CHAPTER SEVEN:
BADASS AMY

€

      Weeks had passed since the meeting at the Hog's Head. Amandla hadn't seen anymore of Harry, Ron, and Hermione (though she desperately wished she had seen the girl) and she had spent all of her time with her two friends or alone. She didn't feel like going to the library in fear of seeing anyone in Slytherin (though it wasn't likely, they usually were never there) and she never dared spend time in the courtyard, where she used to read a lot in her free time.

    Draco was always there. He was always there with his friends, laughing about whatever they wanted to and sneering at other children as they passed. She always hated seeing it, and often asked him to be kinder, and he would lie to her face, say he would change, but he never did. Yet, even though he so blatantly lied to her face, Amandla couldn't find it in herself to hold any anger against him.

    Even then, with his words still cutting and leaving scars inside her, she held no anger for him. No, she was mostly sad, losing the last bit of family she felt she had. She loved her aunt and uncle, and she was in their debt for saving her and bringing her to the Statures, but ever since last year at the graveyard, she knew that she could never fully trust them again. In her bones, Amandla knew that her Uncle Lucius was there. She knew that he was there at the graveyard, supporting the man that was the indirect cause for her parents' deaths.

    And it was an awful reason for her to harbor distrust inside. She knew that, if her parents hadn't ran away, she would be just like him. She would be waiting to support that man and all of his awfulness without a verbal complaint. But she wasn't. Her parents were dead and even though they knew about her, she was still safe until winter break (which was approaching too fast for her liking). No, she was safe either way, she would hide forever so that she could be different from them.

    But either way, she had been avoiding everyone. She had been avoiding the real world and locking herself into a dream by herself. Amandla had stayed in her dorm room any waking moment that she could, sitting on the window sill and reading books to keep her distracted from thinking of her own life. Any alternate reality in books was better than her own.

    And it wasn't long before her recluse life had to come to an end. The Gryffindor versus Slytherin match was that day, much to her displeasure. She hated that her friends were dragging her to the match, even though she made it perfectly clear that she didn't want to go.

    ("You need to go, get some sunlight and vitamin C," Cevira begged, "I mean, I don't want you to start burning from the sight of it.)

    ("Vampires do that, I'm not a vampire," Amandla shook her head.)

    ("You're going to turn into one if you don't come to the match," Cevira gave her a pointed look.)

    And even though she didn't want to be there, for more reasons than one, she walked with Corey and Cevira in silence, just doing what they wanted her to do. Draco was on the team. He was on the Slytherin team and he was going to be there, playing, and she was going to have to face him. Even if it wouldn't exactly be that, meeting him, she was still going to have to put on a brave face and pretend like she didn't want to cry at the thought of him.

    She used to support the Slytherin team. She would wear the colors of a different team, whoever they were playing, but have something green hidden away. Whether it be her shirt, her bra, or her socks – some article clothing she wore was green. But that day, there was no green hidden, there was no supporting that team in secret because of what Draco did to her. And that was stupid, incredibly stupid, but she did it anyways.

    Finding a place on the stands, Amandla squinted to see, only finding Caesar quite close to them sporting a red scarf. She wasn't hurt at the sight of him, but she knew that Cevira would be. He hadn't tried talking to them since Hogsmeade, and even though it didn't end up good, Cevira still wished that he would talk to them.

    As the game started, Amandla didn't pay much attention to what was happening, far too interested in the people in the stands. There was Hermione Granger, yelling and cheering as loud as she could, the Fitzgerald girl was sure that soon her voice would become coarse, and that would be a sexy sound.

    Stop, Amandla, don't think like that! she reprimanded herself. It was easy to forget that Hermione didn't feel the same since, in her dreams, they were the perfect couple. They were happy in her dreams, there was no war looming and she wasn't just the sad girl who fooled herself into thinking that Hermione cared. No, in her wonderful dreams, they were together and happy, and Hermione loved her completely. But that was a dream, a dream that would never become a reality.

    "I can't believe Slytherin is actually winning," Corey rolled his eyes, breaking Amandla from her thoughts. He cupped his mouth, yelling, "Come on, Gryffindor, you can do better!"

    Cevira giggled and Amandla gave a fake smile. She had to pretend that everything was alright. As she was about to check the score, checking to see if Corey was correct, Lee Jordan announced, "...and Slytherin is up forty to ten. Alica with the quaffle!"

    Amandla tried to get a view of the match, but seeing many other people who were taller than her had better seats, all she got a view of was the back of their heads. She was sad, actually loving the game, but partially happy that she didn't have the possibility of seeing Draco.

    With only her ears to help her with what was happening, she strained them to listening to everything. Though, she didn't find anything from Lee Jordan or helpful fans commentating the match. No, she found Slytherins chanting something that made her blood boil.

