A/N: I do not own the Harry Potter series.
Owl Post Again
The rest of the term passed by quickly. Ella slept the rest of the day as well as all through the night and was surprised when she woke up the next day that no one had tried to get her up. Apparently all of her friends agreed that she'd seemed so exhausted that she deserved to catch up on the sleep she'd missed. Ella didn't encounter a single dream that night –it appeared that she was too sapped of energy to see anything at this point in time. Ella could feel the power under the surface of her mind. It was a small feeling, but still there and growing bit by bit. Ella figured it was like a muscle of some kind. It got overworked and now needed time to rest otherwise she'd hurt herself by pushing it too far. Ella was excited that her friends had at the very least gotten her sweets from Honeydukes. She'd eaten a few already, but there was still plenty to last her part of the summer.
Classes were easy enough now that tests were finished. They just needed to wait to see how they'd done. The main talk around the school was Sirius Black and his apparent escape. Ella had pushed her friends away from the truth for as long as she could, and by truth she meant a creative lie about how he escaped that wouldn't give away the fact he was innocent and that he was helped by Harry, Hermione, and Ella.
"Come on Ella, it's the final banquet! You have to tell us or we'll never know," Lee whined for the hundredth time. He seemed to be the only one of their group who was truly interested anymore. The rest of the group seemed to find the ideas others were coming up with more exciting than whatever the truth was.
She sighed, "Alright, you want the truth?" Everyone leaned in and Ella couldn't help but notice a certain trio doing the same thing. "So there Black was about to be attacked by all the dementors on the grounds. Well, anyone else would have been toast and Black nearly was too, but then he used a spell. From my dreams I could tell that the spell was incredibly dark and sinister –more so than even the dementors could handle! The spell pushed all of the creatures back and then Sirius made his way far enough off the campus grounds and apparated away. Not as exciting as other theories, I know, but if you'd believe that he did all of it without a wand…then it gets a little more interesting."
Ella looked up and noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione staring at her in disbelief. She did the only thing that she thought appropriate at the time, and maybe a little of what the twins would've done as well, and winked at the group. The three third years gaped at her as she merely smiled in return. The others were chatting with each other about how the ministry would catch Sirius, but Ella was already focused on something else.
The Great Hall was covered in red and gold decorations that celebrated Gryffindor's winning the house cup for a third year in a row. The whole table was in a celebratory mood, especially the Quidditch team members since they were responsible for a large portion of the points that won the cup. She remembered a time when the hall had been filled with silver and green instead of red and gold. Personally, she enjoyed her house colors to the alternative, but she was certainly biased in that regard. All of her friends were in a good mood while they ate their food. Ella, on the other hand, had a lot on her mind. She tried to enjoy the meals she wouldn't get most of the summer and the company that she'd surely miss more than anything in the world, but her eyes kept drifting to Lupin's empty spot at the head table as well as Dumbledore. The professor who happened to be present seemed lost in thought, much like Ella. The two probably had the same thing lurking through their minds. A certain man who most of the world believed would never return.
Lee elbowed Ella back into the conversation and she allowed herself to joke around with her friends a bit, but a pessimistic side of her brain questioned how long she'd be able to laugh freely. Obviously their peaceful world was about to be turned on its axis. Fred noticed Ella's strained mood. He could tell she was trying to enjoy herself as much as she could but something was holding her back. The world was unfair in many regards, he knew that. His family was kinder than most of the world combined but they were extremely poor. Muggleborns had an inclination towards being quick learns and powerful but they were always clouded by Pureblood slurs. Then there was Ella, a girl who was kind, intelligent, powerful, and sincere but because of her abilities she was always troubled. Ella was so many things, but happy sometimes seemed like such a struggle for her and Fred only wanted to help. Of course, they all did, but Fred felt almost like it was painful to see her upset or confused like she was at times.
