My Life Is A Riddle (A Hogwarts story)

Chapter Fifteen: Buckbeak's sentence

The trio and Jonny and I walked outside into the courtyard.
"It's a beautiful day" Hermione said.
"Gorgeous, unless you've been ripped to pieces" Ron said.
"Ripped to pieces?" Harry questioned.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"Ronald has lost his rat" Hermione explained.
"I haven't lost anything. Your cat killed him" Ron protested.
"Rubbish" Hermione said.
"Harry, Ang, you've seen the way that bloodthirsty beast is always lurking about. And Scabbers is gone" Ron said.
"Well maybe you should take better care of your pets" Hermione said.
"Your cat killed him!!" Ron exclaimed.
"Did not!" Hermione protested.
"Did too" Ron said
"Did not" Hermione said. This lasted all the way down to Hagrid's. He was standing in the water skipping stones.
"How'd the hearing go Hagrid?" I asked scared of the answer.
"Well firs' off the committee members took turns talking abou' why we were there" Hagrid said. "Then I go' up and did my piece and said 'ow Buckbeak was a good hippogriff. Always cleaned 'is feathers" Hagrid said. He sighed "And then Lucius Malfoy go' up and well, yeh can imagine, he said 'Buckbeak was a deadly and dangerous creature who would kill yeh as soon as he looked a' yeh" Hagrid said.
"And then?" Hermione urged on.
"And then he asked for the worst, Di'nt he" Hagrid.
"Not sacking you?" Ron asked. Hagrid chuckled stiffly.
"No I'm not sacked" He said.
"No, he didn't...he couldn't...?" I couldn't finish my sentence.
"I'm sorry Evangeline" He said. My eyes went wide. "Buckbeak's been sentenced to death!!" Hagrid cried. I gasped and tears filled my eyes.
"No" I breathed letting some fall. I felt anger boil up inside of me and my head get very hot.
"Ang...?" Harry said cautiously. I stormed off towards the castle, my hair burning ferociously.
"Where are yeh goin' Evangeline?" Hagrid called from behind. I didn't answer. I heard footsteps running after me. I stormed through the castle until I found the person I was looking for.
"How could you!!" I yelled. Malfoy turned around and gave me a questioning look.
"I'm sorry, what did I do?" He asked.
"Oh you know perfectly well what you did" I yelled at him walking towards him. "You vile-conceited-inconsiderate-filthy-little-troll!!!" I yelled at him hitting him with each word. Tears were on the verge of spilling.
"Have you gone mad?" He asked laughing. I glared at him with burning eyes.
"Buckbeak's been sentenced to death because of you!!!!!" I screamed in his face. I swear I saw a hint of guilt flash in his eyes. I pulled out my wand and aimed it at his face. He has to pay!
"Ang No!" Harry said taking my wand from me and pulling me away from Malfoy. I let the tears fall freely.
"Why don't you go home and cry to your mummy!!! Oh wait...she went and got herself killed didn't she!" Malfoy yelled and his 'friends' laughed. That hit a nerve. I took my wand from Harry and got out his grip and ran. I just ran and ran. I ran into the forbidden forest as deep as I could. I found a rock and sat on it and just let the tears fall freely. I haven't cried like this for years, I'm usually one to bottle up negative emotions rather than display them for everyone to see. So, I cried for my mother. I cried for the many times Vicki insulted me or her. I cried for all the times I've been hurt in my life, physically and emotionally. I cried for Buckbeak. Once I was all out of tears I grabbed my wand.
"Accio guitar" I said and a few moments later my guitar flew next to me. I grabbed it and started to play a song I thought summed up my feelings perfectly.

(Nobody's Home- Avril Lavigne)

What I really wanted more than anything was to be back home. Not the orphanage but home home. Back with my mother. Back to being a happily family. But like the song says nobody's home. She's dead and I have to accept that. I saw something moving in front of me. Oh god not the grim! I thought. I got up and slowly walked towards it. It wasn't. It was just a Kneazle. I had read about these in 'Fantastic beasts & where to find them' when I was studying with Hermione in the library. Kneazle's are cat like creatures with outsize ears, speckled, spotted or flecked fur and a lion's tail. They are very intelligent and independent and can occasionally be aggressive but this one was just a cub.
"Are you ok miss? You look sad" He asked me. I smiled at him.
"I'm alive" I replied. He looked sympathetic towards me. "I'm Evangeline Blackbourn"
"I'm Kaji" He said proudly. (Pronounced cah-jee) I giggled.
"Why are you sad?" He asked. I sighed.
"It's a long story" I said.
"I have time" He sat. I laughed and patted the rock next to me motioning for him to sit. I told him my whole life story. From my mother being murdered by you-know-you, getting beaten at the orphanage, finding out I was a witch, what Malfoy said, the whole lot. After a few seconds of silence he said.
