Chapter Twenty-seven: Legilimency
Andrea was right about one thing. The next day, all of the teachers who had previously been rather ruthless with Lottie were treating her normally again. Naturally, they offered no explanation of their previous behavior.
“Well at least you aren’t being picked on, right?” Andrea said the next day in Potions, after Professor Dyer had given Lottie full marks for her Combustion Concoction.
“But it’s not like I can just erase my memory,” Lottie responded glumly as she packed up her cauldron.
Andrea rolled her eyes and pushed open the dungeon’s thick, bronze door with her shoulder. “That should be the least of your worries, right now. Your grades, on the other hand, should be a bit higher on your list of priorities.”
“It’s not my fault!” Lottie said indignantly. “The teachers””
“Yes, yes, I know, but it doesn’t matter how it happened.” Andrea hitched her bag farther onto her shoulder and glanced back at Lottie. “You still need to fix it.”
Professor Palmyitor’s attention was, apparently, the price to pay to be generally accepted. The old professor didn’t even acknowledge Lottie’s presence when they passed each other in the corridors. After several futile attempts to catch the professor’s attention, Lottie eventually gave up and found an alternate route around Palmyitor’s office to avoid awkward moments.
Christmas holidays came to an end and January brought frigid winds into the halls of Alsemore. The extra classes were going as tediously and slowly as humanly possible, while regular classes continued to pile homework on the third years; the workload was so overwhelming that Lottie and Andrea spent every night doing homework until the early hours of the morning.
The night before the students’ trip to Odin Alley in February, Lottie and Andrea were scheduled to have another lesson with Professor Stainthorpe. Lottie complained loudly on the way; for the past month and a half, they had been practicing the dullest spells from their Dueling class. Stainthorpe never seemed to be satisfied with Lottie’s performance.
“Come on, we have to go,” Andrea said impatiently as she dragged Lottie from the common room.
“When I agreed to do these lessons, I didn’t know we’d be doing stuff from first year,” Lottie said loudly as they passed Palmyitor’s office. “It’s just so””
She fell silent immediately. The door to the office cracked open and Palmyitor slithered out. Her footsteps fell silently as she glided in the other direction.
“Professor?”
Palmyitor slowly swiveled around. She looked like a disgruntled, old cat. Lottie couldn’t put her finger on why she craved her Head of House’s attention, but she had been finding her absence rather disturbing.
“Good luck with your lesson,” Palmyitor said curtly, before heading down the other stairway.
Lottie stared at her retreating back. “Why’s she acting like that?” she asked as they continued on their way.
Andrea rolled her eyes. “Who cares? Things are back to normal aren’t they?”
“Except that Palmyitor is ignoring me.”
“Well why do you care? She wasn’t exactly nice to you, was she? It’s more peaceful this way.”
“Peaceful” wasn’t exactly the word Lottie was thinking of”“boring” seemed more appopriate. It was almost like she had become one of the normal students again. Ever since arriving at Alsemore, she had always had a hunch that the heads of the school were keeping some secret about her magic from her. Now, the teachers treated her like everyone else.
“Lottie?”
They were standing in front of Stainthorpe’s office door. Andrea had her wand out. “Are you ready?” she asked. “I think we might be dueling today.”
Still distracted, Lottie slipped her wand from her pocket and rolled it between her fingers as Andrea pushed open the door.
“Expelliarmus!”
Lottie reacted immediately. The jet of red light was just passing through the doorway when she flicked her wand and shouted, “Protego!” The spell bounced off of her shield and hit Stainthorpe. Lottie caught the professor’s wand hastily and grinned.
“Very good, Rowe.” Stainthorpe retrieved her wand and tucked it into her pocket. “I knew we’d get here eventually.” Andrea had mastered this particular scenario two weeks earlier.
“We’re at the point,” Stainthorpe began, “where you need to be ready for an attack at any time. I’m sure you’re familiar with this process from Professor Breckenridge.”
Lottie grimaced; she had successfully blocked several more of Breckenridge’s ambushes, but the memory of her failed attempt still burned clear in her mind. Breckenridge claimed that a Dark wizard wouldn’t have stopped searching through her memory just because she asked nicely, but Lottie found the whole thing a bit cruel. Andrea, on the other hand, had not even managed to block him in the classroom when she was prepared. Her frustration grew exponentially with every failure.
