The Secrets We Leave Behind | George Weasley

Chapter 5

The entire school was buzzing the week following Sirius Black's break in. Everyone seemed to have a theory as to his motives, almost all of them revolving around Harry in some way. So far, Vivian's favorite was the theory that Black had broken into the castle to steal Harry's blood in order to make a duplicate of him that was loyal to Voldemort, hypothesized by Oliver Wood at dinner the night following the break in. She'd had to make extreme efforts to stop herself from laughing in Wood's very serious face; it was just silly. She thought it was most likely that Black simply wanted to kill the poor kid, but who was she to deny the man his melodramatic theories?

What she couldn't shake from her mind was the question on how Sirius Black entered the castle. No one is supposed to be able to get past a dementor without the wretched creatures sensing them. So how did he get in? Her only theory was that Black had somehow gotten into the castle prior to the dementors arrival, but if that were the case why wait so long to make a move? It made no sense to her no matter which way she looked at it.

Walking into the common room that Friday, she spotted Harry sitting alone in the far corner, seemingly trying to avoid the still probing eyes of other students. She felt another twinge of pity for the boy. He obviously enjoyed being the center of attention about as much as she did, and lately he seemed to be nothing but the center of attention.

Walking over cautiously, she put her hand on the back of the chair opposite him.

"Mind if I sit?"

He looked up at her hesitantly, probably wondering if she was going to start hounding him with questions about Black's intentions.

"Sure," he said, eventually giving her a halfhearted shrug and returning to the essay he had been writing as she sat down.

"Thanks. If I were you I would be telling just about everyone to fuck off at this point," she commented casually as she pulled her charms homework from her bag.

He looked back up at her, surprised.

"I'm hoping if I ignore them for long enough they'll eventually get bored," he said quietly as he stole a glance at the group of 4th years that had been staring at him since he sat down.

"Well then you are much more patient than I," she smiled kindly at him.

"More like used to it," Harry grumbled looking back down to twirl his quill in his hand. 

"Mmm" she nodded in understanding. "Unfortunately this school loves its gossip."

"I just want to be normal. An uninteresting, unimportant 3rd year."

She was surprised by this omission, though she definitely sympathized. She shuddered to think about how she would feel if she was forced into the limelight for something she hadn't even done.

"Don't we all," she said with a laugh that earned her a confused look from Harry.

"But..." she continued, suddenly serious, "if you ever really need a place to get away from any gawkers, let me know," she finished with a wink.

Harry just blinked at her for a minute but eventually smiled and gave her a slightly confused thank you.

"Besides, at least I have the first quidditch match tomorrow to look forward to. Even if it's just against Hufflepuff," he said, making a face.

"Right! I'm excited to see the Gryffindor team in action! I'm sure it's going to go great!"

                        0-0

The quidditch match did not, in fact, go great. Not only was the weather horrific, with the rain from the previous day continuing in torrents, and neither did Gryffindor just lose the match to Hufflepuff, but somehow the dementors had also made their way to the quidditch field, perhaps sensing the influx of human emotions in the area. Whatever their motives, they converged on Harry who had flown high above the field going after the snitch. One second Vivian was trying to keep the hood of her rain cloak on while shivering in the stands next to Ron and Hermoine. The next second she was wide eyed as she watched Harry speeding downwards towards the ground.