Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other element of the story. Emily Black and her mother, brother (Zandyr), and Isaac (well . . . He is also Monsoon's) are my creations so don't use without permission :) Sarah (sweets), Rilee, and Nephiro own themselves.
A/N: Wow. I kind of am skeptical about this chapter. It's mostly dialogue. Oh well. It turned at long. ) And that makes me feel special. Thanks for the reviews. I made 40! Wahoo! I'm not posting 23 until I reach 45 because I'm mean. Edited Note Yeah. This dream was changed too, along with all of Emi's convo with Nep.
Chapter 17: ConnectionsI laid my head back down and shut my eyes. But every time I almost managed to fall asleep more dreams about my dream would come. I tried my best to stay awake after about the third one, but it was hard. My eyes were already heavy and when I blinked I almost passed out.
o.O
I was in the black void again, floating . . . waiting for whatever I was to hear this time. "Sirius! I can't let you go!" My mother's voice rang it my ears; it made them sing.
"I have to Annie. It's the only thing to do. If I don't catch Peter, I'll be thrown in Azkaban for sure," a male said. I assumed it was my father.
"You'll be put in Azkaban anyway if you do what I know you're thinking about doing." "I promise I won't kill him."
"Oh, what you can do to him, will be much worse than killing him." I heard them laugh, but it stopped quickly. The sounds of a bird flapping its wings started. "Oh no."
"It's from Dumbledore. He says he feels Harry will be safer at his Aunt and Uncle's house." The letter smacking the floor made a loud noise and my dad let out a cry of aggravation. 'Dammit! I wish I could see!' "Those people hate wizards! You saw how they were at Lily and James' wedding! I should have cursed them when I had the chance!"
"Siri! Calm down! You're scaring the children." There was a pause. "Daddy is just kidding sweeties."
o.O
My eyes shot up. 'This is insane. I can't keep having these or I'll never get any real sleep!' I heaved a sigh and rolled onto my side. The photo I got bugged me. I moved the candle closer and took it back out of the envelope. I stared at it, taking in every detail about it. My father was a tall, good-looking man. He had black hair, like mine, that needed a haircut and brilliant electric blue eyes. My mother stood next to him, smiling at him, then to Lupin, looking like this was the happy moment of her life. She had short dark brown hair that was layered and went to about her ears. The hazel eyes, gazed out at me for a second, before returning to staring at my father. Lupin, seemed a bit nervous, had his short medium brown hair, slicked back, with some pieces loose in the front. The blond next to him was resting her head on his shoulder, with her eyes shut. She was very beautiful, and I can't see why people didn't say that she was the prettiest at Hogwarts. . . I flipped the card over to see the name again. "Cara Rushvish. . . Cara." My eyes lit up as I realized it was the name from my dream. It was what my mother had called her killer!
The space that should have been occupied by a man named Peter Pettigrew was empty. I glanced about the photo and found a short, stubby looking male, was a face that reminded me of a chipmunk, poking his head out from behind a tree. He is hiding? Why? I put the picture away and covered myself with the blankets, my mother's face still shining brightly in my mind. I slept. Madame Pomfrey let me leave the next morning. I carried all the candy and Christmas presents in my arms and slowly made my way to the common room. Peeves stopped me when I was almost to my destination.
"Awww, look at the ickle girl," he taunted.
"Shut up, Peeves," I said, rather annoyed with the fact he was bothering me.
"Is the ickle girl upset about her window?" I dropped my stuff and sighed. Peeves just laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry Blackie." My eyes traveled up to the transparent figure.
"You better leave before I figure out a way to kill you again." His face froze. I gave him a not-so-nice gesture and collected my stuff.
"Stay out of my way." He left me alone and I returned to the tower without any more interruptions. Harry, Ron and Hermione stood up when I entered the room.
"Emi! You're back! How are you feeling?" Harry asked.
"Do need any help?" Ron questioned.
"Oh, you are alive . . ." Hermione mumbled.
"Yes, I am back, I'm feeling fine, no, I don't need help and watch it Granger or you'll be flying out the window next," I snapped. Hermione turned and sat back down. 'That's right. Back off bitch.' Ron and Harry proceeded to ask me question upon question though, of course I ignored them, as I traveled to the stairs.
