Chapter Thirty-Three: François’s Farewell
Lottie awoke with a headache the next morning. The windows were still dark”it could not have been later than five. “Come on”we’re leaving early again,” Andrea said from the other side of the room. “Pack up.”
Groggily, Lottie reached under her bed to get her extra pair of pajamas. “We’re not using a Portkey again, are we?” she asked. “Because that went over really well last time.”
“Well obviously we can’t Apparate that far.”
“We can’t?”
“Lottie, of course we can’t.” Andrea zipped her duffle bag closed. “Honestly.”
A moody silence crept over them as Lottie stuffed robes into her bag. “Come on,” Andrea said, swinging her bag over her shoulder and picked up her broom.
“Oh, don’t tell me we’re flying.”
Andrea swung her bag over her shoulder, spun on her heel and pulled open the door. “How else would we get there? Come on”we’re going to be late.”
Lottie hastily dropped the rest of clothes in her bag and zipped it shut. They ran down several flights of stairs, their footsteps echoing up the timeworn building. “Oh good, you brought your brooms,” Hermione said once they reached the Entrance Hall.
“We’re flying again?” Lottie groaned.
“Just to a check point,” Hermione said. “From there, we’ll be close enough to Apparate. It will just be the four of us.” She indicated herself, Lottie, Andrea and Neville. “So you definitely want to keep your wands out in case if we run into any Death Eaters on the way. But”just for some extra security, we’re going to perform Disillusionment charms on you both. It’s not as good as an Invisibility Cloak, but it’s the best we can do.”
“Diso”what?”
“Disillusionment, Lottie,” Andrea snapped. “Really, we learned about it in Charms last year.”
“Oh.” Lottie could feel the color rising in her cheeks as she carefully avoided Hermione’s gaze. “Sorry”I mean”I’m just preoccupied with all of this”erm”Occlumency and””
“Don’t worry about it,” Hermione said. “Sorry, this may feel a bit odd.”
Lottie winced as Hermione tapped her wand against her head. It felt like water was dribbling down her spine. She looked down. Her feet were there”she could almost see them, but they had the same texture and image of the floor beneath her. She marveled at her semi-invisible hands in silence as Hermione turned to Andrea.
“Lottie?” asked a voice from behind her.
Lottie didn’t turn around. She recognized the voice immediately. Determinately, she stared at Hermione and Neville charting out a flight plan on an unrolled map. François took a step toward her. “You are leaving,” he said.
“Yes.” Lottie turned her head just enough to see him behind her. François’s blond hair wilted into his eyes. “I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Lottie””
“Leave me alone.” She pushed past Andrea and ran to the corner of the Entrance Hall. François rushed to follow her.
“Lottie, I just want to tell you””
“Don’t touch me.” Lottie pushed his hand off of her shoulder.
“I just wanted to tell you zat I did not tell zee ‘Ealer about what ‘appened yesterday.”
Lottie turned her head just enough so she could see him out of the corner of her eye. “You”you didn’t?”
“No.”
Lottie turned around completely so she could face him. With her Disillusionment charm still working, he could see right through her.
“Hey”Lottie?” Andrea called from the front of the Entrance Hall. “We’re about to go.”
Lottie pushed past François to join the others. He put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She sighed. “Goodbye.” She rushed to Andrea’s semi-invisible side. François did not follow her.
Hermione pushed the great doors of the Entrance Hall open. “Mount your brooms, everyone,” she said.
Grudgingly, Lottie mounted the Firebolt and pushed off the ground. The summer breeze whipped her tangled, blond hair against her back. Goosebumps tingled on her arms. She craned her neck around, expecting to see François waving goodbye. Against the silhouette of the castle, pallid in the morning’s blackness, there was nothing.
Lottie’s stomach churned. She turned to Andrea, but could only see a vague outline of her form beneath the Disillusionment charm.
Everything seemed different. François hadn’t told anyone what she had done; why not? She would have told on him, if he had done the same. She glanced around at the outlines of Hermione and Neville; they would never know what she had done”shouldn’t she be happy?
François was taking over her life. He was a stupid boy and was keeping her from focusing on what really mattered. The war, her Legilimency and”Lottie gasped”the diary. It was in her dorm somewhere”she was sure.
Her emotions had gotten ahead of her”she had let her feelings cloud what was really important. With a pang of guilt, she remembered Palmyitor’s words to her years ago. If she wanted to become a master Occlumens, she would have to keep her emotions under control.
They flew in silence for half an hour. Lottie’s heart fluttered as she thought of the tiny black diary.
Before her, Hermione’s Disillusionment charm flickered and faded off. Lottie looked down”her arms were back to their normal appearance.
“We’re almost there,” Hermione called back to them. She pointed below her and started to descend in a mild dive. Lottie looked down. Wilderness stretched on as far as she could see”splotches of green and darker green set against a brown floor.
