bananas to the floor. She dropped one foot to the floor, incidentally upon her shirt, and after striking a pose she twirled. Her foot on the shirt slipped. She lost her balance.
"Oh-WHOA!" She fell. To keep from falling on her rear end, she twisted her body so she would fall against her bed, which the trunk was on. Slamming against the mattress, she grimaced at the sharp pain in her back as she watched her trunk wobble and slowly start to slip off.
" 'Oh-oh, here she comes,' " the radio sang as the trunk lost its balance and fell with a loud KLUMP! It fell to its side and bounced with an UMP-UMP. Clothes and schoolbooks from the trunk spilled across the floor. The radio on the apartment counter abruptly stopped playing.
Then there was silence.
"Well," Amamnemosyne said to the quiet room, "shit."
Mere moments later, the landlord Ms. Gerkynes, who was so fortunate as to have her room just below Amamnemosyne's, was rapping on the door. "Open up!" she squawked.
"Oh, goody," Amamnemosyne thought to herself sarcastically. She couldn't remember a time when Ms. Gerkynes hadn't disliked her, so she was probably in for an angry visitor.
Amamnemosyne opened the door and smiled when she saw it was who she had suspected.
"Hi, Ms. Gerkynes! How are you doing?" she asked enthusiastically, though sincerely.
Ms. Gerkynes overlooked the energetic salutation and tried to look over the tall teen's head and into the small apartment. "What was that ruckus?" she snapped as a greeting.
Raising her eyebrows, Amamnemosyne asked, "What ruckus?"
"Something fell and made a very loud noise, and it must have come from your room. For goodness sakes, child, let me in!" She pushed past Amamnemosyne.
Ignoring the woman's rude words and actions, Amamnemosyne tried to remember what had happened. She wasn't good at many things, but she was very talented at forgetting.
"What is all this doing in the middle of the floor?" Ms. Gerkynes barked, jabbing a long, red fingernail at the fallen trunk and spilled clothes.
"Oh, that's right! It fell," Amamnemosyne remembered cheerfully.
Ms. Gerkynes looked ready to blow. Her red-rimmed glasses were slipping off her nose, and she was angrily shoving them back into place with her middle finger. "You stupid girl, you're going to break my building with your idiotic activities!"
"This entire place looks about ready to break by itself," Amamnemosyne said.
"How dare you say that?!"
"Say what?"
"That my building looks ready to break!"
"Oh, it does, doesn't it?" Amamnemosyne said with a grin.
"You ungrateful brat! That's it! I want you out by tomorrow!" Ms. Gerkynes shrieked.
"I was leaving, anyway," Amamnemosyne admitted, unable to conceal her happiness. "I'll be going overseas, and I don't suppose I'll be back for nearly a year."
"You will never come back to this building," Ms. Gerkynes growled.
"I'll tell my aunt," Amamnemosyne said simply.
"Try it," Ms. Gerkynes snapped. "It's common knowledge your aunt doesn't care about you, and anyway, I know she's in jail. You don't think that sort of thing doesn't get around? Everyone knows. That's why we've let you stay! Everyone pities you. Everyone except me because I know you'll end up just like her, won't you?"
"Not quite," Amamnemosyne murmured with a grin. She and her aunt would never be alike. The gift of magic separated them.
"Why are you smiling? Are you on drugs? How dare you bring drugs into my building?!" Ms. Gerkyne's screamed.
"Oh, wow!" Amamnemosyne laughed. "I swear I'm not on drugs, Ms. Gerkynes. I don't know about the other people here, but I have never ever brought drugs into your humble building."
"Disrespectful brat!" Ms. Gerkynes slapped her across the face.
After blinking a couple times, Amamnemosyne closed her eyes and tried to remember the numbers from one to ten. "I'll be gone tomorrow, Ms. Gerkynes," she finally said.
Pursing her lips, Ms. Gerkynes glared at the teen and stomped out of the room, leaving the door open.
"Oh-oh, is she ever a maneater," Amamnemosyne grumbled.
She then heard a questioning whimper from the other side of the bed. Closing the door, she said, "She's gone. You can come out now, Ferdi."
A dog scampered through the bed and growled after Ms. Gerkynes. Besides being longhaired, the dog had short legs, large paws, a long body, and big, perky ears. But the dog was transparent; it was a ghost. It tilted its head back and looked up its fox-like snout at Amamnemosyne.
"It's okay, Ferdi. She was just bitching, as usual." She sighed, but her mood lifted when the radio came back on.
" '-right round, baby, right round like a record, baby,' " the radio picked up.
Amamnemosyne sniggered and, careful of any shirts on the floor, started dancing. She sang to the song on the radio, but she conveniently changed some of the lyrics. "You bitch me right round, baby, right round, like a celibate, baby, right round round round!"
Ferdinand -also known as Ferdi- followed her and playfully nipped at her heals even though his teeth went right through her feet.
"One more day, Ferdi Turdy! One, and then we're back in school!"
*****
Amamnemosyne spent the next morning repacking for the seventh and eighth times, so she would be sure she hadn't forgotten anything. If she had, Ms. Gerkynes would probably throw it away.
Her friend Paul, who lived across the hall from her, came to help carry her trunk. He was a short man with a plump stomach that hung over his jeans; he was a good man, and he had been Amamnemosyne's first friend when she had arrived at the building a few years ago.
Paul and Amamnemosyne made their way to the alley across the street from the apartment building, and Ferdinand made sure to keep out of site since ghosts were too upsetting for Paul and other Muggles to see.
"I can't see why you want this trunk thing over here, Ama. " Paul said in his thick southern accent.
"Well," Amamnemosyne began with a grin, "if anyone tries to mug me, they'll have a hard time getting away with my trunk, right?"
They shared a last laugh together, and then Paul said awkwardly, "Well, I should get back to my wife. She isn't feeling well today."
"Tell her I hope she gets well," Amamnemosyne said. "I'll pray for you two and all. Thanks for everything."
"Take good care of yourself." Paul gave her a small hug and hurried back across the street.
Amamnemosyne looked away from his retreating form and took her notepad out of her small sky blue backpack decorated with fluffy white clouds. Rereading the instructions she had been given, she checked her watch, which read fifteen after twelve.
"Keep your eyes open, Ferdi," Amamnemosyne said, feeling butterflies swirling around inside her body. "We're supposed to be watching out for a light."
After standing and waiting for several minutes, she sat down on her trunk and slid her small backpack off her shoulders. She rooted through it and found a tin of mints. After popping one into her mouth, she let it dissolve a bit before she got bored with that and chewed it.
