Selenophile // Marauders

|16| Eric Spade, Third Year

Riley got on the Hogwarts Express. She tried to avoid other people like Lily and Marlene, who were likely to question her about the events that happened that summer. She got onto the side where the Gryffindors mostly sat and found the people she was looking for.

She opened the compartment door and saw the four boys sitting. They all looked at Riley suddenly, James swallowed dryly, Remus' eyes flickered from place to place.

Riley hated attention, it was the last thing she needed that week. She quietly sat down next to Remus and put her bag down on the floor. Nobody said a single word for a moment until the silence was broken.

"I — I'm — sorry I didn't reply back to the letters I—" Riley started but she couldn't hold back her tears. She tried to ignore them but couldn't. Remus softly touched her shoulder and then put his arm around her.

"I'm sorry..." James said quietly. "We saw it on the Prophet."

"Where were you when it — happened?" Sirius asked.

"I was at my friend's house, she lives in the same town. I saw the Dark Mark up in the sky and mum and Ivy were at the grocery. They— found him..." she managed to say. Her voice was weak and shaking. Nobody knew what to say or do.

"I'm sorry..." Peter said along with Remus, who offered her chocolate too. They tried to distract her but that didn't work.

"Hey, how was your — what happened?" Lily said as she opened the compartment door suddenly. "Are you all right?" she asked softly.

"I — my dad, he — I'm okay," Riley said as she fake smiled at Lily. She was planning to tell her later where not many people were around. "I'll go to the bathroom," she said as she quickly made her way to the bathroom.

"Did I say something wrong?" Lily asked. Her face looked concerned and sad. She felt guilty.

"You don't know?" Sirius asked.

"No, why?"

"Her father was murdered by death eaters last week..." James said. "But, please, don't tell her we said anything, she would kill us."

"Oh my — I didn't know, I didn't check the paper this summer... I can't believe it..." Lily said with a weak voice.

They arrived at Hogwarts and everyone looked happy, except for Riley. She sat and stared at her plate the whole feast while James and Sirius constantly tried to get her to talk. McGonagall called her to her office after it was all done. Riley walked to her office and inhaled deeply before knocking on the door.

"Miss Spade..." McGonagall said softly said. "Please sit."

Riley sat on the chair right in front of McGonagall's desk. She felt uncomfortable enough, she just wanted to get out of the claustrophobic room. Of course, she knew exactly why McGonagall had called her to her office.

McGonagall didn't say anything for a while, Riley couldn't keep herself from talking.

"Professor, is this about my father being murdered?" she asked. She was speaking so fast McGonagall had to listen to her very carefully in order to catch every word. "'Cause if it is I really don't feel like talking about it..."

"It is," McGonagall answered quietly. "Riley," she said. She called her by her first name which couldn't mean something happy was going to fall out of her mouth. "I understand you do not want to talk about this, and we don't have to, but just know that you can come here and talk to me whenever you want..."

"Thank you, professor," Riley thanked her. She got up from the chair and as she was leaving McGonagall stopped her.

"Would you like some tea, Miss Spade?" she asked gently. Riley let go of the doorknob and sat back in her seat.

***

She went to the common room and then to the dormitory. It was early but she didn't want to sit downstairs. The dorm was also empty, exactly how she wanted it to be. No need for more socializing.

She unpacked her stuff for a while and then did some of her homework from the summer that she still had to finish, including a Herbology essay.

She then tried reading her book, but she couldn't focus on it so she took out a piece of paper. It was crumpled since it was in her trunk before. She also took out a muggle pen and started writing on the piece of paper.

She wrote for a while, then the dorm's door suddenly opened as a red-haired girl with sparkling green eyes came in. She quickly shoved the paper into one of the drawers and looked at the door.

"Oh — hi Riley," she said. "I'm sorry about earlier, I heard what happened..." Lily said kindly.

"It's okay," Riley answered back with a wry smile.

"When did it happen?" Lily asked trying not to sound so nosy.

"19th of August, the Prophet wrote it a couple of days later."

"How are you holding up?" Lily asked. Riley didn't answer for a while.

"I — I'm trying to get over it..."

"It's okay to be sad. I'd be concerned if you weren't sad."

"I know."

"So you don't have to hide it," she said. Riley looked at her with sad eyes. "My parents are also muggles, my sister is also a muggle, so I'm absolutely terrified, both for myself and them. I hate where the world has come. The ministry isn't even taking action."

"We don't choose to be a muggle-born, but they choose to kill us all..." Riley said. "I don't get why they even hate us, I don't see a problem with being a muggle-born."

"Exactly. And these people don't choose to be muggles. There are families that don't even know of magic that are— murdered," Lily said as she gulped. The two didn't speak for a while. "I'm sorry, I really am."

Riley nodded and smiled. It wasn't the smile she gave when a prank was successful or when they won a quidditch match, it was a wry smile.

"Do — do you think that — this will be a weird question but, do you think there are death eaters in Hogwarts?" Riley asked quietly. Lily looked at her with a confused expression.

"There are kids of death eaters, but I don't think there are trained ones... Of course, most of those creepy kids' families are death eaters..." Lily answered. "The ones from Slytherin."

"Like Snape?"

"No. Riley, come on. Why do you hate him so much, you don't even know him!"

"He calls muggle-borns, mud— I don't wanna fight about this Lily..." Riley said softly. "I just asked if there was a possibility of him being a death eater..."

"You're right. But I don't think he is..."

"I'm gonna go to sleep, good night."

"Good night."