Chapter 4 (Ava)

I walked down to the Great Hall on my own, not bothering to check to see if Draco was already awake. If he was, he was probably holding Pansy’s hand or something stupid.

When I walked through the doors, Professor Dumbledore saw me and waved me over. I was a bit surprised that he wanted to talk to me.

I walked up to the teachers’ table and managed to muster up a smile. He smiled back at me, but his eyes looked more concerned than happy. He was probably worried about Lord Voldemort. He cleared his throat,

“Ava, sorry, I wanted to have a meeting with you in my office but you’ll be given your timetable in a few minutes and I wanted to talk to you before you received it.”

I nodded,

“Okay.”

“Your lessons are quite different to last year’s. Obviously you’re now older than everyone else so we have put you in some classes with the seventh years, but you also have a couple of extra classes with teachers alone, and some with the sixth year. We’ve worked out that this should help you catch up on what you mostly need to know.”

I gulped,

“The sixth year?”

Dumbledore nodded,

“Yes. Professor McGonagall and I have agreed that this is suitable.”

 I took a deep breath,

“Okay, thank you. I think I’ll probably go and get some breakfast now.”
I turned around before Dumbledore could say anything else. I noticed Draco walking in with Pansy, and as he sat down at the table, I sat down next to him. Pansy stared at me,

“Hey! I was going to sit next to Draco!”

I shrugged my shoulders apologetically,

“I need to talk to him. You can sit next to him later.”

She stood behind me for a moment before reluctantly walking over to sit somewhere further down the table.

I turned to Draco and muttered into his ear,

“I have lessons with the sixth year on my timetable. I have lessons with Harry.”

Draco looked at me,

“With us? Why?”

I shrugged,

“To help me catch up, Dumbledore said. But it means I have lessons with Harry. I haven’t spoken to him since-”

“Ava! Have you even started to think about it? About what you have to do? Planned it at all?”

I stared at him in shock,

“No! Draco, why would I have done?”

He looked at me,

“You know why you have to do it.”

The image of Fred’s body falling to the floor flashed up in my mind for a moment. I swallowed the lump in my throat and whispered,

“How can I do it?”

“Think of a plan, Ava. You have to do it.”

I imagined myself taking Harry to Voldemort. I imagined the flash of green, Harry’s dead body on the floor and closed my eyes to stop any tears from escaping.

Professor McGonagall walked along, giving us all our timetables. Mine was a mixture of lessons and study periods with certain teachers.

Draco showed me his and asked what lessons we were going to have together but I was too terrified to see. In the end he just smiled,

“You have Charms first with Professor Flitwick. That’s alright, his lessons aren’t too hard.”

I nodded slowly,

“I liked his lessons last year. I found it quite fun.”

The bell went and we all stood up to go to our lessons. I walked quickly with my head down to Charms, trying not to catch anyone’s eye.

*                    *                    *

Charms had been a lot harder than I expected. It was probably because I couldn’t concentrate, all I could think about was Draco telling me I needed to plan how I was going to complete my mission.

As I left the classroom, the other students in my class all laughed and chatted as if they didn’t have to worry about anything at all. I slowly made my way to Defence Against the Dark Arts with Professor Snape. I was slightly surprised that he’d been given the job. I remembered Harry telling me that was the only job he’d ever wanted.

At the thought of Harry my body tensed up and I suddenly thought of Bellatrix’s tight grip on me as I stared into the cold eyes on Lord Voldemort. I pushed the image away and looked up.

I froze. Harry, Hermione and Ron were standing in front of me, all three of them looking at me. Harry was less than a metre away from me, and I didn’t have a clue what to do.

All of a sudden, I clapped my hand over my mouth and ran to the toilets. The moment I got into a cubicle, I was sick into the toilet. My hands shook as I reached out to flush the toilet.

“Ava? Are you alright?”

My hand stopped on the chain when I heard Hermione’s voice. I hadn’t heard it in so long and I’d forgotten how it sounded. A large part of me missed it. Hermione had always been the one who interrupted my conversations with Fred to tell us to be quieter, more discreet. Most of the time I’d found it slightly frustrating, but now I suddenly found myself wanting to run out and throw my arms around her.

She called again,

“Ava? What’s the matter?”

