Worlds can be shattered in an instant. Children go from experiencing new things in blissful innocence, to adults facing the harshness of ever-changing existence in the span of a single moment. Those who see the truths of the world are presented with...
Artemis barrelled into the compartment Emma was already lounging in, "I kissed a boy this summer!"
Emma crowed and whacked the seat beside herself, "Sit down and explain, you little slag!"
Artemis flounced over and sat demurely down.
"Well, it started with my brother making the mistake of meeting his friend outside the tube. You see, Lou and I were — "
The door slid open, and both girls jumped, looking up to see a sheepish-looking boy peering inside their compartment. He blushed when he saw them staring at him expectantly.
"Lost another toad, Longbottom?" Emma asked, raising a brow and grinning at him. She let her tongue dart out to wet her lips and rolled her bottom lip into her mouth, and she chewed thoughtfully, gazing up at him expectantly.
"I - Er, no. That is to say — " Neville ran.
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Artemis was going to kill Emma. Because of her best friend's mildly concerning secret interest in Professor Remus Lupin, the two of them were near the front of the line facing the boggart in the wardrobe.
Emma eagerly stepped forward to face the boggart after a mummy was banished. The boggart took a moment, before snapping into a different form; a roll of parchment that kept unrolling until the paper was a writhing mountain.
The list. Artemis's heart twinged.
Emma didn't so much as drop her easy smile. She repeated the spell, and the mound turned to a flock of pigeons.
Then, it was Artemis's turn.
Dancing green light. Confusion and dread washed over her simultaneously.
"Riddikulus!" She spoke clearly, picturing the light fracturing to nothing.
It sparked and turned into a fizzling firecracker.
She frowned and stepped aside for the next student to take a turn. Professor Lupin had a strange look on his face, but his gaze snapped to Padma as she configured her snake to a bouncing Jack-in-the-box, and he grinned.
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