The Other Side

TASKED

Alora sat with her friends in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express heading for her fifth year at Hogwarts. She'd usually look forward to a new school year, but that wasn't the case for this year.

Her unusual silence raised her friend's suspicions.

"Lor? Are you okay?" Astoria questioned.

Astoria has been Alora's closest friend since their first year at Hogwarts. The two happened to both be placed in Slytherin and bonded like sisters ever since they discovered they shared the same dorm room. Though, Astoria's actual sister was Daphne Greengrass, who was a year ahead.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Alora murmured.

"You're very quiet." Kamari reasoned.

Kamari was also one of Alora's great friends. The Ravenclaw had befriended the Slytherin at the start of their second year during a Potions class when they were assigned to sit next to each other. Ever since that day, they had been inseparable. All three of them. Although both Astoria and Alora's parents disliked the bond the two shared with the girl., as Kamari was a Half-blood and a Ravenclaw, the friendship was frowned upon.

At the moment, Alora could not feel more guilty about not being honest to her friends about what had happened over the summer. Why she wouldn't respond to their owls, and even if she did, the short replies back. She couldn't explain herself, and even if she wanted to she wasn't able. Alora had been sworn to not tell a single soul and that, she found, was the worst part. She couldn't turn to her friends when she needed them the most.

"Just tired. No need to worry." She smiled back as she reassured the two.

They both trailed their eyes over Alora's face, trying to find a hint of a lie but they both knew it wasn't worth a try, as Alora was the best at masking how she felt.

"Though speaking of being quiet..." Astoria trailed on.

Alora just knew what she was about to say and she had no excuses no matter how hard she thought, she couldn't figure out a lie.

"Why did you barely reply over the summer? We both were beyond worried about you."Astoria quietly questioned the brunette.

"Think, Think, Think"

"Umm...the owls!" Alora blurted the first thing that came to mind, and she found herself pondering,
how would owls affect summer?

"The owls?" Kamari inquired as she and Astoria exchanged glances as they looked back at Alora. Who was trying her best to come up with a believable scenario? And then she had a thought.

"Yeah, the stupid birds got themselves in a bit of an accident when delivering letters for Mum and Dad."
Alora explained, worried the story wasn't believable she carried on. "They also hogged the damn owls at the start of summer and I couldn't get any letters out. I'm sorry guys."

Alora's friends seemed pretty convinced when they started laughing and joking around about the owls and their twisted journeys. Alora hated lying especially towards the most important people to her, but she had no choice either way. They needed to stay protected no matter what.

For the first time since she was assigned the task by The Dark Lord, it had left her mind. As she laughed and joked away with the only two people who could make her true smile come out.

"How's lover boy by the way?" Astoria asked.

Alora couldn't bear to talk about Adrian Pucey. The boy who she's been dating since the start of last year. The boy she's infatuated with. The boy's heart she has to break by the end of the week. Its the last thing she wanted to do but she had no choice. It was to achieve the success of the task she was set. Which was to get close to Harry Potter. She had a plan and it had to be executed perfectly. What made it the simplest bit easier, was that nobody knew and she couldn't risk anybody knowing. If the plan was to sway in a different direction, even an inch, her life was over and Voldemort made that very clear.