“Today,” Stainthorpe said, dragging Lottie away from her own thoughts, “we are going to learn something even more advanced.” Lottie could feel Andrea perk up with excitement. Stainthorpe beamed. “I didn’t even learn this until my fourth year. I’m not sure if you two can both master the Stunner before we leave, so in the event that you don’t, the Impedimenta spell is nearly as effective.”
Lottie leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. “What does it do?” she asked.
Stainthorpe smiled wryly. “I’ll show you. If you’ll just run towards me, Rowe.”
Looking skeptical, Lottie trotted towards Stainthorpe, who shouted, “Impedimenta!” Lottie froze immediately. The effect was not as drastic as the full body bind, but it felt as though the air had turned to peanut butter.
Andrea laughed at Lottie struggling against the spell. Stainthorpe smiled as well. “It will lose effect soon,” she told Lottie. “This spell can stop your opponent, but it wears off”it is handy for”for quick getaways...” Stainthorpe trailed off, her attention suddenly preoccupied with the dusty floor. Lottie didn’t know how to perform Legilimency, but she could feel memories lingering behind the professor’s troubled, old eyes.
“So.” Stainthorpe turned back to Lottie and Andrea and smiled”as if nothing had ever happened. “The wrist movement is very similar to the Shield Charm, except it is less of a flick and more of a jabbing wave.”
Lottie imitated the wrist movement twice without her wand before Stainthorpe said, “So stand a little ways away from each other and practice.”
The lesson was a slight disaster. After her second try, Andrea succeeded in stopping Lottie completely. Lottie, though, had only made Andrea stumble back a few steps after seven tries.
With growing frustration, Lottie waved her wand at Andrea and shouted, “Impedimenta!”
The jet of light collided with Andrea. The energy, instead of freezing her, blew her backwards and off her feet. The force was so great that she slammed against the back wall, causing the shelf above her to collapse. Several heavy volumes tumbled”they were only inches from a dazed Andrea’s head before Stainthorpe froze them.
“Hm…” she said as she guided the books back to the newly repaired shelf. “Maybe a bit too powerful for your own good,” she said, laughing. “But effective, nonetheless. You just need to refine your technique.”
Andrea stood up, rubbing her back. “I’d say so.” She gave Lottie a playful nudge on the shoulder. “That was pretty great, Lottie, but next time can you save it for the Death Eaters?”
The rest of the lesson was quite enjoyable. With a boosted confidence, Lottie managed to stop Andrea two more times, and by the time they left, she was in quite a good mood.
They were halfway down the corridor when heavy footsteps pounded up behind them. Out of the corner of her eye, Lottie could see Colm Scrivener sidling up behind them, a smug grin spread across his face. “Andrea,” she said, her voice ringing with sarcastic concern, “is the ground shaking?”
Andrea had to clamp a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter.
“What do you want, Scrivener?” Lottie asked.
“I heard,” Colm said, raising his voice, “that you two are leaving the castle this summer.”
Lottie made to turn around, but Andrea put a hand on her arm and marched her forward, down the stairs. “It’s none of your business,” Andrea said without turning back to him.
“So it’s true then?” he panted, running to catch up with them. “You two always stray away from the castle.”
“Did you hear us, Scrivener?” Lottie growled, her voice growing in volume. She itched to turn around”she didn’t trust him enough to have her back to him.
The imposing door of Palmyitor’s office loomed above them. Colm went on, “It’s a shame. I was really looking forward to beating you, Woolbright, at Quidditch.”
Lottie stopped. “Ignore him,” Andrea growled through her teeth. “Just leave it alone.”
“And you, Rowe.”
Lottie wrapped her long fingers around her wand.
“You’re just jealous, because your stupid, ugly friend is a better flyer than you. You’re just””
BAM!
Colm’s face slid from smug to stunned as he slammed against the cold, stone wall. Robes still smoldering from Lottie’s Blasting Curse, he groaned and pushed himself up, wand extended. “You””
“Rowe.” A horrifyingly familiar grip clutched Lottie’s shoulder. Her arms seized with fear. She had forgotten whose office they were right in front of.
“Professor, I’m””
“Don’t you know ever know when to keep your head down?” Palmyitor’s voice was dangerously low. It quivered with each syllable. Lottie could feel the old professor’s many rings digging into the skin on her shoulder. “In.” She pointed a painted fingernail to her office door. “Woolbright, you too. Scrivener, get to your common room, now.”
Glumly, Lottie pocketed her wand and shuffled into the far-too-familiar office. She slumped down in the stiffed-back chair and stared at the back of ornately carved, silver picture frames. Andrea settled down next to her. “You just can’t have a civil conversation, can you?” she sighed.
