From here on, things get a little different. You'll see if you're paying attention.
This is such a boring story. Awfully written, too.
The Scribe's Resurrection
Part One: Chapter Four
Late May, 1974
"Remember to stick to what we practiced," Spinnet, the Gryffindor captain, said feverishly. "And, remember we need at least two-fifty to tie with Slytherin for the Cup, and one hundred to beat out Ravenclaw." He was giving his last pep-talk of the year.
"Right." James Potter pounded his fist into his hand, pumped with adrenaline.
"Riviera, Harper," the captain addressed his beaters. They stood behind him. "Stick to those Bludgers. No doubt those Slytherins are gonna try and bewitch 'em."
"Got it."
And Selena heard the cheers as they moved closer to the door leading out into the pitch. The door rose up, and they mounted their brooms.
Out in the bleachers, everyone was anxious. The Ravenclaws were going over calculations in their heads, figuring that they needed one-sixty to win the Cup. "Welcome to the last match of the season! Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw!" Enthusiastic, the announcer riled up the watchers as they awaited the Quidditch players. Finally, robes of scarlet and blue appeared, flying around the rink.
"Yeah! Selena!" Darcy yelled, getting to her feet. Her brother, Slytherin's Seeker, looked at her weirdly. Darcy sat back down.
Selena waited for Madam Hooch to release the balls. The referee freed the them, and the Quaffle came into Ravenclaw's possession. Selena waited several moments, locating the Bludgers, and then sprang into action.
She came to the Gryffindor goals, hovering by one of them. Harper came by a while after. Selena saw what he was trying to do. A Bludger was coming towards them, and the Ravenclaw's chaser was directly behind it.
"Dopplebeater defense?" Harper asked, looking at his teammate. She nodded, and they raised their bats and struck the incoming ball. The Bludger rooted itself in the chaser's arm and knocked the boy off his broom.
"Ooh! Excellent Dopplebeater from Riviera and Harper! Parker's falling! AH! Ground. Aaand, Gryffindor possesses the Quaffle! Maxwell to Potter!"
Grinning widely, Selena whizzed off to watch over James, who now carried the red ball to the goal.
"TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!"
"Yes!"
Later into the game, James was flying around, following the movement of the chasers. Selena looked his way, beginning to push her broom in his direction. Then, a little speck caught her eye, and she accelerated downward.
"James!" She called. He looked up, but didn't get her warning. Instead, Selena placed herself between him and the advancing black object. She posed to strike, but it hit her bat first and knocked it out of her hand, wrenching her wrist.
"Argh!"
"Selena?" James caught the bat and returned it to her. "Alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She flexed her hand and kept flying.
The cutthroat match finally ended with both teams' reserve players going in, a number of stupid fouls, and a scarlet-robed seeker plucking the snitch out of the air.
"AND WITH THE CAPTURE OF THE SNITCH, GRYFFINDOR HAS WON THE QUIDDITCH CUP!"
Slytherins groaned, Ravenclaws huffed, and Hufflepuffs were just happy someone other than Slytherin celebrated in the common room that evening.
---
Gold and red glitter and streamers adorned everything in the common room. The warm glow of the hovering candles hit the griffin-spangled banners, and a healthy chatter presided the room.
Play-by-play accounts dominated the talk in the Gryffindor common room. A couple of people had miraculously produced bottles of butterbeer and massive cakes, making a celebration very possible. Admirers gave sudden hugs to the team, and Nearly Headless Nick had decided to pop in to hear about the match. Obviously, the men of the hour in the Gryffindor common room that night were the Gryffindor teammates, and most especially the Seeker.
"Great match, Selena," someone said as they passed by.
"Thanks!" She was sitting away from the crowd on a nice squashy couch, simply because she liked to witness the strange antics of her peers. She took a giant gulp of the pumpkin juice that had anonymously been pilfered from the kitchens. Selena's eyes moved to the left, and she saw Remus sitting next to her.
"Whoa, I didn't know you were here," she cried, jumping a little. Remus looked up.
"Sorry I startled you." He turned back to his butterbeer and sighed.
"You don't look so well," Selena murmured, looking at his form. "You okay?" He had tiny scratches all over his weary face.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Remus smiled. "Just a little tired. I think I'll go to bed."
"Okay." Selena watched him go up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, concerned. Gryffindor hadn't had the Cup in years. Remus was supposed to be rejoicing, not sleeping.