The final feast ended too soon for everyone's taste, aside from every student's stomach being ready to split open. Ella had gradually relaxed enough to force things from her mind. The group of friends slowly dragged themselves up to Gryffindor Tower in order to get to bed. Ella wasn't ready to wake up and go home, but she could hardly keep her eyes open.
The sky was pitch black, but the world around Ella flashed menacingly. Everything seemed to be fast forwarding around her. The people moving were blurred as was the actual setting she was in. Spells flashed through the night air. Ella recognized the panicked feeling in the area –she'd been in this place before.
"MORSMORDRE!" Ella looked around for who yelled the phrase, but there were too many people running around. She was surprised that she hadn't been hit by anyone yet. It must have been because she was in a dream –there was no other explanation. There were too many people in a panicked state for her to remain still like this and not be trampled.
Above her, the sky split open and revealed something that made Ella's heart skip a beat. A giant skull stood out in glittering emerald against the inky sky. A snake slithered from its mouth and Ella couldn't turn away from the horrifying sight. She felt as if she'd seen it in a dream before…a long, long time ago. Possibly before she'd even known about Hogwarts or magic. Back then it must have been just an odd nightmare, but now it seemed truly sinister to Ella.
"It's the Dark Mark! You-Know-Who's sign!" Ella heard Hermione whisper urgently. She glanced around trying to find Hermione, but she was nowhere in sight. Why would Hermione be here where the sign was conjured? Why was his sign being conjured?
Ella squeezed her eyes shut, "This isn't happening, this can't happen. Why is this happening!" The last part she yelled and the panicked air rushed from the space. She opened her eyes and straightened herself out of the crouched position she was in moments before.
The new location she found herself in was incredibly familiar. It was a winding path among a grassy pasture. Before Ella could remember where she'd seen the place before her entire body tensed. Fear grabbed at her heart and refused to let go. Her right arm felt like it was being submerged in freezing water. She looked down at it only to see the grey orb latched onto her. Ella stood paralyzed by the images it was showing. Voldemort being brought back to his full strength, Pettigrew escaping, the dragon, and more visions swirled around the orb forcing her to lock into it. A sense of overwhelming fear of what was to come took hold of Ella. How could she be positive when so many bad things were going to happen? She could see the black orb nudging its way towards her. The darker her thoughts were, the stronger the orb became.
Then Ella felt a warmth across her back. She broke the connection with the other two orbs and turned to see the pink and purple orbs combining. While the purple had the tendency to represent her sadness it also possessed her happiest memories. The grey orb began to release its grip on Ella while the black started to shrink once more.
Ella stared at the new orbs now that the others had pushed to the edge of the circle that was surrounding her. She smiled at the white orb that still flitted around her with a child-like aura. The purple one was displaying moments of her past. She couldn't help but feel calmed by the moments she met her friends.
"Run Ella!" Fred cried out rounding the corner.
"What did you two idiots do now?" She yelled back taking off.
George replied, "Well, we were planting our prank and Mrs. Norris came around the other corner."
She groaned, "I told you that Lee should've kept watch on the other end of the corridor!"
"He said he was busy!"
"Besides we didn't expect Mrs. Norris to knock over the bucket of water we had…"
"You mean to tell me that–" Before she could finish her statement, twenty Filibuster Fireworks went off behind them. Ella looked at the boys in shock before they all started to run faster.
The memory began to fade in the purple orb and Ella turned to the pink orb. It was still the largest of all the elements that she was made of, and she could see why. There were so many different people near her in it. They all had one thing in common too –they were happy. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were beaming at her proudly one moment then the next she saw Colin Creevey happily babbling about finding the wizarding world amazing. Ginny, Angelina, Alicia, Katie, McLaggen, Cho, Fred, and George. Everyone she cared about seemed to swirl around in the depth of the orb. These were the people she loved and they loved her. She could absolutely feel it. She could feel it more strongly than any of the other emotions the orbs elicited.
No matter what had happened or would happen in the future, she had her friends. Everything would be alright because she had people who cared about her. She knew things would be difficult, but life was difficult. Ella could handle this because she had her friends and her family.