“I’ve had enough of you two,” Palmyitor said; the door slammed behind her. “We give you special permission to have an educational experience”you cannot go bragging about it to the other students.” She folded her hands on her desk. Lottie avoided her dark eyes.
“Not only does it make the student body question our integrity, but if one of them were to tell a Death Eater of special permission””
“You think there are still traitors?” Lottie asked suddenly. Her heart pounded in her throat.
“No, there are no””
“Don’t you check before you bring people into the school?”
“Of course we check.”
“Then why does it matter if people know? Who cares if they’re jealous?”
“Rowe.” Palmyitor’s hand was flat against her desk. Blue-purple veins bulged at the base of her wrist. “I assure you that you are perfectly safe from Death Eaters if you keep your mouth shut.”
“Then what are we supposed to tell them? You just saw Scrivener”the fat lump. He wouldn’t shut up; he just kept asking and asking and asking and””
Palmyitor silenced her with a twitch of an eyebrow. “Tell them you are continuing your detention from last summer.” The corner of her lips trembled, on the verge of what looked like a smile. “Less than satisfactory work naturally leads to more punishment.”
Lottie gritted her teeth. “Of course.”
Andrea glanced between the two with the same exasperated look she adopted around Colm Scrivener. “So…” she began. “Great. Fantastic. Thank you, Professor. May we leave now?”
Palmyitor pulled her wand out and waved it lazily, allowing the door to click open. “Yes, I suppose you may. Oh, and Rowe?”
Lottie spun around in the doorframe. “Yeah?”
“No more fights.” Palmyitor grimaced. “Or you really won’t be allowed to take your trip.”
March brought warmth back to the halls of Alsemore and the students, Lottie included, were more than happy to shed their winter layers. Sometimes, on a particularly fine spring day, Lottie would not wear her sweaters at all, but instead enjoy the weather and dodge the teachers who were notorious for being the most uptight about the uniform. Along with the good weather, March also brought an exciting announcement from Professor Breckenridge.
“Today,” he said in one of Lottie and Andrea’s private tutoring sessions, “we will begin learning Legilimency. Now, don’t get all excited already.” He raised a hand at Lottie, who had been unable to contain the grin that spread across her face. “Although talents for Occlumency and Legilimency usually go hand in hand, the powers needed for Legilimency are very different.”
Breckenridge paced around Lottie and Andrea, as though inspecting them for their worthiness. “This material is not usually taught until fifth year,” he said. “I doubt you will need it on this journey, but Professor Palmyitor wants… ah… you prepared in any case. You do understand that we are putting a great trust in your hands. When given the power to delve into others’ minds, the first thing you must know is when it is appropriate.”
Lottie fidgeted uncomfortably. She didn’t care about rules; she just wanted to learn.
“Know that you are never to use this against an ally, except in an emergency situation.” He paused thoughtfully before adding, “Or here. Here you will learn and practice against each other. You two should be apt enough at blocking now, but for these few lessons, I ask that you keep your defenses to a minimum.”
Lottie glanced warily at Andrea; well she had nothing to worry about”if talents for Legilimency and Occlumency went hand in hand, Andrea wouldn’t be close to breaking into her mind for months. A sudden sinking feeling in Lottie’s stomach followed that thought and guilt swelled inside of her.
“Now, if by some odd chance,” Breckenridge continued, “you do need this skill, you will be well prepared.” Cheerfully, he nodded at Lottie and added, “You may even be good enough to do it nonverbally soon.”
“Professor?” Andrea waved her hand meekly through the air. “I thought we don’t learn wordless magic until the end of fifth year.”
“Legilimency is different.” Breckenridge crossed his arms and stood before the two of them. “Yes all non-verbal magic is extremely difficult, but it is more the intent in Legilimency, rather than the way to say the incantation. It is similar to Occlumency in that sense”the incantation is just a security blanket that I will allow you to use until the proper time.”
“But Professor,” Andrea protested, “you use the incantation in class.”
Breckenridge peered at her. “I am giving you students fair warning,” he responded coldly. “I could and will ambush and trick you eventually, but at your classmates’ current level… Well, no more talk of that, eh? Turn to face one another, wands out. Woolbright, you first.”
Andrea pulled her wand out apprehensively. She knew that Lottie, being a much better Occlumens, would be able to reflect her easily. Lottie wondered secretly if Andrea was hiding anything from her.
