Chapter 8

        I finished my dinner and was about to get up when I heard someone call my name from behind me. I turned around and saw Neville looking at me. At first I was confused as to why he had said my name, but then I looked down and saw that he had my book that I'd lost last night.

        "You dropped this last night when I ran into you," Neville said, a little nervously. He then held it out to me. I took it from his hands and smiled

        "Thanks, Neville. I was wondering where it had gotten to,” I told him.

        I quickly left and couldn't help my smile from getting bigger and bigger as I left. He spoke to me! He actually spoke to me without me having to run into him. Yes, he was returning a book to me that I'd dropped, but he might have just left it there. Progress is progress, as I say, no matter how small.

        I decided to go the library. There wasn't much else I wanted to do yet. I was still trying to get used to the whole "fiction is now reality" thing. I started walking down the hallway, not really paying attention to my steps. I'd already got the path to the library memorized, so I just let my feet carry me as my mind stayed on Neville. Of course, I had to be snapped out of my day dreams by Goyle.

        Goyle shoved me into a wall roughly as he walked by. Oh, and you'll never guess what shoulder hit the wall. The same one I had hit yesterday. There was already a huge bruise there, and now it was going to get even bigger. I fell to the ground and Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco walked by laughing.

        I carefully used the wall to get to my feet. This time, though, I hadn't lost my book in the fall. I clutched it with my unhurt arm and glared angrily after them. There wasn't much I could do. I was outnumbered. I did, however, decide to take a different route to the library. I quickly took a side hallway and quickened my pace. Hopefully, I could escape reality for a while in peace.

        When I finally reached the library, I quickly slid into my table in the corner and started reading my book. I was immediately captured up in the magic.

        I only got to escape reality for a few minutes. Of course, Draco had found me. I had heard someone come in and glanced up quickly to see if Hermione had decided to join me. My eyes were instead forced to look upon the big bully, Draco. I stood up immediately and slipped into the shelves. I quickly went to the history section. That was usually the least visited section.

        I peaked around a corner and saw Draco still standing around, his eyes surveying the room. I quickly brought my head back around and leaned it against the shelf. I thought for a moment, and then decided that my best option was to go to the Gryffindor common room. That way, no Slytherins could bother me.

        I waited until Draco had turned his back and then quickly started making my way towards the door. As soon as the library was no longer in my view, I ran. I ran to escape. I just wanted some peace and quiet to read my book. Was that too much to ask?

        In my rush, I crashed into another student.

        "Sorry," I called behind me as the older Ravenclaw stood there looking very confused.

        I finally reached the Fat Lady and quickly said "Caput Draconis." I scrambled through the porthole and smiled. Finally, I could read in peace. Those dreams were quickly crushed when Hermione came up to me smiling. Couldn't a girl just read? Couldn't she just want to be anti-social and not talk to people?

        I really didn't want to lose Hermione as a friend, though. That wouldn't bode well for the next seven years. So instead of storming off with my book like I felt like, I smiled back at her.

        "Hi, Hermione."

        "Hi, Kendra. You seemed in quite a hurry," Hermione started.

        "Yeah, but that's just me. Never able to slow down." I forced a smile. I hope it didn't look forced. Augh, I was being really anti-social right now. I hated it when I was in one of these moods all of a sudden, but I couldn't really change it. I mentally smacked myself and said sternly, You better get in a better mood, or else. It kind of worked.

        "Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to do the Transfiguration homework together?"

        She looked so darn happy. Darn my niceness. I tried to make my smile look a little more genuine as I agreed to her homework partnership. On the bright side, we did finish the homework faster than either of us would have alone. By the time we had finished the assignment, my "mood" had passed.

        I cheerfully bade my farewell to Hermione and decided that I would take a walk through Hogwarts. I mean, it was THE Hogwarts, after all. I just wanted a chance to walk through the halls and absorb the magic. It was just all so amazing.

        I started my walk through the halls and so through the windows that the sun was still shining bright. Wow, it seemed like it had been a lot longer than just a few hours. The weather seemed pretty nice, so my route veered to walk through the grounds. I strolled across the lawn and came to a stop next to the lake. There was a nice tree and I decided to settle underneath it. I leaned against the trunk and watched the water sparkle in the sunlight.

        I always found watching nature peaceful. Just watching the water gently shimmer was calming. I sometimes just watched bodies of water or the fire in a fireplace for a half hour or so. After that, you could usually find me reading a book. Of course, most of the time I was reading.

        As I watched the soft tide of the water go in and out, I felt my eyes begin to grow heavy. Soon enough, I was drifting away.

                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        I was standing in a dark room. I couldn't see or hear anything. I tried to move, but it was as if I was paralyzed. Then, right before my eyes, the scenery changed. There was rubble everywhere. Right in the center of it all was a crater with a limp body in it. All my muscles clenched up.

        I recognized this place. I'd never been here, but I've imagined it plenty of times. Finding that I could move again, I took a few steps towards the limp body. It was exactly what I had imagined as I read the seventh book. It was the exact scene I'd seen in my head.

        It was Fred's death.

