"Selena!"
The First Year whipped around, still panting, clutching a hand to her heart in surprise.
Sitting on the dormitory steps with a glum face was Annabeth Black.
Selena turned and tried to run, but couldn't. Annabeth had already grabbed her arm like a vice and wouldn't let go.
Annabeth turned Selena towards her, blue eyes blazing. "We need to talk."
Selena had no choice. She slowly walked to the couch after Annabeth and sat down, perched stiffly on the edge of the soft cushion. Her pulse thundered. The way Annabeth looked at her was like that of a lioness discovering injured prey. She sat down next to Selena on the sofa, neither of them speaking.
The Third Year sat her wand on the smooth coffee table.
"There," she said quietly. "Do the same."
Selena looked at her. "You don't trust me?"
"Not one bit," Annabeth replied, glaring at Selena as she sat her wand on the table too. She twined her fingers together. Being separated from the wand was too nerve-fraying, and Annabeth didn't help.
It was a cold and bitter silence before Annabeth finally swallowed, glancing away from Selena. "Did you get my letter?"
"Yes."
"Did you read it?"
Selena hesitated. "A few times..."
"Then, you know how I feel?" Annabeth's face softened just the slightest as she clasped her hands. The fierce look behind her eyes didn't vanish, though.
"Yes."
"What do you want to know, then?"
"What do you mean?"
Annabeth gave a heavy sigh. "Look," she said icily, "you clearly know about me. That my father is Sirius Black?" Now it was Annabeth who looked uncomfortable and ready to run at any minute. Selena still felt the same way. This was the most that Annabeth had ever opened up to her. This was longest Annabeth had talked to her, even.
"Yeah..." Selena said quietly. "I know. Just... Tell me this. Why have you hidden it? What he did - er, or didn't do - isn't your fault."
Annabeth gave another hard swallow and Selena could see some tears brimming. The redhead glanced at the rug on the floor. "You want to know?" Selena nodded, wide-eyed. "Fine then..."
Annabeth took a deep breath.
"Twelve years ago, on Hallowe'en, my father was captured. He was taken to Azkaban... I was only a year old. When I was ten, my mother died. She'd been sick for a while and... she's not with me anymore. Mum was my only friend then, aside from Harry. In school, I met Harry on the first day..."
Flashback...
Harry Potter had only one friend, Annie Black. They met when they were five and in Preschool.
Harry was sitting alone on the school playground's bench. He looked at the lunch his Aunt Petunia had packed and sighed. It was a nearly moldy ham and cheese sandwich, a bruised apple, and milk that was quickly warming. Harry glanced up, pushing his glasses back as they slid down his nose again. A girl his age was walking towards him. Her flame-like curly red hair reached her shoulders and she had the bluest eyes Harry had ever seen. She sat down next to him, swinging her black boots above the ground, and saw his lunch.
"Are you really going eat that? Don't you have anything else?" the girl asked, concerned.
"No, and no" Harry said sadly. The girl held out half of her own sandwich to him.
"Here. I'll split my lunch with you."
"No, it's alright. I'll be fine. Enjoy your lunch."
"I won't take no for an answer." Harry shook his head, inky-dark hair falling on the little boy's forehead - covering a jagged scar. "Fine. I'll just sit here like this until you take it."
Harry sighed. "Fine." He accepted the sandwich and took a bite. Mmmm, peanut butter and jelly. Yummy "Thanks."
"No problem. Oh! I'm Annabeth Kathrina Rose Black. But you can call me Annie." Annie held out her little hand. Harry shook her hand.
"I'm Harry James Potter, but you can call me Harry. Aren't you afraid my cousin, Dudley, will beat you up?"
"You mean the rude dimwit over there playing with that scrawny boy?" Annie pointed towards Dudley Dursley and Piers Polkiss. Harry nodded. "No." Annie held out a large cookie and Harry took it.
"Why not?"
"'Cause he's not scary. The world does not revolve around him. Hey, you wanna see something cool?"
"Sure."
Annie closed her eyes and her hair changed from red to black, a color just like Harry's.
"Woah!" Harry nearly couldn't believe it. How had she done that?
"Brilliant, I know." Her hair switched back to its normal color, Annie opening her eyes before she grinned. She tilted her head. "Finish your cookie, Harry. I have some crackers too, they're so good-" she started to rifle through her tiny, tin lunchbox.
Harry glanced at the half-eaten sugar cookie in his hand, not really feeling like eating anymore.
Annie caught on. "Finish the cookie. I have more at home. My mum makes the best! I'll bring more tomorrow."
"Dudley will call you a freak if you play with me," Harry said sadly, blinking his green eyes at the grass beneath their bench.
Annie lifted her chin. "Let him. I don't care! We're freaks together!" She smiled at him, one of her front teeth missing.
Harry smiled back.
From that moment on, they were the best of friends.