“When you say the incantation, you need to concentrate only on breaking into her mind,” Breckenridge instructed. “If you do not need it badly enough, it will not happen. Eye contact is essential, but once you get into the target’s mind, breaking eye contact will not immediately expel you.” He turned to Andrea. “Ready?”
She nodded nervously and raised her wand. “L-Legilimens!” she stuttered.
Lottie braced herself for the blow as much as she could, short of doing actual Occlumency, but it never came.
“Stop blocking me!” Andrea shouted, her face strained with concentration.
“I’m not. You must be doing it wrong.”
“Quite fine, quite expected,” Breckenridge hummed, giving Andrea a friendly pat on the back. Her glasses quivered on the tip of her nose. “Just a vague idea of the theory is not quite enough. Rowe? Would you like to give it a try?”
“Definitely.” Lottie pointed her wand at Andrea. “Ready? Legilimens!”
There were no sudden surges of emotion or flashbacks that weren’t hers, but a pressure between her eyebrows intensified as she tried harder and harder to push into Andrea’s mind.
“Nothing?” Breckenridge asked. The sound of his voice broke the unmoving tension like a knife snapping a rope.
Lottie rubbed her forehead. “No, but I have a headache now.”
“Interesting… Well that is nothing to worry about. You’re quite ahead as a matter of fact.” Lottie swelled with pride and turned to Andrea, who did not return her grin. “So,” Breckenridge went on, “for the rest of this class, we will work on the theory only. We can try again at the next meeting.”
But at the next meeting, Lottie was no closer to breaking into Andrea’s mind. Andrea, if it was possible, had regressed; her face reddened more and more with each failure.
“It’s not a big deal,” Lottie said one April afternoon, on the way to their next lesson. “He said himself that we won’t need to know it.”
“Yes, but we will eventually,” Andrea said, pouting.
“Yeah, in two years you need to know it. I think that’s sufficient time, don’t you?”
Andrea glared at her and said, “Well it’s not like you’d know what I’m talking about. You’ve nearly figured it out already.”
Lottie grinned sheepishly. It was true”she had been improving, but was it really something to get so upset about? Couldn’t she just be better at one thing? Sometimes, Lottie found Andrea’s academic obsession a bit annoying, but she was the only best friend she had and she was not about to lose her.
They reached Breckenridge’s door. “Look,” Lottie said, before reaching for the handle. “I know it’s tough to have trouble in something, but this really isn’t a big deal. If I figure it out and you don’t, I think that’ll be enough to get us through.” She smiled.
“Not a big deal for you, maybe,” Andrea growled moodily. She knocked on the door. A grunt from inside told them that they could enter.
“Good evening,” Breckenridge said from his position, leaning against his desk. “I believe you know the drill. Woolbright, you first.”
Andrea pulled out her wand and half-heartedly mumbled, “Legilimens.”
Lottie had to hide her smirk at Andrea’s pathetic attempt. She felt nothing bearing towards her, no sudden need to block her mind.
Breckenridge stared at Andrea. “Er… yes, well, we’ll work on that. Rowe, would you like to give it a try? I should see how much more we have to go.”
Lottie nodded. She was determined to succeed this time. After a month of embarrassing failure, she was ready to get it right. Over the month of training, she had improved greatly; now the pressure between her eyes was an invisible ball of energy that she could force closer and closer to Andrea. She knew that all she had to do was push the energy past Andrea’s natural defense and she would succeed. Andrea had noticed Lottie’s improvement as well and looked less than thrilled as Lottie drew her wand.
“Legilimens!”
There it was again, that little pea of energy. Eyes focused with concentration, she willed it forward. It passed in front of Breckenridge easily, who glanced at Lottie with a furrowed brow. Andrea seemed to notice as well, because she looked more nervous. The energy was inches from Andrea’s forehead. With all of the concentration she could muster, Lottie willed it forward.
The defense broke”suddenly Lottie swam in emotions and memories that weren’t hers. Elation”pure joy”happiness like she had never known before filled her. It was very different on the other side of a Legilimency attack. No scenes played out before her, only foreign emotions and occasional phrases ran through her mind. She was so happy that she must have been laughing out loud. “Alsemore…” echoed through her mind in a familiar voice. “Witch… war… rebellion. Join us.”
And then it stopped. Lottie’s wand came back into focus and she stared at a very shaky looking Andrea.
“Impressive,” said Breckenridge approvingly. “Very impressive. I assume you didn’t see anything?” Lottie shook her head. “Mmm… Impressive just the same. What did you feel?”