"Hooooooo hummmmmm," she said. "I'm bored. Hooooooo hummmmmm. I wanna be gored."
Ferdinand looked up at her and made a questioning noise that sounded like "urar?"
"I don't really want to be gored. I couldn't think of anything else that would rhyme," Amamnemosyne admitted.
After watching her for a few moments, the dog rested its head on its outstretched paws again. Amamnemosyne smiled at the magical dog.
"I'm glad you're a wizarding animal, Ferdi. You have more of a personality than any Muggle's creature I've met," she said.
Instead of giving her a reply, Ferdinand perked his ears and then started barking, his tail flaring. The ground was rumbling, causing everything in the alley to shake, and Amamnemosyne gracelessly fell off her trunk and slammed into the wall of the building beside her. Being a ghost, Ferdinand was unaffected, and it easily rushed to Amamnemosyne's side.
Just as suddenly as the rumbling had begun, it stopped.
"Was that an earthquake?" Amamnemosyne asked, rubbing her arm that had hit the wall.
Then a banging noise was heard; it was coming from further down the alley.
CLANG! CLANG!
"Holy hell, what now?" Amamnemosyne grumbled, curiously looking over the top of her trunk, which she was now hiding behind.
CLANG! CLANG!
Ferdinand barked.
CLANG! CLANG!
A dumpster was thrown aside with a loud KUH-CLANGANGANGANG, a bright glittery light shining out from underneath it. The ground swung open, and a man stuck his head out from the square hole in the pavement.
"Damn Muggles always puttin' things where they don't need to be," he grumbled, putting his wand back into his robe. The man was nearly six feet tall and had a skinny frame. His brown hair fell messily over his tan face and neck.
Amamnemosyne leapt out from behind the safety of her trunk and ran down the alley to the stranger. "Hi! I'm Ama! Are you the one who's supposed to pick me up?"
The man pulled a folded piece of paper out of his robe and squinted at it. "Ah-mah-em-en-see-neh?" he said.
Amamnemosyne laughed. "No, it's pronounced Ah-mah-nem-oh-sign," she said slowly, "but I go by Ama."
"Okay then. I'm Antonio, and I'll be escortin' you to the train you're to be ridin' on," he introduced.
"Great! Can you help me with my trunk first? It's too heavy for me to carry by myself," she explained.
"Okay then," Antonio said. His strides were long, and in a short amount of time, he had reached the trunk, hefted it onto his shoulder, and walked back to the opening in the ground.
"Wow! I didn't think you were that strong!" Ama said in awe.
Antonio grinned and said; "Girls' stuff is always so damn heavy so I hafta be strong to carry it."
He knelt down, slid the trunk off his shoulder, and lowered it into the hole.
"I can get down on my own," Ama said, tapping her thigh, signaling for Ferdinand to follow.
She sat at the edge of the hole, letting her feet dangle into it. Supporting her body with her arms, she scooted so she was facing the out of the hole then slowly lowered herself down, Ferdinand floating after her.
Antonio hopped down, and taking his wand out of his robes, said, "Trificno." The hatch fell back forward, concealing them in darkness. "Lumos." Light filled the small compartment. "Artignia." The small room began descending straight down into the earth.
"This is like an elevator!" Ama recognized.
"A what?" Antonio asked.
"Muggles have something like this in big buildings. They call them 'elevators.' "
"Oh," Antonio said disinterestedly.
"Have you ever been to Europe?" Ama asked.
"Nope."
"Would you ever want to go?"
"Nope."
"What do you think it's like?"
"Like here, I guess."
"I think it will have a really pretty blue sky with huge fluffy white clouds and lots of sunlight. 'Course, it will probably storm hard, too, but no place is perfect."
"Probably isn't."
"I like it here okay, but I would like more sunny days that aren't super hot. I'm tired of heat, heat, heat throughout the spring and summer and fall and then cold, cold, cold all winter."
"Uh-huh."
"What about you? What kind of weather do you like?"
"Anything that doesn't kill me, I guess."
"Haha, this is pretty pathetic, huh? Two strangers talking about weather!"
Antonio smiled. "I'm not big on talkin.' I hope you don't mind."
"Do you mind if I talk? I'm kind of nervous about this whole trip, and when I get to the train, I'll probably be even more nervous, but when I get to school, I'll be even more nervous even though I really, really want to go. Talking helps, I think."
"Talk all you want," Antonio said.
And she did. She talked for the last three hours of the trip. Ferdinand, who seemed used to the chatter, closed his eyes and rested in mid-air, but no matter how friendly and energetic Ama was, Antonio felt his nerves snapping ever few minutes. Lucky for the three descending beings, Antonio had several nerves, so he himself did not snap.
When they had reached their destination far beneath the earth's surface, Ama opened the door and stepped out into the steamy lobby and onto a firm concrete floor. She looked around. An information and ticket desk was on her left and to her right were bathrooms, which she made a mental note to go to as soon as possible since she'd just endured three hours in a small compartment without a potty break. Straight ahead was a long corridor with a sign on the wall beside it that read 'To ThE tRaInS.'
"I need to buy a ticket, and then I need to use the bathroom. Will you help me load my trunk when I'm done?" Ama said to Antonio, who was already wiping sweat off his forehead.
"Yeah, I think I'll need to wash up some anyway. Too damn humid down here."
"Don't like humid weather then?"
"Not at all," Antonio panted, rushing to the men's room.
Ama laughed, and after she had purchased a ticket for the next train to Europe, she went to use the women's room, which was even more humid than the lobby. As she washed her hands in the sink after she had relieved herself of the extra cargo, she splashed some water on her face to cool herself a bit.
"Hey, Ama," Antonio said when she had come out of the bathroom. "When is your train supposed to leave?"
Ama took her ticket out of her small backpack and skimmed over it. "At 4:45 PM. Why? What time is it now?"
"4:39," Antonio said, glancing at his watch.
"Oh, my God! Hurry! I gotta get on that train!" Ama squealed. She began pushing her trunk to the hall leading to the trains, but she wasn't getting very far very fast.
Antonio picked up the front part of the trunk and said, "Pick up the back end. If we run, we can make it, so don't worry."
Ama nodded and gripped the bottom of trunk and started running.
"Not that fast! Jeez, I'm an agin' guy!" Antonio said when Ama started running faster than him, causing the trunk to bump into his bottom.
"Sorry, Antonio," Ama said, slowing down just a bit.
"Better."
