Emilia stood under the dim yellow light of the street lamp right outside of the village, staring at Atticus in silence, awaiting his words in fear.
He looked back at her, seemingly lost in thought, a trouble look engraved on his face, his sharp eyes hiding behind his round sunglasses as he stood in front of her with crossed arms, the gentle wind blowing his black curls back.
He finally opened his mouth, took one more moment to think, and spoke to her:
‘Care to explain?’ – he simply asked.
‘I don’t know how…’ – she mumbled, looking down, the awkward silence after her answer making her feel more shy than ever.
‘You’re the kid from the prophecy… The one Downer is after, aren’t you?’ – she looked back up and saw a mix of sadness and worry in his eyes, after he took off his sunglasses and stuffed them behind his collar.
‘I don’t know… It’s possible. After you told me about the prophecy…’
‘That’s what got you all worried earlier today, wasn’t it?’ – he interrupted her, realizing. – ‘That it is you that it’s about.’
She nodded in silence. He looked into her eyes for a very long moment, visibly bothered with his own thoughts, before he suddenly stepped closer and wrapped his arms around the girl in a tight hug.
Emilia never experienced this type of physical touch or closeness from him so she was surprised, but his embrace felt so comforting and safe. He smelled like the forest they just left not so long ago, his skin was warm and his shirt felt as soft as a feather against her cheek.
She felt his heart fluttering and his breath being irregular. It was the first time he seemed so distressed.
‘I need to protect you.’ – he whispered, more to himself rather than to her. – ‘I don’t know what I’d do if something were to happen to you.’
His embrace tightened, before he suddenly realized what he was doing and he moved back, embarrassed and apologized to her.
‘I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I just… I care about you. You’re my only friend.’ – his last sentence seemed forced for some reason.
‘It’s okay.’ – she finally smiled softly before giving him a playful elbow bump. – ‘I knew that deep down you were a softie.’
‘Oh, shut it.’ – he bumped her back, chuckling shortly, yet he was holding his arm strangely close to his body after she elbowed him.
Her smile faded immediately and she pulled him closer and noticed a long rip in his coat and shirt and a big slit deep in his skin with blood quickly escaping it as his black clothes sucked it in like a sponge.
‘You’re hurt.’ – she stared at it blankly.
‘Only a little. Nothing to worry about.’ – he moved his arm away so that Emilia wouldn’t see the injury. – ‘This damned troll forced me to jump down into the spider lair that’s on the south border of the forest. And you can probably imagine how that went.’
She looked at him with a sudden strike of angry determination in her, similar to what she felt earlier that day when finding out about the little boy being lost.
‘Give me your arm.’ – she ordered him.
‘You’re not afraid of anyone seeing?’ – he stepped back as she reached for his wounded arm again.
‘Do you see anyone?’ – she snapped back.
Atticus looked behind at the sleeping village behind them and then back at the dark path that led to the castle, not a living soul around.
He took off his coat and then undid the black shirt he was wearing, sliding it off of the injured arm, revealing his chest and arm. He had a surprisingly muscular body that she has never taken notice of before.
A slight concern appeared on his face right before she touched the cut. He hissed with pain as her fingers moved alongside the wound, it immediately closing up and the skin healing, leaving a barely visible white scar. The usual white halo appeared and began flowing around both of them. The girl felt a slight burn in her own arm, however it was nothing compared to the pain she felt when healing the child’s broken legs before.
Emilia looked up at Atticus to make sure he wasn’t in any pain and she saw his hair fading from black into white from the roots. He was looking into the faded scar mesmerized before noticing one of his curls being white and he grabbed on it with his other hand to take a better look at it.
‘That is insane…’ – he sounded impressed, his eyes pacing between the white strand of hair in his fingers and his bare, healed arm that was only covered in dried up blood.
After less than a minute his hair began turning back to it’s original color, however one small strand up front stayed white. The halo faded and disappeared and the silence of the night suddenly overwhelmed them, both the girl and boy looked around anxiously to make sure no one was around.
‘You are just… something else.’ – he chuckled as he pulled his shirt back up and got dressed.
She didn’t reply, only smiled, relieved at the fact that he was all better, since the thought of him getting hurt just to save her filled her with terrible guilt.
