Chapter 8: Something to Talk About
If you were popular at Hogwarts, and if you weren’t too busy practicing Quidditch on the weekends, then chances were you would spend your free time hanging around the Whomping Willow. The huge, severely violent tree was a new addition to the school grounds, according to Alice, and it had become a sort of fad overnight. Older students had started the trend of darting between the tree’s thrashing branches in order to touch the trunk. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in the younger students wanting in on the fun as well. It made fantastically dangerous play for a society that seemed to embrace anything and everything perilous.
Phedra had started to notice how things of a bizarre, dangerous, and slightly humorous nature ran rampant at Hogwarts during her very first week, when someone had let off a packet of Dungbombs in a busy corridor. Now it was late May and, so far, the year’s events had served only to enforce her conviction in this. She had spent the Quidditch final (Slytherin verses Hufflepuff) on the edge of her seat, terrified that she might actually see someone die. A few rows down, James and Sirius cheered and screamed, interspersing both with complaints about first years not being allowed brooms of their own. Phedra had closed her eyes for a minute and massaged her temples like she often saw her mother do at home. The scene was almost overwhelming. She opened them just in time to see the Hufflepuff Chaser and the Slytherin Seeker collide violently into each other, and spiral rapidly to the ground.
“Lily! Look at the blood!” Phedra screamed to her friend over the roar of the crowd. The two players looked a mess, not that she was entirely surprised. Then, Phedra realized that one of the figures on the ground looked familiar-
“AND IT LOOKS LIKE ANDROMEDA BLACK HAS CALLED A TIME OUT DUE TO HER INJURY!” boomed the commentator about the Slytherin Seeker, just before the mentioned person collapsed in a dead faint.
That was it! Andromeda Black was the prefect who had rescued Phedra’s Halloween card; she was Sirius’s cousin. Phedra hoped she would be alright. Glancing at Sirius, she noticed that he looked worried, but considering his feelings regarding his family, his concern may have been directed at the other player “ Tonks, or whatever his name might have been.
The game had to be postponed due to the hospitalization of the Slytherin Seeker and the Hufflepuff Chaser. The crowd started emitting angry shouts. Phedra rolled her
***
Phedra found herself rolling her eyes in the exact same fashion as she sat in the shade of a beech tree and watched a gaggle of Hufflepuff first-years darting around the Whomping Willow. Spread out on her lap was her sketchbook, inside of which she was trying to draw a picture of the lake for Maeve. Lily sat nearby, working on her Potions homework. Phedra sighed as Lily wrote line after line of perfectly formed words about her perfectly formed potions; Phedra was good enough at Potions, but Lily was brilliant. It was possibly her best subject. Professor Slughorn, the Potions Master, simply fawned over her while he barely could remember Phedra’s name”Phedra, however, found this perfectly understandable. After all, here her name was not so unusual at all, and Lily was much more intelligent and funny. It probably didn’t hurt that she was much prettier as well. Phedra sometimes thought that she would have suspected Lily to be some sort of robot if she didn’t know about Petunia. Not that she knew a great deal about her friend’s older sister”Lily had said nothing about her family after they returned from Christmas, and Phedra had not asked.
"Do it Remus!"
“Remus! Remus!”
Phedra jumped at the sound of James and Sirius cheering loudly for their friend. The only thing was; Remus didn’t seem to be doing anything to inspire those cheers. In fact, he was backing away from the two of them, shaking his head.
“I don’t feel like getting my face ripped off, thanks,” he said over his shoulder as he walked past Phedra and Lily, away from the Whomping Willow.
“That’s a guy with sense,” Lily chuckled.
Phedra, however, had stopped watching Remus. A Hufflepuff she recognized from Potions, Davey Gudgeon, was cautiously approaching the tree now.
The sun was warm on Phedra’s hair as she watched Davey hop about in an unnecessarily dramatic manner. The Gryffindors were laughing, but most of the Hufflepuffs looked nervous. Then, the tree creaked and before Phedra realized what was happening a branch whipped out of absolutely nowhere and planted itself in Davey’s face. The boy flew backwards at least ten feet before hitting the ground hard.
Everyone just stood there for a moment, in shock, until Davey’s screams brought people into action. Lily looked up from her homework.
“Holy…” Lily jumped up and ran over to Davey with Phedra at her heels. James and Sirius were heaving the boy to his feet and pulling him farther from the tree while Peter hovered nearby, looking unsure of what to do. Davey’s face was bloody, and he was clutching his hands to it. Lily charged into the scene in an explosion of red hair.
“Hospital Wing!” she yelled at the boys, completely forgetting that she wasn’t talking to James. They obeyed.
“Should we tell a professor, or something?” Phedra asked hesitantly.
“Madam Pomfrey will know soon enough. Let’s grab our stuff first, then we’ll go see if he’s going to be okay."
Lily and Phedra never made it to the Hospital Wing, but James (rather relieved that Lily seemed to have forgotten that she was angry with him) was glad to fill them in.
“He nearly lost an eye, but Pomfrey patched him up alright.”
After that, students weren’t allowed near the Whomping Willow. Phedra did not mind.
Professor Slughorn put Lily in charge of taking Davey his Potions work. Every evening she dutifully trudged to the Hospital Wing, leaving Phedra, Ailis, and Michelle to puzzle over homework that had become increasingly difficult as the end-of-year exams drew nearer.
“I don’t see why he can’t get a Hufflepuff to bring him everything! The guy has a different person bringing him stuff from each class!” Lily exclaimed as she returned on the third day. She rummaged around in her bag for her assignment, planning to join her friends.