"And then, I saw Carney coming, and I took a sharp left, see? You've got to turn- just like that. He was tailing me, that Ravenclaw, advancing real fast-like. So, I thought up a plan. I halted!" Selena heard gasps. She rolled her eyes at James' speech. "Then, he slammed forward, straight into some other bloke! AHAHA! And just like that, I went around him again and threw the Quaffle into the hoop!"
"Oh, wow, James..." James' friend, Peter Pettigrew, was in awe. He was always in constant awe. Selena correlated James and Peter's relationship to hers and Darcy's.
"What did you do next?" A first-year girl sat next to him, hanging on to every word. She, as well as others, had a firm grip on another boy's cloak, causing him to choke.
"He fell off his broom 'cause of his big, fat head, that's what happened!" Lily Evans scowled. Selena snorted loudly.
"No need to be sore, Evans. If you wanna talk to me, just ask. I might give you a chance, you know, depending on how well you-"
"Puh-leaze!" Lily cried. She left the area, going over to get some more pumpkin juice. Selena sighed heavily, ready to go to bed. James' stupid comments and Lily's rebuttals got annoying the moment one heard them. She removed herself from her seat began walking to her dormitory. She bumped into someone.
"Oi! Watch it- oh, it's just you." Sirius Black's expression turned from defensive to calm.
"Hi. Wh-what are you doing?" Selena looked at what Sirius had in his hand. Some kind of purple goo resided there.
"What are you talking about?"
"Is that alive?" Selena's voice raised a couple octaves. "What is that?!" Sirius quickly clapped a hand over her mouth before she could catch attention.
"Shh, you're gonna wake it up, and I don't want that." She inched away; Selena could see it vibrating a little.
"What the hell is it?"
"If you promise not to tell-"
"Promise." The shiny fuzzball on her shoulder leapt up and began to fly around her head. Twinkles obviously didn't care for what Sirius had.
"It gobbles things." Selena's eyes met his, and she searched them, trying to find out what he meant by that statement. She decided to ask again.
"... What?"
"It's sleeping now, but if I wake it up, it will gobble my hand. It's a Gobbleygoop. I made it just the other day."
"Oh, so that's what Slughorn was talking about. Those." Gobbleygoops were made from several things like lionfish parts and belladonna. After stewing about a week, the potion would clump and begin engulfing things, and could grow quite large. The only recorded way to put it to sleep was telling it a tongue-twister.
"Yep. Figured it'd be useful."
"Mm. Well, then, g'night." Selena continued to walk.
"Wait, you're not going to ask what it's for?"
"No?" She knew better than to ask.
"Whyyy?" He asked. Selena turned around on the first step of the stairway, exasperated.
"What are you going to use the Gobbleygoop for, Sirius?" Cooperating, Selena recited the overused question.
"Well, James and I are going to put it on Professor Binns' desk, Selena. Then, I'll wake him up, and he'll eat stuff."
"That sounds-" His comment registered in her brain, and she began to giggle. "Really? Tell me when you do that. It'll be amazing."
"See? It is brilliant."
"Uh-huh. Well, I'm going to sleep now. G'night."
"G'night." Sirius waved with his free hand. She hopped up the stairs two-by-two, thoroughly amused that Sirius and James had been able to brew the purple ooze.
When Selena reached the dormitory, her mind began ticking, and she pulled out her journal and set it in the air. Like always, the quill poised itself, then began to write as she thought.
"I think something's wrong with Remus... I mean, he's extremely tired and he hides scary looking gashes... I don't think he notices that I see it. I mean, we study in the library all the time- who wouldn't see the marks on his hand? And he's wearing a cloak even when... I wonder if he could be... No! He couldn't be a were-"
"Selena!" She pulled herself out of the stupor and looked around. Then, Selena realized it was Darcy's voice she heard. She pulled out a little mirror and looked inside, seeing Darcy's reflection instead of her own.
"Yeah?"
"I wanted to tell you congratulations on the Cup! The match was amazing!"
"Thanks."
"Bloody hell! I bet you'll be captain by your sixth year or something. I mean- you fly like a phoenix or a Granian horse! Incredible!" Darcy gushed over her friend for a couple more minutes as Selena blushed deeply.
"Why didn't I see you after we got off the pitch?" Selena asked, putting her feet under the covers.
"Well, I had some studying to do, you know, with exams coming up and stuff." Darcy traced the outline of the mirror.
"Ugh... Don't remind me! With all those practices, I skipped out on studying."
"What? You didn't do any? Exams are this week, Selena!"
"I do study. Some."
"Psh, right, but if you flunk, I'm telling your dad it was your fault."
