Chapter Eleven: Never Had a Chance
Clynalmoy was right. The moment they returned from the hospital wing, Andrea and Lottie were bombarded with questions. Andrea was rather humble every time she told the story, preferring to stop further questioning by being completely honest. Lottie, on the other hand, loved the attention.
“They nearly hexed me!” Lottie explained dramatically late one July afternoon to a group of Clynalmoys. Ally stood in the back with crossed arms, unimpressed. “Seven times,” Lottie added.
“How did you get away?” asked one of the boys in her year.
“Well Andrea was tied up. I was so worried that she was going to die! She was hardly breathing, you know.” Lottie paused dramatically. “So I pulled and pulled at the ropes, but they wouldn’t come undone! So I had to gnaw them off.”
A chorus ofohs and ahs followed.
Lottie continued, “So I grabbed Andrea and ran!” She mimed carrying Andrea in her arms and looked behind her. “But then I saw the Death Eaters running behind me! One of them grabbed me by the hair, but I spun around and stunned him!” Lottie pulled out her wand and pointed it at Ally. “BAM!”
“Oh please,” Ally said over the gasping crowd. “You couldn’t hex anyone if you tried! You’re in remedial Charms.”
“Want to try me?” Lottie asked with raised eyebrows.
“What are you going to do, hit me?”
Smirking, Lottie pointed her wand at Ally. The crowd cleared away to avoid the hex. “Phelantio!” she shouted. Without a moment’s pause, she took off down the corridor, grinning at Ally’s shrieks of disgust.
The middle of July brought the day when the students were allowed to go back and visit their families. Lottie’s birthday had been the previous day, July seventeenth. Andrea had written an extremely thoughtful card that Lottie folded and kept on her bedside table. Sophie and Julianne had worked together on a series of hilarious drawings that they got Stanley to magically animate. Even Stanley gave Lottie some stolen chocolates from the kitchens.
The morning of the eighteenth, the students were given their old clothing from the camps for the trip. Lottie felt rather awkward in her torn clothes. Her shirt was tighter and reeked strongly of mildew. The holes in her pants that were once over he knees now were a few inches above them. The teachers handed out some dirt for the students to rub on their faces, legs and arms so they would look exactly how they had before they left.
Stainthorpe got a Portkey and accompanied the students going to the London camp. When they arrived in an old, crumbling building, Lottie recognized it as what she used to call the Turtle Building.
Lottie smiled at Andrea as they waited to be let out in turn, as to not bring attention to their location. “This is weird isn’t it?” she asked. Andrea nodded. “I want to go back and see my old friends, but--”
“They think you’re dead,” Andrea finished. “You better not. It’ll be hard avoiding them though, with the way you all used to prance around like you owned the entire camp.”
“Hey!”
“What? They aren’t your friends anymore, are they?”
“No. Well I--”
“Woolbright! Rowe! Go on.” Stainthorpe held open the door for them.
“Good luck,” Andrea muttered as she hastily ran in the opposite direction.
“You too,” Lottie whispered at Andrea’s retreating back.
The camp was different now. Or maybe Lottie just never noticed what she was living in. It was no longer just a rough place for a child to grow up, but a real prison.
A woman on the street cried silently, cradling a small child’s body. The child could not have been older than ten. Its eyes were wide open, stunned with fear. Lottie continued on her way. An old man limped by. Lottie could see blood staining his clothes and leaving a trail across the pavement.
She stood stonily and watched him collapse to his knees.
The sky was grey, matching the bleak atmosphere perfectly. Lottie felt as though she were somewhere between storms.
A middle-aged woman cowered in the grasp of a Death Eater. Lottie’s first instinct was to run, but she suddenly couldn’t feel her legs. The masked wizard threw the woman to the ground and delivered a sharp kick to the ribs. Lottie watched in horror as the woman cried in agony.
“Get a move on, girl,” the Death Eater grunted, “before I finish this one off.” He slashed his wand in the air. Lottie spun around so she wouldn’t have to witness the result of the Death Eater’s destruction. Shrieks cut through the oppressing silence.
Had she just never noticed this before?
“I told you!” A familiar voice shot through the silence. “That we need to avoid those older girls at all costs. But did anyone listen to me?”
Lottie held her breath. It was Melanie. Probably everybody else was with her too. They would recognize her immediately. Thinking quickly, she took a sharp turn down an alley and prayed that they wouldn’t follow.
“Well they were picking on me!” squeaked a voice that could be none other than Pip’s, the youngest of Lottie’s old friends.