    "Weasley is our King, Weasley is our King, He always lets the Quaffle in, Weasley is our King!"

    Amandla balled her hands into fists, hating how rude they were being. How could they be so rude? So what if they wanted to win, couldn't they just cheer on their team like everyone else? No, she had to remind herself that it was Slytherin, and they always had to above and beyond to get the reaction they wanted out of people – anger. The little gits they were.

    She froze then. That thought – that thought – how could she think that? Never once in her life had Amandla thought that of anyone, not even Voldemort himself. It wasn't in her blood to be that mean. No, it was, she just never let it take control. But she couldn't help it in that moment, it consumed her and she just had to let it out, and she hated that. She hated that this anger resided in her, but she hated herself more for letting it out. It wasn't even that bad, it was no malicious thought against them, but it was bad enough for her, someone who never had that anger in her before.

    "Another ten points to Slytherin," Lee Jordan, a little sadness in his voice, announced, "The score is now fifty-ten in favor of Slytherin."

    Groans from Gryffindor and its supporters rang, even Amandla let out that small sound. Even she didn't want Slytherin to win anymore, a newfound hatred for them taking over. No, not hatred, but vendetta against them because of her stupid cousin who didn't know that he was her anchor holding her in place.

    Then she heard cheers, and a very happy and cheerful Lee Jordan announcing that Harry Potter had caught the Snitch. Amandla broke out into a smile at that, letting out a small 'woo' compared to the others yelling. It was a good game after all, Gryffindor winning yet another match because of their amazing Seeker.

    And as the cheers rang, the meaty Crabbe and Goyle wacked him with a club and Harry slumped to the ground. Amandla was fast to react to this, running down to the Pitch with Hermione, though she didn't look at the girl.

    "Harry, are you all right?" Hermione sat him up, her eyes wide with sympathy.

    "I think he'll be fine, Hermione," Amandla smiled at her, "I don't think he's bleeding any."

    With the help of Fred and George, Harry was at his fight again, a look of pain on his face that he was trying to fight off. And, as it was just their luck, Draco came over.

    "Bet you loved that, Potter! Saved Weasley's neck, didn't you?" He sneered, but everyone ignored him. Not finding that pleasing, he continued, "I've never seen a worse Keeper! Maybe we should add some more verses to our little song. About his filthy mother!"

    One of the twins tried to leap at Draco, but Harry and his twin held him back. Amandla didn't even react in anger, only staring at him with sadness, trying not to cry as she looked at him. That wasn't the boy she grew up with, that was the façade he put on in public, but not with her. But now that they weren't exactly close, and Draco didn't want her, she couldn't think like that. Now, she had pretend that she only knew this version, not the kind one with a big heart who just wanted to be free from everything Slytherin.

    Memories flooded in her head of the old Draco she knew. How he used to chase butterflies in the garden, pouting when he couldn't catch one and Amandla giving him a hug to comfort him. Her Aunt Narcissa would make them a cup of tea to cheer him up, and when that didn't work, Amandla would take him back outside and play tag with him, something that would continue playing for hours until someone told them that it was getting too late and they had to come inside for dinner. That was the innocent Draco, that was the Draco she grew up with and loved, but now she saw the side of him that she hated – the side of him that was like everyone else in Slytherin with their chants that broke people down and hexes that made people fear them.

    "And his pathetic loser of a father too!" Draco laughed on, and the other twin tried to charge at Draco, other Gryffindors restraining him.

    Amandla felt something in her blood telling her to fight back against him, but she couldn't find the will to.

    "But then, you like the Weasleys, don't you? How can you stand the stink? I guess it reminds you of your own dear mother!" he laughed on.

    Harry, with new found rage, ran full charge at Draco, crushing his fist again Draco's jaw. There was no restraining Potter anymore, not that anyone actually wanted to after everything he had said. Harry continued to hit Draco, all his anger flooding into his fists and colliding with Draco's face.

    "Impedimenta!" Madam Hooch roared, blasting Harry and George (who had joined Harry with hitting Draco), knocking them off the Slytherin boy.

    McGonagall as well stormed onto the pitch, yelling, "What on earth do you two think you're doing?"

    Harry didn't answer, only getting back on his feet and charging for Draco again, but Amandla blocked them. She pushed him back. "Don't, Harry, he's not worth. If you keep hitting him, you'll be just as bad as Malfoy."

    She then turned to Draco, a bitter taste in her mouth as she looked at him, "And at least my mother, with her bones in a grave, smells better than your own."

    They all looked at her in shock. It was uncommon for Hufflepuffs to fight back, but Draco probably had the worst reaction. This girl, this girl he grew up with, was no longer that girl. She was different, angrier, and couldn't help but feel like it was all his fault.