"I'm going to pass!"
"I know. You always pass. It's like you don't have to even study."
"I study, Darcy."
"Right. I hope I get all the uses of the number seven right on my Arithmancy final. I can never get them right. And it's not like I can ask people about it. I don't know many people who even take it. People say it's just all a jumble of numbers. You take it. You should help me." Silence for a while, then, "Oh, guess what!" Darcy's face lit up.
"Hmm?"
"We're going to Venice over the summer!"
"Ohh, really?"
"Yeah. Italy's going to be- snapdragon. I've gotta go. Love you."
"Love you too." And the hand mirror went blank. Selena put it under her pillow where she lay and soon fell asleep.
June, After Exams, 1974
"Bye." Darcy left Selena's side quickly and walked over to the Slytherin table. Selena looked at her plate that promptly filled itself with her favorite foods.
The Great Hall, decorated in black and yellow, buzzed as this was their last night in Hogwarts. Exams had finished, and every book was clamped shut, ready to collect dust in the bottom of school trunks.
Selena pushed her food around, not feeling hungry, though she hadn't eaten all day. An awfully sick feeling brewed in her stomach, and she feigned interest in the conversation around her.
"And, and, did you see his face?! That was the most emotion I've ever seen in him!" Sirius' recounting of the events of the History of Magic exam earned uproarious laughter from those around him. James and Sirius had let loose the purple Gobbleygoop, and succeeded in postponing the exam a day, gaining extra study time for Remus.
"Thanks for that," Allan Thomas said, laughing. "I needed more time for that exam. Was it me, or was that a whopper?"
"Yeah, we invented it specifically for that purpose." Sirius winked at his comrades.
"And what about that time when-" James prompted Sirius to delve into his memory again and unearth another amusing episode.
Selena coasted through dinner, letting Twinkles eat most of what was on her plate. Her thoughts enveloped her, pulling Selena deeper and deeper into the recesses of her mind. It was only when she heard a great, barking laughter that she snapped out of her mood.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Peter, but you're just so gullible!" Remus laughed along with Sirius. They were in the common room, and Selena got a painful headache trying to figure out how she got there.
Selena was disappointed although it didn't seem like she had a right to be. She was sitting in a comfortable armchair by a smoldering fire. She had a giant mug of spearmint tea, and her friends had decided to put on a comedy show. Her dad would be picking her up from Kings Cross Station tomorrow, and she had not a care in the world. But, the dark-haired teenager still felt horrible.
Darcy was becoming vague. Their friendship almost strolled down the road of polite, cordial talking instead of the path of best friends forever. Darcy had lost her Muggle 'BFF' necklace she'd bought with Selena when they were seven. Selena constantly repaired hers and always wore it. Selena knew it was nothing to become upset about, that stupid fake-silver-that's-turning-her-skin-green necklace. However, she couldn't help thinking that it wasn't lost.
A tear dripped from her eye, and she quickly wiped it with her knuckle.
Summer Holidays of 1974
Driving down Nightshade Avenue was always a pleasure. Well-kept, the residential road held twenty houses, each with a bountiful history. This one was said to be haunted, that one was burnt down five times and rebuilt each time. The sign in front of this particular street specifically stated there were twenty houses, because the post seemed to miss some of them. Nightshade Avenue was a singularly long road, and should not be confused with any other flower-named roads.
One lovely afternoon, the postman, young and new, rounded the corner and turned onto Nightshade Avenue. Immediately, he noticed a difference in the scenery.
The street was beautiful. The sky appeared more aquamarine here than any other patch of the heavens, tufts of clouds seemed slow to move from that road, and the sun, biased by the lushness of the area, radiated down sweetly to the trees. The dense foliage nestled the houses built within it, and the bounty of flowers were like candy to the eyes. The homes, stately and lived-in, jumped at the sight of a newcomer, paraded, and vied for his attention.
The postman breathed a sigh of happiness that a demure patch such as this street could exist. He moved jovially, stepping up to each of the houses and deposited the mail in them. Even though he had been overwhelmed by the intriguing exquisiteness of Nightshade Avenue, the young mail carrier remembered to count the houses. After visiting nineteen of the twenty, he now briskly followed the road. Suddenly, his path turned to gravel, and the amount of flora increased.
"Surely," he thought, "The owners of the last house are old. They probably live in an overgrown shamble of a structure!"
But he was wrenched from his thoughts when he saw a sign.
"The Belladonna Estate," it read in small, cursive letters. The postman thought it strange, then remembered that nightshade and belladonna were synonymous. He decided this was the house that had inspired the name of the street.
