Chapter Fifty-One: The Fox and the Lamb
The summer was gone as quickly as it had come. Andrea stayed firmly by Lottie’s side, so the opportunity to see Colm again never arose. They did, however, share knowing glances and half smiles every time they passed in the corridors. Andrea always pointedly rolled her eyes after that.
Lottie rarely saw Snape either. When they did happen to be in the same room, either at mealtimes or otherwise, he avoided her gaze. Lottie knew that he did not want her breaking into his memory and privately enjoyed the idea of him getting a taste of his own potion.
During the start of term feast, first years (who, Lottie swore, were shrinking every year) again got Sorted and, after everybody had eaten, the three heads stood up.
“Blah blah blah,” Lottie said, anxious for the feast to be over. Andrea gave her a deadly glare and muttered something about “setting a good example.” Andrea this year had been made Prefect, and wore the same red sweater that Stanley had (after it had been shrunk quite a bit) to distinguish herself for the new students.
“We have an exciting announcement,” Maelioric began, grinning at everybody. “We have been working for years on this, and it is finally ready.”
Lottie raised her eyebrows. From the next table, she saw Colm do the same thing and smiled to herself.
“We have established a new Ministry,” said Maelioiric, “to be used for the capturing and punishing of Death Eaters, and trying to create some sort of diplomacy in this war.”
Not everybody seemed as excited about this as the Heads clearly were. At the staff table, Hermione leaned over and muttered something to Neville. They both looked sourly at Palmyitor.
“The new Minister,” said Palmyitor, “is named Richard Barksdale. He came here near the school’s founding and was one of the most gifted students we have seen.”
Lottie frowned at Palmyitor, hoping that she would sense her disapproval. She didn’t understand why a Ministry was necessary. Weren’t the Heads able to run this war themselves? She didn’t listen to the rest of Palmyitor’s explanation, but sat deep in thought. When she looked up, she met Colm’s eye and grinned. Andrea sighed loudly next to her.
“So,” said Clynalmoy, rounding off the long-winded explanation of this new addition, “we hope you will be supportive of this new Minister’s actions, as he is acting as we are, with the hatred of the Dark Lord in his heart.”
There was another long pause. For one bizarre moment, Lottie thought everybody was going to clap, but instead they began to rise, taking the cue that the evening was over. “Sixth years,” Palmyitor called over the scuffle of everybody moving about, “stay behind.”
“Where’re you going?” Lottie asked Andrea, who had started to leave the Hall.
“I have to show them to the common room,” Andrea said, indicating the nervous looking first years. “I’ll be back soon.” With that, she left, shepherding the first years behind her. Lottie suppressed her jealousy and stared glumly back at Palmyitor, as the hall continued to empty.
“Hi,” said a hushed voice behind her.
Lottie grinned and spun around in her seat, grinning up at Colm.
“I thought she’d never leave you,” he said, still awkwardly standing behind her. She wondered if he wanted her to ask him to sit down.
“Yeah, well don’t get too excited, because she’s coming back.”
As if on cue, the doors to the Great Hall burst open and Andrea shuffled back in. Colm gave Lottie’s shoulder a little squeeze, and returned back to the Maelioric table, smiling.
“How were the babies”erm”I mean the firsties?” Lottie asked.
“Fine,” Andrea said curtly.
“Quiet down please,” Palmyitor said from the staff table. Instantly, all of the sixth years fell silent. “As you know,” Palmyitor began, “this is the year when you begin to go out on missions.” Lottie whooped quietly; both Andrea and Palmyitor glared at her; Colm laughed. “As I was saying,” Palmyitor went on, “this year you begin to go on missions. It becomes much more dangerous from here on out. You are part of this war now, and we ask you to remember the agreement you made before coming here. You are not here to learn and laugh, but to fight against the Dark Lord.”’
There was a quiet murmur, especially at the Clynalmoy table. Clynalmoy opened his mouth to speak, and Lottie leaned in to listen. “As we have all just been reminded, we are in a very fragile position,” he said carefully. “Our lives are short and might be gone in an instant. So we shall leave a meaningful legacy behind us, so that if something does happen, our lives will have had some meaning.” His eyes slid over to his own House table as he continued. “Let us remember the dead, and make sure we finish what they failed to do.”
Lottie thought he spoke tastefully, though she was not sure that she agreed with what he was saying.
“That being said,” Maelioric said, “we may contact you at various time from now with missions. They will be dangerous, but not impossible.”
Palmyitor glared at them all and added, “We do not expect anybody to refuse.”
With that, everybody knew the meeting was over. People began rising from their seats and heading out of the Hall. “Serious stuff, huh?” Lottie said as she stood up. “Want to stay up late tonight and spook the firsties?”
