The holidays went by faster than Ava realized, because next thing she knew, she as back at the train station saying goodbye to her mother and father. After what felt like a million hugs from her parents she boarded the train to find her friends.
" Ava!"
Ava turned to see who was calling her name, but right when she turned a pair of arms grabbed her into a hug. " Donna!" she said " its so good to see you".
" Its good to see you too, I missed you so much, you have to tell me how your holiday went, but right now lets find the others".
Donna and Ava looked for their friends, but they couldn't find them. Instead they found an empty compartment. If the others showed up then they could join them.
" So how was your holiday?" Ava asked.
" Meh, it could have been better, I was happy to see my family though" She said. " You?"
" It was good, I spent a lot of time with my parents, and guess what? I got a broomstick from them on Christmas". Donna's mouth dropped " Really? Have you practiced?".
Ava nodded " yeah I have been practicing all week, not to brag but I think that I am getting rather good at it" Donna chuckled. Then her face became serious. " Ava tell me about Draco's letter". Ava shrugged
" there is not much to tell, it came and it said I miss you on it and that is all".
" Wow what a prat" Donna said. Ava agreed " yeah desperate much?"
Donna giggled " too bad he can't get anyone".
They both giggled
A few hours later. Ava could see the castle in the horizon " home". She thought to herself. She realized why her house felt so different. It didn't feel like home anymore, it just felt like she was visiting. Hogwarts was her home, her life. She couldn't wait to take her classes again and to sleep in her soft bed.
Donna and Ava put on their robes. Then they heard the whistle and they felt the train stop. Ava jumped with excitement.
She and Donna went to get their trunks, and went to the carriages to go to the school
When they got there they set their trunks with the rest of the pile and headed off to the great hall for dinner. Before they could even make it Donna and Ava heard Squeals and their names being called. The two friends turned to see Nancy, Gemma, Hermione, Evelyn, Stacey, Mary and Elaine running toward them. Soon Ava and Donna were gasping for breath as their friends group hugged them.
Áva heard a laugh behind them and then heard someone say " Woah calm down you guys, you don't want to kill them".
When the girls let go, she looked behind them to se Seamus, Ben, Harry, Ron, Adian, Jacob and Tyler walked toward them. Ava blushed she hasn't seen Seamus for 3 weeks, and she forgot how cute he was, his eyes sparkled when he saw her. " How was your holiday?" Ben asked them.
" It was alright, Ava got a broomstick from her parents" Donna said. All of the boys eyes went wide
" Really? What kind of a broomstick?" Seamus asked. " Nimbus 2003" Ava stated. Dean stared at her wide eyed " No way…. With that broom, you will be the Quidditch champion." Ava smiled at him
then she turned and looked at everyone piling into the Great Hall. Her stomach rumbled and Seamus laughed.
" I see your appetite hasn't changed, lets go get something to eat". They walked in the Great Hall and took seats next to Harry, Ron and Neville, Evelyn, Mary and Stacey went to their own houses.
After a long and boring welcome home speech made by Professor Dumbledore. The plates immediately filled up with food. Ava grabbed the first sandwich she saw and bit into it. Donna laughed at her.
Even with all this happiness going on, Ava refused to turn around to look over at the Slytherin table. She knew he was watching her. She could feel it.
Instead of turning around she busied herself by grabbing more food.
…..
Later that night it started to rain. Ava laid her head on her fluffy pillow and snuggled under the covers. She listened to the noises of her dorm. Donna and Hermione were both softly snoring. Elaine was mumbling slightly in her sleep
One of the boys was snoring very loudly next door. She realized that it was probably Dean. Seamus was always complaining on how loud he is. Ava turned over and focused on the sound of the rain and she fell into a light sleep.
FEW HOURS LATER
" no No NO, STOP STOP LEAVE ME ALONE!, GIVE IT BACK! GIVE IT BACK!"
Ava bolted out of her bed and saw Elaine thrashing around in her bed and banging on the walls, she sighed and went to go help her friend, she saw everyone else get out of bed to shush her and go calm her down. This was one of Elaine's night scares. She didn't hear any more of Dean's snoring, she assumed he was awake and was trying to get back to sleep. The boys knew of Elaine's night scares. Actually everyone in Gryffindor knew. Elaine was very loud and would usually scream and bang. Everyone pitied the girls that slept with her.