They awkwardly raced down the hall past floating candle after floating candle with Ferdinand flying beside them.
Ama's arms were burning and straining with the effort of sustaining her end of the trunk, but she tried to picture what her new school would be like to keep herself motivated.
Then she saw a light ahead and both Antonio and Ama put on a burst of speed and zoomed into the station.
"Which train? Which train?" Antonio yelled.
"Um! Um!" Ama cried, pushing herself to remember the number. "The Atlantic Express! The Atlantic Express!"
"Got it!" Antonio said, turning left with Ama trailing.
"Damn it! The lights are on! That means the train is about to pull out! Hey, Fritz! Hold the train, bro!" Antonio called to a man up ahead that looked just like him except that he was taller.
"Why, bro?"
"Just do it!"
Shrugging, Fritz shouted, "Hold the train, Brittania!"
The lights on the train flickered then dimmed to a soft unearthly glow.
"Load this girl and her trunk here up would you? I need to refresh my lungs," Antonio wheezed, kneeling to the ground.
"Can do," Fritz said, picking the trunk up and climbing onto the train.
Breathing hard, Ama fell to her knees in front of Antonio, leaned forward, and hugged him. "Thank you so much! I really, really appreciate all your help!"
Antonio awkwardly patted her back and said, "You better get on that train, Ama. They don't wait forever."
Her legs were buzzing from running, but she climbed to her feet and gave a breathless good-bye to her new friend.
Fritz, who was waiting for her on the train, guided her to an empty compartment where she mumbled a tired thank you before collapsing onto the long cushioned seat and falling asleep.
*****
Angeleigh woke suddenly. She hadn't meant to fall asleep. If anything, she was trying to stay awake. Sleep only brought nightmares that made her relive the horrible events of six weeks ago. The rocking of the train on its tracks must have lulled her to sleep.
She was traveling alone, which didn't surprise her. She didn't have anyone else in the world at this point. Even Uncle Damian Dervish was still hundreds of miles away. She wondered if he even remembered he was an uncle, and how he felt knowing Emma, his sister, was dead, and that he was inheriting her now-crippled, both physically and emotionally, daughter.
To look at her, one could hardly tell that Angeleigh was crippled in those ways. Her robes covered her mangled leg, which bottles upon bottles of Skele-gro could not repair. And only those who had known her previously would see the difference in her emotions. Her eyes, once bright, lively, and inquisitive, were duller now, and infinitely sad. But on the whole, Angeleigh looked pretty normal.
Angeleigh had honey-colored hair that she usually just let fall loose to the center of her back. Her skin had taken on a sickly pale hue since her rescue from the Reapers' captivity, and the look in her eyes had changed as well; they were a very shocking shade of amber. She had no idea whose side of the family she'd inherited them from; her mom's eyes were brown, her dad's blue. But her eyes were a deep gold. They used to gleam like fire, perhaps kindled by her fierce will and fiery spirit. Now there was sheen to them, which softened her gaze and made it look like she was perpetually on the verge of tears.
Her powers had changed some too. It used to be she could sense the emotions of everyone around her. After being freed from the Reapers' captivity, she could only sense the sadness of those around her.
She was sitting on a bench in one coach that was something like a lobby, so occasionally someone would pass through.
Why was there so much pain in everyone? Why was she forced to see it, to feel it, to practically taste the sickening salt of shedding tears of it? Anyone who came within a few feet of her would feel chilled, and anyone who came within a few feet of her would make her feel all their sadness, all their grief. It was a curse. She could never be close to anyone again. People shunned her, the strange girl that gave them the creeps, the sick looking girl with the limp.
It was a bittersweet thing that she was going to a different school in a different country. Her friends would never have to see her like this, but she would never see her friends again. She'd realized this before, but it made her sad to think of their cheerful smiling faces. If she ever saw them again, those cheerful smiles would turn to horrified grimaces. Even her parents-
A small tear fell off her eyelid and slid down her face, bits of it hiding in the small crevice between her nose and cheek.
"Hullo!" someone chirped in front of her.
Angeleigh didn't look up. She knew the person wasn't talking to her. No one did. Not any more.
"Hullo!" the person said again.
She didn't look up.
"Hey, are you okay?" the person asked with sincere concern in her voice.
Angeleigh looked up. The person was actually talking to her. "I'm fine," she murmured when she'd gotten over her surprise that lasted a few seconds.
The person talking to her was a gangly girl, who looked probably a year older than Angeleigh, which would make her seventeen or so. The girl had short, fluffy hair that had at least four different hues of blonde jumbled into a bright, sunny color. Her hair was held back with a dark green headband; her hair fell over and into her eyes anyway, but the girl didn't seem to mind. She wore a gray sweatshirt that had a big hood that she kept hanging against her back, which made the ends of her hair stick out wildly. She also wore a pair of loose jeans and large sneakers with the laces obviously untied since they could be seen trailing behind her.
"Good!" the girl said. " You didn't answer me, so I thought you were about to barf or something because you were leaning forward a little like it was all about to come out. Do trains make you sick?"
"No," Angeleigh said.
"Me neither. The rocking isn't as bad as I thought it might be. Are you sure they don't make you sick? You look really pale."
Angeleigh knew how she looked, but she resented the girl saying something about her appearance. She was about to tell her to go away and leave her alone, but she was startled when the girl put a hand to her forehead.
"You don't seem to have a fever or anything," the girl said. Then she noticed Angeleigh's shocked expression.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" she said, withdrawing her hand. "You probably think someone you don't know shouldn't touch your forehead. I'm really, really sorry. I'm not trying to sexually harass you or anything. If you were a really cute guy, well, I might, but I'm not a whore or anything, I swear. I'm just making jokes and stuff."
Angeleigh was still too surprised to laugh. This girl had touched her and Angeleigh had felt nothing. Nothing at all. No sadness. No grief. No pain. It was as if there was a wall mentally blocking her emotions. How could this be?
"Um, do you want me to get lost?" the girl asked timidly.
"No," Angeleigh said. She wanted to figure out what was going on.
"I'm Angeleigh," she introduced, extending her hand. Maybe the touch before had been a fluke. Maybe she had only imagined nothing had happened.
"I'm Amamnemosyne, but I go by Ama," the girl said, taking Angeleigh's hand and giving it a small shake.
Angeleigh tightened her grip on Ama's hand when she didn't feel anything. Maybe the hold wasn't firm enough. Still, nothing happened. Angeleigh felt like she was repeatedly running into a brick wall. She let go.
Ama rubbed her hand, wincing a bit. "You have a really strong handshake, Ange."
