Chapter 14: They were better

"I really don't think you should have given that spell to Ron, Fred," Zoey said as she folded her legs under her as she sat down in her compartment. Fred and George had just caught up with her and told her that they had helped Harry Potter with his trunk in his compartment. In other words they actually met Harry Potter.

"And why's that Zoe?" Fred asked as he sat down beside her, George at the front of them.

Zoey gave a shrug, "Well, it would be quite embarrassing for him to try out the spell in front of his friends or something. Not much of a first impression"

"He'll do fine," George said, "Beside's I don't think he'll do it anyway."

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, you'd think by now ickle Ronniekins would know not to trust us by now," Fred said

"Yes, think, Fred, think. He doesn't know that it isn't a real spell. Honestly! 'Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid fat rat yellow!' The poor boy believed you!" Zoey said as she pulled her hair tie off and shook her head. She returned her attention back at the twins and tensed.

Fred and George had smirks on their faces.

"Wow Zoe," Fred said as he leaned towards her a bit, "I didn't know you memorized the spell"

"Don't tell us," George began

"You actually tried it out?" the twins ended in unison.

"I –err- of course not!" Zoey stuttered out as a blush appeared on her cheeks, "I'm underage! It's i-illegal! Where's Echo anyway?"

The twins' smirks grew bigger as Zoey fidgeted. She would not admit to trying out, falling for, such a childish spell. At that moment, as if hearing her question, Echo had slid open the compartments door and sat down beside George.

"Zoey, I cannot believe I actually heard what you and the twins were talking about"

"What are you talking about?" Zoey said not quite meeting Echo's golden eyes. She sat up straight and stubbornly looked the other way trying to act as if she was looking for the trolley lady.

Echo did not answer Zoey's question. Instead, she pulled out a thick pocketbook from a bag she was carrying and went to the window of the compartment. She opened the window and chucked the book out. Zoey and the twins watched in shock as the saw the book fly away from their sight, a few pages in the breeze before, too, disappearing.

"Filthy little thing," Echo muttered.

"What did you just do?" the twins asked in shock. Truth be told they did not particularly care for the book, they were merely curious of her actions.

"The writing was completely terrible. I couldn't grasp what the author wants me to understand, though I know it insults Muggles. Merlin, are there even wizards like this?" Echo asked as she returned to her seat and pulled out another book from her back.

"Why would you even pick up a book that insulted muggles?" George asked

"I thought you were pro-muggles like the rest of us," Fred added

"I had wanted to see what other wizards thought of muggles generally. I really wanted to see if what they have written was shallow or actually reasonable," Echo merely said

"But naturally, wouldn't the answer be obvious? The author of that book was a pure-blood was he not? Majority of them despise muggles…heck, they despise Muggle-borns as well," Zoey said as her eyes glazed over. The Emeraude crest flashed before her eyes.

"Hey!" the twins exclaimed.

"Mind you, we're pure-blood," Fred said with a slightly angry look.

"So am I," Zoey said, "That's why I said majority. I didn't exactly say it was the Weasley family did I?"

"No….but-" George was interrupted.

"No buts you guys have the purest pure-blood I've ever seen," Zoey scrambled over her words. Once again she had failed to give the best description for the Weasley family.

"Not to many," Fred said rather darkly, "We're considered blood-traitors"

Zoey opened her mouth to speak. She wanted to say that they were not blood-traitors to her. She wanted to say that 'blood-traitor' was too much of a harsh term for people who actually cared for the non-magic. But she was not able to get the words out for Echo had interrupted her.

"A half-blood wrote it," Echo said as she tried to direct the conversation away from the 'blood-traitor' topic, "I'm not that stupid to pick up a book that was written by a pure-blood. What am I a Ravenclaw for?"

'Being a Ravenclaw has nothing to do with it,' Zoey thought to herself and instead said: "Ah, and how was he a half-blood? Where was the muggle blood from?" Flashes of the Emeraude family came before her eyes. Zoey could not think of a reason why she was engaging herself in such a conversation. She took shame that she may have begun the topic in the first place. 'What's happening to me?'

"Just drop it okay?" Echo grunted, not aware of Zoey's inner dilemma, "I just don't like shallow and unreasonable writing from authors. Period."

Zoey did not reply. She bit the inside of her cheek and looked the other way. She rested her head against the wall and slowly closed her eyes. Her head was pounding and her heart was beating against her chest. She felt sick. She faintly heard Fred asking if anyone wanted to play a game of exploding snap before she fell asleep.


