Disclaimer: Kira Price is mine, but the rest is J.K. Rowling's.
Chapter 2: The Present
It was a cold and rainy Wednesday morning, and all throughout the grounds of Hogwarts it was silent. The only sounds that could be heard were the quiet padding of a pair of shoes across the stone hallway, the low humming of their owner, and the soft grating of her fingertips dragging across the bricks as she walked.
As she treaded down the main hall, Kira Price stopped short at the entrance way and her eyes drifted down to her reflection in a puddle before the door.
Kira's hair had always been a dull, mousy brown. She sighed while she looked over her short and skinny form, and stared at her thin, pale face and tired, grey eyes.
"Like the moon…" her mother used to say.
It had been so long since her parents had died.
She was now in her fourth year and the sadness still lingered in her wake even as she smiled out to the rain. It was so funny, and so strange to her how she had managed to keep it hidden for so long.
At the beginning of her first year, she remembered walking into the Great Hall and feeling a wave of awe wash over her as she looked up at the enchanted ceiling and down around the tables. But as soon as that feeling had started, it stopped. Her eyes were locked on the long table positioned at the front of the hall. Kira had stood frozen as a chill hit her from the top of her head down to the tips of her toes.
There he was! The Aurors had never figured out who he was or any of the other Death Eaters for that matter, yet there he was. Right at Hogwarts. A strange feeling came over her when she remembered that after her account of that night, one of the Aurors had told her that it was "the face of a monster". The monster was there in front of her and noone else seemed to notice.
She snapped out of it the moment that her name was called and stiffly walked up to the stool. She flinched slightly when McGonagall had placed the hat on her head.
"Well hello Ms. Price." The hat whispered in her ear, "Your life here comes with a rather heavy burden, wouldn't you say?"
She said nothing.
"Yes…you have a pure heart…underlying courage. But you are stuck at a crossroads, unsure of where to go…you are very confusing Ms. Price, eventually you will have to choose. You will have to choose between the path of redemption, and the path of revenge…but for now…, HUFFLEPUFF!"
The table cheered loudly to welcome their newest member.
"Do what is right in you heart…" it had whispered before being whisked off her head.
As she sat down at the table, a few of the students had introduced themselves, but quickly grew quiet as the next first year was sorted. Kira had kept her eyes down, and from that point on she had never once looked him in the face again.
After school had officially started, she did not sleep for three days in fear of her first Potions class. Day after day had lagged on and she almost had a nervous breakdown by the third day and was shaking so badly that Susan Bones had to escort her to the Hospital Wing to get a Calming Draught. And finally, the morning came and she shuffled down to the dungeons with the other Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws and awaited the moment when she would have to face him.
Class started and she had sunk low in her desk when he burst in and a larged lump formed in her throat when he began to call roll.
Then her name…
"Price, Kira." he said without hesitance.
"Here!" she squeaked.
"Rice, Patrick."
He had said nothing, he did nothing. Perhaps didn't remember or maybe he just didn't know, he wasn't in the room at the time she was shot down.
But never the less, Kira kept her mouth shut. If he did not speak or even if he didn't know, she would not utter a word, and that continued on until now.
Well, there's Chapter 2! I hope you like it so far, plz R&R!...please.