found ➸ h.p.

chapter ten

Friday came upon Roxanne with flying colours, the girl so behind on her homework she thought she'd drop dead from the amount she tried to cram in before going to dinner. Her left hand was numb from how fast and furious she had been writing, her handwriting looking like a miserable mess as she looked down and let out a giant huff. The part of the table she occupied in the Great Hall was covered by books and spare pieces of parchment paper with notes covering every last inch.

The room was mostly empty except a few Hufflepuffs who were playing Wizards Chest one table over. She would occasionally hear one of them grunt in frustration, but other than that, her ears were filled with her mad scribbling or the soft pats of students' feet passing the Great Hall.

Roxanne had decided to ignore what she had been sent on Monday, shoving the necklace into the bottom of her backpack and burning the letter the moment she got back to the Ravenclaw common room. That night, she hadn't slept at all, instead watching the paper turn into ashes. She couldn't get the idea of her mother finally being free out of her head, and knew that her freedom would cause more harm than good for everyone.

The only good side of the necklace coming was that the Slytherins were being rather kind instead of their usual charming selves. Malfoy had even asked Roxanne if she needed anything to help with the shock she received. It was out of character, but Roxanne understood why they did it.

Her mother was a foul human being. She killed because she liked the feeling, the power coursing through her veins was a feeling like nothing else on this earth could give, as she had told Roxanne once. Torturing was also in her mother's arsenal, the woman lighting up as soon as the word had even been brought up.

The necklace was a symbol of her mother's lineage, and Roxanne couldn't bare the curse her family's name brought her. It would ruin her life if not destroy it all at once.

With a huff of breath, Roxanne finished the essay she was writing for Snape's class and set it aside, wiping her face with her hands as she debated what she would finish next. All she had was Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts, but she eventually decided on finishing the Charms paper first. The spell that they were doing now was like second nature to Roxanne, so the girl could fly through that assignment if she did it now.

"Roxanne! My office immediately. There's a problem I need you to help with," Dumbledore called from the entrance to the Great Hall. Her head snapped in his direction, expecting to find him standing with furrowed eyebrows and angry creases, but instead finding him with worried eyes and anxious creases in his forehead. She nodded and got up, leaving her stuff where it was since Dumbledore looked worried for once in his life.

Roxanne hurried out of the Great Hall, shoving through at least ten students to make it to Dumbledore's office in as little time as possible. She couldn't help but to think of all the possibilities of what could be wrong, and everything lead back to death. Somebody was about to die or is dead.

"Ahh, thank you for hurrying into my office. Here's your wand. You'll be needing it," Dumbledore mumbled, handing Roxanne her wand without an explanation.

"Sir, why will I be needing my wand?" she asked hotly, taking the wand and playing with it in her hands as she waited for an answer from the pacing old man.

"The Order found out that Death Eaters plan to attack a muggleborn's family in London because their child managed to take out half of the Death Eaters last war. We need your help fighting them off," Dumbledore explained, his pacing making Roxanne antsy.

"No. I'm not going to fight them again. The last time I did I got sent to Azkaban," Roxanne shook her head, turning around to leave the office with her wand in hand.