Sunshine

Chapter VI-Worst Enemy

After boggarts, they studied Red Caps, nasty little goblin like
creatures that lurked wherever there had been bloodshed; in the dungeons of castles and the potholes of deserted battlefields, waiting to
bludgeon those who had gotten lost. Only a song from the heart could quell their bloodlust.
Sitting in class Dawn twirled her quill as she thought on the creatures she was to write a report about. Suddenly, a loud snap sounded in the room and the Red Caps they had previously been studying hurried from their now open cage. Professor Lupin tried to contain them with spells but none seemed to be working. Screams echoed as the class was attacked by the goblins.
Dawn stood frozen as she watched the carnage around her. Desks were flipped and her fellow students were all huddled in the back of the classroom using chairs to try and keep the creatures back.
In an instant a thought screamed at Dawn. Her bracelet! The one her parents had gifted her on her eleventh birthday. It was silver and hanging off were charms of different instruments. Dawn pointed her wand at her wrist and quietly murmured a chant. Suddenly different colored orbs emerged from the charms and floated towards the ceiling.
Dawn took in a breath with shaking hands, she knew what she had to do. She just hoped it would work. She looked up and the sound of an electric guitar began to strum from one of the pulsing lights. Dawn took a deep breath and began to sing;

"Don't tell me I'm pretty, I know it's not true
You say that I'm lucky, but I don't believe you
Your words aren't convincin', I've heard them before
From some little liar I thought I adored
Why did this happen? I've lost all control
I'll never be happy, I'll end up alone
Why did you leave me? What did I do wrong?
And maybe the problem was me all along
I am my worst enemy
There's nothin' you could say that I don't know
I am my worst enemy
Can't look at myself without hatin' my soul
I am my worst enemy"

    The Goblins finally start to notice Dawn, but a few still try to grab terrified third years. She notices Malfoy looking as if he was almost in tears as he pushed Pansy in front of him like a human shield.

"Won't somebody give me the antidote?
I am my worst enemy
Consumed in the darkness, I made it my home
Push you away 'cause I can't face
That I might be past the point of return
I'm the loser, I've lost my composure
I'm done taking closure, I'm gone
I am my worst enemy
There's nothin' you could say that I don't know
I am my worst enemy"

    Dawn slowly backs into the cage as the rest of the Red Caps notice her and begin to follow.

"Can't look at myself without hatin' my soul
I am my worst enemy
Won't somebody give me the antidote?
I am my worst enemy"

    The Red Caps all climb back into the cage and Dawn slowly starts to get out and closes the door behind her. The Red Caps are still enthralled by her song.

"Consumed in the darkness, I made it my home"

    Dawn quickly locked the cage as the goblins come out of their trance and try to leap at the door. Dawn is seconds faster and latches the cage. "Fifty points to Slytherin! Well done Miss Aurora!" Lupin says as he begins clapping for her.
    Soon the whole class joins in minus a few still shook up students, including Malfoy and Ron. "I just did what you taught us to Professor Lupin." Dawn shrugged as she awkwardly fiddled with her hands.

    From Red Caps they moved on to kappas, creepy. water-dwellers that looked like scaly monkeys, with webbed hands itching to strangle unwitting waders in their ponds.
Dawn only wished she was as happy with some of her other classes. Worst of all was Potions. Snape was in a particularly vindictive mood these
days, and no one was in any doubt why. The story of the boggart assuming Snape's shape, and the way that Neville had dressed it in his
grandmother's clothes, had traveled through the school like wildfire. Snape didn't seem to find it funny. His eyes flashed menacingly at the very mention of Professor Lupin's name, and he was bullying Neville worse than ever.

Nobody really liked Care of Magical Creatures, which, after the action-packed first class, had become extremely dull. Professor Hagrid seemed to have lost his confidence. They were now spending lesson after lesson learning how to look after flobberworms, which had to be some of the most boring creatures in existence.
"Why would anyone bother looking after them?" said Ron, after yet another hour of poking shredded lettuce down the flobberworms' throats.
At the start of October, however, Dawn had something else to occupy
her, something so enjoyable it more than made up for his unsatisfactory classes. She was going to try out for the Slytherin Quidditch team. There were seven people on a Quidditch team: three Chasers, whose job it was to score goals by putting the Quaffle (a red, soccer-sized ball) through one of the fifty-foot-high hoops at each
end of the field; two Beaters, who were equipped with heavy bats to repel the Bludgers (two heavy black balls that zoomed around trying to attack the players); a Keeper, who defended the goal posts, and the Seeker, who had the hardest job of all, that of catching the Golden Snitch, a tiny, winged, walnut-sized ball, whose capture ended the game and earned the Seeker's team an extra one hundred and fifty points.
    Dawn wanted to be a Seeker like her father had been. She remembered spending hours with her father on brooms with a Snitch, teaching her how to scan the area for that golden glint. She was snapped out of her thought by one of the Slytherin seventh years yelling, "First Hogsmeade weekend," he said, pointing at a notice that had appeared on the battered old bulletin board. "End of October. Halloween."
This excited Dawn to no end. Halloween was her favorite time of year. "Are we throwing a Halloween party?" She asked the boy.
"We do every year!" The boy cheered.
"What kind of costumes do people usually go in?" She asked excitedly.
At this the boy paused and looked at her strangely, "Costumes?" He asked.
"Yeah, in the town I lived in children, teens, and even adults would dress up as different things such as monsters, characters, famous people, etc. and would throw parties or Trick-or-Treat." Dawn explained.
Still the boy looked at her as if she'd grown two heads.