In Which Ila Realises the World Does Dot in Fact Revolve Around Her

"Is – is he dead?"

The two arrived back from the memory and were sitting at his desk. Ila was sitting cross-legged on the chair, as she watched Dumbledore, by the window with an owl on his arm as he attached a letter to send to the Aurors of the additional information.

"He received the Kiss of Death by Dementors not long after that," Dumbledore said, pushing the owl off to fly into the night. Ila watched him stay there. He was staring, watching the owl carefully until it was merely a small dot in the sky. That was when he returned to the chair opposite Ila.

"Will Mr Crouch be alright now?" Ila asked. "Do you think someone's found him yet?"

Dumbledore looked split between what he should say to her. He opened his mouth a few times before closing it, unsure of what to say. After a few feeble attempts, he said –

"Voldemort is back Ila," he started, "and though you won't understand what it was like, you will do soon enough. Voldemort isn't the type of wizard to remain quiet. He'll come back and when he does, everyone will realise. But along with Voldemort, comes Death and destruction. You out of most people have felt the consequences of His reign. You might not know how you felt because you were a baby, but now that you're much older, you're much more aware of everything…Death will come. It will come at the worst of times and the best of times. It can snatch away the people you care about the most without a second thought and…What I'm trying to say is that…you must be prepared for what is about to come. Not just Voldemort but for Death. It'll be all around you. You'll fear it, you'll want to run away, shut it out of your life, but you mustn't do that Ila. Death is inevitable. You will have to come to terms with it sooner than later. The people who fear Death are dangerous Ila."

"Why is that sir?" she asked, her fingers intertwining with one another.

"Because they will do anything to run away from Him. They believe Life is a greater force than Death. They believe Life will protect them, when really…all that Life is giving you is time and stopping you from being bored before…before Death comes to take you away."

"Like Voldemort?" Ila asked. "He's afraid of Death, isn't he?"

"His biggest fear," Dumbledore said solemnly. "Afraid to leave the world without a legacy. Afraid that when he dies, no one will remember him."

"What about you sir," she said. A small lump formed in her throat, and she was finding it hard to swallow. A frightening thought appeared of her being alone. No one insight. No Ron, Hermione, the Weasleys, Dumbledore…it was just her…alone…This was only a hypothetical. Why was she getting emotional? "What will you do when you see death?"
He smiled slightly. "The same thing as you Ila. We will greet Death with open arms."

"Trel – Professor Trelawny said that too. She said that I mustn't run away from it. Well, she said everyone else can, but not me."

"She did?" Dumbledore said, his brows furrowing, dropping his calm façade momentarily. "I'm sure she was mistaken. Everyone should accept Death for what it is."

"So, what now?" Ila said. "Are you sure you can't tell anyone about Voldemort?"

"Voldemort has a history of breaking the Ministry of Magic down from the inside. It's only been recent that everyone has started to put their trust back into it. It's an easy target for Voldemort. We mustn't let him know that we know…but do not fear Ila," Dumbledore said when he saw her face drop, "there are many people out there that I trust enough to say something, and they will do everything in their power to protect you. We will not let you get harmed in any way."

"Alright – what about the attack?" she questioned.

"Well…there's not a lot that we can do apart from strengthening our defences," Dumbledore told her. He himself already sounded a bit tired even though nothing had happened to him. "We will probably have to get the Dementors back to guard the school but…there's only so much that we can do without the Aurors saying anything."

"Right…" Ila said, his answer not satisfying her enough. But Dumbledore wasn't in the mood to comfort her. Not right now. Right now, he had to school and thousands of students to protect.

"You have a Tournament to win, don't you?" Dumbledore said, suddenly standing up. He waved his hands, motioning Ila to do the same. Once she did, Dumbledore placed his arms around her shoulders, gently ushering her out of his office. "Only one last Task," he smiled brightly as they reached the door, "I do hope you win the Cup."

By the time Ila had gotten back to her dorm, she wanted to do nothing more than fall asleep. Though, something told her that her dreams would have been filled with familial betrayal and a shadowy figure.

This was why Ila supposed that perhaps it would be better if she indulged in Parvati's fantasies of having a 'spa day.' Ila hadn't actually expected it to happen. Mainly because…well have you met Hermione?