“Happy,” Lottie gasped. “Really…really happy. I heard a few things.” She turned to Andrea. “What was that?”
“When Clynalmoy told me I was a witch,” Andrea mumbled to the floor.
“Ah that is a popular one,” Breckenridge said knowingly. “Rowe, you think you understand the practical theory now?”
Lottie nodded. “I’ve understood it for a while,” she said. “But it’s taken me this long to get it right.”
“Well you get it. That’s what matters,” Breckenridge said. “Want another go?”
“Oh yes!” Lottie exclaimed, pulling out her wand. Andrea shrank a little in her spot, but Lottie took no notice. She raised her wand and stared at Andrea, who looked like she was going to say something, but couldn’t before Lottie shouted, “Legilimens!”
It was easier this time to break through Andrea’s mind. The pinpoint of energy glided through the air toward her and a very different emotion filled Lottie. Inexplicable grief made her eyes water with pain. Horrible things were going to happen to her if she didn’t fall to her knees and pound the floor with misery. “Can’t you do something?” It was Andrea’s voice. Lottie head pounded with sadness. “Sometimes”” Stainthorpe this time “”we have to choose between what is right and what is easy.”
It stopped. Lottie was on her knees, fists against the floor. Andrea huddled in the corner with her head pressed against her knees. “You”you two okay?” asked Breckenridge. Lottie nodded shakily; Andrea gave a nervous sort of squeak. “What did you feel?” he asked Lottie.
She took a deep breath. “Sad. Really”really sad.” She stared at her shoes. She wished Andrea’s soft sobs from the corner would stop. It had been nearly five months since her father’s death and even though she acted like it didn’t bother her, it could not have been plainer that it did. Lottie felt a sudden surge of affection for Andrea, who hid her feelings so carefully, as to not upset any of her classmates.
“I”I don’t think I want to try again tonight,” Lottie decided. So the rest of the lesson was passed with Andrea’s feeble attempts to perfect the art.
April crept in and the bit of winter chill that was left in the Alsemore castle vanished completely. Lottie got better at Legilimency with each lesson. She was soon able to not only feel the target’s emotion, but hear several lines from the scene and occasionally see a figure or two. Breckenridge urged her to try it nonverbally, told her it would be pointless if she went about shouting incantations, but Lottie never even tried, for fear of failure.
It was not until June, when Andrea had by then involuntarily revealed her entire life story, that Lottie finally attempted Legilimency wordlessly. “Now, it’s not the moving of the energy that you need to think about,” coached Breckenridge, “but the conjuring of it. Focus now.”
Lottie stared intently at Andrea who watched her dully from the other side of the room.
“Don’t try mouthing the words, that’s just as bad isn’t it?”
Lottie scrunched up her face. Finally”after what seemed like hours of Andrea tapping her foot impatiently”the ball of energy began to form again. It took a lot of self-control not to cry out in triumph. Andrea of course had no idea what was coming, so looked that much more surprised when they plunged into her memories.
This time it was guilt. She had just told on so many students in the school. What was going to happen to them? Where they going to”
“Good show, good show!” Breckenridge’s loud claps brought both of them out of the events of the previous year. “See? I told you that you’d be able to do it. Good job. Now, Woolbright, if only we could get you to understand at all!”
Breckenridge and Lottie laughed heartily, but Andrea, who looked somewhat less than amused, pulled her wand out and shouted, “Stop making fun of me! It’s not funny or cute. It’s not my fault that I’m not good at one thing. One thing! Who cares about Occlumency anyway?” She turned on her heel and stormed out.
An awkward silence followed.
“Er”I better go after her…” Lottie mumbled. “See you in class tomorrow!” She took off through the doors of Breckenridge’s dungeon office and up the single flight of stairs to the Palmyitor common room. She could hear Andrea’s thudding steps before her, but they never stopped until Lottie heard the door to the clock slam.
The common room was crowded, but Andrea was nowhere to be found. “Lottie!” called Julianne, waving from a deserted corner of the room. “Where’ve you been?”
“Somewhere”I mean”er”tutoring. Where’s Andrea?”
Julianne shrugged. “I saw her in here a minute ago, but she ran downstairs before I had a chance to say hello. She did look a bit upset though. Hey, where are you going?”
Lottie took off down the stairs, disturbing the loud conversation of some upper classmen. “Andrea?” she called, running down the corridor to the dormitory. “Andrea?”
