My Enigmatic Enemy

I debated whether or not to wear my newfound jewelry the next Monday, and upon opening the box to examine the beautiful piece, I couldn’t resist. I put it on and hid the box back where I had it - the very bottom of my trunk. Far away from the girls who have thieving magpie-like tendencies for small, beautiful pieces.

I liked it, I decided as I looked in a mirror. Very, very much. Wearing it, I felt like very little could possibly go wrong, although I knew anything could go wrong in my life. Some things already had. Like the incident with my mother, for instance. I’d been young, much too young to lose a mother. I’d been two years old. But the most confusing part, the worst part about it all…was that I could still picture it as clearly as if it had been yesterday. And even ministry wizards who had examined both my memories and those of my father said that the memories of mine were uncannily accurate. But my memory was of the whole incident…his was only the final moments.

A little girl with curly black hair laughed as her mother - with the same curly dark hair - pushed her on a tire swing. The mother laughed along with her, and the little girl would remember it as a ringing, joyful laugh. The mother’s affection for her daughter was crystal clear in her eyes. She was the type of woman whose emotions were on her sleeve, clearly seen and immediately understood. And she was overflowing with love. That was evident even in muggle photographs, where she held her child on her lap with her husband right beside. Even without the husband present, you could tell there was much love radiating from her.

The little girl grinned mischievously at her mother, and her mother realized what she was doing just in time to conjure a fluffy feather mattress for the girl’s landing.

“Aw, Mommy!” The little girl whined.

“ ‘Aw, Ami!’ ” the mother mocked. The young Ami laughed, and the mother did too, swooping over to her daughter and pulling her in a bear hug that lifted the toddler off her feet.

“Mommy! Mommy, put me down!” Ami giggled, banging her small, slightly chubby fists against her mother’s shoulder.

“All right, all right, hold your horses!” the mother laughed, setting the little girl firmly on her feet.

It was seconds later that everything changed.

It was twilight, with just enough light for the mother and daughter to see for their games, and growing quieter as all the animals went to sleep. In this quiet environment, the deep voice and the word, “MORSMORDRE!” were clearly heard. And the slight glow in the sky that caused the mother to look up was very, very noticeable.

“Ami,” she said suddenly, “Ami, why don’t you go hide somewhere, okay? Let’s play hide and seek!”

“Okay, Mommy!” the little Ami had noticed nothing.

The mother began counting, more quietly than usual - but the little girl didn’t notice. She ran around the tree to the side of the house, and picked her favorite hiding spot of all. She ushered the dog, Georgie, to the side, and squeezed alongside him in his doghouse.

If only the two year old had known that this was a bad hiding spot. If only she could have chosen one farther away…she might not have seen the things she saw that day if it had been farther away.

“Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty. Ready or not - ”

“Here we come.”

That wasn’t her mother, the young Ami realized. She tuned in, peeking out of the doghouse.

At first she thought her daddy was home, but if it was him he’d brought friends from work.
Ami liked meeting friends of Daddy’s, but she wouldn’t come out until he or Mommy came and found her, so she watched. Even a two year old will pick up on when his or her mother is terrified, and this little girl was no exception. She wondered if they were all wearing that mask. It was kind of scary, Ami could see why Mommy was scared.

“What is your business here?” the mother said, her voice shaky.

“What business is that of yours, mudblood?” a voice asked. The mother frowned at the name, and little Ami wondered if it was a bad name.

“This is my home,” the mother stood firm, “and I don’t believe I’ve granted you permission to
be on my property.”

“Well, we’ve taken it,” one figure from the circle stepped out, wand raised.

“Leave this place at once!”

“Not until we’ve done what we came to do.”

“And what is that?” the traditional hands-on-the-hips that Ami knew to be trouble.

A wand was pointed at her.

The shout of, “MONICA!” after the pops of multiple people Apparating to the area was much too late, and after a flash of green light, Monica Carson crumpled to the grass of her once peaceful home. Ami knew something was wrong and ran out screaming, “MOMMY!” as the others who had accompanied her father home dealt with the black cloaked figures quickly.

I hadn’t realized that I’d left the dorm or that I’d stopped in a secret passageway until the flashback had ended. I also hadn’t noticed the wetness on my cheeks until I reached a finger up to brush a tear away. My resolve firmed, and I shook my head. It was years ago - I’d relived that memory too many times to count, and all those times had been too many. But that just proves what I thought earlier - anything can go wrong in my life. And I just have to grin and bear it. Kind of how I lie through my teeth about my hate of all Slytherins, when there’s really one I could never hate and there was one in the past that I would’ve liked to know. Especially if he could have invoked such trust in the daughter of Godric Gryffindor herself.

Lost in my thoughts, I accidentally bumped someone.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking - ” I began, looking up.

“It’s alright,” he grinned down at me. “I was hoping to run into you soon.”

“Same,” I smiled at Draco, who glanced around a bit before swiftly pecking my lips and slipping a note into the pocket of my robes.

“I’ll see you later,” he whispered, striding off. I smiled at his back and turned to continue my trek to the Great Hall.