The next day, Emilia allowed herself to sleep in, it was Sunday, after all. She woke up just in time for dinner, alone in the dormitory, assuming that all of the girls were already down in the Dining Hall. She quickly grabbed her clothes and went down to the washrooms to shower. She then brushed her teeth and put her hair in a low, loose bun and wore her comfortable, warm sweater with a pair of dark brown pants.

After she got ready, she walked through the almost empty common room and made her way down to the Great Hall. When walking in, she immediately noticed Rosie and Jaz eating together and seemingly arguing, whilst sitting at the far left Gryffindor table. She joined them and sat down, immediately grabbing a bowl of mashed potatoes with gravy and pouring them onto her own plate.

‘Oh, Emilia, you’re finally up! I’ve waited all day to hear about your date with Ash. You need to tell us everything!’ – Rosie exclaimed excitedly.

Jaz looked up and her yellow eyes widened.

‘Well, I believe that it went rather well, I’m not sure about Emilia though.’ – Ash appeared out of nowhere, with Mattias alongside him, and they both sat down at the table with them.

Ash put his arm around Emilia, and Rosie opened her mouth in shock before giving Emilia a significant look. She greeted both of the boys excitedly, while Jaz just sat there in silence, with a weird look on her face. Em and Roz started chatting up with both of the boys, and it seemed surprisingly natural despite the fact that her friend has never even officially met any of the guys before. Rosie, who naturally had a very bubbly and talkative personality, immediately caught on with Ash and Matt. Emilia however, kept glancing worryingly at Jazmine, who was even more quiet than usual. She was sitting silently, looking down at her own plate with a troubled look on her face. Since she wasn’t really a people’s person, just like Emilia, she simply assumed that she felt some discomfort when interacting with strangers and brushed it off.

The entire dinner overall was surprisingly enjoyable, and Emilia felt happy to be able to hang out with both her friends and her… boyfriend? Was that who Ash was? She wasn’t sure. They did kiss the night before and now he was being openly affectionate with her by having her wrapped around his arm and he even gave her another kiss during the dinner which caused an insane amount of whispering and stares coming from the other students. Yet she didn’t know what exactly their relationship was or how the boy felt about all of this and what he may have wanted.

All of the sudden thoughts kind of overwhelmed the girl, so she excused herself right after dinner and went back to the Gryffindor tower. The common room was already full again and she was just so sick of all the looks she was getting all the time, so she ran up to the dormitory.

She grabbed her jacket and then the letters that she wrote to her family earlier this week. She hadn’t sent them anything in almost two weeks so she decided to go to Hogsmeade and see if the post office would be still open. She ran back down the stairs and left the common area quickly.

When leaving the castle, Emilia noticed Atticus also going into the same direction, so she rushed up to walk with him, as he seemed to be the only person she would stand being around.

‘Hey there. Where are you heading?’ – she greeted him.

‘Oh… hey, Vay. Just, uh, Hogsmeade.’ – something about his voice seemed off.

‘Are you okay?’

He walked with her in silence for a moment before he shrugged and said:

‘Yeah, I’m good.’ – he paused again, having a weird look on his face. – ‘So… you and Ashton… I guess it’s official now.’

She glanced at him questioningly.

‘I saw him with you at dinner. All… touchy.’ – she sensed a pinch of disgust in his tone.

‘Uh, yeah. I guess so.’ – the conversation was getting more and more awkward.

Emilia didn’t really knew what to say, she knew Ash and Atticus didn’t get along at all and that her friend was certainly not happy seeing her together with Ash. They walked in silence for another minute, before the girl forced herself to change the subject.

‘So… what are you going to Hogsmeade for?’

‘I found some old stuff when exploring some ruins last night.’ – he pointed at the heavy bag on his arm that was clacking loudly with each step. – ‘Thought some of it might be valuable enough to earn me some galleons. You?’

‘I wanted to send some letters to my family.’ – she took out the piece of parchment to show to the boy.

‘Why not use one of the school’s owls?’ – he questioned her.

‘Well, I don’t really want to give my muggle family a heart attack by having an owl suddenly appear at our home with a letter from their daughter who moved to Scotland to study at a ‘private school’.’

His expression finally softened and he let out a quick laugh.

‘Understandable.’ – he paused. – ‘You must really miss them.’ – something in his voice sounded so profoundly sad that it struck right into Emilia’s heart.

‘I do. More than you can imagine.’ – she revealed.