"Wow sorry I asked. You don't happen to be an animagus do you?" He asked. I smiled.
"How did you know?" I asked.
"You have a...how do I put it... animal essence about you. Like you really understand us" he said. Wow, he is very intelligent...and cute!
"Well, I am an animagus" I said.
"Show me show me show me!!" He yelled, bounding around on the ground.
"ok, ok, calm down" I said and changed into a snow leopard.
"Awesome! Wanna play a game?" He asked excitedly.
"Sure" I said. "What game?"
"Hide and seek!! No how about chasey!" he suggested.
"Ok, tag you're it" I said then ran away. He chased after me. We played for ages swapping from tag to hide and seek and many other games. Now Kaji was sitting in my lap while I was patting him. He was purring.
"Kaji!! Kaji where are you?" A voice yelled from the depths of the forest.
"I'm here mum!!" He yelled back. She came out of the shadows and gasped.
"What are you doing near that!" She exclaimed, snarling slightly.
"It's okay mum she's friendly" He said hugging me. I giggled. "And besides she's been through a lot today" He added. She studied me for a moment.
"I mean you no harm" I said. "I just needed a place to get away for a while. And if it helps I'm a vegetarian"
"Mummy what's a vegetarian?" Kaji asked.
"It means we don't eat animals" I explained. Kaji's mum looked at me suspiciously.
"You can understand us?" She asked.
"Yeah" I said.
"Do you wanna meet my brothers and sisters?" He asked.
"Sure. If it's ok with your mother" I said. He turned to his mum.
"Pleeeeeeeeease!" He begged.
"I don't know" She said. Kaji kept begging. "Fine" She said. "Follow me" We walked for a while until we came to an entrance to a den. "Can you fit?" she asked.
"Don't worry mum, she's animagus" He said. I changed into my animagus form and followed her inside. I could hear faint sibling fights echoing off the walls. We walked into a larger area where a litter of cubs were play fighting.
"Mummy!" They all yelled. They greeted their mother then turned to me.
"Who's this" a little girl asked.
"That's Evangeline!" Kaji said. "She's a human" He added.
"WOW" they all said in amazement.
"Hi I'm Kiara" said a little girl.
"and I'm Astaria" said another girl.
"Kuzac" Said a boy. (Pronounced koo-zak)
"Viola" Said another girl shyly.
"Hello everyone" I said then noticed there was another little cub sitting off in the corner. He looked left out. I walked over to him. "Hi, what's your name?" I asked.
"Zayne" He said emotionlessly.
"I'm Evangeline" I said. "Why aren't you with your siblings?" I asked.
"They don't like me" He said simply.
"Nonsense, of course they do" I said. He sighed sadly.
"No they don't!" He half shouted, curling his tail tighter.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because...I was a stray. Their mother found me during a hunt and brought me here not that long ago. I don't have an actual family of my own anymore. My parents were killed" He said.
"I'm an orphan too" I said. He looked up at me. "My mum was murdered by he-who-must-not-be-named" I said. He gasped.
"No" He said.
"Yes, and I have grown up in an orphanage since the age of 4 until this very year. I know what it feels like to have no family" I explained. "But you know what?"
"What?" He asked.
"The people who love you no matter what...that's your family" I said. He smiled and hugged me and re-joined the others.
"How did you get him away from that corner? He has been there since I brought him here. Everyone here loves him just like they would if he were family" Kaji's mother asked.
"He just needed someone who understands what he's going through" I said. "Well I should probably get going. Thanks for having me" I said.
"Not a problem. My name is Asha. Come visit again sometime" She said.
"I will" I said. I ran back towards the castle. I changed back and took out my wand. "Accio Guitar" I said. I grabbed the floating guitar when it came and slowly walked through the dark castle. Godric knows what time it is. I was walking when suddenly I bumped into someone. I whipped out my wand and cast 'Lumos'
"Harry!?" I whisper/yelled.
"Evangeline!?" Harry whisper/yelled at the same time as me
"What are you doing out here?" I asked.
"I was about to ask you the same thing" He said. "Jonny has been freaking out" He said.
"Oh... I was in the forbidden forest" I said. He was about to say something but I interrupted. "Now you tell me why you're sneaking around the castle at this hour" I said. He got out the marauders map.
"I was looking at this in my dorm and then I saw a name. A name of someone I thought to be dead" He said.
"Who?" I asked.
"Peter Pettigrew" He said.
"What! That's impossible" I said as I grabbed the map from him. I looked at it and sure enough there was Peter Pettigrew's name moving around the corner. "Do you think it's like, a glitch in the map?" I asked. Harry shrugged. I looked at the map again and Pettigrew's name had disappeared but Snape's was slowly moving towards us. "Harry Snape's coming" I said. "Mischief managed" I muttered, tapping the map with my wand and handing it back to Harry. He shoved it in his pocket.