Tears sprung to my eyes again and I pressed my head against the cold tiles of the bathroom wall. I sighed,

“I’m fine.”

Hermione’s voice sounded closer to the cubicle door,

“Ava…”

I could tell she wanted to ask me so many questions. She wanted to know what happened to me, where I’d been all summer when I should have been with my friends and grieving over Sirius with my brother and Remus. I certainly shouldn’t have spent my summer at Malfoy Manor wondering how I was going to betray my brother.

I whispered,

“I just need a minute.”

“You can talk to me Ava. If you want to talk to me about anything, you can.”

A lump formed in my throat,

“Thank you. But please, I just need to sort myself out.”

“Okay. I hope you’re alright.”

I counted to thirty and then finally cracked the door open. I sighed with relief. No one else was in there. As I started to make my way out, Moaning Myrtle swooped down in front of me. She raised her eyebrows,

“I don’t see you hanging around in here very often. You’re Harry’s sister, aren’t you?”

I nodded, and she smiled,

“Oooh. I’ve spoken to Harry a couple of times. He’s quite lovely, isn’t he?”

I shrugged,

“I suppose he is, but I really need to go, Myrtle. Professor Snape won’t be happy with me being late.”
She moved out of the way and watched me with a scowl as I walked out of the toilets.

The moment I walked into the classroom, everyone turned and stared at me in silence. Professor Snape cleared his throat,

“Ah, Miss. Potter finally decided to join us. Just because you’re older than the rest does not mean you can arrive late to lessons. Find a seat without causing any trouble.”

There was an empty seat at the back which I quickly sat down in. I noticed Harry glance up at me before quickly looking back down at the table after a stern look from Hermione.

Snape continued with whatever he had been talking about before I’d entered the room,

“You will now divide into pairs. One partner will attempt to jinx the other without speaking. The other will attempt to repel the jinx in equal silence. Carry on.”
I looked around the classroom nervously. Who was I going to work with? Draco partnered up with Blaise, and Crabbe with Goyle. I was about to look for someone when Professor Snape cleared his throat,

“Miss. Potter and Miss. Parkinson can work together.”
I groaned quietly and stepped forwards. Pansy looked completely disgusted at the thought of working with me, and I felt the same way.

Pansy pulled her wand out of her pocket and sneered,

“I’ll do the jinx, seeing as you have a bit less experience.”
 I glared at her,

“Shut up. I just joined later than everyone else.”

She raised an eyebrow,

“And where were you before that? Living the life of a muggle?”

I ignored her and just tightened my grip on my wand.

She laughed,

“So that’s why you became friends with all of the blood traitors then. Although to be honest I can see why that Weasel boy ditched you. You’re just a little bit too muggle for him.”

Before I could stop myself, I pointed my wand at Pansy and shouted,

“Stupefy!”

Pansy fell back onto the floor, shocked by my sudden outburst. Everyone turned and stared at me in silence.

Professor Snape scowled at me,

“Miss. Potter, I hope you realise that we are practising non-verbal­ spells this lesson. Was that non-verbal?”

I shook my head. He nodded,

“Practise again, but this time try not saying it lout loud and perhaps use a jinx that won’t hurt Miss. Parkinson.”

I stared at the floor and didn’t say anything. Pansy stood up and tucked her hair behind her ear, trying to compose herself. She gave me a dirty look and said quietly,

“I’ll do the jinx this time.”

After about five minutes, Pansy still couldn’t do it. She looked like she was just about ready to give up when Harry shouted out,

“Protego!”

Snape fell back and knocked a desk, and everyone stared in shock. Snape stood up, shaking his head,

“Do you remember me telling you we are practising non-verbal spells, Potter? I had to remind your sister and now I have to remind you.”

Harry sighed,

“Yes.”

“Yes, sir.”

Harry looked up,

“There’s no need to call me “sir”, Professor.”

The moment he said it a laugh bubbled out of my mouth. The noise felt strange. I hadn’t properly laughed in ages, and I’d forgotten how it felt.

Professor Snape fumed,

“Detention, Saturday night, my office. I do not take cheek from anyone, Potter… not even the Chosen One.”

I looked at Harry’s face and carried on laughing. He caught my eye for a moment and I looked at him with a genuine smile on my face for the first time since before the summer.