‘Should we head back?’ – he looked at her with his gray eyes.
The girl nodded silently.
They both moved from under the yellowish light and down the path leading back to the castle.
...
It was late in the night, yet Emilia couldn’t fall asleep. She kept rolling over in her bed from one side to the other, listening to her dormmates’ deep breaths and the wind hitting the round window right next to her with sharp whistles.
She was still relieving everything that’s happened. Saving the boy, the troll attack… and Cerus Downer. Just the thought of it sent shivers down her spine. She didn’t know anything about the man and yet, just the thought of someone being after her caused the girl to feel uneasy and anxious.
She covered her face with her hands and took a deep breath. Unable to calm down, she rolled off the bed, got up and left, only grabbing her wand on the way.
The girl didn’t even know where she was heading. Her bare feet were pacing through the silent and dark castle corridors and the cold wind was flowing right through her nightgown, giving her goosebumps. Lost in thought and unaware of where her legs were taking her, she suddenly realized that she had wounded up at the very top of the Astronomy Tower.
A sudden gust of wind blew her snowy hair back as she breathed in the fresh night air slowly. She walked up to the very edge of the tower and sat down on the floor, her bare legs dangling from the tower. She rested her arms on the cold metal railings and placed her chin on them.
Admiring the view of the sleeping valley and lake in front of her, her mind began wandering again.
She was scared.
Why was there even a prophecy about her? What was the meaning of her abilities? Why her? Why was she so important? What did Downer need her for? How long was it going to take before he would find out that her, his target, is a student at Hogwarts? And was she safe inside the school?
So many questions, and not a single answer.
Frustrated, she stood back up.
No, she wasn’t going to just hide at the school and live in constant fear. She was capable of defending herself. Pacing around the Astronomy tower, she looked back at all of the extra lessons with Professor Weasley and Professor Crane.
Each week she was getting stronger and more capable of controlling her magic.
Crane always said how powerful she was and thus it was important to always keep her powers in bounds. She didn’t know anyone that had the same abilities that she did. It’s given her an advantage.
Although, it was that exact advantage that made her a target in the first place.
Overly frustrated, she squeezed her wand tighter and a couple of red sparks fired up from it.
Taking a deep breath, she decided to head back.
The girl was halfway down the stairs, she just entered a small hallway in between of the both sets of the spiral stairs, when she realized that she was about to go to her shared dormitory again and it filled her up with even more frustration. She desperately needed some time alone.
She loved both of her best friends, Rosie and Jaz were always there for her ever since her first day at Hogwarts, and Natty turned out to be a lovely and sweet person as well and she adored all three of them however, she had an extremely introverted nature and would often feel overwhelmed by not ever getting to have any alone time.
Knowing that the girls were going to question her about the events of the day before the moment they wake up she felt a big lump of anxiety in her throat. She stopped walking and leaned back against the cold brick wall to get another deep breath and count to 10.
She looked at a big tapestry with dancing trolls in front of her and it made her feel even more sick. She closed her eyes and kept on counting slowly, the faint wish of having a place where she could be alone, a home, her own bedroom, something hidden, just for her, crossed her mind for a split second.
All of the sudden, she felt a movement on her back. Startled, she quickly turned around and witnessed a big, round, dark wood door decorated with metal bars, appear out of nowhere right where she was standing.
Suspicious and unsure at first, she cautiously pushed the door open slightly and peeked inside. Her eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped after just one look and she pushed the door open and walked in.
It was a house. A whole, fully furnished and decorated house, right there, inside of the castle. She walked into what looked like a round living room, the dark wooden floors creaked quietly under her feet as she stepped in. The walls were painted a forest-like dark green and were covered with paintings of various sizes and had hanging bookshelves loaded with big, dusty tomes.
On the right, there was a huge, round window with a colorful mosaic, reflecting a beautiful rainbow on the floor and furniture.