"Can you stop moving!" Lavender grumbled, holding down Ila's feet as she tried to paint them red.

"I can't help being ticklish," Ila giggled grudgingly.

"Hmmm – you know what, I won't say this often – I probably won't say this ever again, but I think you guys were right…I really feel relaxed…maybe I need to do this more often," Hermione said in a daze. "Maybe we should do this weekly."

But here Ila was, sitting on her bed, with Lavender working on her toes, while Hermione and Parvati were sleeping with cucumbers on their eyes. The entire dorm had been somewhat transferred into what Ila thought was Trewlany's dream room. The curtains that were usually used to protect Ila from Lavender and Parvati's antics, were now draped over the ceiling, creating a large, makeshift tent, similar to how it was in Trelwnay's room when Ila had her reading. Candles were lit, precariously floating above them. Ila felt somewhat safe, trapped in this tent with the three other girls. It felt like a completely different world the moment you stepped into the red shelter. The air smelt of pungent flowers that weaved in and out of the girls. The conversation and memories she saw with Dumbledore slowly drifted to the back of her mind as her curiosity of this week's Witch Weekly issue read -

"How to seduce a guy in 10 steps!"

A flirty witch winked suggestively at Ila before blowing a kiss, enticing her to read the magazine. To be honest, it was either read it or let that conversation slowly drift back and rattle the box so hard it'll -

"You want to tell us something Ila?" Lavender said, smirking when she caught Ila reading the magazine.

"I'm not being serious, I'm just reading," Ila said quickly. She shut the magazine up, just as she was getting to number three. She flopped back onto her bed so that Lavender couldn't see her cheeks starting to turn pink. She started the red ceiling. Perhaps it was the curtains or perhaps it was the normalcy of the moment, but it warmed her. She wondered when the next time she'll get to feel like this.

"Sure, you are," she muttered. "So that outburst last night meant nothing then?"

Unfortunately, the feeling itself didn't even last that long.

Ila pulled her feet away from Lavender, only for it to be yanked by the same girl.

"Ow!"

"Answer my question and I'll be nicer," she replied in a sing-song voice, going back to painting Ila's nails. "So…go on…."

"Go on about what?" Parvati said, moving one of the cucumber slices from her eyes. "What happened?"

"Your friend is racially abusing that's what's happening," Ila grumbled, pushing herself up on her elbows.

"She's not being truthful about her feelings for a certain someone," Lavender sang.

"There's nothing to be truthful about," Ila replied defensively, pushing herself back to sitting. "Nothing has happened, and nothing needs to be confessed and that's that."

Or at least, Ila thought it was final.

But Parvati had a sudden spring of energy, taking both slices of cucumber from her eyes and waddled to Ila and Lavender, since her toes were also painted. This then caught Hermione's attention, who looked up to see all three girls together and not wanting to be left out, she too had joined them.

They all stared at Ila.

Lavender and Parvati shared a pointed look, while Hermione was trying to figure out what they knew that she didn't.

"What?" Ila snapped, unable to take their stares anymore. Lavender had stopped painting her toes.

"Maybe the reason why you think that's the truth is because…you think it's the truth," Lavender said.

To Ila, it genuinely sounded like word soup.

"Well, yeah obviously – what else would it be?"

"I mean Ila, that you haven't come to terms with the truth. Not your truth but…the truth truth. The objective truth."

"Ooo, nice word," Hermione congratulated, and Lavender smiled smugly.

"I think I know more about my own feelings than you do," Ila said snarkily.

"Is this about you and Malfoy?" Hermione wondered aloud.

Lavender and Parvati both turned to Hermione. Ila wanted to stop her talking. "What do you think about the two of them?"

"There is no -"

"Shut up Ila!" Parvati hissed before turning back to Hermione, feigning a smile. "Go on."

"Er – well -"

"Don't look at Ila," Parvati said gently, moving in front of Ila so that Hermione couldn't see Ila shake her head. "Tell us the truth. Don't you think it's a bit weird about how much time they've been spending with each other and just how much they've been arguing?"

"Well you know, there's – there's always more than what meets the eye," Hermione said slowly, hoping that was the most neutral statement.

