Who Killed Chloe Beaudelaire?

The students of Hogwarts began to slowly file out of the Great Hall in silent harmony. Harry managed to wedge his way out of the tightly packed group of Gryffindors and sheepishly approached the Beaudelaire family. Chloe’s mother was crying hysterically in the arms of her husband, while Anna McNulty consoled Chloe’s little sister, Eva, a fragile second year Gryffindor.

“I’m sorry about your loss, Ms. Beaudelaire,” Harry said, mustering up all his courage in an attempt to sound composed.

Chloe’s mother ceased her sobbing and turned to the guilt ridden boy before her.

“She died protecting you,” she muttered, sucking back a sob.

A light blush crept up on Harry’s cheeks as he nervously nodded his head, his eyes focusing on Chloe’s father’s shoes, so he wouldn’t have to face the Beaudelaire family’s grieving faces. Chloe’s mother took a step towards Harry and placed her shaking hand on his shoulder.

“Destroy him. Do what she couldn’t do. Do it for us, for her.”

With that, her husband took her by the shoulders and gently led her out of the Great Hall. The couple had only made it halfway to the exit before Ms. Beaudelaire burst into even more loud, hysterical sobs. A loud discontented sigh alerted Harry to Anna McNulty’s presence beside him. Harry took in a deep gulp of air before turning to Chloe’s best friend.

“Hey Anna,” he murmured in an attempt to be polite, hoping no one would see him talking to her.

Anna McNulty wasn’t a bad person, but certainly wasn’t the most popular of girls. Her uncombed flame red hair didn’t compliment her bulky horn rimmed glasses well at all. Harry had often heard both vicious and ludicrous rumors about her amongst the chatter in the Gryffindor common room. One rumor was that at night Anna snuck out into the Forbidden Forrest and allowed different creatures to taste drops of her blood so she could examine the reaction of magical creatures to human magical blood, and recorded all her findings in her Potions notebook. That was a ludicrous rumor. Another rumor was that the reason Anna’s robes smelled strongly of soup was because during the summer holiday her mother forced Anna to go on an all liquid diet, to help Anna shed 10 pounds and become the perfect size 10. That was a vicious rumor.

“Oh… hi Harry,” Anna said, surprised that the great Harry Potter decided to acknowledge her existence.

“I’m sorry about Chloe,” Harry said sheepishly, not really knowing what to say.

“Uhm… thanks, I’ve been coping pretty well. It’s her mom that isn’t taking it well.”

“Well, you can’t really blame her, she lost her daughter.”

“She still has two more daughters,” Anna said with a roll of the eyes, referring to Chloe’s sisters, Eva and Cara.

Harry tried to hide his disgust with Anna’s rude, inconsiderate reply. She’d said it so calmly, as if they were discussing the outcome of Hogwarts latest Quidditch match. This was Chloe’s best friend? Anna began to walk away and Harry quickly ran after her, asking the first question he’d meant to ask her.

“What was she like?” he called out to Anna’s receding form.

Anna turned back to Harry, a puzzled expression on her face.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“What was she like? Chloe, what was she like?” Harry repeated.

Anna’s lips pursed into a tight line as she crossed her arms and gave Harry a quick scan from his scuffed up shoes to his untidy, jet black hair.

“Not to be rude, but why do you care? She’s dead, what does it matter what she was like?”

Harry swallowed back a nasty reply to Anna’s second rude comment. Honestly, couldn’t she show just a bit of compassion for her best friend’s passing?

The reason Harry wanted to know more about Chloe, was because he knew nothing about her, besides her name, that she had two sisters, was in Ravenclaw and was a star student in Herbology. Chloe wasn’t the first Hogwarts student to be killed by Lord Voldemort. Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort during the Triwizard Tournament two years ago, during Harry’s fourth year. Harry had witnessed it all, the flash of green light, the sickening thump as Cedric’s lifeless corpse fell to the damp ground of the strange cemetery Lord Voldemort had lured Harry and Cedric too. Harry didn’t know everything about Cedric, but he knew enough. He knew that Cedric liked Quidditch, seeing as how he had first met Cedric at the Quidditch World Cup. He knew that Cedric was a much loved, handsome Hufflepuff. He knew that Cedric had dated Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw girl Harry had lusted after for most of his fourth and fifth years at Hogwarts. Cedric wasn’t a stranger to Harry, which is why Harry was able to mourn Cedric’s death properly. Chloe was a stranger, a girl Harry had only noticed probably once or twice during Herbology, and so he couldn’t mourn her death properly. She’d died for him, and Harry felt that he should at least honor her memory by getting to know more about her.

“She died protecting me, I feel I have a right to know at least a little bit about my protector,” Harry answered bitterly, his words laced with venom towards Anna for not respecting her best friend’s memory properly.

Anna didn’t answer immediately, but instead cocked her head to the side and pondered Harry’s request for a moment or two. Finally, a small smile played on her lips as she uncrossed her arm and beckoned for Harry to follow her.

“Come with me,” she called out to him as she began to run out of the Great Hall.

Harry shrugged and began to run after Anna again. For someone who wasn’t very physically fit, Anna ran pretty fast.

“Where are we going?” Harry asked Anna, once he finally caught up to her.

“The Ravenclaw girls’ dormitory, where Chloe slept.”

“And how are we supposed to get in there? Neither of us are in Ravenclaw?” Harry asked.

“Leave that to me,” Anna replied with a smile and a wink.