She watched the little first years walk into the Great Hall. She could do nothing but grin.
That playful, friendly grin she wore.
I could hear another voice saying, "She is one of the Chosen."
The grin. . .
"She will bring the end to us all. . ."
Smiling, happy. . .
"She must be killed."
Emily set her rather large suitcase onto her new bed in the Ravenclaw third-year girls' dormitory. She didn't honestly feel like unpacking just yet - or ever, for that matter. Maybe if she just had a quick lie-down and started packing in an hour or so. Yes, Emily thought as she settled herself in her bed, that sounds good...
"Wake up!" Emily's roommate and best friend Lisa yelled. Immediately Emily thrust herself up.
"Agh! What could you possibly want, Lis?"
"You try this every year, Em. You sleep until nine, and by then you're too groggy to do anything, and Shelly and I end up unpacking for you."
"Damn, you caught on," Emily mumbled sarcastically as she tried to put her feet on the ground.
"Oh, you're so formulaic," Lisa replied in the same tone of voice.
Right then Shelly, the other member of their trio, entered. Emily always thought that they were an odd trio - Emily, the brains of the operation; Lisa, the comedian; and Shelly, the abnormally quiet one.
"Did she try to sleep?" Shelly asked with a small grin on her face.
"You bet your life she did. But I caught her."
Emily made some unintelligible grumbling noises and opened her suitcase. She took a grey jumper out of her suitcase and gently placed it in the bureau she'd be sharing with Lisa and Shelly. Underneath the large pile of jumpers, Emily found a picture frame that she thought she'd lost months ago. . .Now how could that have got in there? she thought to herself. She held it up to look at the picture inside closer. Oh, yes, that was it.
Almost as quickly as she had pulled it out, she hid it under a random pile of clothes.
"Emily. . .what was that?" Shelly hestitantly asked Emily.
"Oh, nothing!" Emily sat on the pile of clothes nonchalantly and heard a crack. Damn, she thought. And I really liked that picture frame as well. Lisa raised her eyebrows and pulled away the pile of clothes.
"Emily. . .this isn't a picture of you and Kyle from the Guy Fawkes Day party we held last year, is it?" Lisa waved the incriminating picture in front of her.
"Well, what if it is? It doesn't necessarily mean anything, like that I miss the bastard or anything; I mean, it was his prerogative to go to Durmstrang. I mean, I just thought it'd look nice - along with that picture of the three of us vacationing in Anguilla and the picture of Shelly sleeping on the ride home and the pict -"
"Em, you're scrambling. You love him," Lisa said.
Emily decided to give up gently and gracefully. "If you say so."
"Hey, Lori," Harry asked Lori in the Gryffindor common room. "What'd you get for number four on the Potions homework?"
"Er - um - well - um, here." Lori fumbled for her parchment. Here she was, the beginning of her second year, and she still couldn't say anything that made sense to Harry Potter. As soon as she had a firm hold on her parchment, she gave it to him.
"Thanks, Lor. You're a real pal!" Harry said brightly. Ron, one of his chums, was waiting at the common room door for Harry, and they exited together. Parvati Patil looked up from her Witch Weekly and said, "Can't get past the incoherent rambling stage?"
"I don't know how Hermione can be so contained around him." Lori took a seat by her roommate.
"Something tells me it's not Harry she's overly concerned about," Parvati said, smirking.
Lori furrowed her eyebrows, but dismissed it. Why should she care about the bollocks Parvati was going on about? Harry Potter, the most perfect guy in the world, had called her a pal!
"She's one of the Chosen. . . you know you must not liase with her or any of their number."
"She's certainly not -"
"Yes, she is. If you wish to prevent the destruction of our cause, you must promise that fraternizing with any of the Chosen will not happen."
"Yes, Mother."
"There's a good boy."