Next to the window there were two comfortable puffs and a small round carpet and right next to it there was a big stone fireplace with auburn flames cracking happily in it. In the middle of the room there were two leather, dark brown couches with a lot of small, puffy pillows with colorful, nature-like designs crotched on them and in between there was a round table with candles and a whole tea set already prepared and ready. On the left of the room she noticed a bent staircase, going alongside the curved, round wall, leading up to a indoor balcony, behind which she noticed more doors.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Before going upstairs she decided to explore the ground floor. There were two doors there, the one on the left leading to a small, yet homely and earthy bathroom with a big porcelain bath, sink and toilet, with many plants hanging from the walls decorated with green tiles. The other door led to a kitchen, which had dark wooden counters and many cabinets filled with sets of plates and cutlery. There was a small round table by the wall with two comfy chairs decorated with cushions and a painting of a picturesque mountain view above it.
In complete awe, and still unable to comprehend what she was seeing, she moved back to the living room and walked up the curved stairs. There she stumbled upon another, smaller bathroom kept in a similar style and three bedrooms, two of them smaller and looking more guest-like and one being the master bedroom. There, on her right, she saw a beautifully shaped double bed with spiral, wooden pillars, dark green curtains and matching, silk sheets.
Next to it there was a massive drawer and a wardrobe, both also made of the same, dark wood. On the floor there was a great round carpet and a round window, similar to the one in the living room, was on the wall up front, reflecting many colorful shades into the room, lightening it up. In front of it there was a comfortably-looking armchair with a big cushion and a fuzzy blanket laying on it.
She kept on pacing around the whole place, still in shock, not knowing what was it that she just stumbled upon. Right after she was thinking about having a place just for her a whole house just appears out of nowhere right inside of the castle? It seemed unrealistically perfect. She gave herself a small pinch on the arm just to make sure she was awake. She was.
Finally, she sat down on the bed and immediately gave out a small groan of pleasure. The bed was so comfy and the silk bedding was so soft and pleasantly cold. She laid down, still in her clothes and stared at the curtains above her.
What was that place? She never heard of it from anyone, not even from Sebastian, who seemed to know every secret of the castle.
Her mind turned foggy as she felt the sudden tiredness overcome her, finally feeling sleepy after that very eventful day. She closed her heavy eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.
...
‘Where on earth were you all night?’ – Jaz gave her a judging stare and immediately questioned her as Emilia rushed into the Great Hall, late for breakfast.
Her lips barely open before Rosie interrupts her, with usual excitement with a pinch of shock in her voice:
‘Is this true that you saved some child from Hogsmeade? Everyone’s been on about it today.’
‘Uh… yeah. Me and Atticus brought him back to the town after he got lost in the Forbidden Forest.’ – she replied right before stuffing her mouth with a full spoon of cereal.
Both of her friend’s faces immediately dropped at the name of her Slytherin friend.
‘…You hung out with him again?’ – Jaz asks with pure disgust in her voice.
‘Yes I did, Jaz.’ – she answered more harshly than she intended, so she immediately corrected herself with a calmer tone. – ‘He is my friend. And I really don’t care about whatever everyone says about him. He is not as bad as everyone paints him to be. I won’t stop spending time with him just because of the stupid rumors and talks.’
‘I wonder what Ash will have to say about all of this.’ – Jaz mumbled into her cup of tea in a sarcastic tone.
With a loud exhale, Emilia dropped her spoon back into the bowl, making drops of milk splash onto the table. She stood up and left in silence, ignoring Rosie’s calls for her to come back.
She decided to go and take a walk, since her classes weren’t going to start until 11 in the morning that day, so she made her way towards the exit leading out to the Main Courtyard. She turned to the right and walked into the gardens next to the greenhouses and walked down the overgrown, stone stairs.
As she was strolling through the gardens, she heard a muffled cry. She looked around and on one of the benches, right next to a big potted plant she spotted Elle, sitting down covering her face whilst bawling her eyes out.
‘Elle? What happened?’ – she immediately came up to her and sat down on the bench to her right and put her hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner.
‘Oh, Emilia.’ – she immediately looked up and wiped away her tears, but her eyes kept on sending new drops down her cheeks. – ‘I… It was those Hufflepuff girls again... They broke my glasses and put some charm on them and I cannot fix them, even ‘Reparo’ does not work.’
She took the broken glasses out of her robes’ pocket and showed them to Emilia. They were broken in half and both of the lenses were completely shattered, with one of the hinges dangling down sadly.