"There you are you filthy brat," a tall, beautiful woman with waist length blonde hair said with a scowl as she reached over to Zoey. Her long manicured fingers scratched Zoey's scalp as she grabbed a handful of her brown hair. She gave a harsh tug and Zoey stumbled out of the cabinet with a cry of pain.

"Shut it," the woman said as she lifted her hand and brought Zoey to her knees. She bent down a bit so she could be leveled with Zoey, "Why have you been hiding?"

Zoey let out a whimper as her tears fell down her face.

"Or the better question would be," the woman said ignoring Zoey's tears, "Where have you hid it?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Zoey gasped as she fell back down to the ground. She felt a harsh kick towards her stomach. She gagged.

"Liar!" the woman howled, "Where did you hide it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about! I have nothing to hide!" Zoey cried as she inched back to the cabinet, her back hitting the hard wood. She let out a scream as the woman pulled out her wand and aimed it at her.

"You wench! You have it with you somewhere in this house! Your mother left it for you! I know it!...and…I want it," the woman hissed as she pushed the tip of her wand to Zoey's neck.

Zoey let out a sob.

Zoey felt her heart beat rapidly against her chest as she felt the wand go deeper. She was beginning to fear that it would draw blood, the tip was rather sharp.

"Come one Zoey dear," the woman said in a voice that was suppose to sound gentle but it appeared more malicious to Zoey, "Just give the object to your aunty and no one would get hurt."

"I don't know what object you're talking about!"

Zoey screamed. She felt blood trickle down her neck.

"Stop lying! You know what I'm talking about! The thing! The thing that filthy sister of mine –your mother- left for you! I want it now!"

"She left nothing for me! Nothing! The house was in ruins wasn't it? Nothing survived! Nothing! I have nothing!" Zoey cried as she placed a shaky hand on her neck. She was getting dizzy.

"That object surely survived! It was important to your mother! She would have casted a spell that would let it survive something like that!"

"I don't know anything! Mum never told me anything! I've never seen this 'object' in my life!"

"How would you know?" the woman dipped down and whispered in Zoey's ear, "Maybe she showed it to you and you just didn't realize it. Think hard Zoey dear. Was there anything interesting that Lucy dearest decided to share with her hideous daughter?"

Zoey thought back to the days with her mother. She felt a painful pang in her heart. Her mother, she still remembered her kind and loving face, the exact opposite of the woman in front of her. Zoey closed her eyes as she tried to remember. She was so young when her mother passed. She wouldn't remember anything that far back. She was merely a toddler.

There was a ring… a necklace…. A photo album from when her mum was a teenager. No… she didn't know where they were… they disappeared from her sight right after her mother showed it to her. There was a headband and a silver chain… they disappeared as well.

'Think harder,' Zoey yelled in her head as she felt her blood damp her hand further. She shivered slightly as she felt the red liquid flow further down her neck.

A Hogwarts letter…. A mirror and…. And… a box.

Zoey's eyes flashed open.

"You know what the object is now?" the woman asked

"N-no," Zoey stuttered out the lie as she tried not to make eye contact. She focused her gaze on the wall.

"Liar," the woman hissed, "You're just like your whore of a mother and blood-traitor dad. Horrible imprints on our perfect pure-blood family."

Zoey froze.

"The Emeraude's and the Black's were the most honorable pure-blood families out there. Sure, there were some imperfections but we got rid of them easily… but now… the damage is done," the woman said, "Those blood-traitors made themselves known. Just think. A family full of Slytherin's and he sorted into Gryffindor? And your mother… She chose to study in that horrid school. She wanted to be different.

"She associated herself with blood-traitors, mud-bloods and half-breeds. Look what she's done! Brought shame to the family! Married that boy! And… had you… Now look… she's dead and he's in jail. Just perfect."

The woman gave off a cackle.

Zoey drew in a breath. Her father….her mother…. She was so young when they left her but she could still remember their faces. She could still remember how nice and loving they were. Nothing like how her aunt described them.

"Shut up," Zoey found her voice.

"What was that?" her aunt glared.

"Shut-up," Zoey repeated, "You have no right to talk to them like that. You have no right to degrade them"

"And what makes you say that? I knew them longer than you. I know how they were. They were nothing like the rest of their family."

"You're right. They weren't," Zoey drew in another breath, "They were better."

