Wild Heart¹ ★ [Sirius Black]

Chapter 13

Chloé Laurent and Severus Snape's duel by the Hogwarts black lake had quickly become infamous around the castle for several reasons. There were people who spoke about it in admiration and wished they could duel as well as those two had, then there were those who hated the immaturity of it and condemned their behaviour, and lastly there were the students who were angry about missing out on it. 

However, there was one shared sentiment amongst the rest of Hogwarts, which was the fear that the student body held of Chloé. 'Freak' and 'crazy' were the most often used words to describe her. 

Whenever she walked through a corridor students would actively move to the other side or turn around all together to avoid her, and if she ever had to share a desk with someone in class they would move as far away as they could and didn't so much as glance at her. The Marauders, her roommates, Regulus, and Kendall seemed to be the only people still speaking to her.

At first Chloé hadn't minded her return to social isolation, but in truth it was miserable being pointed at and laughed at all the time was exhausting, so she never left the common room except for meals, classes, or quidditch. James had neglected to tell her that their captain had actually held a vote to decide if she should stay on the team, and it was only because of James that the majority said yes. Weirdly though, people's fear of her had actually helped them beat Hufflepuff in their last match because the opposing chasers actually seemed afraid of flying near her.

Apart from that one day, her life had been pretty lonely recently, and tonight's party to celebrate Remus's birthday was another event that Chloé was determined to sit out on. Her friends, though, were not so keen on that idea

"Come on, Chlo!" groaned Lily

She had been attempting to drag the veela out of bed for the last 10 minutes, but had no success.

Chloé rolled her eyes and turned back onto her side, away from her friend "Lily, I'm not going, I already told you"

Lily huffed, "I know what you told me but Remus is your best friend!" 

"Aside from me," piped up Kendall, and Chloé shot her a quick grin

They both knew it was always going to be Remus, but Kendall liked to irritate the wolf boy by claiming it was her, to everyone's amusement.

Ignoring her, Lily glared down at Chloé, "Look. The incident was over a week ago, and so much other gossip has happened since, and soon enough it'll be old news. Did you hear that Amos Diggory was caught snogging Madeline Vance in the kitchens? And now Maddie's boyfriend Lawrence is telling everyone he's going to beat Amos up the next time Ravenclaw play Hufflepuff"

As amusing as it was, Chloé shook her head despairingly, "It's not that easy, Lils"

The redhead went to open her mouth again, but Kendall held up her hand to stop her. "Lily. We'll see you later, okay?"

Her tone was forceful and non-negotiable, so Lily reluctantly left the room, and when the door closed behind her Kendall walked over to Chloé and sat on the end of her bed. 

"I can't imagine how you're feeling" the other veela said softly "I know how terrifying the thought of hurting anyone is, and I'm sorry it happened to you. But you know it happened to me when I was small?" Chloé raised her eyebrows in surprise "Yeah. I was around 8 and Mum and dad had taken me into a party some friend of theirs was hosting, the Lestrange's I think, and I saw all the other kids there. We were just messing around and having fun, but then one of the boys, some distant cousin of theirs, tried to grab my ass. Of course the second I felt his hand there I was furious and shoved it off and shouted at him. He tried to argue that I was being silly, but I knew I was right, and I got so angry I just screamed and screamed at him, and then next thing I knew fire was shooting out of my hands and onto his dress robes. His parents were able to put it out before he suffered any serious burns but everyone saw, and I was so ashamed I refused to leave my bedroom for a month"