Little Memories

Charlotte, Ginny, Luna, and Neville were all finally accounted for and in front of the statue of Boris the Bewildered. They were all dressed in their darkest clothes, though it didn’t divert any attention from Charlotte and Luna’s bright blonde hair. There was an unsaid, intense anxiety in their group as they nervously glanced around the darkened corridors of Hogwarts. Tonight, the plans they had been making for months were going to be played out and even Charlotte found herself growing more anxious than she even had on one of her Death Eater missions.

“C’mon you guys,” Ginny whispered as she motioned for the others to follow her toward a tapestry that would lead them to just outside of the Headmaster’s office. It was late enough that they knew the Headmaster would be asleep. The short cut was eerily quiet as the group stepped silently and quickly across the school, their wands drawn and at the ready.

It took them a few long minutes to transverse the shortcut and by the time they had reemerged on the opposite side, their anxieties soared, their hearts raced against their ribcage, and their expressions grew serious, even Luna’s. Charlotte stepped out to the front of the group, walking over to the griffon statue that separated the students from the Headmaster’s office. Charlotte was the only one who knew the password out of the four of them, since the Headmaster had severed ties with the majority of the other students. He was rarely present at meals and he only made his presence known when need be. Her eyes glanced down both ways of the corridor before returning her eyes to the statue.

“Asphodel,” she whispered, hoping her voice wouldn’t carry down the corridor. It hadn’t, thankfully. The griffon sprung to life and stepped aside, allowing the students to pass by him without any hindrance. Ginny stepped through the threshold first, followed by Luna, Neville, and then Charlotte followed behind them. She turned and glanced behind her as the griffon stepped back into place and froze once more. She let out a small, almost inaudible sigh before turning and following behind Neville. She wasn’t going to say it out loud, but something felt terribly wrong about all of this. It was a feeling so deep that she couldn’t brush it off as merely nerves; it was her intuition screaming out to her that something was about to go terribly wrong.

The group of four slowly advanced toward the Headmaster’s office door, eyes peeled for any sort of movement and ears tuned to pick up any sort of sound that could signify someone trying to follow them or hinder them. The three, who were slightly ahead of Charlotte, continued toward the door as Charlotte heard a very peculiar noise behind her. It sounded like a shoe sliding against the floor or the sniffling of a noise of someone with a cold. She turned and peered into the darkness, holding her wand out in front of her and ready to strike. Before she knew it, a flash of blue light shot in her direction and hit her directly in the chest. The moment it hit her, her body went numb and she blacked out.

Voices echoed around her as she slowly came to. There were three of them; deep and muffled. She couldn’t distinguish anything else as her mind was swimming and slowly beginning to clear. Slowly opening her eyes, her vision remained blurry and unfocused. Then it was like she had resurfaced from being underwater and everything became clear to her. She was laying one something that was floating midair, staring up at the portrait of Albus Dumbledore. She was in the Headmaster’s office, she knew that much, but she didn’t know how she had gotten there or why. The voices had stopped mid-sentence, as if they know she had woken up and was taking in everything.

“Charlotte,” the voice of one Professor Snape beckoned to her, “would you please join us over here?” She swallowed hard as she looked up at the ceiling, gathering what little bravery she had left at this point. She suddenly remembered what was happening before she got knocked out and her heart leapt into her throat. Slowly, she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the floating gurney she had been laying on. When she finally brought her eyes to the headmaster’s desk, she was met with a sight that surprised her.

She knew Professor Snape had been in the room, since he was the headmaster, but she hadn’t expected both her brother and Draco to be standing in the room, on either side of the man. Charlotte slowly got up and off of the gurney, it disappearing the moment her body left it. Slowly, she took steps toward them, warily dividing her attention between the two of them. Draco and her brother wore nearly identical scowls as she stopped just shy of the desk.

“Please, have a seat,” Professor Snape said in a stern voice, motioning to the only chair in front of the desk. A clock somewhere in the room chimed, letting the four of them know that it was four in the morning. Charlotte stepped around the chair, slowly lowering herself onto the hard leather seat. She looked up at the three of them, feeling like they towered over her. She felt like a child all over again, being scolded for doing something she knew she shouldn’t have done. The ruby encrusted sword of Godric Gryffindor glittered tauntingly on the desk before her, a sigh that the plans that she had made with Ginny, Luna, and Neville hadn’t gone as they planned.