"Ange?"
"Do you mind me calling you that? I mean, Angeleigh is a cool name and all, but Ange isn't as much of a mouthful and all," Ama explained, sitting down on the bench beside her.
"No, you can call me Ange if you want," Angeleigh permitted. "I mean, my dad used to call me Angie, so..." her voice trailed off and she turned away from Ama.
"Okay!" Ama's entire face lit up at her words, and she smiled.
Angeleigh looked over to her noticed her eyes. They were the same dark green as her headband, which made them stand out even more. A thin line of brown rimmed the bottom of the green, but one wouldn't notice unless they were at most a couple feet away.
"Where are you going?" Ama asked, leaning forward, resting her elbows on her knees and peering up and Angeleigh.
Angeleigh didn't want to talk about herself; she had learned it was usually better not to give out much info even if it was trivial.
"Europe," Angeleigh said vaguely.
"Haha, we all are, aren't we? This train doesn't have any stops does it?" Ama asked.
"None that I know of."
"Oh, well. I mean, I like riding the train and all, but I can't wait to get to Hogwarts!" Ama's smile seemed to take up her entire face.
"Y-you're going to Hogwarts?" Angeleigh stammered.
"Yup! I'm going to be a sixth year! It'll be great!"
"I'm going to Hogwarts, too!" Angeleigh gushed, feeling silly though she also felt relieved that she would know at least one person at school.
"For real? Awesome!" Ama cried. "That's such a relief! I didn't want to be by myself, you know? Wow, this must be fate!" Ama laughed.
"Fate," Angeleigh murmured. Since her parents had been killed, she'd wondered if it was fate that they died that way, if it was fate that it had been all her fault.
"Ange?" Ama said, waving her hand in front of her face.
Angeleigh quickly swatted her hand away.
Ama blinked in surprise. "You'd make an awesome seeker, Ange!" she said exuberantly.
"I'm usually a beater," Angeleigh said.
"Neat. I think I'm best as a chaser. Making goals is the bomb." She laughed.
Smiling, Angeleigh felt oddly grateful to fate at this moment. It had sent her someone who could momentarily clear her mind of all her pain. Instead of feeling cautious around Ama, Angeleigh felt herself falling into the girl's animated conversation.
The two girls continued talking and sharing stories for a while before Ama interrupted herself to say she was hungry.
"We can go to the dining car and get some munchies," Ama suggested.
Angeleigh hesitated. What would Ama think of her leg? Would she be disgusted? Would she suddenly say she had to leave? "Might as well get it over with," Angeleigh thought.
She stood up and limped forward.
Watching Angeleigh with a confused expression, Ama opened her mouth to ask why she was limping.
Interrupting Ama's impending question, Angeleigh pulled her robes aside and lifted her skirt just a bit, exposing her mangled leg.
Ama stared.
Angeleigh could read the horror on the girl's face. She didn't want to hear any cruel remarks, so she turned to leave.
"Hey! Hold on!" Ama said. "Lemme see it again!"
Angeleigh showed it to her. She was surprised to see Ama looking curious.
"Wow, what happened?" she asked, no tone of revolt in her voice.
"It's none of your business," Angeleigh said, looking down at her.
"Oh, okay," Ama said, shrugging. "I'm still hungry, so let's go."
Angeleigh nearly lost her balance. "You- you aren't disgusted?" she asked.
"Well, it's not the prettiest thing I've ever seen, but it's also not the grossest, so I give it a score of Icky Ouch on the Nasty Meter," Ama joked, standing up. "Let's go. I haven't eaten in hours!"
"So you still want to be friends?" Angeleigh asked, almost shyly. Why did she care what this Ama girl thought? Did she want a friend so badly? Yes. Yes, she did.
"Oh course! I've always wanted a friend who's lamer than I am," Ama kidded, grinning.
Angeleigh was still very surprised and relieved, but she managed to smile to let Ama know she knew she was just playing. "Watch what you say. I have a cane, and there's nothing wrong with my arms. I could easily make you crippled."
"Stop that. You're making me crave frog legs!" Ama said, patting her stomach.
"That's gross."
"Yeah, well, you're talking about beating my legs up, so we're even," Ama defended.
Angeleigh actually felt herself laugh.
Authors' Note:
J. Rolande- Thanks for continuing with our story; I ask you to keep an open mind. I know created characters tend to get a bad rap in the fanfic world, but I'm doing my best to stay true to HP canon and far from Mary-Sue-dom. I'll hint that Angleigh can do more than just sense sad emotions; she has other powers too, but those will be revealed later.
Amaniachwen- Wow! You just met Amamnemosyne. Haha! I know her name is weird, but it will be explained later. Please give us time to develop her. She has her own story, but we will explain that later as well. I hope you like Angeleigh and Ama because we think they are cool and really fun to write about.
Now for presents!
SycoCallie: Thank you so much for your support! We really appreciate it. ^.^ I have an authentic Harry Potter broomstick for you! Harry Potter himself signed it right there on the handle. ^.^
baloonatic: We hurried for you! In your nice reviewing honor, we have for you a Dumbledore mug. It has his picture on it, but be careful because it sometimes wanders off to visit the other mugs.
Kyo's Kitzy Ball: We are very happy that you thought this was funny, and we hope you enjoyed this chapter, too. For you, we have a Hogwarts robe with the animals of the four houses decorating it. The pocket next to the Slytherin snake sometimes bites, so make sure you are very cautious!
If we receive three nice reviews, we will post the next chapter, and those reviewers will have presents! Again, thank you so much! ^.^
2. Trust
Spending a summer without his newly graduated twin brothers causing havoc all over the house had been oddly lonesome for Ron. Though it was a relief they weren't teasing him for his crush on, well, he didn't want to say, he had missed Fred and George's jokes and pranks and stink bombs.
"How the bloody hell did they find out anyway?" Ron grumbled to himself a week before school was scheduled to start again. Then he wondered why this question hadn't occurred to him earlier. Of the many reasons he thought of, it didn't happen to come to mind that he was a teenage boy who had more on his mind than his brothers, which sometimes made him a bit stupid.
Remembering the former question, he strained to recall when Fred and George had first found out. "I think it was at school, maybe. Everyone was in the common room, and, well, no, not everyone. Harry was in the hospital wing because that bludger hit him, and Hermione was probably off in the library looking for the name of that curse thing or whatever. What was I talking about? Oh. I was playing chess with someone, some first year, I think, when Fred or George made a joke about Hermione being a bookworm, and, uh, I think I said something to them in 'Mione's defense, and then Fred or George made a crack about me liking her, and then I, um, bloody hell! I blushed! No wonder they found out. ERGH!" Ron slammed his face into his pillow. He was blushing even now as he thought about it.