‘Oh, Elle…’
The girl looked at them and then back at her Hufflepuff friend with sadness. She pulled her closer and embraced her with a tight hug, gently rubbing her back to comfort her.
She felt so frustrated and sad about Elle being bullied. She was genuinely just the sweetest soul and yet no matter how many times Emilia tried to intervene, the bullying seemed to never stop. She wished to be able to at least help her fix her glasses again or…
A sudden thought crossed her mind.
‘Hey, I’ve an idea. Come with me.’ – she stood up energetically and grabbed her friend’s hand to force her up.
She walked her back through the castle, ignoring Elle asking about where they were going and just shushing her with a ‘You’ll see, just follow me.’ Each time. They walked up the long, spiral stairs leading up to the Astronomy tower and stopped right at the floor below, in the small hallway, in front of the Dancing Trolls’ tapestry.
Emilia looked around to make sure no one was around and then closed her eyes, thinking about the house she stumbled upon the night before. And seconds later the door appeared out of nowhere right before them and Elle looked at her with a questioning and surprised look on her face.
The girl led her into the living room and she looked around in pure shock, her eyes open wide.
‘Emilia… What is this place?’ – she looked back at the girl and asked.
‘I have no idea. I just found it last night. I don’t think anyone else knows about it, I’ve never heard of it, even from Sebastian, and you know he knows every secret of the castle.’
Elle chuckled softly, cheered up a little.
‘True. This place is amazing though. I mean just look at it.’ – she looked around the round room once more.
‘I know, that’s why I thought you should also know about it. You can come and hang out here whenever you feel like being alone, instead of the library or the Courtyard. But we need to keep it a secret, so that no one else finds out and ruins it for us.’ – Emilia smiled at her with a slight mischief.
‘You’re right, of course. Oh, Merlin, this place is magnificent! Thank you so so much, Emilia!’ – she jumped at the girl and hugged her tight, her sadness disappearing completely. – ‘I promise, I won’t tell a soul.’ – she looks around in awe again. – ‘I must explore this place!’
She takes a step away but Emilia stops her, a little unsure of what she wants to say but determined to help her friend.
‘Elle… There’s one more thing. But you must swear not to tell anyone, I mean it, it’s even more important than keeping this room a secret.’ -she looked her in the eyes with full seriousness, her heart pounding as she tried to convince herself to believe that Elle can be trusted with this.
Her friends expression turned serious as well and she looked at the girl, taken aback by the sudden change of emotion in their conversation.
‘Okay…’ – she stated doubtfully.
‘I want to try to heal your eyesight.’ – Emilia revealed. – ‘Then you won’t have to worry about getting your glasses fixed every week.’
Elle looked at her questioningly, waiting for an explanation.
‘Just trust me…’ – she asked her, seeing the doubt and confusion in her eyes.
She just nodded, seemingly weirded out by the girl’s peculiar behavior but said nothing. They both sat down on one of the couches, facing one another.
Emilia took a deep breath, praying in mind that her magic would not fail her, as she raised her hands shakily and placed them on Elle’s face, covering her eyes. She felt a tingling sensation travel through her body and release from her palms and fingers as they touched her friend’s face. The mesmerizing, white halo appeared yet again and she could feel her eyes begin to get struck with sharp, piercing and painful arrows , forcing her to squint her face in pain. She heard the other girl’s breath fasten as she began inhaling nervously, visibly experiencing the magic go right through her body as well.
Emilia lowered her hands and opened her eyes. The halo had already almost disappeared and Elle’s curly hair, which turned white due to the magic, had already began turning back into brown. She took another deep breath before she opened her eyes and immediately gasped which caused her breathing to become uneven once more.
‘Oh… my…’ – the shock in her eyes turned into happy tears within a split second as she took a quick glance around before looking back at Emilia. – ‘My eyesight’s fixed!’
The girl just smiled at Elle, also overwhelmed by happiness.
‘But… How… how did you…’ – her eyes kept on pacing between her friend and the rest of the room, still getting used to her new, sharp, vision.
