Chapter 39: A World Crashing Down

It was midnight. No one was up except for Zoey. She sat in her common room as she listened to the soft sounds of ticking from the wall clock and the crackling of the fire in the fireplace. She was alone. It had been a week since the fight with her closest friends and she was nowhere near explaining anything to them. She had passed them by in the halls and in classes but they would ignore her, as if they never knew her. Zoey was hurt but she blamed herself, after all she never really tried to make things clear. She was afraid. She did not know what to do. She knew she should have explained her situation years ago. When she still had friends who would listen. When Fred had insisted to know what was happening. When the picture was still in one piece and un-ruined.

Zoey stared into the fireplace. She watched as the flames dance in the dark. She shivered. The flames were not enough to warm her. She felt numb. She felt rejected and heartbroken. Zoey regretted everything. She regretted owning a diary, writing her full name in it, being careless and losing it but what she regretted the most was not telling her friends sooner. Yes, everything returned to her keeping her true-self a secret. Billions of "what if" questions swarmed Zoey's mind as she brought her head to her knees. What if she told them sooner? Maybe the fight wouldn't have happened. What if a fight did happen and it didn't affect her like this because she wouldn't have gotten to know them as long as now.

Zoey let out a sob.

The thought of never knowing the twins and Echo was painful. She would have been alone to begin with. Without the Echo she would not have known the twins, without the three of them she would not have known Bridgit. Zoey blinked as her breath quivered. Her eyes felt sore. She had been crying for days and it finally seemed as though she had run out of tears. She brought her head back up and stared back into the fire. She remembered the day she got her Hogwarts letter.

Zoey slowly walked down the stairs with her arms wrapped nervously around her body. She was simply wearing a large shirt and short shorts that day and it didn't help warm her body with the cold temperature of her house. She carefully avoided a shard of glass as she made her last few steps down. She licked her lips when she saw a light coming out of the kitchen. Her aunt was here. The kitchen was one of the only places she could stand staying in, after all it was the cleanest.

She nervously placed her hand on the doorknob and leaned her ear against the wood. She could hear the soft clinking of a teaspoon in a cup. She straightened up. No use in avoiding her. It would only make things worse. Zoey took a deep breath and turned the knob. She opened the door with a soft push and winced at the bright light. It was the only room lit.

Zoey kept her mouth shut and her head slightly downcast as she looked from under her lashes at her aunt. Damiana was sitting with her long legs crossed her right pointer finger in her hair, twirled, while her left was holding her wand moving it in a circular manner so that the teaspoon would mix her coffee.

Zoey found that action utterly pointless and lazy but kept her opinions to herself. She looked over at the teacup and saw that there was an envelope beside it. She raised her eyebrow a bit. Suddenly, the envelope was snatched by long, pink, French-manicured nails.

"You want to know what this is?" Damiana spoke in a soft, girly tone. It almost made her seem innocent, like she did nothing wrong to Zoey. Almost.

Zoey did not reply. She just looked up.

Damiana uncrossed her legs and walked towards Zoey, stopping just a few feet away from her. "I asked you a question"

"An envelope?" Zoey said waiting to be slapped. She scrunched up her eyes and waited for the contact. It never came. She cautiously opened her eyes to see Damiana sneering at her.

"Very funny," she said as she held the envelope to Zoey's face, "But wrong. It's your Hogwarts letter. You do know what Hogwarts is, don't you?"

Zoey looked at the envelope curiously. Her name was written on the back with green ink. She felt and odd feeling in her heart. It was like it skipped a few beats at the sight of her name. She knew what Hogwarts was and knew for a fact that this was her Hogwarts acceptance letter. She had seen one before, her mother's. Zoey reached out for the letter but it was brought out of her reach.

"Uh uh," Damian said with a shake of her head and a wag of her finger, "What makes you so sure this is for you?"

"It has my name on it," Zoey said simply.

"Don't get witty with me. What I meant was 'What makes you so sure that you're going to get this'?" Damiana said as she tinkered with the flap of the envelope.

"It's addressed to me."

