Amelia Merlin

Part Thirty Nine: Halloween Feast

October came and Amelia was still having vivid nightmares, worse than last year. Last year she always knew when she was dreaming but the lines between reality had become blurred. She was twitchy too, every time a door slammed or someone coughed, she jumped and startled. Even during the day, Amelia kept seeing the tunnel in her mind, or the wolf growling at her, warning her.

She may have been disoriented, and confused all the time, but Amelia wasn't about to let that get in the way of her life. Last year she had shut down, stopped eating, talking to people, even sleeping. She wasn't going to let the dreams control her anymore.

Amelia had been hanging out with Cedric a fair bit, and it was definetly amazing. They had so much in common and it felt so effortless, being with him. He was the kind of guy who looked at you, the way you wish you looked at yourself. He saw you for all the best that you were, his smile gave you hope and confidence, that it was all going to turn out right in the end. And Amelia couldn't be happier then when she was with Cedric, he listened to her.

Lavender was still angry with her, even though she had apologized numerous times. And Fred was being stubborn about her dating Cedric, so Amelia felt very alone at times. She was always surrounded by people and friends, but the only time it felt like someone was really there, was when she was with Cedric.

But there was also Oliver, they had Herbology together again and she loved potting mandrakes with him.

"Amelia!" He called out to her as she was strolling down to the green houses one day. "Wait up!"

"Hey there!" She smiled at him. "How are you?"

"I'm grand! It's a beautiful day out!"

"You seem awfully chipper!" She laughed at his grinning face.

"Yeah well what can I say, I'm just happy!" Oliver's dark curls bounced in his face.

"Excited for the Halloween feast? It's tomorrow!"

"Yeah, the foods always amazing." He ran his fingers through his hair to get it out of his eyes.

"You should really cut this." Amelia brushed the locks back, as they had fallen in his eyes again.

"No way." Oliver shook his head. "Over my dead body."

"I could do it for you!" Amelia laughed at the incredulous look on his face.

"Yeah or I could fall down the stairs and get the same result." He declined.

"Oh come on! I cut Fred and George's hair all the time!" The memory gave Amelia a small pang in her heart. She hadn't spoken to the twins in a week.

"Sorry, love. Can't let you anywhere near this."

"Please?" She gave him her sweetest face.

Oliver sighed heavily. "Fine! But only because I'm the best friend ever!"

Amelia gave him a quick hug. "Damn right you are!"

Herbology that day was boring, but Amelia love it anyway because she loved plants. She and Neville were the only happy people in the room.

The Halloween feast was breathtaking. The pumpkins were carved and there were live bats flying about. Candles floated just above the tables, so the entire hall was given an eery light.

Amelia sat with Neville, Dean and Seamus because Lavender still wasn't speaking to her.

"Has anyone seen Harry, Ron and Hermione?" Neville asked.

"They're going to a death day party, for Nearly Headless Nick." Amelia had heard them discussing it on the way down.

"Sounds morbid." Dean looked grossed out.

"Yeah bit of a weird thing to celebrate." She agreed and they spent the rest of the night discussing the upcoming Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

"Ravenclaw is going to win." Seamus stated.

"Hang on," Amelia raised a fork. "Hufflepuff's got Cedric, and he's an amazing Seeker."

Dean laughed "You're just saying that because he's your boyfriend."

"Am not!"

"Are too." Seamus agreed.

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Cedric is a great player, the fact I'm dating him doesn't make a difference."

"When did you guys even become official?" Dean inquired.

Amelia loved to talk about Cedric. "Well!" She started. "We started hanging out pretty much every day for a while, and it just sort of happened."

"I'm happy for you." Nevilles round face smiled at her.

"Thanks, Neville! That's very sweet of you!"

Then Amelia felt something.

Her mind went to the tunnel, she was travelling along, wanting to rip, to tear, to kill.

But in an instant, the wolf gave a loud bark and she snapped out of it.

And then she was back at the feast like nothing had happened. The boys were discussing Quidditch, she saw Cedric wave at her from his table and it was all back to normal.

The feast went by much too quickly and before she knew it, Amelia was among the throng of people trying to get back to the dormitories.

She felt a hand on the small of her back, and looked behind to see Cedric.

"Hey!" She smiled.

"How was your dinner?" His crooked grin spread over his lips.

Amelia couldn't help blushing. "It was love-" she got cut off by someone violently bumping into her from behind.

"Sorry bout that!" Fred grinned, and the crowd of people separated her from Cedric.

"Fred! What the hell?"

"You know I'm right, Amelia." That stupid smile was still playing around on his stupid face.

"Why can't you just accept the fact, I like Cedric and he makes me very happy!"

"Why do you get so mad at me all the time?" Fred changed the subject.

"Because you drive me crazy!" Amelia shouted at him, and threw her hands in the air.

"Yeah? Well right back atcha! You are the most infuriating person I know!" Fred yelled.

They reached a blockage of people up ahead. Amelia couldn't hear what was going on over the hundreds of voices, but she could quite clearly see the writing in the wall.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.

ENEMIES IF THE HEIR, BEWARE.