She pushed open the door to find Andrea huddled on her bed, staring at her covers. “Andrea””
“What?” Andrea snapped.
Lottie cautiously sat down on her own bed. “Wh”what’s wrong?”
“Oh, you know what’s wrong.”
Lottie frowned. “No. I don’t.”
Glaring at her, Andrea began, “I’m sick of being the target.”
“Well, we take turns. We both have to be the””
“You would have to, if I were any good at Legilimency. But I’m not, so you don’t have to do anything. I don’t want you rummaging through my head anymore! You don’t understand what it’s like.”
“Andrea, you need to get used to it. You need to figure out how to block it anyway. You’re a Palmyitor.”
Furiously, Andrea looked up. Her glasses were fogged with tears. “Do you really think so? I’m no Palmyitor. I’m the only one in the class who’s still struggling so much in Occlumency. It’s not like I’m not good at other things. I’m nearly top of the class in all of the other subjects!” She stared at the door and added, “It’s not like I make fun of you for being horrible at Charms.”
Lottie stared at her, blocking her emotions, not letting them get in the way. “That was low,” she hissed. “Please, Andrea, I’m trying to help you, don’t you see?”
Andrea crossed her arms. “If you were trying to help me, you wouldn’t perform Legilimency on me three times a week.”
“Well how else am I supposed to learn it?” Lottie couldn’t believe they were getting into this argument. Why couldn’t Andrea see that she needed a target to practice on? She was the best in the class”couldn’t Andrea just make one little sacrifice?
“I don’t know, but talk to Breckenridge or something,” Andrea said bitterly. “I can’t stand you taking advantage of me one more time.”
Lottie nodded. Andrea was the only friend she had. Besides, she was good enough at Legilimency as it was. “Okay,” she sighed. “I will.”
Lottie never actually did talk to Breckenridge. She got about as far as the corridor outside of his office before getting nervous and turning back. By the next lesson, Andrea looked absolutely betrayed when they faced each other again, but Lottie smiled reassuringly.
Breckenride watched expectantly as Lottie screwed up her face, hissed under her breath and gave off, if she said so herself, a very convincing imitation of concentration. Nothing happened. Lottie mirrored Breckenridge’s shock as convincingly as possible with a flustered glance at her wand and a sigh.
“Sorry, Professor,” Lottie apologized as they left the classroom. She used Occlumency to prevent him from uncovering her lie.
Halfway to the common room, Andrea turned to her. “Thanks.”
“Anytime,” Lottie said, trying to sound cheerful. Truthfully, she was rather concerned about not practicing for an entire month, but she didn’t want to tell Andrea that.
A first year passed by, seeming very nervous about walking by two third years alone. Lottie’s eyes followed him and she smiled, before turning to Andrea. “Look, you head to the common room,” she said. “I’m going to run up to the Great Hall and grab some pudding.”
“Okay. I’ll be there.”
Lottie waited until Andrea had gone down the staircase before advancing on the first year. “Oi! You there! What are you doing out this late?”
The first year fumbled and dropped a package that squelched, suggesting left over cake inside. “I”I’m just going t-to the common room,” he said, puffing out his chest.
“What house are you in?”
“M-Maelioric.”
Perfect. He would never know. The boy watched her curiously as she concentrated on summoning the energy and breaking into his mind. It wasn’t very difficult at all. Even Andrea’s mind was more complicated.
The visions this time were more vivid than they had ever been before. She heard a Death Eater torture a small boy and felt horrible, pounding fear, immeasurable grief again, as the same scrawny boy cried by his mother’s sickbed, happiness as Palmyitor came to tell him that he was a wizard… Nothing out of the ordinary.
The visions stopped. Lottie found the boy laying on his back. “Wh”what did you do to me?” he panted, trying to pick himself up.
“Nothing,” Lottie said with fake concern. “You just fell over. You should go back to the common room and sleep.”
The boy nodded shakily. “Th”thanks.”
He stumbled away, leaving his cake behind. Smirking, Lottie picked it up and headed to her own common room.
“Where’ve you been?” asked Andrea once Lottie entered the dormitory.
“I got the last bit of cake,” Lottie said, throwing the package to her. With a smirk she added, “Practically had to wrestle it out of a first year’s hands.”
Halfway to Infinity by Eponine
Chapter Notes: Thanks again to TheBird for editing this chapter! We actually had to do it face to face to finish. It's a long one!
This chapter is dedicated to my grandmother. 1918-2008. I love you, Nana.