Ella opened her eyes and found she had been crying in her sleep. For once, the tears weren't from fear or sadness, they were happy tears in the best sense of the word. She wiped her eyes to make sure Katie wouldn't see before getting out of bed and packing the rest of her things in her trunk. Rowena was sitting in her cage at the bottom of her bed. The cage door sat open, but the owl was smart enough to know it was time to go back to the Muggle World.
"We won't be gone for long…I promise we'll be back with the Weasleys before we know it," she whispered affectionately to the bird. Rowena cooed back and hopped out of the cage to nuzzle Ella's outstretched hand. She smiled at her companion.
It was still too early for anyone to be up or leaving for a little while, but Ella was too rested to try and sleep more. Besides, she figured her luck would only last so long with having good dreams. She moved down to the Common Room and sighed at the home she'd be leaving soon enough. Something was nagging her in the back of her mind though. Ella closed her eyes.
For a moment she only saw darkness then slowly Professor Snape lurked into her mind the word Occlumency circled around him. Ella's looked at it in confusion, what could that mean? The words took on a shade of vibrant read and began to grow. Her eyes snapped open quickly and she looked around the room. It had only been a few seconds, but she understood the message's urgency –it was the same as her Animagus dreams. If she left this alone, she'd probably be looking at the same kind of nightmares only more powerful since her abilities had grown in the past year.
She quickly left Gryffindor Tower and proceeded to sneak down to the dungeon area and Potions classroom. Ella knocked on the door of Snape's office and was surprised to find him awake…almost as surprised as he was to find her down there at this hour.
"Miss Worthington, may I ask what this is about?" He drawled.
Ella didn't pay his cold manner any attention, "Professor, I was hoping you could tell me what Occlumency is."
Snape looked genuinely surprised, "Occlumency is the defense against Legilimency."
"Alright, but what is that supposed to be?"
"Legilimency is a way to invade a person's mind with magic. The user can access nearly every thought, memory, or secret a mind possesses. Occlumency closes off the mind so that it cannot be accessed by others," Snape explained to her.
Ella's eyes widened, "I need to learn Occlumency."
Professor Snape shook his head, "It's an incredibly difficult process. One that I imagine a fifteen year old wouldn't be able to learn easily, if at all."
"No, you don't understand…I don't want to learn this, I need to learn this. I understand it's not going to be easy and that I'll be frustrated a lot, but I need to be able to block my mind from other people. Or at the very least one person –Voldemort."
"What are you talking about?" Snape asked. His voice lost the edge it had earlier as if Ella had mentioned the one thing that had the ability to make him realize what was important.
"For what feels like the hundredth time, Voldemort is getting stronger, Pettigrew just escaped to rejoin his master –no one seems to believe that this is happening or that precautions need to be made. It is happening! No one can tell me it's not, and I want to take the proper steps to make sure things aren't as bad is they could be. Pettigrew knows about my ability to see the future and he'll tell Voldemort. I don't care if you think Sirius is lying because he wasn't. Sirius has been telling the truth and I need to learn Occlumency so if Voldemort tries to pry the future out of my mind I can stop it," Ella ranted to the professor feeling fed up with everyone questioning her.
Snape remained silent for a moment, "Next year I will give you lessons. You will tell people they are extra potions lessons because you need to pass your O.W.L.s and the help is necessary."
"Thank you."
By the time Ella reached the Great Hall for breakfast a lot of people were up –none of them were her friends, but she could handle eating a piece of toast while waiting for them. Soon they showed up and after a nice meal the carriages took them down to the Hogsmeade station. The group of friends all shared a compartment with one another as per usual.
They all joked around and laughed for a while until the trolley showed up. Ella found that this was as good a time as any to go talk to the trio about her story that she gave about Sirius. She began to stand up.
"Where are you going?" Lee asked her.
"I need to talk to some friends, don't worry I'll come back," Ella told everyone before disappearing out the door.
