Chapter Six: Green and White Smoke
Growing up, Zoey wasn't really scared of anything. Her mother told her stories about fairies and pixies and forbade her father and his friends from telling her stories about monsters that eat children who wouldn't go to bed on time or eat their vegetables. Zoey wasn't even afraid of werewolves because her parents made it a point to tell her that not all werewolves were bad. The Emeraude was able to sleep well at night without the fear of something unnatural living under her bed or in her closet.
The girl thought that she had nothing to be scared of.
Unfortunately for her, she was proven wrong when she saw who was standing at her door.
Zoey looked up to see a tall, curvy woman with waist length blonde hair and large crystal blue eyes glaring down at her. The woman's cheekbones were high and her lips were full and painted a vibrant red. The clothes the woman wore were tight and hugged her in all the right places; the highest heels Zoey had ever seen were on the woman's petite feet. It was obvious to the young Emeraude that the woman standing before her was drop dead gorgeous – every man's dream.
She was perfect.
Just like the people in the pictures.
That was enough of a reason for Zoey to be terrified of her.
"Well, well, well," The woman spoke slowly, her voice low and haunting. "Look who we have here. Little Orphan Zoey."
The young Emeraude trembled, watching the woman scan her house. The woman wrinkled her nose in disgust when she saw the over turned furniture, broken glass, shredded photographs and torn apart curtains. She looked back at Zoey and her eyes hardened, her crystal eyes turning ice cold. Zoey could have sworn that if the woman wanted to, she could shoot out ice crystals that could pierce Zoey to the ground with ease.
"What happened here?" She asked, her voice innocent and terrifying at the same time.
Zoey remained silent, her heart beating frantically against her chest, following the woman with her eyes as she walked around. Her heels clicking and clacking on the marble floor, creating a rhythm that Zoey was so sure would haunt her just like the woman's voice would. Whenever the woman stepped on the already broken glass, her heels would reduce them to pitiful glass particles and Zoey wondered what would happen if the woman were to step on another human being. It was a foolish thought but Zoey felt like she had every right to think of the most foolish possibilities.
"How long has this place been like this?" Zoey bit her lip and looked down at herself, not wanting to make eye contact. "Are you going to answer me?" Zoey could hear the woman approach her, the sounds of the heels on the floor getting louder with every step. "Can you even talk?"
The young Emeraude drew in a shaky breath and she worried for her heart. It felt like it would burst out of her chest at any moment. She had never felt this scared in her entire like. Never.
"Are you stupid or something?" The woman continued to question her. "Didn't your useless parents teach you anything? What about your good for nothing godparents? I would have thought the poor mutt would have taught you something. He was smart, wasn't he? Then again, if he was smart he wouldn't have gotten bitten, huh?"
Zoey didn't know what the woman was talking about. She didn't dare ask.
"Zoey Anastasia Emeraude – Black," The woman said as if reading off a paper that held Zoey's information like her date of birth and blood type. "Daughter of Sirius Orion Black, Mass Murderer, and Lucy Alena Emeraude, my horrid and now dead sister." Zoey's lips trembled, hearing the names of her parents. "Godparents are Remus John Lupin, mangy mutt, and Maria Natalie Hunter, retarded cheerleader."
"Take that back!" Zoey spoke without thinking, hands shooting up to her mouth the moment the words left her lips. Her eyes widened like saucers and she frantically shook her head, hoping that the action would somehow erase what she had said.
"Ah, so she speaks." The woman said, feigning awe. "My ugly, worthless, useless niece speaks, huh?"
The young Emeraude took in a breath. Niece? What was this woman talking about? She couldn't possibly be related to her, could she? It can't be.