I turned to them. "Stop following me. Now." They looked a little crush, but I send them a glare. I made my way up the staircase alone. I plopped my stuff on my bed and grabbed the photo from inside of my robe. I stared at it for a bit, then hung it up on my headboard. I turned to leave, when I let out a scream. Scabber's could be seen stopping in the middle of the room, frozen with what I figured to be fear. I grabbed my wand and made my way towards him. He bolted out of the door, and I followed. I bounced down the stairs, trying to catch the bloody rodent; Crookshanks was at my heels.
"What's the matter?" Ron said as I looked around the common room. The cat was sniffing out Ron's rat. Something moved in his pocket and my eyes widened. The rat popped its head out and let out a squeak; my eyes widened. "Scabber's won't hurt you."
"I know that you git," I said. Sighing, I put my wand in my robe and walked away.
o.O
Later that day I began to feel like a caged bird, with just sitting around the common room. Deciding that I'd probably die of boredom from listening to the "trio" drone on about something I didn't care about, I grabbed my picture and I went to sit on the front steps. I was alone for a while, sitting there, watching the big shapes of the dementors move around, until Nephiro showed up.
"Hey Black," she said.
"Hey Miketsu," I replied back.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like I fell out of a window. You?"
"Like crap. Cedric and Zandyr are gone," I chuckled. Nep is so . . . weird. "And Rilee isn't much fun sober, no one else is here."
"I hear ya. I'm so sick of listening to Hermione." I began to mimic 'Mione. "But Ron! You should do your homework! Not try to do Harry in the ass!" She stifled a laugh.
"My house is pretty empty except for some 5th year that doesn't talk and Riddle. I've got it easy." "You suck. So. . . anyways. How was your Christmas?"
"Interesting."
"Define Interesting."
"Just different because my friends from home aren't here," she complained. I stayed quiet. "Did you like your presents?" I looked at her and raised an eyebrow. 'Nephiro is being nice again!'
"I guess so . . . Draco gave me never dying roses."
"Awww, like his love for you. And to think Zandyr only got me a ring."
"Wait. . . he got you a ring? After you confessed to me you've technically been cheating on him?" I couldn't believe it!
"Yeah. One of those love, loyalty, friendship things."
"Well, he got me a pair of omnioculars. It makes me feel bad that I only got him an apple," I told her, smirking. Zandyr wasn't really worth my money. He should be happy I even got him something.
"What, no oranges?"
"Zandyr doesn't like oranges."
"What?" She looked mildly confused for a second, and I just rolled my eyes. "Oh well. What else did you get?"
"Well . . . I got the journal from you. Thanks by the way." She nodded. "I also got this weird ring. There was no note. I don't know who it's from." I slipped off the black ring and handed it to her. She inspected it closely.
"Interesting inscription." I nodded. "You don't think it might be your mother's engagement ring?"
"It might be. But I'm not even sure if they even got engaged."
"It could be a sick joke," she commented, giving me back the ring. "I mean, someone out there doesn't seem to like you."
"I don't know. It could be from my dad . . . or the guy from Christmas Eve. Freakin' Harry got a Firebolt." She looked mad for a second but then smiled. 'She is so messed up!' There was silence between us from a while. I looked out over the grounds that were covered with snow. Hagrid's hut had a fire burning in and you could see him comforting Buckbeak inside. I frowned thinking about the poor animal. Draco messes up the dumbest things. I should have told his father that his son is a dumbass. The dreams played in my head again. The first one was the one that bothered me the most. Cara? If she was a friend of my dad . . . then why . . . And what was with that Peter dude, it made me think. I felt that I should have known him from somewhere, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. It was kind of like me seeing Lupin. It sent me down memory lane except I can't find the memory for the life of me.
"Miketsu. . ." I trailed off.
"Yeah, what?"
"I got this picture . . ." I stopped and gazed at her, taking out my photograph. "It has my father and some of his friends in it."
"So?"
"Have you ever heard of Peter Pettigrew?" She shook her head 'no'. I gave the picture to Nephiro and she examined it. Every now and then she would flip it over and looked at the names written on the back.
"But why is he hiding?"
"I don't know. But he is familiar looking." She shrugged.
"I don't know why you are showing me this Emi. Does this have to do with the other night?" Christmas Eve!
"That guy! Peter! He has the same face as the guy that attacked me!"
"But why would a friend of your father be attacking you?" My planned had failed. Maybe it wasn't the same guy.
"I'm not entirely sure . . ." But that's my reasoning behind this Cara chick
"So, what do you think it means?"
