Little Memories

The rest of the train ride was a particularly quiet one. No one said much after Charlotte had told them of the intentions to teach the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. A few years ago, Draco and Gregory felt, they could have cared less if someone had taught them how to wield Unforgivable Curse, or how to curse objects, or about the Dark Arts in general. Now that they had been shoved into become three young Death Eaters, they knew how serious things were getting, how the were on the edge of their world could collapsing around them, and how close they were to the brink of a arduous war.

A dark, cloudy night met them when they stepped out of the Hogwarts Express and onto the thin platform. Draco held Charlotte’s hand tightly as they walked, side-by-side, out of the cart they were in, following Gregory and Crabbe out. Draco stepped out first, not letting go of Charlotte’s hand for a second. He knew she needed him to be there for her, because she was at one of the few vulnerable points that he had seen her at. Staying within the cart, she sent a scared look to Draco before drawing in a breath of air and stepping out of the cart easily, her head held high. The moment she emerged from within the cart, whispers started around her. She knew there was probably a lot of pointing and speaking hurriedly behind hands as so she couldn’t read their lips, but she couldn’t see. Charlotte had her eyes glued to Draco’s; hoping that if she didn’t see them talking and looking, she wouldn’t be as affected by it.

“It’s alright, Charlie,” he whispered as she stepped closer to him, gripping their intertwined fingers together gently, yet firm enough that she’d know he was there, “I’m right here.” She nodded slowly and they began to walk. That required Draco to watch where he was going and turn his eyes away from her. Charlotte’s eyes where then left to wander the faces of her classmates and peers. Most of them were only stealing glances to her before hurriedly looking away, fearful of what would become of them if they stared at her for too long. A brave few, however, sent vicious glares in her direction.

Before it became the best of her, Charlotte looked down to the ground that she walked on, relying on Draco not to lead her into anything. Hurried whispers and murmurs broke out as she passed, some of the not too tactful ones questioning, rather loudly, what Hogwarts had come to when they allowed not only for Death Eaters to search the train, but turned their cheek to a convicted Death Eater back into school. Charlotte spared her brother a glance and notice he wore a furious snare, glaring at anyone he could. She then looked over to Draco, noticing that he was keeping his face stoic, completely blank of emotions.

“We’re almost to the stagecoaches, Charlotte,” he murmured, meeting her eye with a small, nervous smile. Charlotte didn’t return the smile, but merely redirected her gaze to the ground beneath their feet. She heard movement and talking behind her and guessed the shock of seeing her had worn off. Suddenly, Draco stopped, causing Charlotte to look up at him in curiosity. He was staring ahead of him with wide, slightly frightened eyes.

“What are those things?” He asked Charlotte in a whisper. She pursed her lips together and followed his line of sight, but had a pretty good guess as to what he was looking at. When her eyes met the large, black, Pegasus-like creature, she turned back to Draco.

“Thestrals,” she said simply, “Hagrid probably tried to show you them once during Care of Magical Creatures. But…since you saw…” Her voice died off and she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Draco sent her a sad look before turning back to the majestic black horses. “They’re meant to be a bad omen…but I honestly think they’re not. Far from it, in fact,” she added softly. “I’ve seen them ever since my second year.” Draco slowly began walking to an empty stagecoach, Charlotte at his side.

“Why not first year?” He asked curiously. The girl beside him merely gave a small laugh and shook her head.

“My, my, in your old age of seventeen you seem to be forgetting things lately,” she teased, “we went over on the boats with Hagrid the first year.” Draco nodded in response before pulling open the stagecoach door. Charlotte sent him a bittersweet sort of look before ducking into the pristine, black stagecoach. Draco was quick to follow her. He sat beside her as Crabbe and Gregory climbed into the stagecoach soon after. Charlotte gave a heavy sigh and glanced over to Crabbe, then her brother, and finally to Draco.

