The Hogwarts Games (First Draft)

Chapter 3 - Without a Goodbye

Chapter 3 - Without a Goodbye

I woke up to someone shaking me awake. My cheeks were still damp. I must've cried myself to sleep. Through my hazy vision, I saw Arthur, still in his reaping outfit, looking at me with worried eyes.

"You okay?" he asked me with a sad smile.

"How can I be okay, Artie? My best friends are away to die." I exclaimed in fury and depression. He didn't know what to say to that and merely nodded. I looked at my hands and thought about the fact that I would have to kill to get into the school too. Shuddering, I dreaded that event. I needed to find a loophole. Glaring at the injustices of our world, I leapt to my feet and unsheathed my daggers.

"I'm going hunting." I stated blankly as though losing my friends have removed whatever emotion I had left.

"After. We're going to see Katniss and Peeta up at Justice Building." he replied, blocking me from leaving.

"We?" I questioned.

"You, me, Mother, Gale, Prim, Katniss's mother and Peeta's family." he stated back. I nodded and motioned for him to leave me alone. I was a state. My hair was damp and tangled and my eyes were bloodshot. It would be too painful to see them. It would be like opening a wound with a knife that had healed for years. An owl swooped in through my window - which was just a square hole in the wall. The owl landed on my mother's bed and looked at me expectantly as if it knew something I didn't.

"What?" I spat at it as if it knew what I was talking about. But apparently it did. He levitated and hovered over sheets of old paper resting on the floor. And suddenly I knew what to do. I smiled at the owl and began to write letters for Katniss and Peeta, explaining why I couldn't be there and how I won't be able to take care of their family. Ending the letters by wishing them the best of luck and falsely hoping to see them again, I gave the letters to the owl.

"District Twelve Justice Building. To Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark." I said to the owl. He nodded his head - something i didnt know owls could even do - and flew towards the setting sun, to the Capitol.

I watched the owl fly away before leaping onto the windowsill. I placed the daggers inside my hunting boots and leapt out of my window towards the lush forest. The shadows of the trees enveloped me. It gave me a sense of security, knowing that the animals I hunt or those that hunt me couldn't see me. I unsheathed my throwing knives, hearing the blade scratch against the rough leather in the silence of the night. It was quiet. Far too quiet. We're the animals affected by the reaping as well? I treaded lightly on the fallen leaves, not being any louder than a whisper. It was a skill I was particularly good at. Within a few minutes, I was completely still. I could here my steady, nigh on silent breathing, my heart thudding against my chest and the rustle of leaves moving against the slight breeze. Then I heard signs of sudden movement. On instinct, I ran towards it, keeping my feet noiseless and my entire being invisible against the darkness. I peer through the trees searching for helpless game. A deer grazing on berries and leaves stood innocently and oblivious to my existence. I advanced, finding a space with a direct line of sight to the deer. No trees in the way, no interruption. Once I've found a corridor with trees for walls, I aimed the knife and twisted my wrist to pull the knife back. And with one fluid movement, I launched it in the deer's direction. I waited only a few seconds before I heard the thud of the blade hitting its windpipe. Smiling at a clean kill, I approached it to make sure it stayed dead. I made a makeshift sack out of vines and thick leaves to carry it in. This would last me and my family at least a week, three days if you include Prim and Gale and their families. I returned home and rested the deer along a long, wooden table I made with Arthur. I looked at the dead carcass resting in front of me. It reminded me of what I had to do to get into Hogwarts. What was the reason behind the murder of innocent humans? I guess i'll have to settle with finding out when I arrive there. I continued to stare at the deer carcass until I realised something that could ease the burden of murder on my hands. With a remorseful sigh, I drove one of my knives into its lungs. After getting through blood arteries, bones and other horrible organs, I reached the poor animal's heart, shrivelled and without its original purpose. With a disgusted sigh, I secured the heart in a glass jar and hid it away below the wooden beams of our floor. How could the other students bear to do this with humans? I couldn't even handle it with animals I tend to eat. I washed the blood from my knife and hands and changed into a ragged shirt. A symbol of my family's continuous poverty. My mother and Artie entered the house after visiting Katniss and Peeta.

