AN:
The second instalment of Amelie's story is finally finished. While I had the majority of it outlined and planned since not long after the first part, there were a lot of delays over the summer, as well as long stretches of me not working on the story at all. After shifting to a new outlining system and transferring all my texts to Googledocs, I hammered out the last chapters over the course of the last month.
I am planning to release chapters on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays (with the likely exception of next Saturday, since I probably won't have access to my devices). The first chapter (titled "Story Recap") is a recap of the previous instalment and doesn't count towards this schedule (it was just too long to fit into the chapter notes).
This chapter is a brief recap of the first instalment "Amelie Hastings and the Badger's Den". If you have not read the previous part of the series, I would suggest you start there first. If you don't need a refresher, you can move on to the next chapter.
Amelie Hastings was a young orphan from the East End. She lived at Bow Creek Communal Foster Home in London until a bout of accidental magic revealed her to be a witch. Professor McGonagall personally delivered her acceptance letter and brought her to Diagon Alley, where she helped Amelie get all the things she would need for her first year at Hogwarts.
Unfortunately, Amelie's already precarious health declined further and she collapsed. At St. Mungo's Hospital, the doctor determined that she was not human, but instead a vampire, who, by incredible chance, possessed the ability to use magic.
Professor Dumbledore presented her with an enchanted necklace that would make her appear human, while Madam Pomfrey would provide her with a potion that would allow Amelie to live on only a few drops of blood.
On her way to Hogwarts, Amelie met and befriended Riyan Kumari, a studious boy with a witty sense of humour, and Polly McKinsey, a muggleborn girl with more sass than sense and an undying love for Quidditch. Sorted into Hufflepuff, Amelie and her new-found friends discovered the wondrous world of magic as they learned to cast charms and brew potions.
Not all was peachy at Hogwarts though. Between the insufferable Professor Lockhart and the vicious Professor Snape, there was also a growing threat from the bowels of the castle itself. Tragedy struck and soon the muggleborn students found themselves attacked by an unseen monster.
Its second victim was Amelie, who was killed by the creature, but revived thanks to her innate immortality, although with no memory of her assailant.
As fear spread among the students and teachers, Amelie sought to uncover the mystery behind the Chamber of Secrets to prevent the school from being closed and seeing her sent back to a place she never called home.
Her drive to find the truth led her, Riyan and Polly to a deadly confrontation in the Forbidden Forest. Escaping and fighting off an army of giant spiders, Amelie unavoidably revealed her inhuman nature to her two friends. Resigned to having lost them forever, Amelie told them what she is.
But instead of fleeing, they accepted her and stayed by her side. Together, they uncovered that the monster in the chamber was a Basilisk and that the entrance to its lair had to be in a bathroom at Hogwarts.
Before they could reveal their findings to a teacher, it was announced that another student had been taken: Ginny Weasley, whom Amelie had falsely suspected of being responsible, after she smelled blood on her robes.
Racing to find Professor McGonagall, the three Hufflepuffs ran into Harry and Ron, who were desperate to find the entrance and save Ron's sister. Amelie revealed what they had learned and they split up, Harry and Ron to enter Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and save Ginny, Amelie and her friends to find help.
Yet the only one they found was Professor Lockhart, who angrily refused to put himself at risk to save Ginny. Lockhart took Polly hostage and demanded they drop their wands, but through a surprise move, they managed to get the upper hand. In the ensuing fight, an artefact exploded and knocked both Lockhart and Polly unconscious. Amelie and Riyan desperately carried their friend to the Hospital Wing where, finally, they found Professor Flitwick and told him everything.
With Harry's defeat of the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, the school was saved. After a final, comforting speech from Professor Dumbledore, he offered Amelie to help her find a new home with a coven of other vampires. Uncertain what the future holds, Amelie accepted.