The Last Nyxen

It was coming closer to the end of the month and that meant it was almost our birthdays. Technically, my birthday was tomorrow while his was in two days. I never got anything for his birthday but I knew he didn’t get me anything so I didn’t fell all that horrible. Maybe just a little, though.

For that period of time, ever since Harry and I went down to the common room, I’ve been hiding in the dorm room. Whatever happened that night was supposed to be forgotten. We didn’t do anything wrong but I just felt like it shouldn’t have happened. We couldn’t get closer, we just can’t. There was something in my stomach that told me we shouldn’t get closer.

‘It’s too dangerous for you,” the calming voice in my head said. I looked around the room for an unknown reason seeing as I already knew where it came from.

“Dorthey,” I screamed in delight. I slapped a hand over my mouth as my eyes became wide. I kind of said that a little too loudly. I took my hand off my mouth and stayed silent. I was checking to see if Harry had heard anything. After a couple of minutes of quietness from downstairs I started talking again. But not out loud any more. ‘Dorthey,’ I said again, only this time in my head.

‘Hello, dear,’ Dorthey said. She sounded tired and exhausted. She sounded worn out and not herself.

‘Um, Dorthey,’ I said, uncertainty clearly evident in my voice. I heard her make a small noise before I continued. ‘What happened to you? You just disappeared from me.’

It was quiet for awhile before Dorthey said anything. ‘I had to go on a little trip.’ I thought about that. She had to go on a little trip? Couldn’t she still communicate with me, though?

‘But that’s not why I’m here,’ Dorthey said. I sighed. There was always something wrong. ‘Don’t get too close to Harry Potter.’

I scoffed. Like I actually wanted to be close to him. Or maybe that was a lie. ‘That’s very funny Dorthey. Me and him, well, there’s always something between us.’ I started playing the tips of my fingers as I thought about the face Dorthey would be making. She would probably be looking at me with curiosity. ‘I know it’s only been two weeks and I’m supposed to hate him, but I can’t. When we try and get close, though, we become distant.’

Dorthey sighed. ‘It’s for the best, Brooklyn,’ she stated. I was confused. And if she was in front of me I would have given her a look of confusion.

‘Why?’ I asked, bewildered at the statement. ‘Why is it for the best? Are you the one doing this?’ I accused.

‘No, no, no, no,’ she said. ‘What’s happening between you and Harry is clearly up to you.’ This was confusing me big time. I had no idea what she was talking about anymore. ‘Just,’ she started. If I could picture Dorthey right now, I would be imaging her looking down not being able to look right at me. I could tell because her voice suddenly sounded like she struggling to form words. ‘Just, try and keep your distance from him. Please,’ she begged. I was about to say something but she started fading away. My mind started becoming lighter as I felt the weight of her energy vanish.

I fell back into my bed in exhaustion. I never realized how much energy talking to her
took. How could I not realize it before?

That conversation kept echoing in mind. Honestly, I wanted to stay away from him. But, I just couldn’t. I groaned as I put my hands over face. I had to live with him, alone, for an extra month. Maybe I could do it.

I knew I couldn’t come down tomorrow. What was the point? Now, the next day after that, well, that was going to be tricky. I could come down on his birthday without any harm being done. I just didn’t get why Dorthey didn’t want me to get close to Harry. July 31st will indeed bring surprises for me. I know it.

On my birthday, I stayed in my room. I didn’t go outside at all. All I did was kept replaying Dorthey’s conversation in my mind. It was like a video tape stuck in the VCR, rewind and then playing, over and over again. I had no control over it. Her words were deep in my mind now. There was no way I could get them out.

At one point that day, I heard a voice mutter something and a set of heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. They stopped once they reached the door to the room I was in, but that was it. There was no knock and he never said anything. I was half hoping Harry would barge in, yelling at me. Then my brain started thinking about Dorthey’s words, replaying in my mind yet again. They just kept repeating themselves as I wrapped my body with the covers of my bed. I curled up in a ball, shutting my eyes, trying to get rid of them. There was no use. They haunted me and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go downstairs for Harry’s birthday tomorrow.

Harry didn’t deserve that, though. He needed at least one friend, er, acquaintance with him on his birthday. And that’s what I did.

The following day, I got up out of bed and slowly descended the stairs to get to the common room. I was half way down when I saw a figure sitting on an arm chair across from the fireplace with their head in their hands. It was, of course, Harry who was sitting there. He looked stressed, ready to pull out his hairs. I took another step down before he turned to look at me, his eyes glowing in relief. He got up from the arm chair and ran towards the girl’s staircase. He took a couple of steps up before the staircase turned into a slide making both me and Harry fall down. When we landed on the cold floor of the common room I sat up and began laughing.

“What happened?” I was still laughing, not being able to control it. I had to admit, it was pretty fun.

“When a guy steps foot on the girl’s staircase, they immediately are transfigured into a slide,” he explained, starting to laugh along with me. I was still laughing but looked at him with a confused stare. “The four founders didn’t trust boys enough.” I gave him a nod, signaling I understood.