"So, what you're saying is – this is all a front. The whole enemy's thing is fake. You've been together since first year?" Lavender said, pointing at Ila. Even Parvati looked convinced, gasping at the 'truth.'

"No! No! Definantly not! That is not the objective truth!" Ila said, her voice rising in hysteria. She needed to take a hold of this situation before it gets worse.

"Then what is Ila? Tell us if you're so sure."

Suddenly Ila's mouth went dry.

There was a part of her that wanted to scream about her feelings about Draco. The more rational side of her wanted to slap that side of her so hard she would lose her voice.

But it's been months and she really needed to tell someone about what happened. She needed another opinion about what was going on with her and Draco. She wanted someone to tell her that maybe what Draco was doing was normal friends thing, even though she knew Ron would never even think to do some of the things Draco had done.

And maybe…

Another, very small part of her wanted…. wanted to tell her that Draco wasn't just being 'friendly.' That…maybe he wanted to be more than friends. That all of those things he had done for her was because he truly cared for her.

Merlin, she was like a wet cloth.

What the fuck was wrong with her? Did she forget what just happened an hour ago? Did she forget about her conversation with Dumbledore? The whole thing about Death? Voldemort was somewhere out there, planning something with the Sisters – something that she still hasn't figured out what it was. She has no idea when He'll show everyone that he's back. She has no idea what will even happen once he does so. The only thing she does know is how many lives he'll ruin. She had already seen it with Barty Crouch and his son. Not only were the Crouch's lives ruined, but…Neville's parents never had the chance to ever parent their child…And here she was, worrying about some stupid crush on some stupid boy that doesn't even matter in the bigger picture, because why will it matter when everyone will die because Ila wasn't able to save everyone!
…

She needed a better lock on that box.

While the box in her mind was pouring out all of her worries, her mouth was wired shut. Tears slowly rolling down her cheeks were the only thing that came out.

"Maybe you can't get to the truth not because you don't believe it but…you don't think it's important," Hermione said softly, reading her thoughts.

"Is that it?" Parvati asked, her voice also softening. "Is that why?"

Her vision was starting to cloud but she was still wearing her glasses. Suddenly, three pairs of arms engulfed her. She was warmed, not just physically, at the thought of the three girls hugging her, holding her up essentially.

Perhaps Draco might have been right…

She might need at least someone to talk to. Even if it wasn't a boyfriend or…husband.

"You shouldn't be annoyed at yourself for not constantly prioritising You Know Who, Ila, Hermione whispered so that only she could hear, "you're still allowed be to a normal girl." The three let her go.

"While we might not know what's going on but…it might give you a break to think about something that isn't – whatever's going on with you," Lavender said while patting Ila's cheeks with a few tissues.

"Is it about the attack?" Parvati asked. There was something about the way she said it; it was as if she knew more than she was letting on. Ila wondered if Hermione might have accidentally said something. "Did Dumbledore tell you who might have done it?"

"I can't – he said that -"

"Weknowit'stodowithYouKnowWho!" Lavender blurted out, only to be hit by Parvati.

"Lavender!"

"How the hell do you two know about that?" Ila exclaimed.

Parvati sighed, rubbing her temples. Lavender looked guilty…and strangely enough, so was Hermione…

"During the first party – whichever one it was, Hermione ended up really drunk - you need to work your secret-keeping – and might have spilt the beans about everything," Parvati added as a side note to Hermione, who looked mortified that she had done something like that.

"Hang on, hang on – what?" Ila said, her voice rising a few octaves. "You were drunk?"

"Ila, I literally told them one of your biggest secrets and me being drunk is the thing that you're getting caught upon?"

"Well…how much did you say?" Ila opened and closed her mouth a few times.

"Everything…" Hermione looked like she was about to burst into tears. "I'm so sorry Ila – I shouldn't - "

"What happened?" Ila asked, more curious than annoyed.

Hermione groaned before explaining what happened. "I accidentally put too much faith in the twins and thoughts the drinks would be fine…It wasn't. Obviously, they had spiked it with fire whiskey, but they must've put some spell on it because I couldn't taste a thing. I just remembered it tasting good and…well, one drink turned to two, which turned to three, which turned into….ten…"

Ila's eyes bulged out of her sockets. Any worry she had about Draco or Voldemort had vanished at the thought of Hermione being nearly blackout drunk.

