Chapter 14: Heartbreaks and Forgiveness.

A few weeks went by, and nothing had really changed. Nora was still angry to her friends, so she buried herself into schoolwork. Nora studied like never before, but her spell making skills stood still. Nora felt frustrated since she truly had tried harder than ever before. It didn't help, that Nora was constantly in pain with her body changing. Without noticing Nora had become a ticking time-bomb.

Nora was on her way out of the library. She wanted to get her Charms homework done and borrowed bunch of books for her essay to write about disarming an enemy. But it was Nora, who got disarmed as she saw Michelle crying in hallway.

In that minute Nora forgot her anger and rushed towards her friend. "W… what's wrong?" Nora asked, feeling worried.

Michelle looked at Nora eyes filled with surprise. "N… nothing," Michelle said, trying to sound proud, but her voice betrayed her.

"P… please Michelle, d… don't lie t… to me," Nora begged.

"I f… failed to g… get into t… the team," Michelle answered and cried even more. Nora hugged her friend and Michelle buried herself into the embrace, crying even harder. Nora drew circles into her friend's back.

"What's wrong?" Olivia asked. Surprising both of the girls.

"I d… didn't make it into the t… team," Michelle answered, looking at her friend with snot rolling down from her nose.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Mich!" Olivia said, joining into the embrace. "That Davies made a huge mistake. He's a huge idiot! I mean it, I have seen you fly!"

After some time, Michelle calmed down. Her eyes were red and swollen. She wiped snot away from her nose. She looked down, feeling embarrassed. "I'm sorry," she apologized.

"Seriously, you have no reason to apologize!" Olivia huffed.

"Y… yes. A… are you f… feeling any b… better now?" Nora asked, still feeling concerned for her friend.

"Oui, thank you both," Michelle blushed. The atmosphere became awkward. After all, it had been almost two months since she had last spoken with the girls.

"W… well, I b… better get g… going," Nora muttered awkwardly, also blushing.

"Nora, wait!" Olivia cried out. "It was good to see you after long time." Nora's face turned into scarlet colour and only nodded for an answer.

As Nora arrived in the common room, she saw Heidi Macavoy and Tamsin Applebee, who were cheering and dancing. "We made it into the team! We made it into the team!"

"Oh, c… congratulations."

"It's so amazing! Cedric is super nice! He opened up all the positions and allowed us to compete for our place in the team fair and square!" Heidi joyed.

"Yes, our team is quite young, but we still have good chances!" Tamsin cheered and continued her victory dance.

"Th… that's great," Nora faked a smile, but bitterly thought: if Michelle would have had the same chance, she would have made it into the team.

"You got her to comfort you? How?" Astoria asked in disbelief.

"I was genuinely sad. I didn't make it into the team, and she just came and took me into an embrace, no questions asked," Michelle answered. Blushing once again. She felt embarrassed by the memory. She wasn't used to crying in the front of others.

"Did she say anything?" Corvus asked. He missed his friend and wanted to know if he was any way closer of being forgiven.

"Not much really. After I calmed down, she left. The atmosphere was quite tense." Michelle frowned. "But at least she spoke to us, so that's progress."

"Yes. I hope she'll hang up with us soon again. I really miss her presence," Olivia sighed.

No one spoke for a while. It had really hit the group that the peacemaker was no longer there. Nora had always been the one, who had calmed people down, changed the subject when someone felt uncomfortable. She was the one, who always listened all the stories, and was always willing to help others, when they felt puzzled.

"Anyway, we better get going," Corvus said as he got up.

"Oh yes! Do you think Professor Lupin will make us face the boggart just like he made the third-year students?"

"I don't know, but I hope so. It would be interesting and useful," Corvus said.

His wish came through as they entered the classroom. Just like the third-year students, they also got a change to study boggart. The group entered into the empty staff room. "I think we should study them now as we have a chance," Professor Lupin explained in the beginning of the lesson. He continued with asking questions, and both Matthew and Corvus earned points to their houses. Soon without noticing people ended up being lined up to practise against the creature.

Astoria stood first in line. The cupboard where the creature lied opened. Her bleeding sister came out of the closet: "T… Tori, he… help me!"

Astoria stood still. Her eyes were filled up with fear and concern. She raised up her wand and whispered: "Riddikulus!"

Daphne Greengrass turned into step-dancer. People cheered. After Astoria, Zoe Accrington came forward and dancing Daphne turned into thousands of bugs, which were turned into glitter. Dorea Wyton's boggart turned into marriage licence with a muggle man, Leslie Norton's into giant snake, and Henry's into empty bank-account.

Not too long after Corvus learned that Daisy was afraid of being scarred and Matthew from being unable to do magic. After Matthew it was Corvus' turn to get in front. The boggart turned into hologram of large smoking tower, where dementors could be seen to roam around. They've escaped, Corvus thought, and felt cold sweat ran through his spine. Or at least, they will one day.

"Riddikulus!" Corvus cried out and the hologram turned into beautiful Veela.

After Corvus, the group saw giants, spiders and surprisingly butterflies. Finally, Nora's turn came. She was sweating before she even faced the boggart, and the atmosphere in the room. The walls were covered with blood. Hands and other body parts were all over the floor. A woman was on the floor crying for help in pain. She was reaching for a man's hand, who laid there, still. They're her parents, Corvus realized. Into the picture came a man with messy black hair, who just laughed there, hysterically.