My laugh began to die down and I looked at him. “Happy Birthday, Harry.” I spoke so softly but I knew he understood me. He looked at me too.

“Happy Birthday to you too, Brooklyn,” he said. He started leaning in towards me. I saw him open his arms getting ready to hug me. Everything was in slow motion as I quickly jumped up from the ground.

“Thanks,” I said quickly, dusting off my jeans in the process. I walked over to the fireplace and sat down in front of it. I heard Harry get up from the floor and make his way over to the arm chair he was just sitting on. “I’m sorry, Harry,” I said after a moment of silence. “I didn’t get you anything for your birthday. I was, but then that Draco incident happened and all of my plans were ruined.”

“Don’t worry,” Harry said. “I actually didn’t get you anything either. I was going to, though,” he said, quickly. “But then I saw you run towards that alley.”

I let out a sigh of relief. I didn’t have to feel bad anymore. “So what did you get?” I asked him, wrapping my arms around my legs and placing my chin on top of my knees. I could feel Harry staring at me, burning a hole through my neck. I shivered, tightening m grip around my legs.

“I got a knitted sweater from Mrs. Weasley, a book on Quidditch from Hermione, candy from Ron, jokes and pranks from Fred and George, a birthday cake from Sirius, and a series of books from Lupin,” Harry said, looking into the fire. His voice was distant and it seemed he wasn’t paying much attention. “Oh, and Britt gave me an action figure.”

My head shot up and I looked at him, a brow raised. “Who’s Britt?”

It took a moment before Harry spoke up. He seemed so concentrated. “She was one of Cho’s, um, nicer friends.”

I giggled a little before resting my chin on my knees again. “An action figure,” I muttered. That was a funny present to give.

“Oh,” Harry exclaimed, turning his head towards me. “You have presents too!” He got up from the chair and rushed to a corner of the common room. He came back with a few presents tucked under his arms.

I looked at him surprised. I never thought I would have gotten presents. I honestly thought I wouldn’t get any. Harry placed the presents in front of me and sat back down on the chair. I took them and immediately started unwrapping each of them. Pure joy was all I was feeling at the moment. Joy and thankfulness. I was thankful for everything that’s happened to me in the past month. Well, some of it. But I was still thankful. I got a blue, knitted scarf from Mrs. Weasley, Hogwarts, a History from Hermione, and candy from Ron too. It was only a few but I was still glad. Plus, I had candy so I was pretty excited about that.

I started picking up the wrapping paper when I noticed a small box under the paper. I picked it up and read the tag that was attached to. It had my name on it, but that was it. It was a fairy small box, covered in blue velvet. I opened it and gasped. Inside, was a sterling silver necklace with a light blue crystal shaped into a heart and with much smaller diamonds outlining the heart. I looked up at Harry to see him looking at the necklace.

“That’s a very pretty necklace, Brooklyn.” His voice seemed unfazed yet there was a hint of excitement.

I gave no notice in it, though. “It’s beautiful.” I sighed with admiration. “I wonder who gave it to me.” I looked back at the necklace but not before seeing Harry shrug and look away from me. I ran my fingers around the necklace, feeling the bumpy textures of the small diamonds but feeling the smoothness of the crystal itself. It was indeed, a beautiful necklace. I just wondered who would give me such a necklace.

Without another word from either one of us, I grabbed my presents and took them up to the room. I placed them on the nightstand next to my bed and sat down. I took the necklace out of the box it was in and stared at it. It seemed familiar to me, like I’ve seen it before. I don’t think I have, though. If I did, it probably would have been on some random person I’ve seen on the streets. I unclasped it and put it around my neck, clasping it back. I looked into the mirror to see it sparkle in the sun coming in through the window.

I fell back into my bed thinking about all the events that happened so far. I started thinking about Dorthey, and our conversations we’ve had too. That’s when I realized something. Why did I have to listen to her? I could get close to Harry if I wanted to. Well, close enough. I didn’t need her telling me what to do. I was going to talk to Harry and spend time with him. It was a crime at all and she didn’t know any better.

I got up from my bed and darted downstairs. Harry was still sitting on the chair, gazing into the fire. I ran to him, placing my hands on his shoulders, my face getting close to his. “Harry!” I yelled, causing him to jump up on the seat. He looked startled as he faced me. “Can you show me around Hogwarts?” I asked, innocently.

His face seemed to have light up because he smiled and nodded his head. “Sure,” he said. “Let’s start right now. It’s a really big castle.” He grabbed my hand and rose up from his seat. He dashed out the common room, me behind him trying to keep my breath since he was still holding on to me and since he was a fast runner.

It took us exactly one week to explore Hogwarts. It was a pretty big school, to say the least. In that week we did get closer, seeing as how we were each other’s company, and even though I told myself I wasn’t going to listen to what Dorthey said, I still thought back to that one phrase that kept repeating, over and over again.

Just try and keep your distance from him.