Her aunt's glare hardened and her lips formed a straight line. Angry red blotches appeared on her face as she drew her wand at Zoey.

"I would not be spoken to like that," she seethed, "Crucio"


The train gave a jump and Zoey found herself walking up with a start. She reached her hand to her forehead and noted that she was sweating heavily. She pushed her glasses back up her nose and felt her hands shaking. She looked at her reflection on her watch but couldn't see herself clearly. Zoey figured she looked pale and sickly.

"I should stop falling asleep during these trips," Zoey mumbled as she remembered all her dreams since first year. She shuddered.

"Then that would ruin the tradition," Echo, who was in a relaxed position with a book covering her face, spoke. Echo bookmarked her page and closed it. She rubbed her eyes before looking at Zoey. Her eyes widened.

"Nightmare?"

Zoey bit her lip. "Yeah," she said hoarsely, "You could say that"

"Oh. You could share it tom me if you want to, I guess. I hear that's what friends say to comfort each other," Echo said as she slightly inched forward.

Zoey looked down. It was almost like what Fred had said to her. "It's fine…really. I don't want to bother you with sometimes as…childish as a nightmare."

"Some people die by nightmares, Zoey"

"Did you really have to say that?" Zoey tensed, "Anyway… it's nothing. Where are-?" she made a hand gesture indicating the empty compartment. The twins were missing.

"Odd thing really. They went off with Bridgit to prank Percy. Apparently, Percy deducted points from Bridgit for pulling a prank on him. She wasn't too happy so she teamed up with the twins to get back at him," Echo said as she looked out the window, "Percy seems to enjoy is new 'Prefect' status"

Zoey gave of a small laugh. Percy had mentioned not only once, twice but the entire summer that he had gained the title "Prefect". Fred and George had not missed a moment to mock him about it.

A silence fell.

"Echo?" Zoey asked timidly as she started to play with the hem of her skirt, "I-if you don't mind me asking but… How do you know the Weasley's? Where are your parents?"

Echo looked back at Zoey, "Well, the Weasley's…we met when my parents came to their home (for what reason I can't remember) and brought me along. Then the Weasley kids started to play with me, though I always hesitated before," Echo said, "As for my parents, they're very busy, so much that I hardly see or hear word from them. They might as well have separate families."

"How could you say that?" Zoey asked in shock

"Just a guess. Every time I return to my house, everything's in a mess and covered with thick loads of dust. Merlin, it's always the same every summer! Mum and Dad always get in a fight. I don't know why, and I wouldn't waste my time finding out. It'll only be a big crap fact that somehow my parents don't even know I exist."

Zoey remembered the room in her house filled with dust, her mother's box in the middle of the room, untouched. Zoey felt a sudden pain in her neck.

"Dust? Why's that?" she asked trying to distract herself from the pain.

Echo sighed, "They come home at one point in the year, when I'm at Hogwarts no doubt, and that's all I know. I just can't think of a reason why they act like that. Seriously, it's annoying"

"So the rest of the year… no one's there? It just gathers dust?" Zoey asked. Pictures of her own home flashed in her mind.

"I don't clean it up after a while, it's just going to end up in a wreck if I did," Echo said and reopened her book, signaling the conversation was now dropped.

Zoey got the hint and looked down. She could not think what was worse. Having no parents (thought her father was in jail, it was close to not having one) or having parents that didn't know you exist. She tried to imagine the Beaumont home. Surely, it could not be as bad as hers.

She looked out the window and stood up.

"We'll be arriving soon," she said, "Let's get ready"

"There better be chocolate in the Great Hall," Echo muttered before, too, standing up.


And here's Chapter 14! YEY~! *clap, clap, clap*

Anyway, thanks for the reviews! You all are such wonderful people.

I dedicate this chapter to "YukiKyoMomiji" because she asked about Echo and how she knows the Weasley's (well, the actual question is why is Echo always with the Weasleys but hopefully this chapter answered that question as well) and what happened to her parents. If you could see, that bit was explained a bit near the end :D

And~! "Takara Matsudaira" I hope we can live through the homeworks and requirements and someday reach the day where we are free of work!

So, I would like to once again thank you all for the reviews, alerts and favorites!

Please review (yes some more XD if it's not to much trouble) because I love reading them and they truly urge me to right more. And don't be afraid to ask questions! I would try to answer them as best as I can!

Have a wonderful life!

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