Andrea shot her a hard glare before she said, “I’m sorry Lottie, but I’ve got to go meet with Palmyitor. She wants to tell me some things before tomorrow.” With that, she took off, quickly maneuvering out of the Hall and, Lottie assumed, to Palmyitor’s office.
Lottie sighed and stared at the table. She didn’t feel like going back to the common room alone, but she didn’t feel like staying here either. It wasn’t Andrea’s fault that she had been made prefect instead of Lottie, but Lottie couldn’t understand why. Wasn’t she always the favorite?
“What’s on your mind?”
Lottie started so violently that she nearly knocked over the table. She looked up at Colm and then around at the Hall. It was empty but for them. “Just thinking.”
Colm sat down at the Palmyitor table across from her, in the seat that Andrea had just occupied. “Have they”” he inclined his head toward the Clynalmoy table “”been as horrible to you?”
“Yes,” Lottie said. “They seem to think I killed Ally or something.”
“They asked me that too,” Colm said. “A couple of big blokes demanded me to tell them I saw you kill her.”
“I’m sorry.” Lottie half-smiled. “Andrea told them to ask you, if they didn’t believe either of us.”
“Yeah, well I’m not sure that they believed me either. And they wouldn’t shut up about it, so I hit them with two of my best tongue-tying curses.”
Lottie looked up and met his brown eyes. “You fought them for me?” As Colm nodded, Lottie mustered up her courage and placed her hand down on the table. Colm’s eyes grew wide and he reached out and laced his fingers with hers.
“I wouldn’t call it a fight,” he said quietly. “They didn’t have much opportunity to fight back.”
He was growing close to her. Lottie didn’t mind. She laughed softly. Now their noses were almost touching. “Cursed them into oblivion, did you?” she asked.
“I would’ve”if Stainthorpe hadn’t come around the corner.”
Their lips met. Lottie’s heart fluttered as he kissed her. A foreign kind of happiness filled her like liquid gold. All she was aware of was their hands held together over the table. Here, with Colm she felt happier and fuller than she had in months.
When they finally separated, Colm held out his other hand. Lottie took it. “I like you a lot, Lottie,” he said.
Lottie smiled. She wondered how this had happened”how she could have hated him for so long, and now, he made her happier than she could ever remember.
“Your friend isn’t going to be happy,” Colm said.
“She’ll come to terms with it.” Her hands felt tiny in his. “I’ll tell you who’ll be mad”Palmyitor. She doesn’t like for anybody to be happy.”
Colm laughed, and Lottie’s stomach leapt. “Speaking of Palmyitor,” he said, “we should probably get back to our common rooms, or else she’ll kill us.”
Lottie frowned, but knew he was right. She wished that he were in her house too”that they could go to the common room together. “I don’t know if Andrea’ll ever leave us alone again,” Lottie said as she reluctantly got to her feet.
“She’s a prefect now,” Colm said, pulling the door open and letting her exit first. “We’ll find time.”
Lottie smiled and hesitated in the entrance hall. This was where they had to part ways. He had to go up to Maelioric and she had to go down the stairs behind her to the Palmyitor common room. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Colm said reassuringly. “I promise. We’ll find a way.”
Lottie nodded and gave his hand a squeeze before taking a few steps away from him. “Good night,” she said before turning around and running down the stairs to the common room.
“About time,” Andrea said as Lottie stepped through the clock. The common room was nearly empty. Only a few third years huddled around a chessboard. “What happened?”
Lottie sat down next to her and grinned at the ceiling. “I was just talking to Colm.”
“Did he hex you?” Andrea asked seriously. “He got into trouble for hexing a couple of seventh years.”
“No, he didn’t hex me,” Lottie said, smiling. She wasn’t quite sure how to”or whether she should”tell Andrea. She kept looking at the ceiling, picturing the scene over and over. She felt a rush of joy just thinking about it.
“Well?”
Lottie didn’t look at her. She didn’t want to watch her expression change. “We”erm”kissed.”
The silence that followed was exactly what Lottie had expected. She picked her head up and glanced at her friend. Andrea was watching her carefully. She didn’t look happy, but she didn’t look angry either. Andrea pursed her lips and said, “I see.”
Lottie smiled and Andrea’s expression softened when she saw the earnest happiness on her face. “You really like him.” Lottie nodded and Andrea smiled reluctantly. “As long as it makes you happy,” she said. “If you trust him then I will.”
“Thanks!” Lottie leapt from her seat and hugged Andrea tightly.
“So are you two an item now?” Andrea asked as she scooted over so they could fit on the same chair.