“Oh, this has to be a joke,” she sighed, pulling a long sheet of parchment out of her bag. “I forgot to give him the toadstool conversion ratio sheet.”
“I’ll take it,” said Phedra, without really thinking. “Anything to break up Astronomy for a little bit.”
“Would you really, Phedra?” Lily turned to her. “Curfew is in twenty minutes, it’s probably not worth the chance of getting caught.”
Lily looked so grateful that someone had offered, however, that Phedra really felt that she couldn’t turn back now.
“We both know he really needs the conversions. I’ll just be quick, I won’t stay and chat or anything.”
Phedra took the parchment from Lily and bustled towards the portrait hole that led out of the Gryffindor common room.
“I’ll come with, in case you get lost,” volunteered Ailis, who seemed equally eager to take a break. Phedra grinned at her. “We’re off on a mission!”
They made it to the hospital wing in record time, especially considering that they really weren’t sure of where they were going. After a rather intense interrogation, Madam Pomfrey let them in with a sniff of disproval. The Hospital Wing was still brightly lit and Davey was awake. The girls hurried over.
“Lily forgot this,” explained Ailis, pulling the sheet from Phedra’s hand and holding it out to Davey.
“Wow, thanks! What’s it for?” Davey asked. It turned out that the boy knew nothing about toadstool conversions, and Ailis did. The two bent over the homework, leaving Phedra to wander absentmindedly up and down the Hospital Wing. There was only one other occupant, the Slytherin Quidditch captain Andromeda Black. It seemed she was beckoning Phedra over! Surprised and more than a little scared, Phedra glanced over her shoulder to make sure that she wasn’t gesturing to someone else. There was no one else there, so she hurried over, wondering what on earth an aristocratic pureblood Slytherin seventh-year Quidditch captain would want from her. Did she even remember her from October?
“Hi. I’m bored. My fellow inmate-” she gave a dry chuckle, “-got released this morning. What do you want to talk about?” It was more of a command than a question, although the older girl sat up in her bed and tucked up her knees casually, as though she really had been asking a nonchalant question.
So that was it. Phedra had become some sort of entertainment. Well, there wasn’t really much she could do about it…Ailis was still chatting it up with Davy.
“Well, um, I saw the match. I’m sorry about the fall…but you look better.” Phedra sat down awkwardly in a nearby chair and hoped she didn’t sound too stupid.
“Thank you. I’m not too upset. I’ve always thought that things happen for a reason, don’t you?”
Phedra had never thought about it, but thought that it was best to agree.
“I guess so.”
“So, tell me about Muggles.”
Thrown by the sudden topic change, Phedra started. Andromeda must have noticed, because she spoke again with a hint of amusement in her voice.
“Oh, don’t think I don’t remember you. You’re the Muggleborn with the sister who can’t spell. Tell me about Muggles.”
“Um, my family isn’t very interesting, really.” It was mostly true, and she really didn’t know what else to say. What was going on?
“I just want to know normal stuff...” Andromeda leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, “Is it true that Muggles don’t ever shower, so they get sick? I’ve heard that’s why they don’t live very long.” She looked completely serious.
“What? Of course we…they shower. And Muggles live a long time! My grandma is nearly eighty!”
“Eighty? That’s not old. My great-aunt was about a hundred and fifty when she died.”
Phedra decided not to press the matter. That had to be a joke”Andromeda must be trying to trick her.
“Anyways”so, Muggles are clean,” Andromeda continued. “But they don’t have Healers. They have crazy doctors who cut people up instead.”
“What? Nnnn-yeah, but not like…. What do you want to know all this for, anyway?” Phedra was starting to feel a touch indignant. Muggles were not total barbarians after all, with the possible exception of Mrs. Wilbert.
Andromeda gave her a piercing look, as if sizing her up.
“If…you don’t mind me asking, that is,” Phedra added, more meekly.
The older girl continued to look at her intently, while she sat uncomfortably in the visitor’s chair.
“My family is not… fond of Muggles,” Andromeda said slowly. “Or Muggleborns, or people that associate with them.”
Phedra thought of Sirius’s screaming letter at the beginning of the year.
“I don’t really understand it all,” Andromeda said, more to herself than Phedra. “Obviously wizards are better, but we shouldn’t have to…” she trailed off.
Phedra was rather puzzled.
“Well, either way,” the Slytherin mused, “I have to pick a side.” She looked at Phedra again. “I’m trying to make an informed decision, and there aren’t a lot of people to get this kind of information from,” she said to her. “There are some big things going on right now.”
There were Muggleborns all over Hogwarts. What did she mean? Phedra was about to say something when Ailis popped up next to her.
“Phedra! We’re gonna be late, we need to go!” Ailis tugged her sleeve impatiently.
“Well, I didn’t get much, but at least it was something. Thank you, Phedra,” Andromeda finished with a sigh.
Phedra and Ailis hurried out of the brightly lit Hospital Wing and into the dimly-lit corridors of Hogwarts.
“Sorry I took so long,” Ailis apologized. “Davey seemed really lonely. He started talking and talking about his friends and all his school problems and stuff. Y’know, sometimes I think people just need to talk about things. Do you know what I mean?”
Phedra thought of Andromeda, and of Lily on the Christmas train, and could not agree more.
***
a/n: Well, I apologise for taking so long to put this out. I've been working on this chapter since summer believe it or not. I'd also like to thank my wonderful new beta, Scabbyfish, for helping me out. *round of applause*