His head hurt from having to think so far back. When had that happened? March, maybe? He stopped thinking since it was aching worse now that he was trying to remember dates.
"Damn Fred and George," Ron grumbled, wrenching at his flaming red hair. "Like I miss them, the prats."
"Ronald Weasley, if you don't get down here and degnome the garden right now, I swear I'll bite your legs off!" Mrs. Weasley screeched from the kitchen.
Ron heaved a sigh. Now he wished that Fred and George were here. Having to degnome the garden by himself was three times the work now that his older twin brothers were out making toys and candies in the large, wide wizarding world.
"Ronald Weasley!"
*****
" 'Oh-oh, here she comes! Watch out, boy. She'll chew you up!' " Singing and dancing around, Amamnemosyne was eagerly packing her trunk.
" 'Oh-oh, here she comes! She's a maneater!' " She rotated her shoulders to the beat. " 'Here she comes! She's a maneater!' " Amamnemosyne sang, tossing her fluffy blonde hair around her face and flinging a shirt decorated with cartoon bananas to the floor. She dropped one foot to the floor, incidentally upon her shirt, and after striking a pose she twirled. Her foot on the shirt slipped. She lost her balance.
"Oh-WHOA!" She fell. To keep from falling on her rear end, she twisted her body so she would fall against her bed, which the trunk was on. Slamming against the mattress, she grimaced at the sharp pain in her back as she watched her trunk wobble and slowly start to slip off.
" 'Oh-oh, here she comes,' " the radio sang as the trunk lost its balance and fell with a loud KLUMP! It fell to its side and bounced with an UMP-UMP. Clothes and schoolbooks from the trunk spilled across the floor. The radio on the apartment counter abruptly stopped playing.
Then there was silence.
"Well," Amamnemosyne said to the quiet room, "shit."
Mere moments later, the landlord Ms. Gerkynes, who was so fortunate as to have her room just below Amamnemosyne's, was rapping on the door. "Open up!" she squawked.
"Oh, goody," Amamnemosyne thought to herself sarcastically. She couldn't remember a time when Ms. Gerkynes hadn't disliked her, so she was probably in for an angry visitor.
Amamnemosyne opened the door and smiled when she saw it was who she had suspected.
"Hi, Ms. Gerkynes! How are you doing?" she asked enthusiastically, though sincerely.
Ms. Gerkynes overlooked the energetic salutation and tried to look over the tall teen's head and into the small apartment. "What was that ruckus?" she snapped as a greeting.
Raising her eyebrows, Amamnemosyne asked, "What ruckus?"
"Something fell and made a very loud noise, and it must have come from your room. For goodness sakes, child, let me in!" She pushed past Amamnemosyne.
Ignoring the woman's rude words and actions, Amamnemosyne tried to remember what had happened. She wasn't good at many things, but she was very talented at forgetting.
"What is all this doing in the middle of the floor?" Ms. Gerkynes barked, jabbing a long, red fingernail at the fallen trunk and spilled clothes.
"Oh, that's right! It fell," Amamnemosyne remembered cheerfully.
Ms. Gerkynes looked ready to blow. Her red-rimmed glasses were slipping off her nose, and she was angrily shoving them back into place with her middle finger. "You stupid girl, you're going to break my building with your idiotic activities!"
"This entire place looks about ready to break by itself," Amamnemosyne said.
"How dare you say that?!"
"Say what?"
"That my building looks ready to break!"
"Oh, it does, doesn't it?" Amamnemosyne said with a grin.
"You ungrateful brat! That's it! I want you out by tomorrow!" Ms. Gerkynes shrieked.
"I was leaving, anyway," Amamnemosyne admitted, unable to conceal her happiness. "I'll be going overseas, and I don't suppose I'll be back for nearly a year."
"You will never come back to this building," Ms. Gerkynes growled.
"I'll tell my aunt," Amamnemosyne said simply.
"Try it," Ms. Gerkynes snapped. "It's common knowledge your aunt doesn't care about you, and anyway, I know she's in jail. You don't think that sort of thing doesn't get around? Everyone knows. That's why we've let you stay! Everyone pities you. Everyone except me because I know you'll end up just like her, won't you?"
"Not quite," Amamnemosyne murmured with a grin. She and her aunt would never be alike. The gift of magic separated them.
"Why are you smiling? Are you on drugs? How dare you bring drugs into my building?!" Ms. Gerkyne's screamed.
"Oh, wow!" Amamnemosyne laughed. "I swear I'm not on drugs, Ms. Gerkynes. I don't know about the other people here, but I have never ever brought drugs into your humble building."
"Disrespectful brat!" Ms. Gerkynes slapped her across the face.
After blinking a couple times, Amamnemosyne closed her eyes and tried to remember the numbers from one to ten. "I'll be gone tomorrow, Ms. Gerkynes," she finally said.
Pursing her lips, Ms. Gerkynes glared at the teen and stomped out of the room, leaving the door open.
"Oh-oh, is she ever a maneater," Amamnemosyne grumbled.
She then heard a questioning whimper from the other side of the bed. Closing the door, she said, "She's gone. You can come out now, Ferdi."
A dog scampered through the bed and growled after Ms. Gerkynes. Besides being longhaired, the dog had short legs, large paws, a long body, and big, perky ears. But the dog was transparent; it was a ghost. It tilted its head back and looked up its fox-like snout at Amamnemosyne.
"It's okay, Ferdi. She was just bitching, as usual." She sighed, but her mood lifted when the radio came back on.
" '-right round, baby, right round like a record, baby,' " the radio picked up.
Amamnemosyne sniggered and, careful of any shirts on the floor, started dancing. She sang to the song on the radio, but she conveniently changed some of the lyrics. "You bitch me right round, baby, right round, like a celibate, baby, right round round round!"
Ferdinand -also known as Ferdi- followed her and playfully nipped at her heals even though his teeth went right through her feet.
"One more day, Ferdi Turdy! One, and then we're back in school!"
*****
Amamnemosyne spent the next morning repacking for the seventh and eighth times, so she would be sure she hadn't forgotten anything. If she had, Ms. Gerkynes would probably throw it away.
Her friend Paul, who lived across the hall from her, came to help carry her trunk. He was a short man with a plump stomach that hung over his jeans; he was a good man, and he had been Amamnemosyne's first friend when she had arrived at the building a few years ago.