        Fred's lifeless eyes stared at me, his last smile still etched across his features. My breath caught in my throat as I knelt next to his body. Shakily, my hand started to move towards his arm. I gripped it and shook hit. Nothing happened. He was dead. This was going to happen if I didn't change things.

        What am I thinking? I don't even know if I can change small plot points, yet alone huge plot points. For all I know, there is absolutely nothing I can do. Fred could die right in front of me, and I would be helpless to stop it.

        Tears were now streaming steadily down my face. I buried my face in his chest and started sobbing, just as I had so many nights alone in my bedroom. How could I watch him die, especially when I knew it was going to happen? Seeing him die in person would be ten times worse than reading about it. I started choking on my sobs, barely getting new breathes in to keep going.

        Suddenly, I wasn't kneeling anymore. I was sitting straight up, tears still streaming down my face. Fred and George were kneeling next to me, looking really worried.

        "Are you okay, Kendra?" George asked, gently.

        I quickly tried to wipe the tears from my eyes, but they were still coming. I just couldn't stop the tears from coming. It was too terrible, what I'd just seen. I couldn't even get my voice to work. I just shook my head.

        They both glanced at each other, and then sat on either side of me. My tears kept coming, but began to slow down. Just having them there gave me comfort. Eventually my tears stopped, and I wiped the tears from my face.

        "I'm sorry, it was just a bad dream. I just dozed off and..." I trailed off. What was I supposed to say, I had a nightmare about Fred's impending doom. I shook my head again.

        "I'm fine now."

        "Are you sure?" Fred inquired.

        "Yeah, it just seemed real. It's over now, though."

        I stood up, brushing myself off. Fred and George both quickly stood up.

        "Well, if you're sure, you're probably hungry," Fred said.

        "Starving," I agreed.

        "Well, you missed dinner," George told me, "but Fred and I can get you something. Meet us back in the common room."

        I nodded, knowing they were probably going to get some food from the kitchen. I started heading back to the common room, when something hit me. I'd gotten their names right.

        I shrugged. It was probably a fluke. I was almost to the common room when a group of people moved in front of me from a side hall. I tried to move past them, but the moved with me. I looked at their faces and my heart dropped. It was Draco and his stupid goons. Honestly, I've had enough of them for one day.

        "Aw, look at that. The American's been crying. What's wrong, we didn't hurt your feelings did we?" He asked in mock concern. He and his posse pursed out laughing. I tried to move past them again, but this time I was pushed back by Crabbe. I stumbled, but kept on my feet.

        I gritted my teeth and glared at them.

        "I would greatly appreciate it if you would let me past," I said, plastering the most fake smile ever on my face.

        "Well, I suppose that's too bad, isn't it?" Draco made a signal to Crabbe and Goyle and they began to move towards me. I immediately took a few steps back. I really don't feel like getting beat up today. I turned around to run, but there was another bunch of Slytherins that were now blocking me. Great, Draco had made friends with a couple third, fourth, and fifth years. There was no way I was going to get pass them. I turned back to Crabbe and Goyle as they continued to advance steadily.

        I pulled out my wand and pointed it at them. We hadn't learned anything in class yet, but I had read about the proper execution of the Petrificus Totalus. I was really hoping it would work. Crabbe and Goyle didn't slow down, even with my wand pointed at them. I carefully aimed my wand right at Crabbe's chest and said, "Petrificus Totalus."

        That just seemed to amuse them. I didn't move my wand. I kept it pointing at him steadily and said again "Petrificus Totalus." This time, it worked. I smiled as Crabbe's legs and arms snapped together. I quickly repeated the process on Goyle and Draco. The expression on Draco's face was completely priceless.

         I quickly ran past them, but I didn't make it very far. I had just passed Draco's body on the floor when I felt myself trip. I fell hard and tried to catch myself. I felt a stinging on my palms and knew I'd probably scraped them. I rolled quickly stood back up and turned back around. The other Slytherins were now advancing on me. Great, there was no way I could take on students that much older than me. Luckily, I heard a whisper from a corridor just to the left of me.

        "Quickly, this way," the voice hissed at me. I quickly turned and ran towards them. I saw that it was one of the twins and smiled in relief. He grabbed my wrist, and we quickly ran. We didn't slow down until we reached the common room. He quickly said "Caput Draconis", and we ducked inside.

        "Thanks, I thought I was a goner," I gasped, out of breath from our sprint through the halls.

        "No problem," he smiled. "Besides, we couldn't let this feast go to waste."

        I looked behind him and saw his twin gesturing to the table next to him. It was covered with enough food to feed three of me. I smiled and dove right into the feast. When I finished, there was still some food left. Fred and George had no complaints to eating what was left.

        I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. I let out a sigh of content and slowly got up.

        "I should probably go to bed now," I said, barely holding back a yawn.

        "Thanks for everything," I told them. I turned and I was about to start up the stairs, but I hesitated. I made a decision quickly, and ran back to them. I hugged both of them tightly around the middle, and then flew up the stairs. I changed into some pajamas and snuggled into my blankets.

        I hugged Cinny tightly and closed my eyes. I was hoping for a more peaceful sleep than my nap at the lake had been. Luckily, I wasn't disappointed.