"Hmm? It appears so yes but you are mistaken. You see, you are only eleven –"

"The age I am required to be to enter," Zoey interrupted.

" – years-old but that doesn't mean that you're going," Damiana continued as if Zoey had never spoken, "I'm your legal guardian. I get to say if you're going or not"

Zoey looked at her aunt in horror. "You can't. Uncle Moony's my legal guardian!"

"If he was, then why are you here then?" Damiana challenged.

"C-Cause… cause…," Zoey stuttered. She didn't really know why.

"Cause," Damiana mimicked, "Because he could not support you. That filthy half-breed can't even keep a job for more than a few months. It's pathetic"

Zoey swallowed hard. She had fought long and hard with her aunt concerning her uncle. She didn't know why he was called a "half-breed" all she knew was that whatever he was, he was still a nice man who did everything in his power to make sure Zoey was happy. Zoey loved the times she spent with her uncle and was crestfallen to hear that she could no longer stay with him. Nevertheless, she was obedient and loyal and agreed to move in with the Emeraudes if it was for the best.

"P-please, you can't keep my Hogwarts letter. I – I need to study….," she tried. She knew that she was fighting a losing battle.

"And who says I want you to study magic? What bloody good will that do?" Damiana asked, "Besides, no one would look for you. There are kids who are homeschooled"

"You won't teach me anything anyway. Why do you even want me here? You hate me!" Zoey cried as she inched farther away from her aunt. This was those rare times she had shown courage to talk back to her aunt and she did not want to have to pay for it anytime soon.

"True. But – hmm – what if, for example, you were actually good in magic? What would you do? Turn against me?" Damiana asked as she toyed with the envelope, ripping its edges.

Zoey bit her lip. "I won't I promise"

"Is that so?"

"Yes, I would never go against you… I promise… and when I make a promise I –" Zoey gulped, "I keep it"

Damiana hummed as she looked over at the envelope. Zoey winced slightly when she ripped it open. She watched as her aunt read over the letter before placing it down, with the envelope, on the kitchen table with a wave of her wand.

"What if you actually excelled in magic?" Damiana asked.

"I would never use it against you"

"What would you do after your schooling though? Run away?" Damiana then walked towards Zoey again, stopping mere inches away from her face. Blue eyes penetrating gray.

Zoey swallowed hard.

"Were you even planning to run away?" Damiana asked as she straightened up, "You know I would not like that. I would hate to know that you would leave the Emeraude's. After all, you are an Emeraude aren't you?"

Zoey did not want to answer her, "If you want me to stay then I'll stay. After schooling I'll come back and I'll never leave."

"Never?"

"Never. I promise"

"Is that so?" Damiana asked, "Very well then. You may go to Hogwarts"

Zoey's eyes widened. She never expected it to turn out her way. This was a first. She was overjoyed but she could not help but think there was a catch. She was right; a conversation with her aunt would never end with her feeling lighthearted.

"You may got to Hogwarts," Damiana repeated, "But bear in mind when your little friends find out who you truly are they will all leave you."

"What do –"

"Oh you know exactly what I mean Zoey… Black," Damiana smiled maliciously, "You are no true Emeraude. You may have the Emeraude's voice and you may have been born with and Emeraude power but you will never be one of us. You are still a Black"

"Just keep that in mind Zoey dear. Once your little secret is out you will once again be alone," Damiana ended with a smile before disappearing with a crack.

Zoey felt herself wakeup from her flashback when her leg jerked. Her heart was pounding against her chest and she felt a sweat form at her brow. The fire in the fireplace seemed to have died down and the common room was incomplete darkness. Zoey took in deep and slow breaths as she tried to get back to her feet. She wobbled a bit and stood her ground as she looked around. She could not see anything. Maybe there were some outlines of chairs and sofas she could distinguish but everything else was a complete mystery to her.

Zoey was afraid to move.

She jumped a bit and let out a small yelp when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She turned around anxiously as the footsteps grew louder. She felt her heart beat faster when the footsteps ceased.

"Lumos," a voice came and a light appeared, "Who's there?"