They would often ask Elaine what she dreams about, but she never remembers.
Even though it has happened to Ava dozens of times, she never told anyone how much Elaine scared her every night. It was terrifying to listen to Elaine scream and thrash, like she was in pain. She knew her dorm mates felt the same, even if they didn't say anything
Elaine's screams soon turned into sobs, Hermione hugged her and looked at the girls. Elaine has never cried before, she would usually scream and then go back to sleep like nothing happened, but this time was different. Elaine was sobbing so loudly that she thought the whole school would wake up . Donna gave Ava a sulky look as she rubbed Elaine's back. Ava was soothing Elaine by playing with her hair and whispering calming words in her ear. Soon Elaine turned over and started softly snoring again.
The other girls shook their tired heads and Nancy groaned quietly as they went back to bed. Ava watched Elaine for a little bit longer then headed off to her own bed but didn't fall asleep.
Elaine was known for sleep walking and talking and having night scares almost every night.
She and her dorm mates had to wake up to her noise and then calm her down and assure her that she was all right and to go back sleep. They never had experienced her sleep walking, and Ava was fine with that, she always feared that she would wake up one night to Elaine standing by her bed watching her.
Ava pushed the thought out of her head and forced herself to sleep.
When Ava woke up she felt exaughsted. She looked and saw Elaine up and already showered, dressed and putting on her clothes. " Rise and Shine sleeping beauties, why are you all so tired?" she asked. Nancy groaned " well there are a few reasons" she snarled. Elaine's face suddenly flushed red " oh no, not again" she whispered. Gemma nodded while rubbing her tired eyes.
" I am so sorry you guys" Elaine said.
" Its fine" Ava mumbled " But maybe we should see Professor Mcgonogal about this. This happens at least 4 times a week and whatever is going on through your head at night cannot be normal".
Elaine sighed " your right, maybe I will see her tonight". Everyone agreed. Donna sat up in bed
" come on," She groaned "we don't want to be late".
Everyone yawned and got up. Ava took a quick shower and changed into her school robes. She dried and curled her hair with her wand and then headed down the stairs with everyone else.
In the Great Hall Elaine got a few stares from her fellow Gryffindors. Elaine blushed and whispered to Ava " was I really that loud".
Ava hesitated but said " Elaine you were screaming, it took a while for us to calm you down". Are you sure you don't remember anything from last night?" Elaine shook her head.
" No I honestly don't, like I tell you every time, I don't remember anything" Ava nodded and sat down at a seat and grabbed some oatmeal, Elaine sat down next to her. Tyler, Dean, Seamus, Dean, Neville, Ron and Harry further down the table talking with some fellow Gryffindors. Donna was helping herself to some cereal.
Ava watched Elaine's face grow red from embarrassment as people continued watching her. All of a sudden Elaine rose from her seat. " I am going to talk to Madam Pomfrey" she announced and walked out of the Great Hall with a few glances from other Gryffindors.
The friends sighed, Ava smiled " Hopefully she gets some help, because I don't know about the rest of you but I actually like to sleep at night"
Donna chuckled " So are you ready for Potions". Ava sighed " No I am not ready, but I have no choice, if only we could just skip potions, or at least have a new teacher". She or Donna were not fans of Professor Snape.
" Oh well, we might as well head on down to Potions now" Donna said. Ava sighed and got up from her chair. They said bye to the rest of their friends who had Astronomy next. As they were leaving the Great Hall they heard their names being called out. They turned to find Tyler and Ben running toward them.
" Whats up?" Donna asked.
" remember we have potions with you next so we thought we could walk with you guys" Ben said. Ava and Donna smiled and turned to walk to potions with Ben and Tyler walking beside them.
" So what's going on with Elaine?" Tyler asked. " We saw her leave the Great Hall, doesn't she have potions with us as well?"
" She went to go see Madam Pomfrey, we were a little worried about her at night, if you know what I mean" Ava said.
Tyler rubbed the back of his head " yeaaah… , she was pretty loud last night".
" Yeah I was surprised, she was actually louder than Dean" Ben chuckled.
Donna laughed " True, true, Dean is pretty loud when it comes to snoring"
Ben sighed " she is pretty messed up, when it comes to sleep I mean"
" Yeah, but if we don't get a proper nights sleep soon, we are going to be the messed up ones." Ava said.