‘I feel jealous of you, as weird as it may seem. I wish I had someone I could long for, a family. But I don’t know anything about my biological parents.’ – Atticus never opened up about his past before, so the girl didn’t say anything, just listened to his words in silence. – ‘You know, I’m really grateful for the Evergreens. Even though I despise Ashton and don’t consider him to be anything even remotely close to a brother, I still am glad that I got adopted after that fire.

‘What fire?’ – Emilia couldn’t stop herself from asking.

He stayed quiet for a moment, took off his round sunglasses and put them behind his collar and looked at his friend before he explained.

‘When I was 10 years old, the muggle orphanage that I lived in was attacked by a dark wizard. He set the whole building on fire, barely anyone came out of there alive. I was one of the few lucky ones, but I still got a little reminder with me.’ – he pointed at the scar on his face. – ‘The Evergreens are Aurors, and they were both sent to there to catch the guy, but by the time they got there he was already long gone. Yet they still managed to help some people get out of the building in one piece. I was one of them. I was found hiding in a closet in one of the bedrooms, surrounded by ice which I subconsciously created to protect myself from the fire with , which was actually kind of impressive, considering I didn’t know any spells or anything like that yet. The Evergreens immediately realized that I wasn’t a muggle and they took me in without even thinking about it. I don’t always know how to show gratitude or other feelings like that, but I am very glad that I have a family now. It’s not perfect, cause I’m the black sheep even back at home, obviously Ashton is also their favorite, but still, it’s way better than growing up in an orphanage, right?’ – he looked at her, seeming slightly embarrassed by suddenly sharing so much about himself, but he still managed to give her a small smile.

‘I’m so sorry Atticus. I had no idea. I don’t even know what to say.’ – she mumbled quietly.

‘Hey, don’t sweat it. Shit happens, I guess, and you just got to deal with it.’ – he put his hand on her arm in a reassuring manner.

‘I just can’t wrap my head around it… Who could even do such a thing? And why? Just murder innocent children…’

‘Cerus Downer, that’s who. He’s a real piece of garbage, he has been known for doing stuff like this for years. He’s been wanted by the Ministry for over a decade now, but they just can’t catch him. He’s hiding somewhere, building his own empire. He’s found so many loyalists by now that they do everything for him, so he doesn’t even need to come out of whatever shithole that rat is hiding in.’ – he clenched his jaw in anger and scoffed. – ‘And all for some stupid prophecy.’

‘What prophecy?’ – she asked him, curiously.

‘Well, supposedly, he does all of this because of this prophecy that he found years ago. It said something about a child being born in a muggle family, that had the ability to control literally all sorts of magic and could help save lives of millions. Something about extraordinary healing powers. No one even remembers for sure what exactly was in that prophecy anymore. But anyways, Downer is known for doing business with muggles. He makes a literal fortune off of selling them magical potions or creatures that his loyalists capture for him, robs old tombs and steal magic-related artifacts and minerals. Literally all that you could think of. So, when he found out about this prophecy, he got this brilliant idea to use this child to make even more profit off of muggles by offering to heal any injuries, even the ones that wizards cannot yet fix, with this child’s abilities. So it almost became his life’s mission to find whoever this prophecy was about. He was harassing and murdering the literal people with whom he was doing business with. He shook every muggle household with children of the fitting age, every orphanage, but he never found it. He still hasn’t stopped. That’s why there’s still so many cases of children going missing. People are getting more and more scared because he gains more loyalists with each passing year and they keep becoming more aggressive and desperate to find the person.’

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Emilia’s heart sunk in her chest as an overwhelming fear took over her entire body. The realization hit her so hard that she had to stop, they were already right on the bridge leading up to Hogsmeade so she leaned against the stone wall of the bridge as to not to fall. Atticus was concerned by the sudden change in her and he held her up by her arm steadily, looking into her eyes with worry.

‘Vay, what’s wrong? You okay?’

‘Yeah… I just…’ – she stuttered for a long moment before taking a deep breath. – ‘It’s just scary. I went out after curfew so many times, who knows what could’ve happened.’ – she couldn’t reveal the whole truth to the boy which pained her.

‘Are you sure that that’s it?’

‘Yes, I promise, it just startled me for a moment, but I’m fine now.’ – she tried to reassure him.

Atticus didn’t seem convinced, but said nothing, his gray eyes studied her carefully for a long moment, before he let her go and moved back, still unsure of her answer.

‘Hm, alright, Vay. Want me to walk you to the post office? I don’t want you to faint or something.’