“What are you playing at, Charlotte?” Professor Snape asked in an acidic voice. Her brow furrowed as she stared at him in confusion.

“You know exactly what I’m playing at, Professor,” she replied in a low voice. Professor Snape slammed his fist down on the table, clearly perturbed at the entire situation. It was four in the morning, meaning he had gotten a total two hours of sleep, and his patience was shot.

“It was not part of your task to get involved with this,” he snapped, his cool, black eyes cutting harshly into hers. “You were merely supposed to guide them, help them, if need be,” he said in a cool tone, his nostrils flaring angrily. Charlotte let out a heavy sigh, slowly shaking her head.

“They needed by help throughout the entire thing. They wouldn’t have been able to get the job done without me,” she said earnestly, hoping Professor Snape would understand.

“Clearly,” the man replied, motioning to the sword displayed on the table. Charlotte pursed her lips together to keep the men in front of her from seeing any emotion. She felt like yelling, cursing, or crying all at once. “You best be thankful that your brother overheard your plans to join them and notified Draco. Draco informed me of everything and we devised a plan to keep you from going through with the whole fiasco. Charlotte shot a dark look at both her brother and Draco, silently blaming them for the predicament she was now in.

“What’s going to happen to them?” She asked finally, referring to Ginny, Luna, and Neville. Professor Snape drew in a deep breath of air, keeping his unblinking gaze at the girl who sat in front of him.

“They will be punished accordingly,” he said in a low voice, “but you shouldn’t be concerned with their punishments.” Charlotte gaped at him and looked as though she was about in interrupt him but he continued in a louder voice, cutting off whatever she was going to say. “You would have been killed, Charlotte,” he said slowly and poignantly, hoping the severity of those words would set in for the girl. “You ought not to be meddling with blatantly helping out the other side. You’ve already let one Horcrux slip from your watch. To let one thing that could destroy them all get out of our watch, it would mean instant death for you.” Charlotte pursed her lips as she stared emotionlessly at the man before her. “Your brother, Draco, and I are only watching out for you. If the Carrow’s had seen you with those other three, because they came running the instant I raised the alert, there would be nothing stopping them from blabbing to the Dark Lord, spare death.”

By now, Charlotte had her head bowed and her eyes focused on her lap. They were going to hate her now, she knew it, because they were going to think she had lead them into a trap to get them in trouble. The three friends she had tried so hard to get on her side were going to be gone for something she had no control over. Tears flooded her eyes despite herself and she was glad that her hair was casting a shadow over her face so these three men wouldn’t see her. She ran a hand over her face, biting her bottom lip hard to try and stop herself from crying. Once she regained her strength to look them in the eyes, she lifted her head and took the time and looked at all three of them for the longest time.

“While I appreciate your concern for me, this is all coming from nowhere,” she said, her voice quivering slightly. “You,” she turned to her brother, who had his arms crossed over his chest as he stared down at her, nearly glowering. “You haven’t spoken to me in months. Do you have any idea how that’s made me feel?” She paused as she watched Gregory’s expression soften gradually. “Do you? To know that you’re brother has talked more to some girl he just met than his own sister in four months?” She didn’t wait for him to reply and she turned to look at Draco. “And you,” her voice grew hollow and her expression grew ferocious. “The last thing you said to me was an accusation that I fuck-” Professor Snape stiffened slightly in his chair, clearly not expecting the abrasive language that spouted from the girl. “-Theodore Nott.” Draco’s merely stared at her, clearly feeling guilty for what he had said to her. “You’ve shown me nothing but hate.

“So, I refuse to see how this was all was done with my best interests in mind,” she continued bitterly, shaking her head slowly. “I think that two of you, at least,” her eyes darted between Gregory and Draco, “just wanted to bring me down further than you already have.” She paused as she stared at Professor Snape before shaking her head letting out a heavy sigh.

“You do see the truth in my words though, right?” The man asked, hoping that at least she knew that he had no ill will by preventing her from joining in with the plans she had made. Charlotte merely nodded, bringing her eyes up to his briefly before looking away once more.

“Yes, I realize that I would have been killed had Lord Voldemort known I had tried to help out,” she said softly before pursing her lips. She closed her eyes for a moment before standing. “Thank you, Professor Snape,” she said with an air of finality, “I’ll head back to the Common Room now.” Without a second glance at either Draco or Gregory, she turned and walked out of the Headmaster’s Office, feeling terribly empty and alone.