They all laughed and walked into the Potions room, Donna and Ava sat down in a double seat near the front and Ben and Tyler sat in the back. Elaine did not show up to class.
A cool a horrible voice floated across the room "Miss. Bronson may I ask where Miss. Doyle is today?"
"She is in the hospital wing sir" Ava said
Snape Squinted " are you quiet sure, from what I saw I just saw her walk out of the Great Hall"
Ava huffed " Yes I am quiet sure, she left the Great Hall to go to the Hospital Wing". Snape glared at Ava. Seeing as though he couldn't find a reason to take any house points off. He turned around.
" Tonight I will be giving you a homework assignment. You will write a 3 page essay on the sleeping draught and its uses, you will hand this in tomorrow!" the class groaned and protested but Snape would not hear of it
" Enough!" he bellowed. Then he turned toward Ava and Donna
" If your friend doesn't hand in a report by tomorrow, she gets a zero".
Donna complained " But Professor that's not –",
" I said enough!"
Then he turned around and walked over to his desk leaving the students to finish their potions work for the day.
" This is so unfair" Ava whispered. " We will be in the library all night tonight, plus we have to find some way to help Elaine pass". Donna nodded " maybe we can do it for her" she suggested.
Ava shrugged, she really didn't want to do two reports but she wanted Elaine to pass. " I guess we will have to wait until tonight to see if she gets back" Donna nodded " okay we will talk about it at lunch"
The next class that Ava and Donna headed to was Astronomy. Ava enjoyed this class very much. She loved stars and different planets.
Though the next classes she had were very boring and extremely easy. She was top in her Muggle Studies class which was not too difficult since she already learned everything. Elaine didn't show up for any of her classes yet.
Pretty soon it was lunch. But Ava and Donna didn't have time to enjoy a nice break. Right after wolfing down a couple of sandwiches, they headed off to the library to finish their potions essay.
Ava sighed as they sat down at a quiet spot in the library. " Man, I am going to get Snape back for this"
Donna giggled " You and me both"
Then they went into a conversation about Snape's big nose, which caused them glares from a few Slytherin students around them.
" So I will start with the first half and you can do the second half" Donna said.
" Second half of what?" Ava asked. " Elaine's essay of course" Donna said. " We haven't seen her all day, she doesn't deserve to fail, she has done nothing wrong".
Ava agreed " alright, but we have to make it completely different from our own essay's or Snape will know and he will have all of our buts in detention for the rest of the school year"
Donna nodded and they both set off to work on their homework.
A few minutes passed and all of a sudden the library was filled with laughter and whispering. Ava turned around to see what was going on and turned to see Neville, sprawled along the floor with his papers everywhere, it appears that he tripped and it didn't appear that anyone was going to help him.
Ava huffed at everyone's rudeness towards him and immediately got up and walked over to where he was laying. She squatted down next to him.
" Neville are you alright" she whispered.
" M'all right, M'all right, just tripped over someone's foot" He said and pointed to where he fell.
Ava turned to where Neville was pointing and saw Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle snickering behind their books. Ava's eyes flashed. She knew that this was no accident.
Before she could stop herself she stomped right up to Malfoy and grabbed the book from his hand.
He looked up at her smirking.
" you're a git!" she said quiet loudly.
" Better that then being part of the Longbottom family." Mafloy said twice as loud "They are a disgrace to the wizarding world. Good thing Bellatrix got rid of the parents! They probably deserved all the torture they got. Tho blood trai -
Malfoy didn't finish , The slap echoed throughout the whole library. Ava hand stung, but she didn't care, she was appalled. How could Malfoy say such awful things to Neville. She didn't even know that his parents where murdered and now the half the school knew in a few seconds. She wasn't about to let Malfoy embarrass Neville like that.
Malfoy's eyes were filled with shock. But the shock soon turned into fury. He stood up and looked right into Ava's face. His hand twitching as if he was deciding on whether to pummel her right then.
Ava didn't move and she looked right back at him, her stare twice as hard. Though she had to admit. His stare was frightening her quite a bit. She has never seen him so angry before. It looked like he was going to wring her neck right there in the library. She was not going to show her fear. Instead she but her hands on her hips and looked him right in the eye.
Soon Professor Dunne the librarian came over. She had a look in her eye that looked like she wanted to kill.
" What is going on over here!" she screeched. Malfoy smirked at Ava and then turned to the librarian and put on his innocent face.