"I – I am," Zoey said in a soft voice.

A chuckle came, "That makes everything clearer," the voice said, "Zoey? Is that you?"

"That depends. Who are you?" Zoey replied.

The light came closer to her as did the footsteps. In a matter of seconds, Cedric stood in front of her with a smile. "What are you doing up so late?"

Zoey blushed, "How do you know I was up late? Maybe I woke up early"

"Zoey," Cedric said with a look.

"I couldn't go to sleep," Zoey puffed her cheeks. She felt like a child compared to Cedric.

Cedric ran a hand through his hair and Zoey was vaguely reminded of Fred. Fred. She felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach and her face fall. She missed him already.

"Any why's that? Is there something troubling you?" Cedric asked.

Zoey looked up at him and shook her head. "Nothing. It's nothing. Just had a lot of thoughts in my head"

"That must be heck of a lot seeing as it is one o'clock in the morning right about now," Cedric said with a yawn.

"What?" Zoey asked in disbelief.

"It is one o'clock maybe even two in the morning," Cedric said, "Maybe you should get some shut eye now before breakfast starts"

"Sleep? I would only get like…. Three or so hours of it," Zoey said with panic.

"You don't have to wake up that early."

"If I want to make it in time for breakfast I do," Zoey looked down, "Look at me, I'm a stick!"

Cedric brought his wand closer so the light could show Zoey's face. She looked paler than usual and had dark circles under her eyes. She went back to wearing glasses, her hair in a messy ponytail and baggy clothes not too long ago and the clothes looked bigger than they were before. She was right, she was a stick.

"What happened to you, Zoey?" Cedric asked as he muttered a spell causing a fire to light in the fireplace thus giving them more light.

"Nothing happened," Zoey said with a shrug.

"Nothing – you look like the living dead! No offence, but you look like you could collapse at any second now. What happened?" Cedric asked concerned, "And don't say nothing"

"I just had a fight with my… I just had a fight," Zoey said.

"With the Beaumont girl and the twins right?"

Zoey gave him a shocked looked, "How did –"

"I know? It's pretty obvious, Zoey. You used to hang out with them every day but I noticed that it just suddenly… you know….stopped," Cedric explained.

"I see," Zoey chocked back a sob, "I – I got to go now"

She made to walk passed Cedric and almost made it to the stairs if he didn't catch a hold of her arm. Zoey wiped her tearing eyes before looking back at him. "You know, you can always talk to me," Cedric said comfortingly.

Zoey gave a small smile, "Thanks"

There was a moment's silence.

"You'll come to watch the Quidditch game right?" Cedric asked a little hopeful.

"Wouldn't miss it"


Zoey gulped as she stood in the stands. It was the Quidditch match today. Gryffindor against Hufflepuff and the weather was frightening. The sky was so dark she could not see a thing and the rain was so heavy she felt that it would leave dents in her skin. She brought her rain coat tighter to herself and tried to cover hear head better with the hood. It was no use, the wind kept blowing it back. She sighed with slight irritation when her glasses had numerous raindrops on the lenses, it really did not do her vision any good. She brought out her wand quickly muttered a spell, tapped her glasses and re-pocketed her wand. The rain began to go everywhere besides her glasses and Zoey could see the outlines of most of the students.

"I wonder who's gonna win," Bridgit said from beside Zoey

"I wonder who's going to live," Zoey replied as she brought her coat closer to her body, though it didn't do much, "How could they possibly think a game could even be… you know… be played in this weather?"

"Hey! I played in weather like this last year, didn't see you worrying for me," Bridgit said in mock anger, making Zoey laugh.

"I was plenty worried. But… the determination in your face made me think you'd kill the weather before it gets a chance to kill you," Zoey said.

"Oh I see, Well what's worrying me is the Dementors," Bridgit then said, shivering as she remembered the evil creature.

"Now that you mention it –" Zoey didn't get a chance to continue for it had appeared that the game had begun.

