Amelia Merlin

Part Thirty Five: There's nothing pulling the carriage

The train smoke billowed out on to the platform, clouding Amelia's  vision for a moment. But when it cleared, she saw the castle, silhouetted on the night sky. She couldn't help but smile.

"Come on Merlin!" Oliver nudged her from behind and Amelia snapped out of it. "A bunch of us are getting a carriage together, care to join?"

"That sounds lovely!" They walked together through some trees. Amelia was slightly taken aback by the creatures drawing the carts.

"What are those?"

"What?" Oliver looked around confused.

"The things pulling the carriage?" They looked like horses, but like someone had stretched skin over a skeleton. There was something very eery and strange about them. They also had wings so that was different.

"There's nothing pulling the carriage." Oliver said carefully.

"You are literally blind. They're right there!" She grabbed Oliver's face and put it a foot away from the horse thing.

"I see nothing!" He looked at her like she was crazy.

"Okay." Amelia laughed. "I see what's going on here! You're funny. Really funny. But the jokes up you can stop messing with me now!"

"I'm not messing with you Amelia. There's nothing pulling that carriage." His voice was gentle.

"Yes there is Oliver! Why are you being like this?" Amelia was a bit hurt he was being so mean.

"Look, no one else can see it." He gestured to the students walking by who didn't even glance at the horses.

"Oh." She chewed her bottom lip and awkwardly walked away. She clambered up into a carriage with Dean, Seamus, Terry Boot, Lavender, Parvati and Oliver. He offered her a hand up but she pretended not to see it. They sat beside each other, their knees touching as they bounced along the road.

They were all buzzing with excitement as they neared the castle. But Amelia couldn't get the horse things off her mind but she was glad Oliver didn't bring it up again. Why could she see them and no one else could? Was she going crazy? If so...... How bad was that?

Amelia barely payed attention to the students being sorted, she was hungry and just really wanted some food. But she did cheer when Ginny got in to Gryffindor.

"Ron's not here." George whispered beside her. Amelia frowned and looked down the table.

"Neither is Harry."

"That's weird." George fidgeted. "I wonder what their up to?"

"Probably something stupid, knowing them." Fred chuckled.

"It's not funny Fred!" Amelia scolded. "They could be in trouble."

"Ickle Ronny-kins? No way. That boy couldn't get into serious trouble if he was face to face with you know who." He scoffed.

"Don't say that!" Their small argument was interrupted by food. Piles of chicken, and mountains of pastas and salads. There were breads of all kinds and roast beef. There was so much food Amelia barely knew where to start. Amelia ate so much, she had to take very deep breaths and slouch in her seat. She wished she could unbutton her pants but that was probably a bit too much.

"Did you hear what Harry Potter did?" Some random kid across the table from her said.

"What?" Amelia interjected herself into the conversation.

"Flew a car all the way to Hogwarts then crashed it into the whomping willow!" He enthused.

"Awesome!" Fred and George said in unison. Amelia rolled her eyes, boys could be so dumb sometimes.

Dumbledore gave a cute speech that just consisted of weird words and very odd metaphors that just confused everyone. But regardless, the whole hall erupted with cheers and sang the school song with enthusiasm. The twins and Amelia just screamed the words as loud as they could, which was super fun.

She hung out in the common room for hours with her friends, just catching up and goofing around. Harry and Ron finally showed up and they were bombarded with questions about their adventure. When Harry finally broke away from the crowd, Amelia went to talk to him.

"Hey Harry!" She called.

"Amelia! Hey!" He hugged her quickly. "How was your summer?"

"It was awesome. Yeah, it was really good. How about yours?" She smiled at the green eyed boy.

"Well let's just say I'm glad to be back here."

"Yeah there's no place like home right?" They both knew that Hogwarts meant more to them then anything else. This was the most important part of their lives, the place where they truly belonged.

She and Harry talked all night, with frequent interruptions from people saying hello and congratulations to Harry.

When Amelia finally went to bed, the fire was reduced to embers. Lavender and Parvati were still awake when she got up to her dormitory.

"What are you girls giggling about?" She laughed and plopped down on the bed beside them.

"I have to tell you something." Lavender squealed. "I really like Seamus!"

"Really?" Amelia tried not to laugh too much. "That's awesome! You should totally go for him!"

"Okay but you have to help me out! Be my wingman and talk to him for me?" She pleaded.

"Of course! Anything you need!" The girls giggled all night long and only got a few hours of sleep.

Amelia hadn't had dreams all summer, but her first night back at Hogwarts she did. But it wasn't a nightmare.

She was walking through the forbidden forest, her bare feet made no sound on the earth floor. She was wearing a long pale blue gown with short golden sleeves and a golden neckline. Her hair was longer than normal and fell in waves down her back.

Amelia reached a pond that she knew didn't actually exist in the forbidden forest. She heard a twig snap behind her and whipped around to see a wolf. But not just any wolf. It was enormous, the size of horse. And it was tawny gold rather than grey. It's eyes stared into hers and Amelia realized their eyes were exactly the same.

Weird.

Then the wolf padded over to her and walked into the pond. It didn't swim but just kept walking until it was entirely submerged and she couldn't see it any longer.

When Amelia woke up, she remembered everything from her slumber. She didn't understand it and the whole thing was a bit confusing, but anything was better than clawing at your own hands until you bled everywhere. So she decided not to question it too much, maybe this was what normal dreams were supposed to be like.

But there was never anything normal about Amelia Merlin.