Just wanted to add a quick note here that I'm trying to be realistic & since Caoimhe just became friends with the trio & Ginny, they're not going to tell her everything such as the Harry and Voldemort connection. Just if you were wondering.

Chapter Seven: Secrets and More Secrets

I could not wait to get back to Hogwarts. When I woke up the next morning, all of Colm's friends were gone and the house was spotless as if it never even happened. I told Colm I could get to the train by myself, so he simply said 'goodbye' to me. The second I got there I looked around for any of my friends. "Riley," came the voice of Draco Malfoy as he approached me. I knew he would have a ton of questions for me. "What happened the other-"

"Caoimhe there you are," Ron said walking up to me with a wide smile. He eyed Draco and then looked back at me."Good holiday with your aunt in Sweden?" Draco's face lit up in a wide smirk when I turned and looked at him. He knew I didn't go to Sweden. I only prayed he would keep his mouth shut. "What are you waiting for Malfoy?" Ron sneered.

"Yeah Sweden was brilliant," I said quickly not breaking eye contact with Draco. 

"Oh nothing," Draco said with an amused expression. He looked at me once more with a smug smile and slowly walked off. 

"Strange git," Ron muttered as he walked off. "Be careful of him," Ron warned. "His father is a Death Eater, Harry saw him when, you know, Cedric was killed." Hermione had actually mentioned that to me a while ago, when she caught Draco teasing me in the hallway. She said the same thing, to be careful of him. "Anyway, we have a compartment if you want to sit with us." I followed Ron back to the compartment and prayed that Draco didn't make any surprise 'visits'. That would be difficult to explain. Everyone was in the compartment that rode with us on the way to Hogwarts this year. 

They didn't say much about their break either, just that it was quiet and simple. I found that surprising, but then again they had a hectic start to their break with Mr. Weasley going to the hospital. I thanked Ron again for the treats. Harry seemed distracted and somewhat angry. His break probably didn't go too well. There were even more Daily Prophet articles about him over break. Poor Harry.

Classes had resumed the following day. It was easy to get right back into school zone for me. I was heading off to class early and was the only one in the hall until, with my luck, Draco Malfoy was walking my way. "Just the person I wanted to see," he said when he saw me. He got closer and came to a stop. "Why did you lie to Weasley?"

"I'm not in the mood right now," I said trying to walk around him. He stepped in front of me again.

"Why did you lie to Weasley?" he repeated. I didn't say anything. "If you want, I will go ask him." Just what I was afraid of, and I wouldn't put it past Draco to do it.

"Fine," I groaned. "Yes I lied, happy? I just didn't want him to know that I was staying with my brother and his friends." Draco looked at me curiously.

"Yeah those guys did seem a bit weird," Draco agreed. He paused and looked at me once more. "You lie a lot." I know, it was becoming a bad habbit of mine that I didn't need him pointing out. "Why were you staying with them anyway?" I hated talking about my personal life, but Draco already knew I was lying about everything. 

"Because my brother is my guardian," I said as I passed him. Draco already knew enough, if he was going to tell people he already would have. For some reason, I felt like I could almost trust him not to tell anyone. What else would he have to hold against me?

The week passed on like any other week yet there were a few surprises. Rita Skeeter actually wrote a nice article about Harry and how she believes that the Dark Lord had returned. Luna's father also published one as well in the Quibbler. But not long after, all newspapers and magazines were banned from Hogwarts. No surprise there. Umbridge was becoming a complete dictator. We had a few more lessons with Dumbledore's Army and began learning new charms. Ron was usually my partner in class since he always asked me to pair up with him. Hermione and I continued studying together for her O.W.L.'s. At least Draco stopped asking me questions, sort of, he mainly went back to teasing me. One of the things he kept bringing up was that he was wrong about Potter being my boyfriend and how he hadn't realized it was Weasley all along. Ron was just my friend, so I shook it off. The next week Trelawney was fired from being a Professor here. 

One night when I was sitting up in my room. I finished reading one of the banned books I had bought from Dark Tales. I made sure to hide them in a charmed compartment in my trunk. I wouldn't put it past Umbridge to do a dormitory search. Doing a double take, I opened up my trunk and then pulled the latch to the secret compartment. Dropping the book in, I reached down into the latch and grabbed another one. When I pulled it out, I didn't recognize it. This wasn't one of mine, but it came from my closet.

It was smaller than usual with emerald green leather. It looked very old as it was covered in dust. When I opened it up the first page said Property of Bronagh Dubhán, my mother, this was her's. My face lit up in excitment as I rushed over to my bed to sit down and read. As I flipped through the pages I realized it was completely handwritten. It must have been a diary of hers. It was extremely thick as well. I looked at the date in the corner of the first entry. September first, 1972. Right around when the first Wizarding War was happening.

My mother wrote all about her first day at Hogwarts, how she was sorted into Slytherin, and how proud her parents would be. She even wrote about the friends she was beginning to make. I sat down in my bed and decided to skip dinner tonight. I wanted to catch up on as much as I could. My mother never told me about her life at Hogwarts. I was interested to see what her life was like, the thought of her made me miss her all the more. Her first year sounded like any normal first year's life, she made friends and wrote about her classes. I wonder why she told me she had regrets?