"I have no idea. Maybe the two have nothing to do with each other." I began to loose hope in finding any meaning to this.
"No, no, no. They have a connection. We just don't see it yet." She looked like she was thinking about something. "You said this guy, Peter, looks like the guy in your room right?" I nodded. 'Where is she going with this?' "Maybe it was. 'Peter' is an Animagus. 'Peter' must be Scabbers."
I raised an eyebrow at her. "Maybe, but that still doesn't explain why my dad's friend would try and kill me," I replied, grimly.
"Perhaps, he, like everyone else, thinks your dad is guilty. He was with James so he was probably James' friend. Is it that hard to believe that that could happen?" 'Dammit! I hate it when she is right!'
"I guess that could happen."
"But the real question is, how can we find out if he is an Animagus?" she asked.
Then I remembered something from the first day of classes. "McGonagall is an Animagus. Maybe she heard about an Animagus of a rat and a guy named Peter!"
"But will she tell us?" Nephiro questioned.
"Why wouldn't she? Let's go!"
We ran back into the school in a hurry, only to bump into a teacher, it wasn't the one we needed to talk to.
"Miss Black," Lupin began.
"Later, I am busy," I told him, walking past him. 'Lupin isn't worth it.' Nephiro stood still though. "Come on, Miketsu."
"Miss Miketsu, you know perfectly well that you are not suppose to be roaming the grounds, ever. Especially at night." He looked sort of scary. The lights were low and the way it hit his face made him half hidden in shadow. The bags under his eyes made his skin look paler than usual. Yes. Creepy.
"I wasn't on the grounds. I was on the steps. Back off," she sneered. Lupin just smirked. I kept my mouth shut; this wasn't my argument.
"Both of you are wanted in Dumbledore's office. Follow me." He turned and walked in the other direction. I shrugged and followed.
"Who put the stick up his butt?" I whispered to Nep.
"Snapoe," she replied. "Last night." I laughed lightly. Lupin turned his head and sent a death glare to both of us. We went on quietly, I wasn't going to say anything. More detentions were something I wasn't looking forward to having again. He stopped in front of the stone griffin.
"Chocolate Bon Bons," he whispered. The statue began to move up in a spiral motion, reveling a set of stairs. "Well, get on them!" We nodded quickly and stepped onto the staircases; up we traveled, leaving Lupin on the ground.
"What do you think he wants?" I asked as we approached the top. She rolled her eyes.
"You really are dumb sometimes Black. I feel stupider by the minute when I'm around you," she stated, grinning.
"I love you too Nephiro." The stairs came to a stop and I saw Professor Dumbledore sitting at his desk. He smiled and motioned for us to take a seat.
"I hate this office," Miketsu hissed as she brushed past me. Yea. I followed in Nep's footsteps and sat down in a comfy chair across from the old fart.
"Now, Miss Miketsu. Have you thought of any new ways to find the man from the other night?" Dumbledore said. She shook her head 'no'. He frowned a little and continued on. "Can you please describe the incident, Emily?"
"Sure. Well, I was. . . err . . . looking out my window when Scabbers came in." 'Why do I have to tell this again? Oh please.' I shot Nephiro a look and her eyes darted to the Headmaster.
"It was Scabbers. He is an Animagus," she blurted, smirking.
"I see. And, may I ask how you derived at that conclusion?"
"When I turned back to the bedroom, and saw a funny looking man, I noticed that blasted rat was no where to be seen. It' the only logical explanation." I took a breath.
"Hmmm . . . what else have you two figured out?" His glasses slid down the bridge of his nose, as he gazed at us. We looked at each other and I gulped.
"Nothing, sir."
"Then you girls are free to go." We started to get to our feet. "And, please, don't mention this whole ordeal about the window to anyone that wasn't here. Not even Mr. Malfoy, Glasgo and Diggory." Nephiro's face sort of lit up at the mention of Zandyr and Cedric. 'Haha. Nep is a riot.'
"We'll see McGonagall tomorrow," Miketsu told me as the stairs spiraled down. "Or when we get a chance."
"Alright."
"Oh, and you missed your lesson with Riddle again." Oh great.
"That was tonight?"
"Yup."
"Shit. I guess I should see if she is still there. Cya, Nep!"
"Bye, Emi." And we parted our separate ways.
A/N: Yup. They called each other by the nicknames . . . scary, no? I have nothing really to say except Nephiro is cool.