Ella walked down the train's hallways while peeking in through the windows to each compartment. It took her a little while until she finally came to Harry, Ron, and Hermione's. They were all sitting together towards the opposite end of the train.
"So, I see chocolate isn't on the menu down here?" Ella smirked as she entered into their compartment. The group looked up at her startled. She chuckled, "Don't worry, anything you were discussing I probably already know."
The trio laughed nervously and Ron said, "You do have the ability to do that."
"Which is why you can probably guess I was lying about Sirius," Ella responded.
Harry shrugged, "I'm not sure, he probably would enjoy your idea more than the truth."
She laughed, "Of course he would! He's an absolute showboat. If he had the chance to seem more impressive than he is now, he'd take it in a heartbeat. There's no question. Though, in a way I suppose my version still isn't as cool as fighting a werewolf, getting caught, and then escaping on the back of a hippogriff."
"So how long did you know he was innocent?" Hermione asked.
"To be honest, before he even escaped."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Harry asked her.
Ella shook her head, "The future is difficult. I was practically trained for the last few years to never reveal what is going to happen. I couldn't break that habit in time to do any lasting help. Pettigrew escaped before I could even decide to intervene. By the time I figured out that I needed to change the future things were already out of my control, but I'm going to do better next year. When I see things, I'm going to fix them before they get out of hand."
"Harry," Hermione said suddenly looking out behind him. "What's that thing outside your window?"
The group followed Hermione's gaze to see a little grey owl bobbing outside the compartment. Harry opened the window to let the little bird come in the room. The tiny thing had a letter two sizes too big for it, but it was a persistent creature as it fought the wind and train speeds to keep up and get into the compartment.
As soon as Harry pulled the owl into the compartment, it dropped the letter and started flying around the compartment. Hedwig seemed extremely disapproving of its hyperactive behavior and Crookshanks started at it hungrily. Ella shot the cat a warning look as Ron snatched the bird out of harm's way. Glancing over at the letter, Ella noticed that it had Harry's name written on the envelope.
"It's from Sirius!" Harry shouted. Ella winced at his volume. Maybe she'd teach him a thing or two about how to not give away secrets later.
Hermione and Ron both told Harry to open it. Harry hurried to do so in order to read it to them. Ella leaned against the closed door. She couldn't help but smile at their excitement. Granted, she was pretty happy as well considering this meant Sirius was alright.
Harry cleared his throat and read, "Dear Harry, I hope this finds you before you reach your aunt and uncle. I don't know whether they're used to owl post.
Buckbeak and I are in hiding. I won't tell you where, in case this owl falls into the wrong hands. I have some doubt about his reliability, but he is the best I could find, and he did seem eager for the job.
I believe the dementors are still searching for me, but they haven't a hope of finding me here. I am planning to allow some Muggles to glimpse me soon, a long way from Hogwarts, so that the security on the castle will be lifted.
There is something I never got around to telling you during our brief meeting. It was I who sent you the Firebolt–"
Hermione let out a laugh, "See! I told you it was from him!" Ella smiled and rolled her eyes affectionately.
Ron rolled his eyes as well, "Yes, but he hadn't jinxed it, had he?"
Harry continued with the letter, "Crookshanks took the order to the Owl Office for me. I used your name but told them to take the gold from my own Gringotts vault. Please consider it as thirteen birthday's worth of presents from your godfather.
I would also like to apologize for the fright I think I gave you that night last year when you left your uncle's house. I had only hoped to get a glimpse of you before starting my journey north, but I think the sight of me alarmed you.
I am enclosing something else for you, which I think will make your next year at Hogwarts more enjoyable.
If you ever need me, send word. Your owl will find me.
I'll write again soon,
Sirius"
Harry began to pull another piece of paper from the envelope, but Ella had heard all she need.
"I think it's about time I head back," she announced, but her statement was practically unacknowledged because of the letter. Ella didn't take it to heart though, it was a very nice letter.