“Well… I guess. I mean”we never really talked about it, but I think so.” Lottie wondered whether she should have asked Colm”but it had seemed pretty apparent to her at the time. “But don’t worry,” Lottie added hurriedly, “you’re going to be so busy being a prefect that you won’t even notice us.”
“As long as I don’t catch you doing something foul in the corridors.”
For the first time since Ally died, for the first time in what felt like years, Lottie laughed. She felt so happy that she couldn’t even contain herself. She had everything she had ever wanted”a best friend, a boyfriend, proof that she really was the best Occlumens.
Lottie woke groggily the next morning for the start of term. It had felt like years since they had been taking classes in school. Even before they had left for Hogwarts, they had been taking special lessons. So it was with quite a bit of reluctance that she got up and shuffled down to the Great Hall.
Andrea was already there and halfway through breakfast when Lottie sat down beside her. “I hate waking up early,” Lottie said, piling scrambled eggs onto her plate.
“And good morning to you too,” Andrea said. “You’ll want to eat up; we’ve got Defense Against the Dark Arts first, and Julianne told me we’re still doing Patronuses.”
Lottie’s groaned, but stopped promptly as she spotted Colm enter the hall. “Good morning,” he said brightly as he sat down across from her at the Palmyitor table.
Lottie shut her eyes and rubbed her temples. “If you’re going to try and make me a morning person, I’m calling this off right now.”
Colm laughed, but Andrea frowned. “Shouldn’t you be at the Maelioric table, Scr”Colm?”
“There’s no rule against sitting here, is there?” Colm asked as he shoveled potatoes into his mouth.
Andrea wrinkled her nose as she watched him eat. “Actually””
“Let’s just leave it, eh?” Lottie said anxiously. “If someone tells him to move, then he will. But I don’t think anybody will honestly care.” She could see that it would probably always be rocky between the two of them.
“What’ve you got first, Colm?” Lottie asked, carefully changing the subject.
“Potions,” Colm said, sounding miserable. “I’ve just about had it up to here with Dyer.”
“We should swap,” Lottie suggested. “We’re doing Patronuses and I’m horrible at them. I love Potions.”
“We should help each other,” Colm said.
“We should really go,” interjected Andrea, standing up and swinging her bag around her shoulder. “I’ll see you later, er”Colm.”
Lottie shrugged at a baffled Colm and followed Andrea out of the Hall. “Are you trying to get on Iron’s good side?” Lottie called as she caught up with Andrea. “We’re so early, we’re almost late.”
“Very funny.” Andrea took a seat in the front row of the empty Defense classroom. “I just want to practice. Everyone’s been working on it and I feel like I’m finally getting close.”
Lottie watched Andrea’s feeble attempts dully, trying to suppress resentment. This was stupid. Why couldn’t she just be with Colm? The other Palmyitors filed into class quietly, followed by Professor Iron. “Well, you know what to do,” the professor said.
The class began waving their wands, dully with no real conviction. Lottie felt that now she should be able to do it. That feeling of liquid gold from last night”she knew if she could remember it, she would be able to do it. “Expecto Patronum.” It just didn’t feel the same. Was something wrong with her? In the back of her mind, she knew it had to do with Occlumency. She knew her habit of suppressing feelings was why she couldn’t draw them out today. But what was more important”Occlumency or Patronuses?
Beside her, Andrea was making progress. “Expecto Patronum.” Silver mist shot from her wand and began to take shape.
“Oh, you’re on the right track,” Iron said, sitting up straight in her chair.
Andrea’s face was screwed up in concentration. “Expecto Patronum! EXPECTO PATRONUM!”
Something silver burst from her wand. This was a Patronus, Lottie was sure of it. It wasn’t very big, but it was certainly a mammal. It trotted around the desk a few times and Lottie took a closer look at it. Its little face turned and looked at her, blinking serenely. Its perfect wool coat shimmered in the light from the torches that lit the room. Lottie looked at the lamb with a mixture of amusement and revolution at something so cute.
“You did it,” Lottie said, grinning.
“I did it,” Andrea said, her cheeks still flushed from the shock. “I did it!”
“Yeah, and it’s adorable. I think I might be sick.”
“Well don’t talk to me, Miss I-Have-A-Boyfriend-So-I’m-Going-To-Be-All-Lovey-Dovey-Now.”
Lottie laughed. It suddenly didn’t matter to her that she couldn’t do a Patronus. It was just about being able to harness joy, anyway. Occlumency was much more important. Staring at Andrea’s horribly cute Patronus, she let herself be happy and laugh.
Halfway to Infinity by Eponine
Chapter Notes: Thanks, coolh5000, for helping with this chapter! This chapter is dedicated to John Steinbeck, who is also a pretty solid guy.