Zoey squinted at the sight. It was absolutely horrible, the weather. The sky was dark and the rain was hard and all she could see was red and yellow blobs zooming in the sky. She could not even hear Lee commentating. How could anyone possibly play in this condition? Several times she felt her heart skip a beat when she caught sight of a Bludger zooming by. Whoever hit it had good eyes and instincts; whoever was going to be hit was doomed. Zoey began to worry about Harry, how could he play if his glasses had distracting raindrops on them? Her worry then shifted when she saw Fred, or George, zoom by looking as if he was struggling to keep his broom straight against the harsh wind.

Zoey jumped slightly when she saw a flash of lightning.

"Looks like Wood's called for a time out," Bridgit said over the harsh wind.

Zoey's eyes widened, "I hope they know what they're doing"


As Bridgit and Zoey were watching from the stands, wondering why Wood called a time out, Hermione ran up to them.

"Do you know any spells that could help Harry?" she asked looking a little stressed out.

Bridgit looked over at Zoey. Zoey looked at her questioningly but got the message. "Why not use impervious?" She asked as she pointed to her glasses showing what the spell did.

"Great idea Zee!" Bridgit said, facing back to Hermione. Hermione simply looked confused at the two fifth years.

"What are you two talking about?" the third year asked.

"Uhm, why don't you just take me to where Harry is?" Bridgit suggested before looking at Zoey apologetically, "Would you mind if I go for a while?"

Zoey smiled and shrugged her shoulders, "Good luck going through the crowd"

"Nice to see you care for me, Zee," Bridgit said, bumping Zoey's shoulder before leaving with Hermione. Zoey laughed and shook her head.

Bridgit and Hermione pushed through the hectic crowd and struggled a bit with slipping on the wet surface. In a few moments they finally reached the Gryffindor Quidditch team. At the sight of the Ravenclaw, Fred and George glared.

"What are you doing here?" Fred asked angrily.

"I'm not here for the two of you," Bridgit stated, glaring back at the two of them, "I'm here to help Harry"

Bridgit them faced the confused be-spectacled boy.

"What are you going to do?" Hermione and Wood asked.

"I'm going to use a spell Zoey uses all the time," Bridgit replied, kneeling down in front of Harry.

"Impervius," she said and tapped Harry's glasses with her wand. Harry looked at her oddly.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Hermione exclaimed happily, "Your glasses will now repel water, Harry!"

Harry smiled, "Thanks" he said to the Ravenclaw.

"Don't mention it. Now you guys better be getting back to the game or else Cedric might just be able to beat you," Bridgit said winking at Harry.

Wood nodded and smiled a bit, "She's right," he then turned to Bridgit, "Thanks for that"

"Again, don't mention it. But you better win!" she said again and watched as the Gryffindor team made their way back to the game. She didn't miss the dirty looks Fred and George gave her. Her eyes squinted a bit before getting her attention caught by Hermione.

"Thanks," she said.

"Yeah, well, we better get back to Zoey before she clings to someone else for dear life," Bridgit said making Hermione laugh.


Zoey sat guiltily on the fountain located near Hogwarts. The Christmas feel was already in the air but she didn't feel merry at all. She felt the opposite in fact. Truth be told, she should have been glad that Hufflepuff won against Gryffindor but the mere thought that Harry almost died from falling of his broom scared her. She felt like she wanted to sprout her wings and fly to him, catch him, if she was lucky but she couldn't. She just couldn't. She licked her lips as she looked into the fountain, the water was slightly frosted. It was Hogsmeade weekend today and she figured she should be Christmas shopping but the painful realization crushed Zoey when she was about to leave, she had no friends to buy gifts for. Bridgit and the other's she already knew what to give. The Christmas cookies she made last year that was enough to last them a week already gave them joy and she already had a batch ready in a secret compartment in the kitchens.

Zoey sighed. It was hopeless. At this rate, Echo, Fred and George would hate her forever.

Things could only get worse.

Zoey gasped in pain and staggered away from the fountain. Her eyes were only half open and she could see the mist surrounding her. It was happening again. She hid behind a pillar as she tried to even her breaths. She hastily removed her coat as she felt her wings forming. She bit back a cry when she felt the feathers sprouting out of her back. Tears formed in her eyes when the process was complete. She took jagged breaths as her wings spread.