Lottie followed Hermione into the dive, her knuckles growing white as she clutched the Firebolt’s handle. They landed smoothly in the forest. Hermione gathered the brooms, shrunk them, and dropped them into her bag. The colorful beads sewn onto the bag’s exterior jingled as she slung it around her shoulder. “Naesa should be expecting us soon.”
“Are we Apparating to the school?” Lottie asked.
Andrea raised her eyes behind her broken glasses. “Are you serious, Lottie? Don’t you think Death Eaters would have found us now if we could Apparate willy-nilly into the school? There are obviously protections around it.”
Hermione and Neville exchanged glances. “Actually, Andrea,” Hermione said, “we will be Apparating.”
Lottie swung her fist in the air triumphantly. “Hah!”
“But you are right, there are protections. Naesa is going to take them down for precise the instant we Apparate.”
Andrea hummed a victory tune back at Lottie.
“We’re just going to wait for Naesa to send word that it is safe.”
“What is that thing she uses to talk to you?” Andrea asked. “That silver thing.”
Lottie sat down against a tree. She hardly listened as Hermione explained, “It’s a Patronus”used to protect the caster from Dementors.”
She was just a walk away from the diary. There was a mystery behind it, she was sure. But she couldn’t even begin to fathom whose it was”Dumbledore’s, Snape’s, maybe even the Dark Lord’s himself? Her heart fluttered as she thought about it. She would get to show Palmyitor what she had discovered and get all of the credit.
“Lottie? We’re ready to go.”
Lottie looked up. A wisp of silver was all that remained of Palmyitor’s leopard Patronus. “Grab onto my arm,” Neville said. Lottie did so and grimaced as they disappeared.
Palmyitor’s office spun into focus. Lottie slammed against the wall and held on for balance as the ground rocked beneath her.
“Welcome back.” Palmyitor did not look up from a scroll of parchment. Her usual bun fell loose, allowing fly-aways to frame her face in a sort of insanity-halo. New frown lines etched across her face as she spoke. She rubbed her temples with two fingers as she surveyed her papers.
Palmyitor’s sharp monologue drowned out as Lottie imagined her reactions to the diary”an approving glance, maybe even a smile. Lottie knew she would be recognized. She wondered if the heads would make an announcement about her cleverness.
“Rowe”are you listening?”
“What? Oh”er”yes.”
Palmyitor’s eyebrow twitched. “Well”as I was saying, remember to keep this trip a secret. We don’t want word going around the students. If you were paying attention, you would know that you are to tell them that you were cleaning the ruins of the Leaky Cauldron.” She smirked at their confused glances. “That’s an old London Pub. Recently, we found several decaying Muggle bodies inside. You can only imagine the smell.”
“Not just imagine it,” Lottie mumbled, bitterly remembering the terror-stricken bodies floating through the sewers of the London camp. Andrea rolled her eyes. “Is that that, then?” Lottie asked, making a motion to the door. Her heart pounded in her ears. The diary was so close. “Great!” Lottie said before anybody responded. “Thanks for the trip. Really. I had a fabulous time. See you!”
Lottie swung the door opened and stared at the corridor before her for a millisecond before setting off running. She reached a staircase and nearly fell down it. The diary…
“Hey, where are you going?” Andrea’s voice called from the top step.
“Er”I just remembered something!” Lottie shouted back without stopping. “And I really have to go to the bathroom,” she added, just for good measure. She reached a landing and turned down another corridor. She could see the clock; it was just down the hall, but before she could reach it, something stood in her way.
“Where in Merlin’s name have you been?” the colossal figure asked. Lottie sighed heavily as she tried to maneuver around Colm Scrivener’s mass.
“None of your business.” She pushed him out of the way and wrenched the clock open.
“Lottie!” In a flurry of blond hair, Julianne ran across the common room and embraced her. “Where have you been? Sophie and I””
“It’s a funny story, really.” Lottie freed herself from Julianne’s grasp by kicking her lightly on the shin. “I’ll tell you in a second. I really have to go to the bathroom.” She waved hurriedly and dashed down the stairs, leaving a stunned Julianne behind her.
The door to her dormitory flew open as though it knew she was coming. She could hear hurried steps from the common room. Storm clouds diluted the light to a murky brown outside. The steps were drawing closer. Frantically, Lottie dropped to her stomach and searched for the tiny leather book. It must have been there”she hadn’t moved it.
“Lottie?” she heard Andrea’s voice ask from the end of the corridor.
Her heart thudded against her ribs. “Accio diary!” she hissed. Before she even saw it coming, the book was safe in her palm.
She rose so quickly that, for a moment, blackness blurred the corners of her vision.
“Lottie, what are you””
“Toilet!” Lottie shouted as she dashed by Andrea into the bathroom across the corridor. Panting, she slammed herself into a stall and sat down.