“Yeah, Melanie.” This time it was Olive. Stomach sinking, Lottie realized that Olive must have assumed her old position as second in command.
“We can’t just let them bully us around!” said Hattie.
“We’ve got more people than they do,” added Alexa.
Lottie couldn’t help herself. She moved her head just enough so she could see her old friends. They all looked about the same, except for Pip who was maybe a bit taller. Hattie’s front teeth had grown back in.
“Face it, Melanie,” Shawnee said. “We can’t beat a Death Eater until we’re all a little older.”
Lottie suddenly felt the urge to throw up. She wanted to go and save her old friends. They didn’t know what a hell they were living in.
The sound of their voices died away until they were gone for good.
Her old building’s door was just in view. Lottie entered silently. Men and women had taken advantage of the building’s hallways and had set up a temporary ground there. Lottie stepped over their sleeping bodies, wondering if they had just recently moved in or if she had just never noticed them before.
The door to her family’s room swung open. “Lottie!” Posy Rowe grabbed her daughter in a tight embrace. “Oh we’ve been wondering when you would visit! Come inside!” Lottie didn’t really have a choice whether to come inside or not, because her mother had picked her up and carried her in. “Oh! My baby! I’ve missed you so much!” Posy wouldn’t let go. Lottie half laughed and half gasped for breath.
“Let the girl breathe,” came a voice from the hallway.
“Dad!”
Nathaniel picked Lottie up as well. “How’s my girl doing?”
Laughing, Lottie answered, “I’m good. I’m learning a lot at school. And don’t let these clothes fool you. I’ve got uniforms and robes and--” she lowered her voice “--even my own wand!”
Nathaniel tousled Lottie’s hair. “We are so proud of you,” he said. “Going off to fight the war…”
Posy nodded approvingly. “And they’re feeding you well, I notice.”
When the time came to leave, Lottie nearly opted to stay. Her mother’s crying combined with her father’s futile attempts at comforting her made Lottie miss her parents even more.
“How were your parents?” asked Andrea meeting Lottie on the stoop of her building.
“They were good. They made me a little homesick, though.”
“Mine too.”
“Hey!” Lottie smiled mischievously. “What would you say if we went to see our old friends again? I’ll visit yours if you visit mine.”
“No way,” Andrea replied flatly. “Lottie, we’re dead. Remember?”
“Well wouldn’t it spook them if I came back? Wouldn’t that be a laugh?”
“No!” Andrea shouted. “It wouldn’t! You would get us both into trouble! And I wouldn’t suggest risking anything anymore, especially after what you did this summer.”
“What I did this summer,” Lottie grumbled, “saved your life! So I wouldn’t complain. I don’t see the problem!”
“Of course you wouldn’t,” Andrea sighed. “If you thought your friend had died, and then she came back, how would you feel?”
“I’d be happy!”
“But what would you tell them?”
“The truth.” Lottie started running in the direction her friends had just gone. “Maybe they’d believe me this time! Maybe we could save them from this--”
“Lottie, no!” Andrea grabbed Lottie’s arm, halting her path. “I’m not letting you get yourself expelled for something this stupid. We can’t save everyone. By training for the war, you’re doing your part. Come on!”
Lottie let herself be dragged back to the Turtle Building, where they had arrived with Stainthorpe. She didn’t complain, but spent the time making sure her mental images of this visit were detailed. There were too many horrors to take note of them all.
All of these people. They never had a chance.
“How was your family?” Stainthorpe asked, standing in the doorway of the building. They were the first students to return.
“Er--good,” Andrea answered timidly, dragging Lottie inside. “They missed me. And Helen--my little sister--”
“Wait,” Lottie interrupted. “You have a little sister?”
Stainthorpe laughed at Andrea’s glare.
“Lottie how did you not know this?” Andrea sighed. “I’ve talked about her before.”
“Well I don’t know!” Lottie rolled her eyes. “Fine then, how many siblings do I have?”
“You don’t have any!” Andrea slapped her forehead. “Honestly Lottie, would it really kill you to listen to me for once?”
Lottie stared at the floor. She didn’t know what to say. How could she focus on Andrea’s petty problems when her entire world had been changed? “I do really miss my old friends, though,” she added.
Stainthorpe nodded knowingly. “It’s a horrible thing, to lose a friend.”
Halfway to Infinity by Eponine
Chapter Notes: I'm so sorry for the lateness of this chapter! Thanks so much to TheBird for beta'ing this chapter! Chapter twelve is with the beta already, so hopefully it won't be too long.