"Why now?" she whispered to herself but quickly bit her lip when she heard footsteps. She stepped into the shadows when she saw Harry passing by. He had a piece of parchment in his hands. Zoey's eyes widened. It was the Marauder's Map.

She waited for Harry to disappear before stepping back out. She figured everyone was in Hogsmeade right now and it was safe to come out in public. She wrapped her coat around her waist and took flight. She scanned Hogwarts from a bird's eye-view and nearly faltered when she caught sight of identical red-heads and a violet-haired girl walking towards Hogsmeade. They seemed satisfied. They looked like they were better off without her.

Zoey bit her lip and flew towards the Forbidden Forest. She guessed that none of the creatures lurking around would bother her seeing as she didn't look relatively human at the moment. She landed on the grassy ground and her wings folded behind her. She rolled her neck and walked deeper into the forest. She pushed away branches and stepped around large rocks. She often stopped and fear when she heard something shift within the bushes but continued her exploration when nothing appeared.

Zoey felt safe. She felt calm.

"We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," Zoey sang softly as she continued to walk. She felt like something was drawing her deeper and deeper into the heart of the forest. Suddenly, she heard a bark. Zoey swiftly turned around in shock and saw a big, black dog sitting behind her with his tongue lolling out.

Zoey felt scared. She was used to Shinji since he was small and was clarified as innocent, to those he liked but this dog in front of her was big and most likely a stray. Zoey did not know what to do. She felt her wings spread out as the dog took a step forward. Zoey took a step back.

The dog barked again.

"Here, doggie… doggie," Zoey said awkwardly as she tried to imitate what the girls in her school did when they saw Shinji. The dog tilted his head at her and walked closer.

Zoey bit back a scream when the dog got close enough to lick her hand. It then nuzzled against it. Zoey bit her lip as she petted it behind its ears. "Good boy" she said quietly, "What's your name?"


Harry felt his heart beating rapidly against his chest. He had just been having the time of his life in Hogsmeade until he heard Madame Rosmerta, his teachers and the Minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge, talking about Sirius Black. It had appeared so that Black and his father where the best of friends. Troublemakers, yes, but brilliant boys. Anyone could mistake them as brothers. Never saw one without the other. Almost like Fred and George.

Black was best man to his father's wedding and even made his godfather. His, Harry's, godfather, Sirius Black and that wasn't the most troubling news yet. When Harry found out that Zoey, Zoey Emeraude, his friend, was the daughter of the man who sold his parents to Voldemort, Harry felt his world crashing. Only one thought crossed his mind. What the bloody hell is going on?

He didn't know how we should react. Should he scream? Yell? Shout?

He didn't know anymore.

Harry thought Zoey was his friend, but was it all a set up? Was she just being friends with him so that she could lure him into a trap? Was she helping her dad? Did she let him into Hogwarts that Halloween night? Millions of questions flooded Harry's mind as he felt the world around him crash landing. His head ached, his heart pounded and he felt betrayed.

He didn't know if he should ask for an explanation. It was obvious that she was hiding it for a reason. He may not know it, but Harry was afraid to find out.

What if she was helping her dad dispose of him? Could he bear the thought of his own friend doing that?

Harry didn't know anymore. He didn't know what to feel. His mind when blank and he felt like he wanted to cry but no tears fell.


And here's chapter 39 for everyone!

Garsh, 39 Chapters already? Wow! That's a lot!

Wonder if has a chapter limit?

Maybe?

Special Thanks to ZookSkater14 for helping me here!

You are simply to awesome for me!

Thanks to all of you who reviewed, alerted and favorited!

So... so... cool! I feel appreciated!

Lol.

Anyway, I'm updating fast since my tests are coming up and I really want to graduate so wish me luck guys! :D

I've been mean to Zoey... but please be patient!

Everything would work out in the end!

Sorry for any typos in advance D:

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Don't forget to review and ask questions!

I only own what I own