‘Listen… I have the ability to heal people. I’m still learning how to use this form of magic properly, I mean, I’ve had it for as long as I can remember, but ever since I came to Hogwarts I’ve been having private lessons or… trainings, with Professor Crane and Professor Weasley. To teach me, how to wield and control this power. I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but you’re my friend, Elle, and I trust you. I really wanted to help you somehow, so that, you know, you being bullied maybe eases up a little. I know you will keep it a secret… Right?’ – she paused for a moment before saying the last word with a slight feeling of anxiety creeping somewhere in the back of her head.
‘Of course, Emilia, I’d never…’ – she began reassuring but suddenly she stopped and her eyes widened. – ‘Oh heavens… The prophecy, that child that this Downer person has been after… Merlin’s beard, it’s you?’ – her face dropped into pure shock as the realization hit her.
Emilia looked down, not wanting to worry Elle but also refusing to lie to her, fighting an invisible battle in her own head for a quick moment before speaking.
‘I’m not sure yet.’ – she admitted doubtfully. – ‘Atticus thinks so, but we don’t really have any way to prove this.’
‘Uhm, hello? Do you know any other person that can literally heal with their touch?’ – the sudden sarcasm in her friend’s voice surprised her.
‘Well… No.’ – she agreed with her after a long moment of thinking, unsuccessful in finding a better answer.
Elle noticed Emilia’s sad expression and felt sorry about not handling their conversation more carefully. She scooted over to sit closer to the girl and hugged her tightly to comfort her. Em felt sad realizing how slim were the chances of someone else being Downer’s target but tried not to think about it. She moved away and looked at Eleanor, smiling, glad to at least having succeeded in taking away one of her friend’s worries.
‘Let’s not talk about it anymore. I have classes soon so I should head back but you can stay and hang around here for as long as you want, Elle. It’s your space just as much as it is mine.’ – she forced a fake smile, still pushing away the negative thoughts swarming in her head.
‘I will, I really want to take a look around and explore this place…’ – she thanked her with a warm smile and Emilia looked back at her before leaving the room. – ‘And… thank you. Really. You’re my one and only friend here and you do so much for me. I mean, you literally fixed my eyesight. I can’t thank you enough…’
‘Don’t mention it. I’m glad I could help. I’ll see you at dinner, Elle.’ – she interrupted her, feeling awkwardly shy because of the sudden flow of gratitude towards her and she left quickly.
...
Emilia spent the rest of the day in classes, sitting alone and her mind was absent. She was still overly worried with Downer and the threat that he could be. Her head kept on coming up with new reasons for her to believe that she was the child mentioned in the prophecy to the point where she felt sick with worry and fear.
During Divination Atticus immediately noticed that something was off and tried to question her, suspecting that she might still be reliving the events of the previous day.
However, he couldn’t get a word out of her, so he just sat next to her the entire lesson, glancing at her worryingly. After the class he walked with her to the Great Hall to dinner and decided to sit with her, since neither of her Gryffindor friends were in sight. They both sat at her house’s table to eat but she couldn’t force anything in, she was just flicking the green peas on her plate with her fork with a sad expression and her mind wandering.
Atticus was seriously worried and was trying to think of a way to distract the girl or cheer her up somehow. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful. He gave up after some time and just sat next to her, feeling the usual stares and hearing whispers of students which wasn’t a rare occurrence when him and Emilia were somewhere together. But after 10 years at this school he had learned how to ignore it.
Someone called Emilia’s name. She raised her eyes and saw Ash walking into the Great Hall, wearing his Quidditch uniform which was drenched in water since from the look of the seamless ceiling above their heads, it was pouring outside. He walked up to them and greeted Emilia with a quick smooch on the cheek. He noticed Atticus sitting next to the girl and gave him a cold stare.
‘Great, I was just about to go look for you, Atticus.’ – he stated.
Surprised and suspicious, the boy looked at his brother and raised his brows.
‘I don’t think we have anything to talk about.’
‘Oh but we do.’ – he insisted, more harshly and his voice got lauder, attracting more stares from other tables.
Emilia was visibly uncomfortable with the tension and the attention both boys were attracting but she said nothing, just looked up at Ash with a weird expression, not sure what he wanted from Atticus.