Paul and Amamnemosyne made their way to the alley across the street from the apartment building, and Ferdinand made sure to keep out of site since ghosts were too upsetting for Paul and other Muggles to see.
"I can't see why you want this trunk thing over here, Ama. " Paul said in his thick southern accent.
"Well," Amamnemosyne began with a grin, "if anyone tries to mug me, they'll have a hard time getting away with my trunk, right?"
They shared a last laugh together, and then Paul said awkwardly, "Well, I should get back to my wife. She isn't feeling well today."
"Tell her I hope she gets well," Amamnemosyne said. "I'll pray for you two and all. Thanks for everything."
"Take good care of yourself." Paul gave her a small hug and hurried back across the street.
Amamnemosyne looked away from his retreating form and took her notepad out of her small sky blue backpack decorated with fluffy white clouds. Rereading the instructions she had been given, she checked her watch, which read fifteen after twelve.
"Keep your eyes open, Ferdi," Amamnemosyne said, feeling butterflies swirling around inside her body. "We're supposed to be watching out for a light."
After standing and waiting for several minutes, she sat down on her trunk and slid her small backpack off her shoulders. She rooted through it and found a tin of mints. After popping one into her mouth, she let it dissolve a bit before she got bored with that and chewed it.
"Hooooooo hummmmmm," she said. "I'm bored. Hooooooo hummmmmm. I wanna be gored."
Ferdinand looked up at her and made a questioning noise that sounded like "urar?"
"I don't really want to be gored. I couldn't think of anything else that would rhyme," Amamnemosyne admitted.
After watching her for a few moments, the dog rested its head on its outstretched paws again. Amamnemosyne smiled at the magical dog.
"I'm glad you're a wizarding animal, Ferdi. You have more of a personality than any Muggle's creature I've met," she said.
Instead of giving her a reply, Ferdinand perked his ears and then started barking, his tail flaring. The ground was rumbling, causing everything in the alley to shake, and Amamnemosyne gracelessly fell off her trunk and slammed into the wall of the building beside her. Being a ghost, Ferdinand was unaffected, and it easily rushed to Amamnemosyne's side.
Just as suddenly as the rumbling had begun, it stopped.
"Was that an earthquake?" Amamnemosyne asked, rubbing her arm that had hit the wall.
Then a banging noise was heard; it was coming from further down the alley.
CLANG! CLANG!
"Holy hell, what now?" Amamnemosyne grumbled, curiously looking over the top of her trunk, which she was now hiding behind.
CLANG! CLANG!
Ferdinand barked.
CLANG! CLANG!
A dumpster was thrown aside with a loud KUH-CLANGANGANGANG, a bright glittery light shining out from underneath it. The ground swung open, and a man stuck his head out from the square hole in the pavement.
"Damn Muggles always puttin' things where they don't need to be," he grumbled, putting his wand back into his robe. The man was nearly six feet tall and had a skinny frame. His brown hair fell messily over his tan face and neck.
Amamnemosyne leapt out from behind the safety of her trunk and ran down the alley to the stranger. "Hi! I'm Ama! Are you the one who's supposed to pick me up?"
The man pulled a folded piece of paper out of his robe and squinted at it. "Ah-mah-em-en-see-neh?" he said.
Amamnemosyne laughed. "No, it's pronounced Ah-mah-nem-oh-sign," she said slowly, "but I go by Ama."
"Okay then. I'm Antonio, and I'll be escortin' you to the train you're to be ridin' on," he introduced.
"Great! Can you help me with my trunk first? It's too heavy for me to carry by myself," she explained.
"Okay then," Antonio said. His strides were long, and in a short amount of time, he had reached the trunk, hefted it onto his shoulder, and walked back to the opening in the ground.
"Wow! I didn't think you were that strong!" Ama said in awe.
Antonio grinned and said; "Girls' stuff is always so damn heavy so I hafta be strong to carry it."
He knelt down, slid the trunk off his shoulder, and lowered it into the hole.
"I can get down on my own," Ama said, tapping her thigh, signaling for Ferdinand to follow.
She sat at the edge of the hole, letting her feet dangle into it. Supporting her body with her arms, she scooted so she was facing the out of the hole then slowly lowered herself down, Ferdinand floating after her.
Antonio hopped down, and taking his wand out of his robes, said, "Trificno." The hatch fell back forward, concealing them in darkness. "Lumos." Light filled the small compartment. "Artignia." The small room began descending straight down into the earth.
"This is like an elevator!" Ama recognized.
"A what?" Antonio asked.
"Muggles have something like this in big buildings. They call them 'elevators.' "
"Oh," Antonio said disinterestedly.
"Have you ever been to Europe?" Ama asked.
"Nope."
"Would you ever want to go?"
"Nope."
"What do you think it's like?"
"Like here, I guess."
"I think it will have a really pretty blue sky with huge fluffy white clouds and lots of sunlight. 'Course, it will probably storm hard, too, but no place is perfect."
"Probably isn't."
"I like it here okay, but I would like more sunny days that aren't super hot. I'm tired of heat, heat, heat throughout the spring and summer and fall and then cold, cold, cold all winter."
"Uh-huh."
"What about you? What kind of weather do you like?"
"Anything that doesn't kill me, I guess."
"Haha, this is pretty pathetic, huh? Two strangers talking about weather!"
Antonio smiled. "I'm not big on talkin.' I hope you don't mind."
"Do you mind if I talk? I'm kind of nervous about this whole trip, and when I get to the train, I'll probably be even more nervous, but when I get to school, I'll be even more nervous even though I really, really want to go. Talking helps, I think."
"Talk all you want," Antonio said.
And she did. She talked for the last three hours of the trip. Ferdinand, who seemed used to the chatter, closed his eyes and rested in mid-air, but no matter how friendly and energetic Ama was, Antonio felt his nerves snapping ever few minutes. Lucky for the three descending beings, Antonio had several nerves, so he himself did not snap.
When they had reached their destination far beneath the earth's surface, Ama opened the door and stepped out into the steamy lobby and onto a firm concrete floor. She looked around. An information and ticket desk was on her left and to her right were bathrooms, which she made a mental note to go to as soon as possible since she'd just endured three hours in a small compartment without a potty break. Straight ahead was a long corridor with a sign on the wall beside it that read 'To ThE tRaInS.'
"I need to buy a ticket, and then I need to use the bathroom. Will you help me load my trunk when I'm done?" Ama said to Antonio, who was already wiping sweat off his forehead.