“Lottie”” Andrea’s feet were visible in the crack between the door and the floor. “”What is your problem?”
“I don’t make fun of you when you feel sick.” Lottie ran her fingers across the leather cover. “Look”can I have some privacy, please? It’s really”erm”distracting to have you standing here.”
“When I find out what you’re up to, you’re going to be in so much trouble.”
Lottie held her breath. The door closed.
Her hands shook so violently that she nearly dropped the book on the tiled floor. It was exactly the size of her hand and made of dark brown leather. A thin, decaying string held it closed. Carefully, she unwound it.
It opened. The pages beneath had yellowed on the corners. Through the bathroom’s overwhelming scent of soap, Lottie could smell the dust layered on the paper. She turned the cover.
Lottie had to clamp a hand over her mouth to muffle her scream.
‘This is the diary of Harry Potter,’ it read. Lottie punched the air victoriously. Holding the book like a baby, she flipped through the pages. They were blank”all of them. The joy”the rush of excitement that had once filled her suddenly became sharp”stabbing disappointment.
He couldn’t have just forgotten about it. He should have known that somebody would find it one day. But could that be why it had sat, discarded and uncared for, in Grimmauld Place for over fifty years?
“Lottie? Are you feeling okay?” It was Andrea again. “Do you want to go to the hospital wing?”
“N-no, I’m fine.” Lottie could feel her nose tingle and the corners of her eyes begin to sting. She had been so excited”so proud”but it turned out to be nothing. Wiping her eyes, she stoop up and flushed the toilet with her foot.
“Don’t you want to wash your hands?” Andrea asked in a fabulous impression of Professor Palmyitor.
“What? Oh. Right.” Lottie brushed her arm against her hip to make sure the diary was safe in her pocket. She carelessly ran her hands under the stream water and sulked across the hall into the dormitory.
“What’s wrong, Lottie?” Andrea asked.
“N-nothing.” The tension felt as thick as peanut butter. “It was Colm Scrivener,” Lottie lied.
“Why does he bother your stomach?” Andrea asked as she took folded clothes out of her duffle bag.
“I don’t know. I just”hate him.” Lottie flopped onto her bed and sighed. “I’m so tired,” she said. “Did Palmyitor say anything else important?”
“Not really. But she was kind of curious as to what you were up to.”
“Oh I’m sure I’ll give her all of the sticky details if she asks. You know when it’s so explosive that””
“Okay. Ew. Stop.”
“Lottie? Andrea?” Sophie poked her head through the door. “Safe to come in then?”
“Yeah,” Lottie said through laughter.
“So what’s up?” Sophie asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Where the hell have you been?”
“Oh. Hah.” Lottie exchanged a glance with Andrea before turning back to Sophie and Julianne and explaining, “Palmyitor made us go to an old pub”The Leaky Cauldron”to clean it.”
“Why?”
Lottie stared at Andrea helplessly.
“She was still upset about that sneaking away business from last year,” Andrea said swiftly. “It was pretty dreadful.”
“Some old Muggles crawled in there to die,” Lottie added dramatically.
“When did you get those?” Julianne asked.
“Get what?”
“Not you,” she said to Lottie. “Andrea”you have different glasses.”
Lottie turned and raised her eyebrows. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed earlier. Andrea’s glasses couldn’t have been any more different than her old ones. Whereas the old ones were about half the size of Andrea’s face, these were much smaller and more portable. Instead of being round, half circles, these were rectangular.
“They look good, An,” Lottie said,
“Don’t call me that.”
“But they do! You look”look””
“Older,” Sophie finished.
“Well thank you.” Andrea blushed. “I broke the old ones and Palmyitor had to send to Odin Alley to get me new ones because it was quite urgent. I’m almost completely blind without them. And these have a charm on them so that they won’t fall off when I’m dueling.”
“Well thank Merlin for that,” Lottie said. “I would hate for you to go back to the old ones.”
“Oh shut up.” Andrea sat back in her bed and smiled at the canvas of her four-poster.
Lottie fell into bed, and something sharp poked her side. The diary… She had almost forgotten”again. She had gotten distracted with her friends and almost forgot the task at hand. She didn’t feel like laughing anymore. Something about the diary made her weak, nauseated even. She pulled the book from her pocket and placed it on the bedside table.
She glanced at the windows where the sun had finally given into the storm clouds. Rain pounded against the window and a summer chill crept upon the castle. A draft ran through the dorm. Lottie shivered and stared at the diary, captivated by the book in the grey light.
Halfway to Infinity by Eponine
Chapter Notes: I try not to be overly apologetic, but I am seriously sorry for this ridiculous wait, you guys. It won't happen again; this was sort of an anomaly of poor scheduling. I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Once again, thanks a million to TheBird for helping me with this chapter (at one in the morning, no less!)
This chapter is dedicated to my first crush... who will remain nameless.