End of Flashback
"Harry was my friend... I didn't have my father, but even then I knew that I wasn't supposed to talk about it - even if I wasn't sure why..." Anne let one tear fall, swiping it away furiously. "Harry didn't know about magic then. I didn't even know how famous he was in the wizarding world. My mum wouldn't let me talk about it, Harry just knew that odd things happened around me - my hair changing colors, small fires here and there... His aunt and uncle thought I was trouble, especially his Aunt Petunia. So we kept our friendship secret... And then, a little after I turned ten, my mum passed away." Her voice cracked and she started crying, breathing in and out quickly. "I didn't have my family, and Harry was my only friend... Professor McGonagall showed up and I already knew I was to go to Hogwarts the next year. So, she worked out something with a wizarding family she knew of that was still in Little Whinging, the town I grew up in..." Anne took a breath, glancing down. Her hair draped across her face like a curtain. "I was fine with them, they were kind. And I got my letter, and came to Hogwarts. And Harry and I got to stay together. And I've made other friends here, like Ron and Hermione and Wendy. But it's still..."
Annabeth glanced up, staring at Selena. "You can't understand. You don't know what it's like. I grew up with my mum and then I lost her three years ago. My father? I didn't even get to spend time with him when I was little. He wasn't there to take me to school on my first day. He wasn't there when I fell off my bike to kiss the scrapes. He wasn't there when I got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts and got my wand. He wasn't there for any birthday, any Christmas, any Easter, any summer I remember... And I've had to hear people around me talking about how horrible of a person he is, how he killed all those Muggles and that Peter Pettigrew, but - but, Selena, the man that my mother told me about wasn't a killer. He was someone who protected life, not took it."
Selena felt a pang of sadness and wanted to do something. She just wasn't sure what to do. What do you do with a sad girl that's lost all her family and feels alone and in danger? She tried to sort out her thoughts, her memories flicking back to the poster of Sirius Black. He seemed fully capable of hurting someone, glaring out from the parchment with an Azkaban sign in front of him. "How... How do you know that, Annabeth? If you've never met him, how can you know he's innocent?"
For a moment, she tensed, nervous that Annabeth would start yelling or threaten to curse her or something like usual. Instead, Annabeth remained calm, her gaze unwavering.
"I know," she said, sounding fully confident in her words. "Dumbledore knows too, and I believe Dumbledore. My papa isn't here to kill Harry." She teared up again, sniffling.
Selena was at a loss for words. It was so much information, a story of a girl she figured hated her - and probably still did. And yet, here was that same girl crying over a father that might as well have been dead for years. And now he was back, so close, but not close enough. It was Annabeth against the wizarding world.
"Annabeth..." Selena began. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to make you sad... I won't tell anyone... You can trust me..." Her mind flashed back to the Hogwarts Express, when she told Renee and Kellie. Guilt prodded at her. But, telling Annabeth would surely set her off, wouldn't it? Maybe it was better not to mention them... Besides, Kellie didn't even seem to have believed her... Selena made a promise to herself that she wouldn't tell another earthly soul. "I won't. I bet you still won't trust me, but please just listen - I won't do anything to hurt you..."
January 8th, 1994. Saturday.
Selena had managed to avoid Wendy, Tess, and Alisson (not to mention Ray, though apparently he'd apologized to Renee, who had completely forgotten about him) but she couldn't shake the sad face of Annabeth. It was like something that stuck to her and wouldn't let go. Like glue. It wouldn't get out of her thoughts. But, in a way... she didn't want to let it go. Annabeth was so miserable and with all the dementors at Hogwarts trying to catch her father, well... At least she had her friends, though Selena knew it was strained with them whether they knew it or not. The Ministry thought her father was after Harry Potter. Whenever Selena saw her, Annabeth was with Harry. Or Hermione Granger. Or Ron Weasley.
Walking along through the Tapestry Corridor, Selena padded along the richly colored rugs. She admired all the colorful tapestries and portraits, wizards she didn't know the names of moving in the pictures. She'd been wandering around Hogwarts for a while now, trying to keep her mind off of worrying. It seemed like nearly everyone was busy with the start of the third term.
Renee was going to hear about the Gobstones Club (she was an avid Gobstones player) and Elizabeth had gone off to the Herbology greenhouses with Neville Longbottom to earn some extra credit in class (something about blooming Puffapods.) Bronwen was with friends, hanging out in the Ravenclaw Common Room. Sasha and Danny were off at the Quidditch Pitch for Quidditch practice, both being players on the team. Seeing as Harry was as well, Annabeth had gone to watch. Last she'd heard from Rolf and Hazel, Karrot was sick and they went off to visit Professor Hagrid about the illness.
Walking past a group of other Hufflepuffs, Selena turned down the Viaduct Entrance, heading down the first stair in the stone room.
"Oh, take me back... Take me back to the home I know... Don't let me fall, fall away, don't you hear my call?"
Selena recognized the beautiful singing lilting through the air. Maryana.
Then she heard, "Selena! Wait! Selena, I need to talk to you!" It was Ray.
"There she is!"
"Is that her?"
"It is!"
Wendy, Alisson, and Tess.
Finally, Damon turned up the staircase, noticing her.
All the people that she least wanted to see at the moment were there.
I'll tell you more tomorrow! Bye!
Please review, and thanks for reading!
I'll post another chapter tomorrow.
By the way, the Flashback was actual text from PhenioxRose92 's story. Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone Rewrite.
Great story! Bye!
~Meghan
4/18/17: So, I went back and doctored a lot of the excerpt from the Rewrite fanfiction by PhenioxRose92. It's got quite a lot of editing now, but it's still taken from the original.