Secrets, Ties, and Slytherin Lies (Sequel to Gryffindork, HP Fanfiction)

Hey everybody! So I know that every sequel you tend to lose at least half of your readers so for those of you deciding to put up with me for another book....Thank you! And welcome back! ;) Hopefully I don't disappoint. I took kind of a long "academic break" for about a billion projects and finals and such, but now I'm back. And this book should (hopefully) be finished by September! Also, if you haven't read Gryffindork yet but think this sounds even slightly interesting....go read it so that this will make more sense! :) Sorry this is so crazy short but I felt like I had to post something. Anyways, without further ado I give you the sequel to Gryffindork:)

This chapter is dedicated to OneDIrectionersUnite. Thank you so much for reading (and especially voting and commenting on) Gryffindork!!! <333

DISCLAIMER FOR ALL CHAPTERS: I OWN NOTHING BUT MY OWN CREATIONS. THE AMAZING HARRY POTTER SERIES, AND ALL CHARACTERS RECOGNIZED FROM THE BOOKS BELONG TO J.K. ROWLING.

I breathed a sigh of contentment, enjoying the heat of the sun on my face. The gentle lulling rhythm of the ocean waves crashed in the background. The combination of these things sunk me into a feeling of lethargy, and I felt as if I could drift off to sleep.

"Amanda!" The yell and accompanying splash of water brought me spinning back to alertness.

"Cedric!" I growled at my brother, who was staring innocently up at me from in the pool, pretending as if he hadn't just splashed me. "You really think that was a good idea?"

"Amanda," Cedric mocked my tone. "You really want to spend our last day here sleeping on a lounge chair?"

"Sounds about right to me," I grumbled. However, I sat up and stretched, looking around at the bright sunny scene before me. The aqua pool looked cool and inviting, but not as attractive as the perfect sandy beach maybe one hundred meters away. My family had been on holiday in America the entire summer - visiting family in Salem for half the summer, and down in Florida for other half - and today was the last day before we returned home, and a week before we went back to Hogwarts.

I was honestly almost dreading going back home. The summer spent in America had been a welcome reprieve from the sort of hellish year and host of problems I'd left behind in Britain. Last year the school had been terrorized by a basilisk, which happened to be controlled by a memory of Lord Voldemort. Oh yeah, and my best friend, Ginny Weasley, happened to be the one possessed by this memory of Lord Voldemort. On top of that, we had been haunted the entire year by the memory an event we'd dubbed as "that night" where our other best friend (now ex-best friend), Dalton Lovelace, was brutally tortured by Ginny's twin brothers Fred and George. We, along with Cedric and Ron, had witnessed the entire thing. The year had ended on the spectacular note of Dalton regaining his memory of the horrors that had happened to him that night, and had turned his back on us. As far as I knew, he still hated us.

I didn't want to think about how Dalton's summer had gone. How did you cope with a memory like that? How did you come to terms with that revelation? I had no idea, because though I'd reached out to him countless times, Dalton hadn't once answered my letters. Ginny, who was in Egypt, had recieved no response from him either.

I shook the thoughts out of my head. I'd spent the entire summer blocking the bad aspects of last year from my mind, forcing myself not to think about it. This vacation really had come as a relief, a way to throw myself into having fun and being happy away from any triggers that would remind me of any of the pressing problems from last year. Going back home meant I would have to face it all again. But for now, I had a good twelve hours before we left to enjoy myself, and I refused to think of anything traumatic.

"Coming in!" I shouted, before sprinting and jumping into the pool. I paddled over to Cedric, flopping my brown hair out of my eyes. "Bet you can't beat that," I teased.