‘Listen.’ – the Ravenclaw stared down at the Slytherin in an almost degrading manner. – ‘I am not a fan of your friendship with Emilia but I tried to ignore my feelings until now, because I know that she enjoys your company, for whatever reason.’ – his unusually cold stare pierced right through his brother. – ‘However, I will not accept you putting my girlfriend in danger. What on earth were you thinking, dragging her into the Forbidden Forest looking for trolls and whatnot. What kind of a ‘friend’ are you? I won’t let you cause any harm to her without any consequences ever again, do you understand?’
At that point most of the Great Hall had gotten quiet, everyone was just staring at the confrontation in silence, awaiting what was going to happen next.
Emilia was surprised that Ash had called her ‘his girlfriend’. Hearing him say that caused a way of pleasure and happiness to overcome her, but his following statements immediately ruined that feeling. She jumped right into the conversation to defend Atticus.
‘Ash, it was not his idea to go there, it was…’
‘I do not care who’s idea it was, he should know better than that anyways.’ – he interrupted her and turned back to his brother. – ‘You better think next time before you decide to risk her safety, Atticus.’
The Slytherin’s cold stare leveled with the one of the Ravenclaw as he stood up, his wand in hand and his fists clenching in anger, same as his jaw.
‘Is that a threat?’ – he asked in a challenging tone, raising his wand.
Ash opened his mouth to reply but Emilia stopped him, she stood up as well and placed her hand on the boy’s chest before begging him with an embarrassed and quiet voice:
‘Please, don’t cause a scene.’ – her eyes were pacing from one boy to another, her question being towards both of them.
Ash closed his mouth again but he did not let his green eyes off of Atticus, waiting for his reaction. His brother looked at him and then at Emilia and scoffed with resignation before lowering his wand. He silently walked past them, bumping into the boy with his shoulder whilst passing him and left the Great Hall.
The girl looked around embarrassed, but as her eyes met with those of the curious students, everyone immediately looked away and got back to eating and chatting with friends. She pulled her, as she just found out, ‘boyfriend’ by his arm to sit down to stop drawing more attention.
‘Why did you have to attack him like this, Ash…’ – she judged him with a mix of annoyance and disappointment in her voice.
‘I don’t want you to get into any trouble because of the likes of him. I couldn’t care less is he wanders around the Highlands, doing God knows what, but if he drags you into this, don’t expect me not to intervene…’
‘I am an adult though. I can think for myself and make my own decisions.’ – she stated, more harshly than intended, which caused the boys face to drop down in sadness.
‘I know. I’m just trying to look out for you, love. I don’t want to see you get hurt.’ – she felt immediate regret after he replied. – ‘I care for you and I got so worried when I heard about this whole situation, with the Forest and the troll. He could’ve gotten you killed.’
‘But Atticus wasn’t the one who…’
‘Emilia, please.’ – his insisting voice interrupted her once more.
She gave up with a sigh and crossed her arms.
‘Alright, Fine.’
Ash caressed her hair with his hand and planted a kiss on her forehead. He then started scooping food onto his plate and got straight to eating. She decided to force some food into her after all and they mostly ate in silence, still feeling the quick stares on her the entire time as students nearby whispered gossips into each other’s ears.
Once she was almost done and most of the students were leaving the Great Hall and heading back to their common rooms, she suddenly remembered Ash’s words and a question quickly escaped her mouth before she even realized it.
‘So, when were you going to tell me that I am now your girlfriend?’
He was definitely surprised by her question, but after a second he just chuckled.
‘Well, I guess I forgot to mention it.’ – he grinned his teeth at her. – ‘Got any problem with that?’
‘Heh, no, I’m just glad we’ve made it official.’ – she brushed her hair behind her ear, feeling slightly shy but also happy.
‘Me too.’ – he looked at her with a sincere smile and caressed her cheek before continuing. – ‘Speaking of which… as my girlfriend, you should come and watch the first game of the season tomorrow.
Slytherin against Ravenclaw. Cheer for your boyfriend and his team, am I right?’ – he chuckled and put his arm around her jokingly.
She laughed and nodded. Ash then raised his wand and waved it gently and a blue knitted scarf with a silver hawk appeared in the air and wrapped itself up around the girl’s neck. She brushed the material with her hands and looked down at it before giving the boy a thankful smile and leaning in for a kiss.