Ella made her way back to the compartment where her friends were and joked around for the last several minutes of their trip to the real world for the summer. As the train began to slow, Ella's heart started beating faster in anticipation. The last time she saw her parents she had caused a scene at their work dinner –one that was supposed to earn them a promotion they'd been working on for nearly a year.
As her friends all found their families on Platform 9 ¾ Ella followed the twins out into King's Cross Station to find Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. A short distance away Ella spotted the Dursleys. They looked at her with wide eyes as though they couldn't believe what they were seeing. She just smiled at them before getting a hug from both the Weasley parents.
"Good term, Ella?" Mrs. Weasley asked her happily.
"Of course! Thank you," was her reply. Ella was pleased that the hug didn't hurt as much as she assumed it would. All of her injuries had been healing nicely as the school year wrapped up, but there were still many bruises taking their sweet time to heal.
Mr. Weasley smiled, "And you'll be coming with us to the Quidditch World Cup I'm assuming."
She laughed, "Fred and George may have mentioned it at some point….or a thousand times. I'd love to go."
"Excellent!" Her father figure stated, "We'll have to coordinate a time for you to come to the Burrow. I daresay we'll be a little cramped, but nothing we can't manage."
"The sooner the better!" Ella exclaimed. "I better go find my parents, they're probably waiting outside for me or something. I'll send Rowena about a time for the Burrow."
Fred and George both made a huge show about giving her a hug goodbye before she could tell the other Weasleys farewell and head outside. As usual, King's Cross was filled with Muggles zipping around in their cars, waving family members, and an assortment of people welcoming others back from where they'd been before. Ella's head swiveled back and forth trying to spot her parents or their car at the very least. Aside from a few individuals looking similar, her parents were nowhere in sight.
Ice ran into Ella's stomach and she remained frozen where she stood.
"Ella, sweetheart, why are you standing here? We thought you were going home," Mrs. Weasley's voice entered into Ella's mind and somewhere deep down she registered that her hand was brushing Ella's shoulder.
"They're not here."
The Weasley parents exchanged a look before Mr. Weasley asked, "Who isn't?"
"My parents…they never drop me off at the station, but they've always been here to pick me up. They've never missed it even when I used to think they would. It's the only time they've ever shown up –to make sure I get home," Ella babbled feeling her panic well inside her. Mr. Weasley looked and Mrs. Weasley with concern, but she hadn't a clue what to do or say either. The Weasley children kept back from the scene recognizing there wasn't much they could do. Percy felt ashamed that parents were able to do that to their child while the rest of the kids had a mixture of anger towards the parents and sadness since Ella had to deal with a situation like that.
"Alright, Ella, how about this… Do you have any Muggle money?" Mr. Weasley watched her nod before continuing, "Is it enough to be able to get home?" Ella nodded once more. "Good, then I think you should still go home, they may have just forgotten it was today that you came back. They seem like….busy people. It could be an honest mistake. I want you to keep in touch with us –I was planning on getting you in three weeks, is that alright?" Once again Ella nodded and Mr. Weasley sighed, "Ella, dear, I need you to be brave, alright? I know you can do it. You're such a strong girl and you have always had to deal with so much, but for these next three weeks I want you to be brave and confident no matter what, can you do that for me?"
Ella looked at Mr. Weasley, "Yes, I can do that."
He offered a small smile, "I know you can." He gave her the best hug he could muster before letting Molly do so as well. The two parents helped her put her things into a cab before she left. Ella stared out the window as she watched the red headed family disappear; then she turned towards the seat in front of her and took a deep breath.
A/N: And there you have it! Another year wrapped up for Ella. What did you think and what do you think will happen in the near future? I have a deal for all of you. After this is posted I'm going to count reviews. If I get 5 then I'll post 3 days after getting those 5, if I can get 10 then it'll be 2 days, 15 = one day, and anything higher than that and I may explode into a puddle of author-y joy where I write two chapters instead of the next book which will be called Goblet of Fears and I will notify everyone on this story when it is up whenever you choose for that to happen. Thank you all for your support on this story, talk to you again soon! :)