I was starting to get tired. I made it all the way to the end of her first year. It went just like mine did, she had Slytherin friends and even a few in other houses. My eyes were getting heavy and I had homework to finish but I had to keep reading. She wrote a lot about her summer and how her parents seemed nervous about something. It must have been signs of the First Wizarding War becuase I knew it began around that time. Both of her parents worked for the Ministry and tried to stay out of drama. As I was about to start reading about her second year, the door opened. "What are you reading?" Luna asked curiously, "You missed dinner, so I brought you up some food just in case." She placed the chicken, rice, and bread on my side table.

"Thank you Luna," I said smiling up at her. That was sweet. "I'm just reading an old journal. I had a lot of homework to catch up on as well." She nodded.

"Well I'm going to get ready for bed," she said stepping back out of the room. I shut the book and put it back in my hidden compartment. As much as I wanted to read the whole book in one night, I didn't want to rush it. It made me feel more connected to her by reading about her childhood. 

The next day we had another Dumbledore's Army session in the afternoon. Umbridge was coming up with all sorts of ridiculous decrees and having Filch plaster them all over the walls. Some of them were absolutely mad. At least here we could escape from it all. "Alright now today we will be working on Patronus charms," Harry announced. There was a murmur of excitment in the room. "Now don't be discouraged if you don't get it the first time. Simply producing an orb of light is good progress."

Most people weren't getting anywhere with theirs, the first to actually produce any lights was Hermione and Ginny. "Focus on your strongest memory," Harry said to us all. "Think of the happiest moment in your life." I didn't know what to think of. I had minor happy moments, but never anything drastic. This was useless.

Finally Ron got a bit of light. "Wow," I said impressed and he blushed a little. I smiled, I never took Ron as being shy about his accomplishments. By the end of the class almost everyone had managed to produce some sort of light, all except me. 

"Don't worry about it Caoimhe," Harry said putting a quick hand on my shoulder. "It's difficult. Is it the memory you're struggling with?" I nodded and then I noticed Ron in the back looking between the two of us but shortly he walked away. "It was hard for me at first, but once you find something strong you'll do it, I know you will."

"Thanks Harry," I said with a smile and then went back to my dorm.

Again I was going to skip the feast but Luna promised to bring something back for me. Tonight I would start reading about her second year. It started off as the first year did, simply just about classes and her friends, but then I saw the name Riley. Lorcan Riley. The only thing I had known about my father was his name. Other than that, I knew nothing. I had no idea she met him in second year. I carefully read each word.

Today in the common room as I was already having a difficult time studying, an older fifth year boy sat down at the table as well. Lorcan Riley was his name. I recognized him right away. He was one of the most well-known students here. His family was very powerful and possibly involved with You-Know-Who. I have heard bad things about him as well, that he was involved himself. He even looked the part. When he caught me looking over at him I was completely intimidated and looked back down at my book. Strangely, he asked my name and what class I was studying for. After that, he left and my friends rushed over to me in jealously. Despite his bad reputation, all girls were some what interested in Lorcan. I couldn't believe he talked to me. Hopefully he would talk to me again.

Was it true what she wrote, that my father was possibly involved with You-Know-Who? I shook my head, no way. My mother told me that my father left us behind because he was no longer happy. Then I thought of the strange comment Colm made, about my mother possibly lying about my father disappearing. I had to keep reading, even if it meant rushing through her years.

By the end of second year not much happened, besides my mother's massively growing crush on Lorcan Riley. She kept writing about how she was trying to get his attention even though he was much older and a lot of girls were after him. I noticed she began pinning clips from the Daily Prophet, dated 1973, inside her journal. They were all articles on the disappearances of people and interference in the muggle world. It sort of sounds like what is happening now, how scary.

Immediately I went to her third year. This was where she seemed...different. The way it was written didn't sound like her. It sounded like Maeve. It wasn't how I imagined my sweet mother to be. She wrote badly about the other houses, which was shocking because she told me how excited she was I was in Ravenclaw. She wrote badly about students as well, the professors, and surprisingly Dumbledore.

Lorcan is completely right, that old man has no idea what he is doing. Lorcan has been saying we are in need of a new Headmaster and I agree. Dumbledore is always acting suspicious around him and it's very unneccesary. He needs to mind his own business that man.

The mother I knew liked Dumbledore. I had absolutely no idea what was going on anymore! I almost didn't want to keep reading, but I had to remember that she changed into a better person in the end. She wrote about the pranks she pulled on students and how she could careless about classes. All that seemed to matter to her and her terrible friends was following Lorcan around. The summer after, she wrote about her parents not understanding her. They didn't let her venture off with her friends alone. It made sense to me for them to keep her home because of the war, but in her point of view they were holding her prisoner. She began hating them and their rules. She snuck off a lot, which kept landing her in trouble. They were always trying to ground her but she kept defying them.

When her fourth year came around, it was Lorcan's seventh year. By now she was totally head over heels for him, but he didn't seem to into her. She wrote about how other girls were all over him and that he never settled for one. My father didn't sound like a good person at all. How did she even end up with him? At one point she eventually kissed him, but she was furious the next day when she saw him with someone else. She wanted to do something to catch his attention.

I felt like I was reading about another person's life. This couldn't have been my mother! This was nothing I ever imagined. I knew she had regrets, but not to the extent where she was one of the school's largest bullies. No wonder witches and wizards her age seemed resentful to her. But where was the line drawn? I was almost too afraid to find out. I put the book down to take a break from it, still surprised at everything I had read.

There will be more on her mother's past, it will play an important part in the story but I don't want to give it all away in one chapter