"Knox" We both said and our wands lights went out. About a second past and we were blinded with another light right in our faces.
"Potter! Blackbourn! What are two you doing wandering the corridors at night?" Snape asked coldly.
"I was sleepwalking" Harry said. He turned to me.
"Is that so? And what about you?" He asked.
"I was trying to guide him back to the common room" I said. He turned back to Harry, his wand pointed right at his face.
"How extraordinary like your father you are Potter. He too was exceedingly arrogant. Strutting about the castle" Snape sneered.
"My dad didn't strut. And nor do I" Harry said. "Now if you don't mind, I would appreciate it if you could lower your wand" Harry said. Snape glared at Harry but lowered his wand to his pocket.
"Turn out your pockets" Snape said. Harry didn't move. "Turn out your pockets" Snape repeated. Harry grabbed out the map. "What's this?" He asked.
"Spare bit of parchment" Harry said coolly.
"Really...open it" Snape said. Harry obeyed. Snape put his wand on the map.
"Reveal your secrets" He said. Words started to appear on it, spreading like veins. "Read it"
"Mr Mooney presents his compliments to professor Snape and-" Harry stopped.
"Go on" He urged.
"-and begs that he keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business" Harry finished. I grabbed the map out of his hands. It actually did say that. I read on.
"Mr Prongs agrees with Mr Mooney, and would like to add that...that Professor Snape is an ugly git" I read aloud. This would have been hysterical if the circumstances weren't so serious.
"Read on" Snape said. I gulped.
"Mr Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that even became a professor" I read. I handed the map back to Harry and he read on.
"Mr Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day and advises him to wash his hair...the slimeball" Harry read. He just glared at both of us.
"Why you insolent little-" Snape started on us but Lupin came to the rescue.
"Professor?" Lupin said. Snape turned.
"Well, well. Lupin. Out for a little walk...in the moonlight are we?" Snape said. Lupin looked over to us.
"Harry, Evangeline. You alright?" He asked. We nodded quickly.
"That remains to be seen" Snape said. He snatched the map out of Harry's hands. "I have just now confiscated a rather curious artefact from Mr Potter and Miss Blackbourn. Take a look, Lupin. It's supposed to be your area of expertise. Clearly it's full of dark magic" Snape said and handed the map to Professor Lupin. Lupin studied the map.
"I seriously doubt it Severus. It looks to me as though it's merely a parchment designed to insult anyone who tries to read it. I suspect it's a Zonko product" He said. Snape tried to snatch it back but Lupin pulled it away "Never-the-less, I shall investigate any hidden quality's it may possess. It's is after all, as you say, my area of expertise" Lupin said as he folded the map. "Harry would you come with me please. I need a word with you about your Vampires essay" He said. I could tell that was just an excuse to talk with Harry separately. "Evangeline, yours was perfect as always. Goodnight" he said then walked away with Harry leaving me there with Snape. Harry shot me an apologetic looked the vanished into the darkness.
"Oh wow look at the time I'd best be getting to bed" I said and turned to walk away.
"Not. So. Fast. Miss Blackbourn" Snape said. I slowly turned back around to face him. "I don't recall seeing you at dinner. Care to explain?" Snape said.
"I wasn't hungry" I lied.
"And why, if you were guiding Mr Potter back to the common room, are you carrying that?" He said pointing to my guitar.
"I left it out and I-" I started but Snape cut me off.
"Save your excuses Miss Blackbourn. I know what happened" He said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I heard the little conversation between Mr Malfoy and yourself" He said.
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean" I said turning to walk away but he followed. I continued walking back to the common room.
"You know exactly what I mean. I talked to Mr Malfoy. Where were you after that? " He asked.
"Alright fine. I was in the forbidden forest, playing my guitar for a while then spent the rest of the day with a family of Kneazles, satisfied?" I said.
"20 points from Gryffindor for going out of bounds and with a killer on the loose. You could have been killed" He said.
"I thought he was assigned to collect me not kill me" I muttered. Oops.
"How did you-" Snape started.
"Oh look here's the portrait. Goodnight Professor" I said then quickly spoke the password quickly and jumped in.
"Miss Blackbourn!" Snape yelled but the portrait shut behind me.
"That was close" I mumbled.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?!" Jonny yelled, hanging on a web from the archway with his arms crossed.
"I was only at the forbidden forest" I said.
"Oh the forbidden fore-THE FORBIDDEN FOREST!!! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!!" He yelled.
"But I wasn't" I said. "I'm going to bed. Night Jonny" I said. He sighed and shook his head. I kissed him on the head and went upstairs to the girls' dorm. Thankfully Hermione was asleep so I didn't get bombarded with questions. I changed into my pj's and fell asleep instantly