"Why did you not come with us?" my mom demanded.

"I couldn't bear to see them again. Not when I know what lies in front of them." I muttered. She sighed and sat.

"Fair enough. Now to talk about Hogwarts." she introduced. My attention was hooked immediately. I knew that there was so many things needing to be explained. Eagerly, I faced her and listened.

"You're a witch, Missy." she smiled.

"That's not a very nice thing to say!" I exclaimed, hurt.

"No. You misunderstand. Spells, enchantments, potions, for people like you all of that is real. Little Skye is from that world," she said pointing to my mini puffskein who was lounging on my bed and lifted the wooden stick from the desk. "You felt something come out of this wand. Energy. Magic. Magic that you'll be able to harness once you've gone to school. You've been doing accidental magic for ages." she explained, smiling. My thoughts flew to me mysteriously on the treetops.

"What about Artie?" I asked as I watched Arthur walk away to his room.

"A wizard that'll have to make do with what his mother has to teach him. I am a muggle - the word for non-magical folk - but your dad explained so many things to me. Things I would never forget. There's so much adventure out in the Wizarding World, Artemis." she said with so much excitement, she may have forgotten the main point.

"Then if its so great why am I going to a school of Dark Arts and Deadly Combat?!" I demanded. I couldn't process all of this.

She signed sadly. "Nineteen years ago, a young boy was destined to defeat the darkest wizard of all time. His name was Harry Potter," the name rang a bell. It triggered a memory of some story like it was from a distant past. "He was destined for such glory and responsibility, it didn't occur to him that the choice he made caused the destruction of the Wizard World."

"What was the choice?" I asked in a small, awed voice.

"You see, inside Harry was a piece of the dark wizard's soul. It was done by such horrible magic. The wizard had killed him but he was given a choice. Now that his soul was one and truly his, he could return to the mortal world or to remain dead and be with the family he never knew. He chose to remain with his family. Needless to say, because there was no one to destroy him, The Dark Wizard took over what was once a great world full of wonders and enchantments. He is now Minister for Magic and the schools are run by his followers - Death Eaters" I hung on to every word. The entire world on one boy's shoulders. No pressure there.

"Wow." I whispered. The owl I saw earlier swooped in through the door, carrying blank sheet of parchment. I recognised the material of the sheet. My mom grabbed a pen and sent a letter back to Hogwarts, explaining that I would be going and not my brother.

"Mom?" I asked, picking up Skye the Pygmy Puff. It was the first time I had used the word in such a vulnerable voice. She looked at me to recognise that I was talking. "How am I supposed to get through years of evil school?" I asked worriedly. She sighed and approached our tribute altar to Dad. She lifted the wooden box with a velvet cushion and presented it to me.

"What-?" I had begun to ask but she silenced me with a look that told me to immediately shut up. She took a knife from my sleeve and cut the velvet cushion away from the box. I couldn't understand what was going on. Was the velvet magic? I looked into the box and at the bottom was a necklace with a golden coin at the end. Mother took the necklace out and placed it around my neck.

"What's this for?" I asked, mystified. We had this gold coin in a box that we could have sold for food. Must be quite important if she had to hide it away so we don't spend it.

"Use it whenever you feel alone. Help will come." she replied as she began to walk away.

"What? How?" I asked again. It's a coin. A possibly magic coin but how was that meant to help me? I never received a reply as she started to cook the squirrel meat for dinner. I guess I'll have to find out.

It's amazing. An entire world full of wizards, witches, spells and potions and people have been oblivious to what has happened all this time.

"Where is Hogwarts?" I asked. My mind was full of unanswered questions.

"Somewhere in Britain, near Dufftown." she replied ever so casually. Britain?! I'll never be able to see my family. I wouldn't be able to see Prim hold up strong so she could take care of her mother. I'll never see my brother grow to be a responsible person that everyone - especially me - now expect him to be.

Everything's changing. And it doesn't feel right.

(A.N: Edited on 5th April, 2012)