The Wand Makers Apprentice

Chapter 23

I knew I'd find her there. That's where she always went. That lake was like a third arm to her, or like a drug.

As I walked down to where I saw a small figure lapping up and down, the nerves crept up inside me like nothing I'd ever felt before. I'd not spoken to her for what felt like forever, and it was killing me.

I thought that being apart would help us both. It's help Roz be with George, because I knew it was him that she truly loved, and it'd help me move on, instead of fantasising about been with her, because I knew it would never happen.

I think saw me coming, as she swam further down, away from me. I don't know what was going through her head, but I guessed she knew what was going on in mine. She had this weird thing were she always knew.

I opened my mouth, ready to about her name, but then I remembered. I'd thrown her away because Weasley had told me to. I was thinking about it for some time before he brought his offer to me, but he had said that it'd be better for her, that she only needed one of us to be happy. The thought of Rosie been unhappy ripped me apart. I'd seen her in her darkest hours, and I hated it. It's like we shared the pain. If I was making her unhappy, I needed to stop.

But now I kept seeing her, and not once did she have a smile on her face. She always looked on the bridge of tears, and that broke me. And as I watched Rosie swim further and further down the lake, I knew that this time I wasn't to let her go.

I waved my wand over my band an concentrated hard, just as Rosie had done the first time I met her, but no shorts appeared. I groaned, and remembered McGonagall had said that you can't just magic objects out of thin air.

I needed to talk to her, while my heart was pounding with adrenaline and I had the courage to talk to her. I wasn't a brave and loud as Rosie or the other Gryffindors, but I knew that I was more compassionate and caring than the whole house put together.

I had stripped down to my underwear, and I felt the chill. My puny body looked terrible and I suddenly felt terribly self conscious. I remember the last time I went into the water, and I never wanted to repeat that experience again. I paced over to the edge, and took a deep breath and jumped.

I thought there must be a bottom that I could touch, but I felt nothing, I just kept sinking further and further down into the depth of the black lake.