Chosen?

Chapter 21: Dark Marks and Broken hearts

Heads up! this is a loooong chapter, also, I'm back! 

Scorpius was still mad that I didn't obey the five-minute rule, but after I explained what happened he seemed to have calmed down some. Scorpius said that he thought I could have apparated when my watch went off no problem and that I was setting limits for myself that would just be harmful in the future.

Scorpius and I planned for the next week on what exactly we were going to do, I had a plan of my own that I didn't tell anyone just in case it worked. Scorpius was antsy and on edge all week as we mapped out our plan causing him to snap at me more than he ever had before. I had hinted to the fact that I might come out of this less than I went in and as a way of coping he started becoming distant. He wasn't distant the entire week though, only when we were planning. We still laughed and kissed and hugged like normal, but something would click in his brain as soon as we sat down to get something more productive than hiding from our families done.

I trained harder than I had before in that week, learning, casting, perfecting jinxes and hexes that weren't in my O.W.L's level yet. Scorpius had conjured a practice dummy and cast a silencing spell over the room so that no one around us would become suspicious. I learned more about my ability as a witch in that one week than I had in my entire life. I always thought I was pretty useless at spells and actual magic so I resorted to Quidditch as my comfort space, but that wasn't necessarily true, I had more ability and willpower than I thought, I just never let myself explore that area of me.

I was ready in every way except for where it mattered, courage. I was sorted into Gryffindor my first year after much debate with the sorting hat that sat upon my head.

Please, Please, Please just let me be in Gryffindor I thought to myself. The hat heard everything.

"Why do you push for Gryffindor? You would excel far beyond your years in Ravenclaw, you'd realize much more about yourself if you went into Hufflepuff," the hat whispered into my right ear.

I could almost anticipate what the hat was about to say, "You'd grow to do great things in Slytherin." My breath hitched, but I didn't know why? Albus was in Slytherin, it couldn't be that bad? The hat began to speak again, "But, you'd be pushed harder than ever before if sorted into Gryffindor," the hat paused, "Yes, quite interesting your future would be if sorted into the house of Scarlet and Gold. You'd fit right in with the rest of your family and a new friend there... but if sorted into Gryffindor, you must remember what bravery truly is. Bravery isn't the absence of fear, but determination in the face of it."

The hat had stopped talking and was silent for a moment before blurting out loudly, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The determination in the face of fear, the determination in the face of fear. I took a deep breath realizing that even if I was scared I could still be brave. I had grown up in a household with James who demonstrated bravery as being the absence of fear or strong emotion towards anything, Rose, who had often visited with Hugo, showed me that bravery was not backing down from a bet. These false facades I had grown up around made me think that my bravery wasn't good enough, forcing me to put on my brother's same nonchalant mask.

I sat down on the bed and pulled the Horcrux out of my bag, it was shining with a wicked glint. I ran my fingers over the small jewels that gave it its color and felt a new sort of bravery swell in my chest. It was different, I wasn't scared of this broach or the battle I knew I was going to face, I was scared for the people I loved. If my only motivation going into this battle was the faces of my loved ones, so be it. And, for the first time, I felt truly brave. I knew that I was ready.

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It was around eight in the morning when I woke up, I got dressed and braided my hair into two, not quite short, braids. I heard Scorpius stirring in bed while I stood in the bathroom. I nodded curtly at my reflection as if to say 'let's get a move on' and left the bathroom. I pulled on my tennis shoes and double knotted them.