    McGonagall looked at them, more specifically Harry and George. "My office. Now." And that was the end of it.

    Amandla walked back to her friends, who were looking at her with a shocked expression, and she couldn't but feel a little bit more powerful.

    "Oh my Merlin, Amy, you are such a badass! Standing up to Malfoy like that!" Corey praised, "I mean, did you see his face? He was just as shocked as we are!"

    "I know," Amandla laughed, finally feeling good for the first time since Draco left, "I feel amazing."

    "I mean, I didn't even know you had that in you! Like, that was a total surprise! I am surprised, but a little turned on," Corey laughed.

    "One, ew. That's disgusting, Cor, you shouldn't admit that out loud," Cevira told him, disgust painted on her face, "And second, she always had it in her, little Copernicus, she used to be this pool of fire when we were younger. I always knew that she would burst, just didn't know it would be at Malfoy."

    Corey rolled his eyes, "She knows that I would never do anything with her, Cev. She likes girls and I like guys, much like you, and how many times do I have to tell you to call me Corey!"

    The Stature girl shrugged, "I don't know. Copernicus is just such a cute name, I love it."

    "Well then you can keep it," Corey decided, "I'll be Cevira now and you'll be Copernicus."

    She made another face of disgust and shook her head, "It's cute for you, I'll just stick with Cevira."

    "Aw man, I finally thought I was going to get rid of that name," he smiled, "I mean, Luna's name is adorable, but mine is Copernicus. I mean, who wants that name?"

    "Apparently, your parents," Cevira giggled. Corey rolled his eyes and gently elbowed her, and Amandla couldn't think of anywhere else she'd want to be.

    Her books may have been good and helpful, with worlds she could only dream of being a part of, but nothing beat this. Nothing beat her friends there, laughing at bickering with each other. They were so carefree, so light, and she loved it. She loved their talks, their jokes, and their ways of cheering her up.

    Blood may be thicker than water, and family might as well be bound to you, but friends were the family that people chose. The people that cheered Amandla up, who chose to stick by her. They weren't forced to love her, they didn't have to protect her or always be there, they chose to. They wanted to be there for her, they wanted to be there every step of the way and cheer her up when times were hard.

    Corey and Cevira were her family that she chose. They were the people who she chose to spend time with because they made her happy and didn't come with this darkness around them, and they chose her in return for some reason. They wanted her and she wanted them. They were a family that could never be separated, a family that brought each other up and was always there in times of need. She would do anything for them, and they would do anything for her. Nothing could tear them apart.

    Her friends, those two beautiful idiots, stuck by her through everything. Through all the times she cried because she didn't think she was smart enough, the times she thought her parents wouldn't be proud of her, and her trying to figure out her sexuality.

    That was a hard time in her life. She never thought of herself being gay, never thought that was her, and that's why she felt so conflicted and wrong when she found Hermione Granger in all her beauty. She felt like they would cast her away, she wanted to deny all the things that Hermione's smile made her feel, but they accepted her. They loved her, and they were there for her when she began to realize that she liked girls instead of boys.

    In return, she was there for them. She was there for Cevira when her family casted her out, made her feel like she wasn't worth their love. She was there for Corey when he began to question his own sexuality, finding that he would be open to anyone, no matter the gender they identified with. And together, as a trio, they found out about pansexuality, and Corey found that he was that. Labels didn't matter for their group, they didn't call Amandla a lesbian or Cevira straight, or Corey a pansexual boy. No, they called each other friends. They didn't let their sexualities define them.

    And that's why she always felt free with them. Amandla felt like herself in every way around them. She didn't think of herself as a liar when she was at the Stature household, pretending to be the perfect daughter that Anastasia Stature wanted. And she didn't pretend that she wasn't Amandla Fitzgerald like at the Hog's Head. No, with them, she was Amandla. She was Amandla who liked Hermione Granger and reading, and who was bloody awful at Potions and didn't care for Transfiguration. She was just herself, so completely herself, and it was then that it dawned her that she wasn't that Amandla with Draco.

    No, with Draco she felt trapped. He was her in another life, a life where her parents didn't die and she was Slytherin. She thought of the what ifs with him, she thought about the times when everything was better. She wasn't just Amandla, she was a lie. She pretended to be happy around him whenever she could because they couldn't have pity parties together. But lately, it was only pity parties with the two.

    No, she wasn't free with her own cousin. She wasn't free with him, she was free with her friends. And that was something new. Draco was her anchor, grounding her but also anchoring her to the past she wanted to forget. Anchoring her to a clan that she didn't want to be a part of. And without him, she felt like maybe she wasn't anchored to them.

    And Amandla realized, she didn't feel a suffocating weight on her chest anymore, with no ties to the Death Eaters. No, at that moment, she was Amandla, nothing else. And that was a nice feeling.