The path narrowed to six feet across, then slowly became narrower still. The mailman passed a garage, but no people. He still moved forward, but now he was worried further. The path had turned into a hiking trail! Then, suddenly, a clearing.
"Oh my lord," he gasped.
A beautiful hunter green house was waiting for him. The house was so lovely. Certainly a king dwelled here! The home seemed strange, though. It was as if it shouldn't be standing, the way it had been put together. The house looked like it had been built around a single bunch of a beautifully ugly tree with strange black berries as its fruit. The postman knew not to get too close, as the plant was poisonous.
After the initial stun had worn off, the mailman meekly walked to the front door. There was no little slot to poke the letters in, so he knocked. It swung open, revealing a petite, somewhat chubby teenager.
"Hello," began the mail carrier.
"Hi," she said. "Are you the new postman?"
"Yes. I-uh- there was no mail slot?" He held out the mail.
"Oh, oh yes. Thanks. Next time, you can leave it at the garage, you know. I hate for you to walk all the way up here, then back down. There should be a little box fastened to the siding of the garage."
"Okay. I'm sorry, I didn't know."
"It's not your fault- we should put a letter up. We don't get many visitors, you know. Well, nice to meet you, Mister-?"
"Blake. Robert Blake. By the way, you have a beautiful house."
"Thank you." Mr. Blake the postman hesitated, then drew back from the immense home.
"Bye-bye," he said.
"Bye," the teenager waved, then closed the door back.
The postman walked back the way he'd come. Selena looked out the front door after him, then turned and ventured into the house.
"Who was that?" Selena's mother asked when her daughter came back into the kitchen.
"New postman."
"Oh. Why do they keep switching them? I guess people complain about the walk here..."
"Dunno why. The walk is pretty." Pretty, Selena knew, was an understatement.
"I wish we could have more friends over."
"Then have them over. I'd put away all the magic stuff."
"I should. Everyone at the book club wants a change of scenery from Mrs. Stebbins'. Everything's just so pink."
"Yeah." Selena was a part of her librarian mother's Muggle book club, thoroughly enjoying this month's book, A Tale of Two Cities.
"I think I'm going to go plan it. Could you baste the turkey while I get my stationery?"
"Okay." Mrs. Riviera left the room, and Selena opened the oven.
Selena had been learning how to cook that summer. Komali Riviera scheduled a day out of the week (Thursday) as Selena's night to prepare dinner. Some witches would find it stupid to learn how to whisk icing by hand, but Selena wanted to know how.
Mrs. Riviera came back into the room, and an idea popped into her daughter's head.
"Mum?"
"Yes?"
"Can I go out and exercise my batting arm?"
"You mean you want to go out and fly your broom."
"Yeah, well..."
"Sure. Be careful." Selena ran outside. "Supper'll be ready in hour!" Mrs. Riviera called out after her.
Selena sprinted over to the shed in her backyard and pulled out her Nimbus 1700.
"Hello my baby!" She cooed. "You've been lonely, haven't you? Well, Mummy's here." She pulled out a baseball and a baseball bat. She had found that if she trained with a smaller ball than the Bludger, her aim would be better.
Selena mounted the broom and threw the ball out. It was bewitched to project itself at her if thrown or hit. She practiced for a while, ever watchful that someone might see even though her backyard was a long distance away from any Muggle activity and enclosed by trees.
The mother, back inside, frequently heard loud cracks of bat connecting to ball and a cry similar to a tennis player's grunt. As she washed dishes, she watched her daughter make small triumphs in the foreign game of Quidditch. She knew that when morning came, Selena would be scrambling to get her things into the car; the Hogwarts Express explicitly left at eleven.
A timer went off, and Komali Riviera pulled the turkey out of the oven. The smell wafted out and into her nostrils. She sighed happily and set the table for three. A glance at the light in the window suggested the time would be around six. Her husband was not home. Mrs. Riviera plucked a plate off the table, her mouth turned downwards.
The woman opened the door and yelled out into the world. "Come down from there and wash up!"
"Okay!" Outside, Selena heard her mother and began to fly over to the shed, but midway, the girl heard a noise. Her eyes located two boys in bright orange vests. They held up some object. Sharp, quick explosions preceded overwhelming pain.
"AAAHHHH!!" She screamed, falling backwards off the broom. Her hand reached for the broom but failed. "No!" She whispered, hurtling towards the earth.
Her body connected with the ground, and Selena instantly blacked out.