‘I’ll be fine, don’t worry, you can go. Let’s just meet up in the town circle after we are both done with our errands, alright?’ – she felt bad rejecting his offer, but she was desperate for a moment alone to be able to calm herself down a little.

‘Sure, I’ll see you later then.’

...

After sending out the letters Emilia came to the circle as promised and sat down by the big oak tree in the middle, waiting for her friend to get back. She took a long moment to relax and get all of the stress off of her mind, she breathed in slowly, feeling the cold, fresh air fill up her lungs, the smell of freshly baked goods from a nearby bakery and the scent of coffee filling up the air around the Mrs. Steepley’s tea shop.

Hogsmeade was a weirdly nostalgic place. Being there felt like visiting your own hometown after a long time, it made a person feel so homely and welcome, but with a pinch of a certain dreamy feeling to it. It actually greatly helped Emilia cool down, she found comfort in watching the day go on in front of her. She studied her surroundings, watched people go in and out of stores, walk with their groceries, stroll around the circle with friends and chat, children playing and laughing while chasing one another. It felt comforting and calming.

She closed her eyes and let her ears tune in to the melody of the birds sitting in the tree behind her and the great range of voices of witches and wizards around her. At first, all of the surrounding sounds were just one whole symphony to her, but after some time she distinguished a one particular, distressed voice.

Some woman was crying, while being held up by another, older woman, in order to prevent her from falling down to her knees. She was saying something with overwhelming fear and a hysterical tone in her voice.

‘My son… he just wandered in… I tried to look for him but I’ve no idea where he might’ve gone. What do I do?’ – she cried out to the other woman.

The girl’s heart sunk and she immediately stood up and approached the two ladies, without even thinking twice.

‘Pardon me, I couldn’t help but overhear… has your son wandered off somewhere? Can I be of any help?’ – she asked with genuine worry engraved on her face.

The distressed woman burst into tears even more so her companion answered for her.

‘Yes… her son, Thomas, went into the Forbidden Forest. We’ve no idea where he is, she tried looking for him but he may be too deep in the woods by now to be able to hear anyone calling out for him. He’s just seven years old, he will not be able to find a way out of there by himself. We’re helpless, I’ve no idea what to do and where to look for him.’ – a single tear rolled down her cheek as she tightened her grip around her friends arm as she was falling down on the ground due to her uncontrollable tears.

‘What is going on? Is everything alright?’ – suddenly, Atticus appeared behind her, visibly concerned by the state that both women were in.

‘Her son is lost in the Forbidden Forest. I’ve got to go and find him.’ – she looked up at him with great worry.

‘Okay. Let’s go.’ – he didn’t ask any further questions, just nodded before looking towards both women. – ‘We’ll get your son, don’t worry.’ – he reassured them before they walked out of the town’s circle quickly, towards the dark woods peeking at them eerily from afar from behind the shops to their left.

...

Once they reached the Forest, Atticus looked towards Emilia questioningly.

‘How do we even look for that child in there? The Forbidden Forest is huge.’

She looked into the dark depths of the woods, with a sudden flow of determination and strength filling her up.

‘I don’t know. We just go in and look as long as it takes to find him. I’m not leaving some little boy alone to die in there. I just can’t.’ – there was a mix of frustration and sadness in her voice, something completely new, yet strangely familiar.

‘Okay, lead the way.’ – once again, he answered shortly, with a strange look on his face, one that Emilia couldn’t quite place.

They went into the deep forest, immediately overcome by the suffocating darkness and eeriness. Looking around and calling out for the little boy, they both wandered deeper and deeper into the woods, wands up to light up their way ahead.

Minutes turned into hours and when looking up, the girl could notice that the sun was about to set, judging from the lilac and pinkish color of the sky and clouds above. They kept on roaming through the Forbidden Forest, the first signs of tiredness alerted their bodies as Emilia could sense her breath getting shorter and her legs striking with pain with each step.

They were out there for multiple hours now, getting more and more desperate, looking at one another with visible defeat in their eyes, knowing the chances of them finding the boy were getting slimmer with each step deeper into the woods.

The girl finally stopped and looked down, disappointed, staring at her own boots. Atticus stood beside her and put his hand on her arm in a reassuring manner, but didn’t say anything. She needed a moment to process and accept their defeat.

She was about to look up at him and ask him to get back but that exact moment something caught the corner of her eye.

Blood.

On the leaves of a nearby bush. Like dark crimson paint, still fresh and dripping slowly onto the ground, drop by drop.

