The Girl Who Vanished

Chapter 21: "Do Your Worst"

(TW: Recalling a traumatic experience.)

The entirety of the train ride to Hogwarts was filled with Aeron telling the group what had happened last year and why he was radio silent during the whole summer. All of them were on pins and needles over the whole ordeal. The boy regrettably explained how he was the one who had set off the fireworks during the Quidditch Pitch, waiting for his inevitable exile from the friend group. He was expecting everyone to scream at him, but they remained quiet even if Alex's temper was building back up slightly, she held it in.

He retold the interaction he had with Marcus Flint who already had a strained history with the Weasley twins, apparently the Slytherin captain was convinced that the twins ruined their chance at winning the Quidditch Cup when the redheads were just first years. And once Aeron confided in Flint over how badly the twins aggravated him, Aeron was enlisted to help frame the boys for the Quidditch Pitch disaster.

"Flint snuck into the Gryffindor changing rooms and planted the firework wrappers in there to make it seem like it was them, I was given the task of setting off the fireworks," his brown eyes were focused only on the fluffy stuffed rabbit that sat in his lap. "He told me to light them after the game ended and I did, but one of them tipped over and, and-" he took a deep breathe, his thin fingers trembling slightly as his mind took him back to the flames and the smoke, "-when one of them tipped over, they all just misfired."

He was beginning to trip over his words as he relived the horrors of being trapped underneath the stands as it got caught on fire. His chest started heaving and Ana calmly reminded him to breathe and relax. Unsure of what to do, Alex started to quietly sing "Tiny Dancer" entirely off key, which gave the whole compartment a good laugh and distracted Aeron from himself for a moment; it was horribly sung but it made the panicked boy smile.

"Sorry, but Calista sings that to me sometimes when I have to calm down."

Calista chuckled at Alex's admission, enjoying the tiny break of humor, until they all turned back to allow Aeron to continue. Once he did, he told them about how Hagrid was the one to find him injured outside the pitch and the half giant had immediately taken him to St. Mungos. From there on out, he had stayed there the whole summer.

"I truly didn't mean for anyone to get hurt, like you, Alex," he sniffled at the girl who did have a bit of a grudge against the boy. But everyone could tell that based off the state of his inflamed skin, that Aeron had suffered enough, "I just wanted to get back at the twins for the things they had done. I'm sorry."

There was a second of silence among the group, a second that lasted hours to the young regretful boy. 

"I forgive you," Calista said with a wide smile, which felt more like a hug to Aeron at this moment.

The rest of the compartment expressed their forgiveness, but the last one to do so was Ana. He stared at the girl whose forgiveness he craved the most; the first person to give him a chance, the first person to actually make him smile. Yet, her face remained still and calculated.

"I only have one question, Wright," she stated with a stone cold expression. His nervousness began seeping back in slowly, but he nodded his head while fearing the worst.

"Did you get my flower that I brought you when I visited you at St. Mungos?" Her mask of indifference fell as she grinned back softly at the boy who had once been so sneaky and conniving. Perhaps he just wanted someone to talk to. Someone to call a friend.

Upon hearing her question, his strained brows fell in relief as he dipped down into his luggage and grabbed his history book. And sure enough, within the dense pages that once cause her such grief held the single pink flower that she had given him that day in the hospital. It was flattened and a bit yellowed. But it was perfect.