" Professor, I was just sitting here minding my own business when she came and slapped me across the face"
Professor Dunne looked at Ava " is this true Miss. Bronson? Did you slap him?"
Ava nodded " Yes ma'am but I assure you it was not for no reason. He purposely tripped Neville." And she pointed to where Neville was laying on the ground with Donna helping him pick up his things. His face was red from embarrassment and he had tears of anger from the announcement of his parents. But Ava could of also sworn that she saw a look of admiration in his eyes and he looked up at her and smiled.
Professor Dunne huffed " well I am shocked at both of you for your childish behavior, especially from you Miss Bronson. I have heard many great things from you by other teachers. But never the less you both acted irresponsibly and you are to leave this library at once. You may come back when you feel mature enough to study in this library, now scoot!"
Ava huffed and walked over to Neville and helped him pick up the rest of his things. Then she and Donna both grabbed their things and they all left the library. Ava looked to where Malfoy was sitting and saw that he and his little gang had already left
" C'mon, lets head back to the common room, where Malfoy can't bother us." Donna stated.
Ava turned to Neville " sorry about what happened, are you okay?"
Neville nodded " yeah, I really appreciated what you did back there, I am so sick of Malfoy's crap."
Donna smiled at him " anytime Neville"
Then they headed back to the common room. Where it was quiet and they couldn't be annoyed by
Malfoy or Parkinson.
Ava was almost done all her homework. She ended up finishing Snape's essay and now she was on to Muggle studies. But she couldn't seem to concentrate. She kept replaying Malfoys nasty little speech about Neville's parents in her head. She didn't know that Neville's parents were murdered, even worse tortured to death.
She glanced over at Neville. He seemed to be concentrating very hard on his essay for Astronomy.
Ava looked down and tried very hard to concentrate on her History of Muggles book.
After a good 10 minutes she closed the book with a sigh. She looked over at Donna who still seemed to be struggling to finishing her essay for Snape. Ava got up and went to the bookcase and pulled out a book and went back to the fireplace to read.
A few minutes later the loud sound of laughter tumbled in threw the entrance of Gryffindor tower and she saw Dean, Seamus, Tyler, Harry and Ron climb through the whole. It took a few seconds until they spotted Neville, Ava and Donna and they came to sit with them.
When they sat down their voices lowered. They seemed a bit tired out from all their laughing and pretty soon they just stared into the fire.
Ava couldn't help but laugh at what just happened. They turned to her with confused expressions on their faces " What are you going on about?" Seamus asked. Ava laughed again " doesn't matter" she replied.
" what where you guys up too?" she asked.
They burst into laughter again " You should of seen the wicked prank Fred and George pulled on Snape. It was brilliant"
Donna chuckled and looked up at Ava " boys" she said and she and Ava snickered.
Then Donna noticed that Ava wasn't doing her work " Woah, are you done already?" when Ava nodded. Donna looked bewildered " I didn't even see you finish, did you finish Elaine's half of her essay" Ava nodded again and pointed to the sheet of paper on the table. Donna stared with her mouth wide open.
" Honestly Ava, sometimes I think you smarter than Hermione, I mean you just whiz threw everything, you don't even study for tests."
" its true you know" Ben said " some of us don't even understand how it comes so easily with you" the others agreed with him.
Ava chuckled " you guys are just exaggerating, I listen in class. That's why I don't study, And if I don't listen, then I go over the homework twice as hard so I can understand it. You guys are making me sound like a genius."
" That's because you are a genius" Seamus said and smiled.
" your just being modest" Donna said.
Ava started to protest but she heard the portrait hole open and Elaine walked right in. Ava gasped. She didn't hear from Elaine all day.
Everyone else stared at her, Donna and Ava both stood up and ran to her. " How are you feeling?" Ava asked.
Elaine shrugged " I feel fine. Madam Pomfrey gave me a potion that was supposed to put me in a heavy sleep. I feel a little tired so I think I will head off to bed"
" But Elaine – " Donna started. But She just waved and walked up the stairs.
" What's with her?" Ron asked. But Ava and Donna shrugged. " We don't know, but hopefully the potion that madam Pomfrey gave her will work." Donna said.
Ava nodded. She wanted a good nights sleep and she was hoping that tonight would be the night. I guess we will just have to wait and see. She thought to herself