"Yeah, I think I'll need to wash up some anyway. Too damn humid down here."
"Don't like humid weather then?"
"Not at all," Antonio panted, rushing to the men's room.
Ama laughed, and after she had purchased a ticket for the next train to Europe, she went to use the women's room, which was even more humid than the lobby. As she washed her hands in the sink after she had relieved herself of the extra cargo, she splashed some water on her face to cool herself a bit.
"Hey, Ama," Antonio said when she had come out of the bathroom. "When is your train supposed to leave?"
Ama took her ticket out of her small backpack and skimmed over it. "At 4:45 PM. Why? What time is it now?"
"4:39," Antonio said, glancing at his watch.
"Oh, my God! Hurry! I gotta get on that train!" Ama squealed. She began pushing her trunk to the hall leading to the trains, but she wasn't getting very far very fast.
Antonio picked up the front part of the trunk and said, "Pick up the back end. If we run, we can make it, so don't worry."
Ama nodded and gripped the bottom of trunk and started running.
"Not that fast! Jeez, I'm an agin' guy!" Antonio said when Ama started running faster than him, causing the trunk to bump into his bottom.
"Sorry, Antonio," Ama said, slowing down just a bit.
"Better."
They awkwardly raced down the hall past floating candle after floating candle with Ferdinand flying beside them.
Ama's arms were burning and straining with the effort of sustaining her end of the trunk, but she tried to picture what her new school would be like to keep herself motivated.
Then she saw a light ahead and both Antonio and Ama put on a burst of speed and zoomed into the station.
"Which train? Which train?" Antonio yelled.
"Um! Um!" Ama cried, pushing herself to remember the number. "The Atlantic Express! The Atlantic Express!"
"Got it!" Antonio said, turning left with Ama trailing.
"Damn it! The lights are on! That means the train is about to pull out! Hey, Fritz! Hold the train, bro!" Antonio called to a man up ahead that looked just like him except that he was taller.
"Why, bro?"
"Just do it!"
Shrugging, Fritz shouted, "Hold the train, Brittania!"
The lights on the train flickered then dimmed to a soft unearthly glow.
"Load this girl and her trunk here up would you? I need to refresh my lungs," Antonio wheezed, kneeling to the ground.
"Can do," Fritz said, picking the trunk up and climbing onto the train.
Breathing hard, Ama fell to her knees in front of Antonio, leaned forward, and hugged him. "Thank you so much! I really, really appreciate all your help!"
Antonio awkwardly patted her back and said, "You better get on that train, Ama. They don't wait forever."
Her legs were buzzing from running, but she climbed to her feet and gave a breathless good-bye to her new friend.
Fritz, who was waiting for her on the train, guided her to an empty compartment where she mumbled a tired thank you before collapsing onto the long cushioned seat and falling asleep.
*****
Angeleigh woke suddenly. She hadn't meant to fall asleep. If anything, she was trying to stay awake. Sleep only brought nightmares that made her relive the horrible events of six weeks ago. The rocking of the train on its tracks must have lulled her to sleep.
She was traveling alone, which didn't surprise her. She didn't have anyone else in the world at this point. Even Uncle Damian Dervish was still hundreds of miles away. She wondered if he even remembered he was an uncle, and how he felt knowing Emma, his sister, was dead, and that he was inheriting her now-crippled, both physically and emotionally, daughter.
To look at her, one could hardly tell that Angeleigh was crippled in those ways. Her robes covered her mangled leg, which bottles upon bottles of Skele-gro could not repair. And only those who had known her previously would see the difference in her emotions. Her eyes, once bright, lively, and inquisitive, were duller now, and infinitely sad. But on the whole, Angeleigh looked pretty normal.
Angeleigh had honey-colored hair that she usually just let fall loose to the center of her back. Her skin had taken on a sickly pale hue since her rescue from the Reapers' captivity, and the look in her eyes had changed as well; they were a very shocking shade of amber. She had no idea whose side of the family she'd inherited them from; her mom's eyes were brown, her dad's blue. But her eyes were a deep gold. They used to gleam like fire, perhaps kindled by her fierce will and fiery spirit. Now there was sheen to them, which softened her gaze and made it look like she was perpetually on the verge of tears.
Her powers had changed some too. It used to be she could sense the emotions of everyone around her. After being freed from the Reapers' captivity, she could only sense the sadness of those around her.
She was sitting on a bench in one coach that was something like a lobby, so occasionally someone would pass through.
Why was there so much pain in everyone? Why was she forced to see it, to feel it, to practically taste the sickening salt of shedding tears of it? Anyone who came within a few feet of her would feel chilled, and anyone who came within a few feet of her would make her feel all their sadness, all their grief. It was a curse. She could never be close to anyone again. People shunned her, the strange girl that gave them the creeps, the sick looking girl with the limp.
It was a bittersweet thing that she was going to a different school in a different country. Her friends would never have to see her like this, but she would never see her friends again. She'd realized this before, but it made her sad to think of their cheerful smiling faces. If she ever saw them again, those cheerful smiles would turn to horrified grimaces. Even her parents-
A small tear fell off her eyelid and slid down her face, bits of it hiding in the small crevice between her nose and cheek.
"Hullo!" someone chirped in front of her.
Angeleigh didn't look up. She knew the person wasn't talking to her. No one did. Not any more.
"Hullo!" the person said again.
She didn't look up.
"Hey, are you okay?" the person asked with sincere concern in her voice.
Angeleigh looked up. The person was actually talking to her. "I'm fine," she murmured when she'd gotten over her surprise that lasted a few seconds.
The person talking to her was a gangly girl, who looked probably a year older than Angeleigh, which would make her seventeen or so. The girl had short, fluffy hair that had at least four different hues of blonde jumbled into a bright, sunny color. Her hair was held back with a dark green headband; her hair fell over and into her eyes anyway, but the girl didn't seem to mind. She wore a gray sweatshirt that had a big hood that she kept hanging against her back, which made the ends of her hair stick out wildly. She also wore a pair of loose jeans and large sneakers with the laces obviously untied since they could be seen trailing behind her.
"Good!" the girl said. " You didn't answer me, so I thought you were about to barf or something because you were leaning forward a little like it was all about to come out. Do trains make you sick?"
"No," Angeleigh said.
"Me neither. The rocking isn't as bad as I thought it might be. Are you sure they don't make you sick? You look really pale."
Angeleigh knew how she looked, but she resented the girl saying something about her appearance. She was about to tell her to go away and leave her alone, but she was startled when the girl put a hand to her forehead.