Nora stood still. She was sweating even more. Her eyes were glazed, looking at view in front of her, paralyzed.

Corvus came in front and confused the boggart. It no longer knew which form to take. The blood was gone, and Corvus took Nora by the hand as he raised his wand and yelled: "Riddikulus!" The Veela came back, this time dancing. Corvus lead Nora to the back of the classroom, and asked from Professor Lupin: "Is it okay if I take her into Hospital Wing?"

"Yes, of course. Here Ms. Wilkins," Professor Lupin said, offering her chocolate. It was visible that the man was concerned for Nora's well-being.

Nora just nodded and took the gift. She walked out of the classroom in trance, while holding Corvus' hand.

Corvus led the way, but he didn't take Nora into the hospital wing. Instead, they went outdoors. Corvus enchanted their robes to keep them warm against the strong wind and walked towards the lake. They both embraced the chill weather, and it slowly woke Nora up from the trance. "Oh, s… sorry f… for making y… you leave from the l… lesson e… early!"

Corvus looked back at Nora with shock written on his face: "You have absolutely no reason to apologize to me! You had every reason to leave!"

Nora blushed.

"They were your parents, weren't they?" Corvus asked.

"Yes," Nora whispered. "A… after you t… told me the t… truth, I've h… had a nightmare o… of them dying alone and i… in pain."

"That sounds awful," Corvus said. He had no idea of how to comfort Nora. "But I doubt that they felt any pain. Thinking about the spells he could have used; they'd most likely died instantly without feeling any pain."

"Oh, w… well that's a r… relief."

They sat on the grass for a while, looking at the lake. "I actually realized that I never apologized to you. I was afraid that you'd come to hate me and our world if you knew."

"Oh," Nora said being deep in thought. "Y… you know s… sometimes I w… wonder if it w… would have b… been better if I w… was born as a mu… muggle."

"Why do you think so?" Corvus asked, being unable to imagine his life without magic.

"B… because it has only c… caused me harm!" Nora yelled while getting up. " E… ever since I w… was a k… kid weird th… things ha… happened to me, and p… people c… called me a f… freak! L… last year I w… was petrified! Th… this year I f… found out m… my parents died d… due magic, and th… their murderer is o… on the l… loose! W… What w… will ha… happen in the next? S… someone c… close to me d… dies!?" Nora fell back down and started to sob uncontrollably. Next to her Corvus panicked. He had no idea, how to handle the crying girl.

He awkwardly put his arm on Nora's shoulder. The touch soon became into an embrace. This time it was Nora, who initiated the hug. Corvus stayed in silent, not knowing what to say as Nora sobbed against his chest. Still, he drew circles on Nora's back, smally imitating the way Nora had done during the first time they had hugged.

Neither one of them knew how much time went by, sitting in the grass, before the tears stopped falling. "Are you feeling any better?" Corvus asked, breaking the silent.

Nora smiled slightly, small blush creeping back on her face. "Ye… yes, thank y… you."

Corvus stayed quiet for a moment, before continuing: "And you know, I'm happy that you're not a muggle." Red color painted slowly Corvus' cheeks.

Nora's smile became bright, and Corvus realized how much he had missed Nora's presence in his life. "Th… thank you. I g… guess it's n… not so b… bad to b… be a witch after all." Nora took a small pause before continued: "A… and I'll f… forgive you."

The moment was warm, Corvus smiled. He felt happy and relieved. The time stood still, and the atmosphere was warm. It was ended soon by the noise of Nora's stomach growling.

"Should we head out for lunch?" Corvus got up and offered Nora his hand.

"I g… guess," Nora chuckled and took it.

Nora's life became better after making-up with her friends. Olivia and Astoria took her in with open arms, but Michelle had a good chat with Nora.

"I love you chérie, but you can't act like that in the future!" Michelle snarled. "I know you and Corvus have the habit of avoiding problems and doing everything else expect to talk about them, whereas Olivia let's out cheerfully the positive things, but when she is angry, she can be passive-aggressive. Astoria tries to rationalize things and wants to talk about the things through, even if she's angry. I usually yell and argue things out. When you are angry, you avoid the people that you are mad at. I don't know which way is the best one, but you can't do that with your friends. I understand that you need your own time, but you have to talk about the things that bothers you. None of us are mind-readers and that kind of behavior really hurts."

"I… I'm s… sorry," Nora said, feeling embarrassed.

Michelle smiled at Nora: "Chérie, it's forgiven, just never do it again."

"I'll m… make n… no promises."

The life went on and older students had the permission to go the Hogsmeade. Nora told her friends about the village.

"Oh, I read about its history! It has been founded by Hengist of Woodcroft, to escape from muggles," Astoria informed. She was still in love with history of magic lessons and read a lot of books about magical history. She liked to learn how the things from the past affected their current lives and society.

"Okay," Olivia said, stretching the words. She hated history lessons. "Did you get to taste the butterbeer?"

"Y… yes."

"Oh, it's the best!" Olivia joyed. "I can't wait to go there next year and get some!"

"How's the village?" Michelle asked.

"It's l… lovely. It's s… straight from a p… poster."

"That sounds ravissant," Michelle thought.

The day came to an end, with lovely meal. They had enjoyed the most delicious supper in Ravenclaw's table. Everyone in the group went in their own common rooms. Nora was just about to put her head on the pillow when the door was opened:

"Everybody back into the great hall! Sirius Black is roaming free in the castle!"