"And then we found her and because of the good roomies we were, we brought her back up," Parvati added.

"That's when I accidentally spilt the – er – the…beans," Hermione said, her voice getting quieter and quieter as the sentence continued.

"Wow," Ila breathed. "I mean – I guess I'm not mad I'm just - "

"Disappointed?"

"Sad that I wasn't there to see it," she said honestly. "Anything else you want to share?"

Ila had meant it as a joke. She hadn't actually expected Hermione to blurt out –

"IalsokissedRon!"

"WHAT?" Ila screamed, jumping up on her bed. She wasn't the only one shocked. Parvati's eyes bulged out of her socket before looking impressed while Lavender had her hands to her mouth. "You did what?"

"I kissed Ron during the Yule Ball!" Hermione exclaimed before covering her face with her hands when Ila couldn't stop staring at her. "It was when you went somewhere probably with Draco and Ron pulled me aside when I was dancing with Viktor and he asked me what I was doing but he sounded annoyed so I took him outside before asking him why he was so annoyed and he said it was because he didn't like the way Viktor was looking at me and told me he was some creep and I was like why does it matter if he looks at me like that, you probably won't say the same thing with Ila and then he was like yeah, I wouldn't say the same thing because and then he just pulled me and kissed me."

Hermione took a deep breath.

"So you two DO like each other!" Ila gasped, pointing a finger at her friend. "All this time – I've been such an idio – that's why you two won't stop arguing. Fuck! Did you two know about this as well?"

"No, but it was obvious," Lavender said, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm pretty sure I can pinpoint the exact day when they started liking each other."

Ila narrowed her eyes, slightly ashamed of her observation skills. Merlin, this is what happens when you're so self-centred. She couldn't believe that not seeing both her friends' crush on each other was what made her realise that perhaps that world doesn't revolve around her.

"Go on," Ila said, mainly to see just how oblivious she had been with her friends' feelings to one another. Lavender smiled, turning to Hermione and the two stared deep into each other's eyes as if they were long lost lovers who had finally made their way back to each other and were about to –

"First year…the first day – no. You initially thought he was attractive but…he was a bit of a dick and put you off. It wasn't until…he sacrificed himself when…he was playing chess…?"

Ila and Hermione gulped. No one knew about the whole Voldemort returning at the back of Quirrell's head and trying to get the Philosopher's stone while simultaneously trying to kill Ila in the process…

Ila looked at Lavender in newfound awe. No wonder why she liked Divination so much.

"So?" Parvati asked. "Is she correct?"

Hermione slowly nodded. It took Ila a few moments to get over Lavender's newfound skill to realise –

"You've liked him that long?" Ila spluttered. "And you never told me?"

"I haven't told Ron either – well, not until the Yule Ball - so technically, you're not missing out on anything!" Hermione countered.

"Yeah, but it's not me you have a crush on!" Ila countered. "Why haven't you told me?"

"Cos – it's awkward, isn't it? We're all friends and if I have a crush on him – it'll ruin the dynamic."

"Maybe between you and Ron but not between us," Ila said, before cringing slightly. "It won't – it seems that Ron feels the same way about you, so our friendship hasn't been ruined completely."

"Well – that months ago Ila," Hermione sighed. "It's not like he's done anything more has he?"

"He did save you from the attack last night," Lavender added.

"What do you mean?" Ila asked.

"When you and Draco ran the other way, the rest of us took off in the other direction. There was a spell that came out of nowhere. I didn't get hit but it distracted me, and I fell down. Suddenly…I don't know, it felt like I couldn't breathe. There was something weighing me down. There was a dark mist, and I couldn't see anything that wasn't five inches away from me and…Ron had cast – I'm not too sure what it was – I still hadn't asked him about it, but it was some sort of fiery…rope was all that I could remember. The mist vanished but before I could see who did it, Ron grabbed me by the arm and we ran away…it wasn't until later that I found out that if Ron hadn't been there…some horrible creature was about to rip me to shreds."

A strange sense of déjà vu washed over Ila as heard Hermione's story. Not only was it because of Ron but…a monster that had vanished because of a fiery rope that looked like it was going to rip Hermione to shreds.