"You don't seem to have a fever or anything," the girl said. Then she noticed Angeleigh's shocked expression.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" she said, withdrawing her hand. "You probably think someone you don't know shouldn't touch your forehead. I'm really, really sorry. I'm not trying to sexually harass you or anything. If you were a really cute guy, well, I might, but I'm not a whore or anything, I swear. I'm just making jokes and stuff."
Angeleigh was still too surprised to laugh. This girl had touched her and Angeleigh had felt nothing. Nothing at all. No sadness. No grief. No pain. It was as if there was a wall mentally blocking her emotions. How could this be?
"Um, do you want me to get lost?" the girl asked timidly.
"No," Angeleigh said. She wanted to figure out what was going on.
"I'm Angeleigh," she introduced, extending her hand. Maybe the touch before had been a fluke. Maybe she had only imagined nothing had happened.
"I'm Amamnemosyne, but I go by Ama," the girl said, taking Angeleigh's hand and giving it a small shake.
Angeleigh tightened her grip on Ama's hand when she didn't feel anything. Maybe the hold wasn't firm enough. Still, nothing happened. Angeleigh felt like she was repeatedly running into a brick wall. She let go.
Ama rubbed her hand, wincing a bit. "You have a really strong handshake, Ange."
"Ange?"
"Do you mind me calling you that? I mean, Angeleigh is a cool name and all, but Ange isn't as much of a mouthful and all," Ama explained, sitting down on the bench beside her.
"No, you can call me Ange if you want," Angeleigh permitted. "I mean, my dad used to call me Angie, so..." her voice trailed off and she turned away from Ama.
"Okay!" Ama's entire face lit up at her words, and she smiled.
Angeleigh looked over to her noticed her eyes. They were the same dark green as her headband, which made them stand out even more. A thin line of brown rimmed the bottom of the green, but one wouldn't notice unless they were at most a couple feet away.
"Where are you going?" Ama asked, leaning forward, resting her elbows on her knees and peering up and Angeleigh.
Angeleigh didn't want to talk about herself; she had learned it was usually better not to give out much info even if it was trivial.
"Europe," Angeleigh said vaguely.
"Haha, we all are, aren't we? This train doesn't have any stops does it?" Ama asked.
"None that I know of."
"Oh, well. I mean, I like riding the train and all, but I can't wait to get to Hogwarts!" Ama's smile seemed to take up her entire face.
"Y-you're going to Hogwarts?" Angeleigh stammered.
"Yup! I'm going to be a sixth year! It'll be great!"
"I'm going to Hogwarts, too!" Angeleigh gushed, feeling silly though she also felt relieved that she would know at least one person at school.
"For real? Awesome!" Ama cried. "That's such a relief! I didn't want to be by myself, you know? Wow, this must be fate!" Ama laughed.
"Fate," Angeleigh murmured. Since her parents had been killed, she'd wondered if it was fate that they died that way, if it was fate that it had been all her fault.
"Ange?" Ama said, waving her hand in front of her face.
Angeleigh quickly swatted her hand away.
Ama blinked in surprise. "You'd make an awesome seeker, Ange!" she said exuberantly.
"I'm usually a beater," Angeleigh said.
"Neat. I think I'm best as a chaser. Making goals is the bomb." She laughed.
Smiling, Angeleigh felt oddly grateful to fate at this moment. It had sent her someone who could momentarily clear her mind of all her pain. Instead of feeling cautious around Ama, Angeleigh felt herself falling into the girl's animated conversation.
The two girls continued talking and sharing stories for a while before Ama interrupted herself to say she was hungry.
"We can go to the dining car and get some munchies," Ama suggested.
Angeleigh hesitated. What would Ama think of her leg? Would she be disgusted? Would she suddenly say she had to leave? "Might as well get it over with," Angeleigh thought.
She stood up and limped forward.
Watching Angeleigh with a confused expression, Ama opened her mouth to ask why she was limping.
Interrupting Ama's impending question, Angeleigh pulled her robes aside and lifted her skirt just a bit, exposing her mangled leg.
Ama stared.
Angeleigh could read the horror on the girl's face. She didn't want to hear any cruel remarks, so she turned to leave.
"Hey! Hold on!" Ama said. "Lemme see it again!"
Angeleigh showed it to her. She was surprised to see Ama looking curious.
"Wow, what happened?" she asked, no tone of revolt in her voice.
"It's none of your business," Angeleigh said, looking down at her.
"Oh, okay," Ama said, shrugging. "I'm still hungry, so let's go."
Angeleigh nearly lost her balance. "You- you aren't disgusted?" she asked.
"Well, it's not the prettiest thing I've ever seen, but it's also not the grossest, so I give it a score of Icky Ouch on the Nasty Meter," Ama joked, standing up. "Let's go. I haven't eaten in hours!"
"So you still want to be friends?" Angeleigh asked, almost shyly. Why did she care what this Ama girl thought? Did she want a friend so badly? Yes. Yes, she did.
"Oh course! I've always wanted a friend who's lamer than I am," Ama kidded, grinning.
Angeleigh was still very surprised and relieved, but she managed to smile to let Ama know she knew she was just playing. "Watch what you say. I have a cane, and there's nothing wrong with my arms. I could easily make you crippled."
"Stop that. You're making me crave frog legs!" Ama said, patting her stomach.
"That's gross."
"Yeah, well, you're talking about beating my legs up, so we're even," Ama defended.
Angeleigh actually felt herself laugh.
Authors' Note:
J. Rolande- Thanks for continuing with our story; I ask you to keep an open mind. I know created characters tend to get a bad rap in the fanfic world, but I'm doing my best to stay true to HP canon and far from Mary-Sue-dom. I'll hint that Angleigh can do more than just sense sad emotions; she has other powers too, but those will be revealed later.
Amaniachwen- Wow! You just met Amamnemosyne. Haha! I know her name is weird, but it will be explained later. Please give us time to develop her. She has her own story, but we will explain that later as well. I hope you like Angeleigh and Ama because we think they are cool and really fun to write about.
Now for presents!
SycoCallie: Thank you so much for your support! We really appreciate it. ^.^ I have an authentic Harry Potter broomstick for you! Harry Potter himself signed it right there on the handle. ^.^
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Kyo's Kitzy Ball: We are very happy that you thought this was funny, and we hope you enjoyed this chapter, too. For you, we have a Hogwarts robe with the animals of the four houses decorating it. The pocket next to the Slytherin snake sometimes bites, so make sure you are very cautious!
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