"I can see that you're shocked," The woman's red lips curled into a hideous smirk. "My sister never told you about me? Figures. Well, seeing as you'd be living here forever, I might as well introduce myself. My name is –"
"Jumping frogs!" Zoey exclaimed as she fell off her bed, landing on her back while her legs were still on top of her bed. The Hufflepuff groaned in pain, wondering how in the world she managed to make some progress when she attempted to put on her favorite legwarmers all the while tying up her hair. "Oww, oww, oww, oww…" She muttered, pushing herself off of her dusty bedroom rug, swinging her legs off the bed, only to have them land on a pile of pillow fluff.
The Emeraude was in her bedroom back in her house and it was still the same as ever. Total chaos. The only difference was that it was dustier than ever. With Zoey not being around for the entire year she was in Hogwarts, the dusty bunnies along with the entire zoo came and covered everything from Zoey's ripped apart bed all the way to the tables and chairs that donned two to three legs.
Standing up, Zoey readjusted her glasses and swiped everything she needed to bring to Hogwarts off of her bedside table. She ran out of her room; avoiding the broken picture frames, empty bottles and the like, scrambling down the staircase and miraculously reached the last step without a scratch on her. The Hufflepuff immediately made a beeline for her luggage and stuffed the objects she collected inside.
"Diary…Quills… Inkbottles… Auctor sanitatis…Parchment…Necktie…Socks…Wand… Okay!" The Emeraude grinned and locked up her bag. She held onto her luggage tightly and approached her fireplace, getting a handful of Floo Powder in the process. "Second Year, here I come!" Zoey chirped, happy to go back to Hogwarts. "King's Cross Station!"
Zoey slumped down onto her compartment's seat, gasping for breath. She had barely made it in time. When she arrived at King's Cross Station, she had accidentally gone the wrong direction and was far from Platform 9 ¾ when she realized her mistake. When she made a hurried U-turn, she accidentally bumped into a rushing gentleman and all their things exploded onto the floor. They helped each other in gathering their belongings and Zoey prayed that they didn't have any mix-up because it wouldn't do well for her if a muggle were to find her bag that was filled with a cauldron and spell books. After finding Platform 9 ¾ and running into the wall, Zoey had to squeeze herself through the families who were seeing their children off.
By the time the Emeraude entered the Hogwarts Express and a compartment, she had four minutes to spare.
"They're here!" Zoey said with a grin when she saw a family of redheads and a violet haired girl approaching the train. She watched as Mrs. Weasley hastily kissed and hugged her children good-bye. First was Percy, a fourth year Gryffindor, and next were Fred and George, Zoey's close and troublemaking friends who were also in their second year, and lastly was Echo Beaumont, a second year Ravenclaw who Zoey had come to call her best friend. The Emeraude felt her heart skip a beat when they all scrambled onto the train with one-minute left until their departure.
Zoey was about to turn away from the window and get comfortable on her seat when she caught Mrs. Weasley's eye. The woman smiled warmly at her and gave her a wave, the Hogwarts Express already beginning to move away from the station. Zoey shot out of her seat and gave Mrs. Weasley an excited wave in return.
"Who are you waving at?" Zoey felt herself jump in surprise and turned around to see Echo giving her a questioning look.
"Mrs. Weasley," The Emeraude replied with a grin, helping Echo into the compartment and lifting her luggage onto the luggage rack. "How has your week been?" Zoey asked when they settled down into their seats. The two have spent most of their summer with the Weasleys and it was only during their last week when they returned to their respective houses to gather up their belongings for a new year at Hogwarts.
"I should be asking you that."
"Oh… well, it was alright… I guess," Zoey paused in thought. "I really need to get one of those muggle vacuum cleaners though." She added, remembering the dust pilling up in her room. It did not do well for her allergies. "Do you happen to know if Mr. Weasley has any muggle cleaning items?"
"I don't know. I rarely talk to Fred and George's parents. They usually bring me into conversations."
"Speaking of Fred and George," Zoey began, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Where are they?"
Echo looked out of their compartment's door. "Err – It may be best of you to not know or else we'll end up being dragged into trouble along with them."