"Did you guys get to see what it was like?" Ila asked Lavender and Parvati.

"It was like…it looked like a human didn't it Lav?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't if that makes sense. Like it had the body and head but the way it was moving and – I mean I did see a few bones sticking out but surely, what kind of human wouldn't scream out of pain? I mean, there was literally a bone sticking out of its leg and another out of its collar bone."

Think humans but the undead.

Ila jumped off her bed, going straight to her desk, which was filled with bits of unanswered homework, scrap pieces of parchment, notes for the Tournament, bits of newspaper articles. Where is it? It had to be here – ah ha!

It was a snippet from the book Hermione had shown her the night before the second tournament. She re-read the material before asking the girls –

"Do you remember seeing any – I don't know, weird marks on the body?" Ila asked.

"None that I remember," Parvati said, and Lavender agreed. "We were too far away, and it was pretty dark, and we were also running for our lives."

"Did it disappear?" Ila asked.

"Probably," Hermione asked. "Why?"

Lauren Dawlish's dead body was found at the Manor, but Draco never mentioned what happened after they found her body. Maybe they never buried her.

And what about Bertha Jorkins…her body was carved as well…This could be it. She can take this to Dumbledore, and he'll have to do something more than just wait for the Aurors.

"There's no harm in taking a look is there?" Ila asked, spinning on her heel to face the three girls, in white spa robes and face masks.

"Ila, I'm going, to be honest with you, this is definantly one of your worst ideas," Hermione hissed. The four girls had changed into more suitable attire, though Parvati and Lavender refused to wear anything that would ruin their nail polish on their toes, and were now walking arm in arm in the middle of the silent Forest. Well as silent as it can be when you have three unwilling girls who keep complaining.

Ila was slightly surprised that no one was there, guarding the forest, but Dumbledore had only just sent the letter off. If they didn't do this today, they probably wouldn't have another day to do this.

"Do we actually need to do this?" Parvati asked before gasping, startled at the sound of a twig breaking under her foot. "Why can't you let the Aurors handle this?"

"Dumbledore doesn't trust them – not that much anyway. There's a chance that he lied when he sent that letter to the Aurors– are we going in the right direction?"

"Yeah, it's a bit further up," Hermione said shakily, her eyes darting around the forest. Perhaps it was slightly mean of Ila to take the girls back to the Forest so soon…

…

"You said it was dead, didn't you?" Ila said, trying her best to sound confident.

"No!" Hermione gasped, realising just how much danger they were.

Ila stopped momentarily before brushing that potential future under the rug. "We've all got our wands, right? Also, do you guys smell that?"

"What's a bunch of sticks of wood going to do Ila! Fuck – we should've asked the boys to come as well," Lavender cursed.

"What kind of feminists are you?" Ila said, shocked as she let go of the girls and jumped over a tree trunk. That wasn't the only thing that shocked her. Her eyes were beginning to water.

"The kind that realises there are differences between men and women," Hermione retorted.

Ila helped the girls jump down. "We don't need a bunch of guys to save us. I mean, what exactly do they have that we don't?"

Merlin, what is that smell!

"They're tall," Parvati said once she landed.

She and the rest of the girls had to pinch their noses.

"Just cos they're tall doesn't mean they're strong," Ila said. "Also, where is that smell coming from?"

"You're right – maybe we should've gotten Crabbe or Goyle."

"We don't need anyone," Ila affirmed, though, with a blocked nose, it didn't sound that confident. She turned around to continue her journey, "we're fine as…it…is…."

Lying at the feet of Ila, was the dismembered, rotten body of…of…. Ila wasn't sure. The flesh of the body – Inferi's face - had decomposed so far along, it was just muscle, with bits of bone peeking through. Two exposed blue eyes were still attached to the muscles. She wished she hadn't looked at them first.

"Is that -"

"Yeah," Hermione said, her voice barely above a whisper. Ila swallowed down any of her dinner that was threatening to come back up before walking around, observing the body. Ila could see the bits of bones that Lavender and Parvati saw. Its collarbone jutted out of its shoulder, with bits of ligaments barely holding on. Ila could also see where Ron's rope had cut through the Inferi's torso. Luckily there were no organs or blood present in the body to spill out.