“That wasn’t so bad,” she said in a diminutive voice, trying to put on a happy façade. In fact, she was cowering inside, hoping that this would just be a phase that would soon enough be forgotten. However much she wished this, she knew that the brand of convicted Death Eater and Azkaban escapee would linger over her, as closely as her shadow, for the rest of her life. Charlotte untangled her hand from Draco’s and clasped her hands in her lap as she watched the students passed by the stagecoach, peering in to see if it was full or not.

“I swear…if they keep staring and making such rude comments, I don’t know if I’ll be able to withstand the year,” Gregory grumbled from his spot. Charlotte shot him a slightly hurt look and she drew in a deep breath of air.

“At least none of them know what you are,” she said in a watery voice. Gregory immediately went to apologize, but a sharp rapping at the stagecoach door cut him off. Gregory gave a sharp sigh and leaned over to open the door and to tell whoever it was that the stagecoach was full. His voice died in his throat when he noticed the girl he had seen on the train and his heart leapt into his throat. She stood just outside the stagecoach, wearing a scared, wide-eyed expression similar to the one she wore on the train.

“Oh…I’m sorry,” she said in a soft, yet crisp Scottish accent, glancing around the coach. Her eyes lingered for a bit longer on Charlotte than anyone else. “I wasn’t sure it was full.” She began to turn and Gregory thought quickly.

“It’s not,” he said, causing her to turn back around and stare at him with the smallest bit of a smile. “We can make room.” He sent a sharp look to Crabbe then nodded over to the seat where Draco and Charlotte sat together, comfortable. Charlotte noticed this movement and raised a brow, sending a glance to Draco. Wordlessly, she stood and sat down on Draco’s lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. Crabbe moved to where Charlotte once sat and the girl, still smiling, climbed into the stagecoach and sat down beside Gregory.

She glanced around the small, confined space with her wide, light blue eyes. Turning to Gregory, she smiled even wider.

“Thank you,” she said with a nod. Gregory merely smiled back in return, an uncharacteristic blush rising to his cheeks. Charlotte watched the exchange and bit in her lips to stem her laughter at how inexperienced her brother was in the presence of a girl; a girl he obviously thought was attractive. “I’m Melody, by the way. Melody Iver.”

“I’m Gregory Goyle,” he said, sparing her a rare smile. Melody’s eyes lit up at the aspect of making a new acquaintance. She glanced over to Charlotte, Crabbe, and Draco, biting her bottom lip as she waited for them to introduce themselves.

“Crabbe,” the bulky boy grumbled, glancing between Gregory and Melody with what appeared to be almost jealousy in his eyes.

Draco lifted his eyes to Charlotte’s for a moment before turning to Melody and saying simply as nicely as he possibly could in his cool drawl of a voice, “Draco Malfoy.”

The stagecoach jolted to a start as Charlotte glanced over to the girl, who was watching her with an eager expression. The blonde let out a heavy sigh and stared at her for a moment.

“Charlotte Goyle,” she said softly, staring intently at the girl to see if there were any flicker of fear in her eyes. There wasn’t and it surprised Charlotte a bit. It was obvious that Melody knew who she was, but showed no hesitation around her. The blonde cut her eyes at the chipper brunette and leaned forward a bit. The tension grew slightly as the yellow lights of Hogwarts slowly began to appear on the horizon. “Don’t you know who I am?” She asked. Melody nodded, the smile never dropping from her features.

“Of course I do,” she said, “you were the youngest Death Eater to ever be convicted and you’re supposed to be in Azkaban right now, or so said the Prophet.” Charlotte raised a brow at the girl but didn’t say a word, staring her down with her eerily blue eyes. “I don’t know how you got out…but I don’t think they’d let anyone attend Hogwarts that was a threat to any of the students.” The stagecoach went oddly quiet as all emotion dropped from Charlotte’s face.

“You’re terribly naïve, Melody,” she said in her low, raspy voice, “I don’t intend on hurting your feelings, but if you’ve only chose to come to Hogwarts now, you’re in for a right nasty shock if you believe that everyone here is pure and good.” Charlotte shook her head and glanced out the window, done with the conversation. Gregory sent a dark scowl to his sister at being her usual, brusque self with the girl who had caught his attention, in spite of how right she was.