Amanda's POV
James and I sat on the couches in the room of requirement. Both of us were silent, the situation to grave for words. My knees were pulled up to my chest and I was nervously biting at my thumbnail. James was staring at the fire burning brightly. The silence grew for every second and it was making me anxious. I had just enough time to make out scenarios about the whole thing.
"She had a crush on my cousin Hugo. He told me that just before we started school. He wanted advice on how to act around her", James suddenly spoke. He didn't sound completely present, it was as if he was still in his own head. What he told me made everything more real. I got more than a name to connect to this girl. It was horrible. At the same time I felt as if I couldn't brake down about it.
"What did she look like?", I asked as I sat up straighter and moved closer to James. He turned to glance at me before continuing on with staring at the fire.
"She had short blonde hair and freckles. Hugo said that he really like her blue eyes, that he liked her big smile even though her teeth were a bit crooked", James described and I tried to imagine the girl. Had her death been because of James and me?
I put my hand over James' and comforted him by rubbing my thumb over his hand. He then completely turned to me with sorrow filled eyes. I hated seeing the emotion in him.
"He must have really liked her", I whispered and looked down at our hands. It was hard to look at James, especially after knowing that he had some sort of connection to the dead girl.
"He did, and he's only twelve. We used to tease him about him until his cheeks started to redden the way his sister's does", James spoke absently. I sighed and let go of James' hand. Before I could move back on the couch James stopped me. He didn't say anything and after a few seconds it made me look up at him. He was looking at me with a frown between his brows.
"We need to do something about the messenger, because we both know that it is the messenger. The thing we can't do is blame ourselves, though. This is not only about us. You don't know this but before I was born there was a wizarding war. My father was 'the chosen one', the one who saved the world. I think that the things happening now has something to do with that war", he rambled with his intense gaze set on me. I had read about the two wizarding wars. I had gathered that they were awful, and also alike the two World Wars. I could at least draw many parallels between the II World War and the Second Wizarding War. Voldemort, the one leading the bad guys, seemed to be racist towards muggle-borns. That had been a big problem but in the end it all came down to world domination, just like in the II World War.
I tried to finds words so that I could form an answer, but it was as if my mind had gone blank. I didn't know what we could possibly do! I didn't know how to just go out of the room and act as if we had no idea of what was going on! I was close to freaking out, even though I tried to repress it.
"What if it happens again?", I at last whispered in a croaky voice. I hadn't meant to say it, but it was one of the things I was scared of. James' eyes seemed to soften a bit while he looked at me.
"That's why we're going to do something, anything", he murmured as he held my hand in his. We had switched roles, it was no longer I who comforted him.
"What can we do? What can I do? I don't even have magic", I voiced my fears and worries. James shook his head just before engulfing me in a hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck as his rested around my waist. I could feel him lean in towards me, relaxing in my arms even if he had been the one to engage in the hugging. We were both being comforted while we comforted each other.
"Who says you need magic to be useful? I sometimes feel like I'm so much more useless just because I have magic", he mumbled quietly. His words made me feel better about myself, while they also made me feel sad for him.
"Let's just say that we're both pretty useful. We just don't know what to do." James leaned back a little, while still holding his arms around me. He smiled sadly at me and sighed. He was just about to say something when a light flashed outside our window and before I could react a loud rumbling sounded. I jumped a little in James' embrace at the thunder. It was way closer then I had hoped for it to be. My father had thought me how you were supposed to count seconds between the lightning and the thunder, it would determine how many kilometers away the lightning was. I couldn't say that there had been more than two seconds between the lightning and the thunder. It never used to be that close. I had never experienced it and it was only adding up to the knot in my stomach.
"It's like the weather knows that something bad has happened", James sighed and I could only nod in agreement. It really seemed like it. We leaned back on the couch, one arm each around each other. The fire infront of us kept me warm, even when I felt as if I should've been cold.
"How are we supposed to fix a problem this big? I've only been aware of magic for a few months. I have no idea what I'm doing." My eyes followed the flames, how they rised and danced in the fireplace. How they ate up the firewood.
"We'll have to think of something, although we shouldn't hurry. Whatever we do have to be thought through", James told me seriously. I nodded without turning my gaze from the bright flames. I started biting my lip absently. The messenger had just acted. Why not before? I mean, who ever it was had been in the castle to take pictures. Wait!
"James!", I exclaimed as I sat straighter up and turned to face him.
"What is it?", he asked with a frown and interest in his eyes. I couldn't believe that we hadn't thought about the possibility before.
"You can't just get into Hogwarts, right? I mean, unknown people don't just walk around the hallways", I started voicing my theory. James seemed uncertain to where I was going with my thoughts. He also straightened up in his seat and looked to be more alert.
"No. I mean, people can't just walk into the castle", James answered my question and I nodded quickly. I then got up and started pacing back and forth. A new sort of energy was racing through my veins. The mystery getting a little closer solving had given me hope.
"Exactly! Wouldn't the teachers know if someone had broken into the school? Yeah, they would have! That means that someone else had to have taken the pictures of us", I continued on with explaining. A light lit in James' eyes as he started to catch on to what I was saying.
"A student?" I stopped infront of James and sat down on the floor infront of him.
"I think that the probability to it being a student is bigger. The teachers get checked, while students are just accepted no matter what. That means that it was a student that killed the girl", I rambled on in both realization and fright. How could someone so young do something that terrible? James then looked up and pulled his hand through his hair.
"What if the messenger is a student?", he wondered slowly. I shook my head. My mind had quickly wandered there, but shut down the possibility.
"No. The messenger is a leader, I think, and a leader needs to be able to contact others. We've already agreed to that this isn't just one person doing bad things, it's a group. A student wouldn't be able to contact others, but someone could contact a student", I spoke. James looked like he agreed with me and nodded. He then sighed, but at the same time he seemed relieved that we had gotten somewhere.
"If we found the student we can find the messenger", James stated and it was my time to sigh.
"Great! It's not like there's hundreds of them", I sarcastically spoke. James laughed a little and to my surprise he ruffled my hair.
"At least we have somewhere to start, right?" He was right. We had a clue, and that was always a start to solve a mystery. I just hoped that we would be able to solve the mystery before anyone else got hurt.
YOU ARE READING
In the World of Magic(Harry Potter Next Generation Fanfic)
Fiksi PenggemarAmanda picked up a book as a child. That book told stories of a magical sport called Quidditch. For years it had been a fictional story, one she had enjoyed very much. That is until she finds a ticket to a Quidditch game. Despite all of her doubts...