The Girl Who Vanished

Chapter 26: The Boggart

With the start of the new year, the buzz and energy of all the new students filled the entirety of the crowded halls the moment the sun rose from the horizon. Anxious first years ran throughout the Great Hall to meet their new friends as the seventh years strolled without a care to their selected NEWT classes, muttering about the future and all its possibilities. Unlike the previous year, the threat of being attacked between classes was extinguished the night young Ginny Weasley was rescued from the chamber.

Ana didn't recall much of her last year given her unplanned petrification, but she remembered hearing the hissing of the basilisk throughout the school. Of course, it was a large serpent that sang to her as she slept or interrupted her conversations with her friends. And none other than the Boy-Who-Lived and Ron Weasley were there to save the day. Not that that was a bad thing; the boy and his friends always seemed to be little heroes. Ana quietly hummed and tapped her quill against the desk in front of her as she waited for the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor to arrive; however, that peace did not last as longed as she wished. 

The longer they waited, Ana could feel that someone was staring at her, the same way one would sense being looked at as they slept. It sent a prickling down her neck, making the young girl flip her blonde hair to piercingly glare at the young Hufflepuff who bore into her. Once they made eye contact, the mousy brown-haired girl smiled apologetically before turning to her housemate and whispering something Ana couldn't make out. Ana raised one brow cockily, an expression her father and brother sported far too much, then returned her attention to the front of the class where a large armoire stood.

"Have any idea what that was all about?" Ana questioned Alex who was scrimmaging Quidditch plays in a playbook that she kept with her at all times.

It was leather bound and almost filled to the brink with maneuvers and ideas for the upcoming season. Ana smiled gently at the moving figures dancing along the pages, only to feel her stomach tighten at the idea of not being on the team.

"Well, I mean I may have some idea," she answered without pulling her eyes from the pages.

"Care to share, Merlin?" Ana grunted as she tapped the toe of her heels against her varnished wooden chair.

Alex sighed slowly, her eyes landing on Aeron and Calista who sat just in front of them. They were giggling.

"It might have to do with the fact that you got petrified last year."

Ana's brows furrowed in confusion, "But how is that a topic of discussion? Nearly half a dozen others got petrified, too."

"That's part of the point, Ana," Alex groaned as she closed her book, but not before marking her place by folding over the corner of the page. "The point is, you're a Slytherin. Not only that, but you were the only Pureblood wizard to be petrified. If the monster was a creation of Salazar Slytherin, it shouldn't have gone after you.

"Do you know how hard it was to be without you and Callie all that time? Not only did I feel terrible for all that fighting you and I did. And I get it. I do," she admitted plainly, "I pulled a dick move by joining the Quidditch team behind your back and taking your spot. Not only that, but I let Callie get petrified too by going home for Christmas instead of being here at the castle. I feel like the worst kind of friend. I couldn't protect either of you."

Alex's voice died off at the end, she nearly had to force the last of the words out. The blues of her eyes twinkled with emotion; Ana could see it, even if the young girl did her best to hide it by dipping her head down to stare at her playbook. 

Ana reached over to hold Alex's hand in her own, rubbing the base of her palm in a loving way. Alex took that moment to look up at the girl she betrayed just a year ago.