Her eyes widened and she pointed at it in silence.

‘Vay, look.’ – the boy said, his hand pointing at a trail of blood ahead of them.

They exchanged quick glances before rushing, almost running, following the trace.

They wound up on a small meadow, there was a tiny pond surrounded by rocks and high grass, small bushes and trees creating an oval shape around the whole area, making it look almost like a round room.

There, by the pond, on one of the bigger rocks, laid the boy, unconscious, in a pool of his own blood. They both rushed to him, the girl kneeled on the grass and took a closer look at him. Both of his legs were broken, his little bones peeked out of his skin, covered in maroon blood that kept flowing out of him rapidly. The injury must’ve been fresh.

Emilia looked up at Atticus, mortified.

‘We need to get him to Hogsmeade. Now.’ – he said firmly and bent down to pick him up.

‘No.’ – she reached her hand out to stop him. – ‘We don’t have the time. He can bleed to death any second now.’

‘What do you want to do then?’ – he argued, pushing her hand away.

The realization of what had to be done struck her and her heart skipped a beat.

She pulled the little boy closer to her gently, before turning to Atticus, who was kneeling right next to her, and saying:

‘You must swear you won’t tell anyone. I mean it.’ – the deadly serious look on her face scared him, so he just nodded in silence, watching what the girl was about to do.

She took a deep, long breath, before grabbing the child’s legs and letting the magic flow right through her. She felt a tingling sensation escape her through her palms and fingers, causing a white halo to appear in the air around her and the boy. His bones cracked back into place and the flesh and skin seemed to sew itself up, while his previously curly brown hair began turning snowy-white, just like Emilia’s.

A sudden groan escaped her mouth as a sharp, sudden pain struck through her like a lightning, up from her legs, making her feel like it were her own legs being broken. She never experienced pain while healing anyone so it took her by surprise, but she kept pushing, until the boys legs were completely healed and there was nothing but two faint, white scars left on his skin, accompanied by the dried up blood.

‘What… the hell…’ – Emilia looked to her side and saw her friend’s mortified expression, as he watched the halo slowly disappear from around them.

She didn’t say anything.

That moment, the little boy moved slowly, his eyes opening tiredly and a quiet, exhausted groan leaving his mouth.

‘Thomas.. Thomas, can you hear me? How are you feeling? We will get you home, alright?’ – the girl picked up the boy gently, trying not to touch his still weak legs, feeling the blood get all over her arms and clothes.

She noticed Atticus glancing at her strangely, almost as if he was seeing her for the first time again. Ignoring the pain still pulsating in her bones, she stood up in silence and turned around to go back to Hogsmeade.

A sudden, loud roar startled all three of them, as they turned around to see the trees break in half like mere sticks as a giant shadow ran out onto the meadow.

A troll, about 10 or more feet tall, holding a giant wooden club in it’s hand rushed towards them aggressively, groaning and roaring in an inhumane way.

Atticus and Emilia, holding the injured, white-haired boy, sprinted back into the depths of the forest, terrified.

The girl ran forward, praying not to trip over anything in her mind, listening to her friend casting spells back at the creature chasing them in order to slow it down. Unfortunately, the troll seemed unphased and kept on getting closer and closer to them, it’s huge feet stomping right behind them, making the ground shake.

‘You keep going! I’ll distract him!’ – Atticus yelled to her, sending her and their little companion a worried glance.

‘No, Atticus! Wait!’ – she called out to him but he already stepped off track, disappearing between the trees, only bright sparks being sent out at the troll giving out his location.

The monster followed, visibly angered by the spells being cast at it, holding it’s big club above it’s head, ready to aim at the boy, who, thankfully, was quicker.

Scared for her friend, Emilia forced herself to keep going forward, despite already being out of breath. She pushed her limits, sprinting through the woods with the boy crying in her arms, seemingly more awake with each passing minute.

‘Shhh… it’s okay. We’re almost back in the village.’ – she kept reassuring him in between breaths.

‘The monster…’ – the boy suddenly cried out quietly. – ‘My friend told me about it. I wanted to see. I didn’t know it would hit me. It hit my legs. I just wanted to see…’ – he paused after each sentence and gasped for air whilst weeping.

A weird feeling of guilt overcame the girl, almost as if it was her fault she didn’t protect the boy sooner. She forced herself to keep going and kept reassuring the child, praying to be out of the forest soon, since she was at the very edge of her own strength.

Finally, the very last faint light of the day appeared in front of them, peeking from in between of the trees.