"Ila, look!" Hermione said, pointing to its arms and legs. All of its body was covered with symbols that were carved into its body so deep, they exposed bits of bone. She wondered if they were still alive while it was happening. Something inside of her prayed that they were dead. The shapes that were engraved in the skin, were symbols that Ila had never seen before. They were filled with strange shapes, entangled with one another, circling the entire body. There wasn't one part of the body that hadn't been etched in. As Ila peered closer, there was a symbol on the Inferi's hand. While the skin wasn't present, she could still see the remnants of a symbol. Two thoughts appeared.

She really hoped this person wasn't alive when this happened.

That symbol looked familiar.

The faint lines of a circle – no – it was a snake. A snake eating its own tail…

"Do you know what they are?" she asked as Hermione crouched down to get a better look.

"It's too dark. If only we had some parchment, I could have at least sketched them out."

Suddenly, Parvati gasped. "I have an idea."

She then patted herself down, mumbling about where it was, though at that point, the three girls didn't know what it was.

Well not until Parvati whipped out a bright pink sparkly phone. She flipped it, revealing the inside screen as well as a keypad, all of the edges being bejewelled.

"Ta-da!"

Ila and Hermione looked up from the body. The former was surprised at how happy Parvati was to show off her phone considering…there just so happened to be a decomposed, decaying dead body at their feet.

That could still potentially be alive…

"Parvati."

"Hmm," she hummed, as she was showing Lavender her phone. "Why do you have a phone?" Ila asked, standing up.

She couldn't help it. Probably because it was the best distraction from the…you know…

"Er – why not? Anyway, this thing will let me take pictures and actually save them. Shame they don't move though," Parvati moaned before walking to where Hermione and Ila were, whose answer was still left unanswered.

"But you're a wizard," Ila said, as she was pushed to the side by Parvati. She slowly knelt down, moving her phone to landscape. "Why would a wizard need a phone?"

"Duh – the same reason why muggles need phones. D'you know how long it takes for my owl to get letters from my parents. Three weeks. Y'know how long it takes for me to use this to call my parent? Three seconds!"

"But how is that possible? Hogwarts has strict regulations on muggle items. Your phone should have been confiscated or it wouldn't work because…well…I'm not too sure how but it's not supposed to work in here," Hermione said, as Parvati started taking pictures of the runes. With each picture, a bright flash predated, causing the girls' anxiety to increase every time it flashed.

"Don't ask me – I gave to one of the Durmstrang boys and he fixed it for me," Parvati said, taking one last picture. She stood up and Ila watched over her shoulder to see all the pictures. They were mostly legible, barring a few which were of the ground. Sometimes Ila wondered where she was on the spectrum of muggle to a wizard. At times, it felt like she was a complete muggle when it came to learning about wizardly things and other times, she felt like a complete wizard when it came to muggle things. She had to admit, the latter was due to the Durselys more than her. Ishani had been the first one out of her friendship group to get a phone and for the most part, no matter how hard her cousin tried to brag about it to her, Ila couldn't care less. She didn't know what it was, so what exactly was she missing out on?

"Do you think you'll be able to copy from this?" Ila asked and Hermione nodded. "C'mon then."

"Oh, why don't you show them the pictures we took from the summer," Lavender excitedly suggested as if they weren't standing next to a rotting corpse that could potentially 'come back to life at any moment.

"Oh yeah," Parvati said, holding out the phone to Ila and Hermione.

The two girls gave Parvati a pointed look like the reflection of red and orange bathed their faces.

"Do you seriously think now's the time to show us these?" Ila said though she had to admit that the pictures of sunsets on the beach did look quite relaxing to see.

"Oh c'mon on, it's not like it's still alive," Parvati countered.

"Weren't you the one who wished the boys came along so that they could protect us?"

Parvati rolled her eyes, before taking a few steps towards the body. She kicked its hand a few times.

Nothing happened.

"See I told yo – ARGH!"

AN: Sorry for the late update - I have a bunch of mocks coming up but we are nearing the end. Even though five chapters ago I said I was aiming to finish the story within ten chapters...let's start that now.

Hope you enjoy the chapter. Leave a review if you want!