𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐌𝐘 - 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫

nine | questions, questions

-NINE-

The night of February 1984 wasn't a good one. As the wind whistled outside, and the noise down the street quieted down to nothing, the rushing sound of rain replacing it instead. 4-year-old Khalida lay in bed asleep, till her bronze eyes opened, glowing gold and vibrant in the darkness of her room.

Her scream of pain ripped through the silence throughout the house, startling Remus and Maria awake. "Mama! Papa!" Sobbed the little girl as she clutched her head, sitting up in her bed. Remus nearly knocked the door down as both he and Maria burst inside, gasping upon seeing the pitiful figure of their child.

"What's wrong, Lida, my love?" Asked Remus, sitting next to her. She beat her tiny fist against her temple as she wailed, "It hurts, Papa! It hurts!"

"Maria, darling, help!" Exclaimed Remus as Khalida held onto him for dear life, her tiny claws piercing the fabric of his shirt.

"What do I do?!" Exclaimed the woman. "I'm not going to go near her, the freak!"

Remus summoned his wand and made shapes in the air, trying to get the girl to focus on him. It was unsuccessful as Khalida looked up with her golden eyes, whispering, "She's going to leave..." Her irises, looking like drops of sunlight, were fixed on Maria.

Remus finally figured out the spell and pointed his wand at the wailing girl, saying, "Somnus!" Khalida immediately slumped forward into his arms, sleeping soundly as the sleepin spell worked it's magic.

"Maria..." Remus said, barely controlling his anger, "May I have a word?"

Just like that, an argument raged in the house, behind a closed door spelled with 'Muffliato'.

The very next day, the pair went to the muggle court for a divorce. Thus proving Khalida's words.

'She's going to leave...'

---

Khalida clutched her head, groaning as she woke up. Madam Pomfrey had given her something to drink in the middle of the night, which helped with her concussion nicely. "Off you go now," said the matron, "To the Great Hall."

Mumbling a 'thank you', Khalida walked away, trudging to her dormitory, where she got dressed and changed quickly. She headed down to the great hall, where she sat next to Hermione, grinning, "Morning everyone. Ready for the big game?" 

"Harry here thinks Snape tried getting to whatever the three-headed-dog was guarding." Hermione rolled her eyes. 

"Snape? He's not going to do anything of the sort." Scoffed Khalida. "I personally suspect Quirrell. Don't you think it's odd, that he's always disappearing and is at the right place at the right time? Like, what was he doing in the dungeons yesterday night, when every teacher was in the Great Hall, eating?" 

"Oi, that man is daft as a drumstick. He can never pull off a heist like that." Ron countered. 

"Eat up now, Harry." Khalida chuckled, ruffling her friend's hair. "You're going to need it." 

At the game, Khalida cheered loudly for Gryffindor, having already made a bet with Draco that they would win. The boy had bet ten Galleons on it, and was most pleased when Harry's broom began to act up.

Khalida observed Quirrell carefully, feeling her eyes almost boring into his skull as she glared a hole into it. Hermione, however, had her gaze fixed on Snape. Show as muttering something under his breath and not looking away from Harry's broom.

Hermione snuck away, setting Snape's robes on fire to distract him, ultimately making him fall into Quirrell.

"Really, if these people just observed the right suspects." Khalida rolled her eyes.

Harry, at that moment, touched down to the ground, looking like he was about to hurl.

Well he did. He hurled the golden snitch.

The Gryffindor stands erupted into cheers, making Khalida's sensitive ears ring painfully. She clutched her hands to her ears, dulling the sound, but nevertheless cheered for the win of her house. 

Later that day, Hagrid, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Khalida were walking along a pathway, talking. Harry mentioned about Snape's interference in the match.

"Nonsense! Why would Snape put a curse on Harry's broom?" Hagrid scoffed. 

"Who knows? Why was he trying to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween?" Harry asked. The half-giant turned to them, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Who told you 'bout Fluffy?" He asked. Khalida went pale, knowing that she'd found out about Fluffy a while ago.

 "Fluffy? That thing has a name?" Gasped Ron. 

"Not 'thing'. He is a boy." Scowled Khalida. 

"Well, of course he's got a name. He's mine. I bought him off an Irish feller I met down at the pub last year. Then I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the..." Hagrid suddenly stopped himself. 

"Yes?" Khalida egged on, eager to know.

"Shouldn't have said that," muttered the half-giant to himself. He scowled, "No more questions! Don't ask any more questions. Tha's top secret, tha' is."

"But, Hagrid, whatever Fluffy's guarding, Snape's trying to steal it." Harry protested.

"Codswallop. Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher." Hagrid gruffly replied.

"Hogwarts teacher or not, I know a spell when I see one. I've read all about them. You've got to keep eye contact and Snape wasn't blinking." Hermione added.

"Exactly." Ron noted. 

"Actually, it's not a spell, Minnie. It's a jinx. Plus, for all we know, Snape was muttering a counter-jinx. Jinxes are usually non-verbal. Their counters, however, always are verbal." Khalida corrected. Her comment was, unfortunately, ignored. 

"Now, you listen to me, all fourof you. You're meddling in things that ought not to be meddled in. It's dangerous. What that dog is guarding is strictly between Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel." Scowled Hagrid.

"Nicholas Flamel?" Asked the four in unison.

"I shouldn't said that. I should not have said that." Poor Hagrid muttered the statement the whole way back to his hut. 

Khalida sighed to herself and said, "Well, I'm going to use this time wisely to owl my father. I'll see you all in a bit." 

She turned around on her heel, and walked off, elbowing through the students on the stairs and common room. 

She entered the girl's dormitories and sighed in relief as she sat on the bed, relaxing with Lilith whilst her quill wrote a letter. She wrote to him about how eager she was to meet him and what all had transpired, leaving out the little troll accident as well as the Fluffy detail. 

However, her Christmas was about to be completely topsy-turvy...

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Dedicated to... *drumroll* WeaselbeeWeaseltoe! Thanks for commenting, love <33

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