Elizabeth Kane and the Half-Blood Prince

Chapter 21

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𝕴 𝖜𝖔𝖐𝖊 𝖚𝖕 early, fed Remus, changed his diaper and clothes and then left him with Severus while I hurried out of the room, dressing myself in the process and hurried down the stairs towards the Hufflepuff Common room.

Susan was just waking up as I entered the dorm and she quickly woke Hannah and they dressed at top speed.

Something kept twisting in my stomach, something I couldn't particularly pinpoint. Perhaps nerves was the right word.

I carried the drawing in my arms. It stuck out nearly eight feet in both directions, making it a great way to keep people away from me.

Most of the Hufflepuff house was already up and they made room for me so that we could get it out the door. We hurried up towards the Great Hall where breakfast was only just starting.

For some reason, I got pushed to the front of the line and so, holding the drawing in my arms, I walked through the door and found that the three House tables were already full. There wasn't a single Hufflepuff though, it seemed as though they were all behind me.

My cheeks were bright red as we walked up the two center tables. To my surprise, the other students- including the Slytherins- started to join us, adding to my embarrassment. The teacher's faces looked apprehensive except for Dumbledore's. He was smiling.

I was thinking random things including, 'Is this to weird of a gift' or 'perhaps they'll hate it'. But before I could even think of changing my mind, I was already walking up the steps and presenting the large rolled up drawing to Professor Dumbledore.

"This is a present, for. . . for all of you." I barely whispered. Dumbledore took it from my hands and unrolled it and then with a wave of his wand, it attached itself to the wall behind the teachers. All of the teachers turned to look at it.

I had been wrong. Even in my eyes, the drawing was perfect.

Dumbledore turned back to me and winked and said, "Thank you, everyone."

There were cheers and whooping and other noises of happiness (even from the Slytherins) and everyone went back to the tables and the strangest thing happened. Everyone sat at random tables with random people. It was disorienting. I went to a table I'd never sat at-the Slytherin table- with Harry and Hermione and Ron, my Hufflepuff friends, and Trang. Other Slytherins sat around us, some I knew like Pansy and others I didn't know.

Hermione leaned over and whispered to me, "I think you did it, Elizabeth, I think you might've achieved house unity."

Had I? Would that change the future? Would that make Draco call off the attack?

I glanced down the table where Draco was sitting alone, staring down at his breakfast bowl, seemingly unaware of the talk going on around him. He looked up and our eyes met and I gave the slightest nod and then turned back to the others.

I looked up at the table. Many of the Professors were out of their seats, trying to get a better look at the drawing that I had drew. It covered most of the length of the wall, though not all of it. The Professors were pointing and motioning. The only people who were not standing were Dumbledore, Severus, and Firenze.

Firenze lifted his glass to me before drinking. I wondered what he was drinking, and if he would have drunk it in the forest, and what he was drinking to. I smiled, regardless.

I would've loved to have stayed and chatted all day, but I wanted to get back to Remus. I stood, leaving with Trang because that way, others wouldn't follow. There were cheers and people stood up to congratulate me on something that I really didn't need congratulating on. I wondered for a moment, why people thought this was such a big deal, why people seemed to be acting as though this was the last day of school, why people seemed to think that today was a party day or something.