"What do you mean?" Zoey cocked her head in confusion.
"I just have a hunch that they're pranking the first years. Most likely, my hunch is correct." The Ravenclaw said with a shrug.
Zoey slowly nodded her head and looked down at her skirt, playing with the hem. "By any chance, has the trolley lady begun her rounds yet?"
"Probably," Echo said, looking up at the ceiling and then at Zoey. "Would it be okay for you to go buy us some sweets? I need to do some advanced reading."
"Sure," Zoey said, already standing up from her seat.
"Thanks!"
"Trolley lady, trolley lady, where is the trolley lady?" Zoey sang to herself in a random tune that popped into her head as she slowly walked through the train's hall, often stopping to scan the people in each compartment, checking if maybe the trolley lady was with them though it was a foolish idea. For someone who shouted "Anything from the trolley?" so often, Zoey had a hard time finding her.
"Where could she be?" The Emeraude muttered to herself, trying to ignore the loud laughter and chattering of the Hogwarts students and focus on listening for the trolley lady's catchphrase.
Zoey wandered further down the train's hallway and was just about to give up when she felt the wind get knocked right out of her as she was pushed down to the ground along with someone. The Emeraude let out a wheeze of air and winced when she took note of the person who fell on top of her being quite heavy.
"Ca – Can you pl – please get off of me?" Zoey gasped out, wriggling uncomfortably under the person.
"Sorry about that, love." The person said and Zoey was relieved when the weight was lifted off of her. She looked up to see who pushed her down and she immediately felt her cheeks flush at the recognition. "Zoey?" The person said, chuckling.
"Fred?" Zoey asked, ninety-nine percent sure she guessed the twin's name right.
"You're getting pretty good at this," Fred grinned, standing up and pulling Zoey up after.
"Echo said you and George were pulling a prank on the train?" The Emeraude inquired, running hand through her hair, untangling it.
"Oh she did, did she?" Fred's grin widened. "Well, if you must know –"
A large explosion followed by several screams interrupted Fred and the two looked over to the source only to see murky green smoke heading their way. Zoey's eyes widened and she watched as students ran out of their compartments, coughing and trying to get away from the smoke as fast as they could.
"Did you do that?" Zoey asked, taking a step away from the smoke.
Another explosion was heard after Zoey's question and another wave of screams followed. Zoey turned her attention to the opposite side of the hall and saw white smoke with sparkles and fireworks. The Emeraude saw students run out of their compartments as well, some were angrily trying to get away from the smoke and fireworks while others were laughing.
"George and I did that," Fred said, motioning to the white smoke. "I haven't got the foggiest on who did that," he jerked his head towards the green smoke.
"Hey, Forge, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" George appeared out of nowhere, scaring Zoey. The younger Weasley twin sent the Emeraude a smile and she took note of his unruly hair and the sparkles on his robes. Maybe he came out from the smoke. "You don't think?"
"Another one? No," Fred folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. "It can't be."
"But there's no other explanation!"
"Not other explanation for what?" Zoey asked worriedly. "What are you two thinking?"
"We think there's another prankster in Hogwarts."
HELLO.
AnimeFlowerGirl here :) Welcome to Chapter 6 of Crossroads, my first Harry Potter Fic!
If you are one of my old readers, the people who have read this fic when it began back in 2011, WELCOME BACK! Nice to see that you stopped by to see how things are going. Want to sit down, have some Butterbeer?
If you are a new reader, WELCOME!
Please, new reader, come join me and old reader :)
So yeah, new reader, this is actually a rewrite. My old reader/s was/were notified about my rewriting project in Chapter 86. So please bear with me. You can continue on if you want. I hope you enjoy :D
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.
Please tell me what you thought.
Excuse my typos and the like.
Don't forget to review and the like.
And
I only own what I own :)
PS
I will try my best to reply to everyone who reviews/messages me. I regret I wasn't able to do this in the past, so I'm going to try it now :)
