All Things Hidden

Months had gone by since she had been sorted into Gryffindor and the alarming surprise that a teacher had called her Lily. Nobody would explain who Lily was or if there even was a Lily in the school but soon, Averie got involved in her classes, and soon forgot about the awkwardness that came after Snape had blurted out the wrong name. But as for the voice she had been hearing in her mind, it was there but she had told Professor Dumbledore about it and he had Professor Snape teaching her Occulemency in his spare time.

“You are dismissed for the night, Miss Black, go back to your common room,” Professor Snape drawled on, after finally getting a successful lesson from the young girl.

“Thank you, Professor Snape,” she quipped before gathering her things and leaving the Potions classroom.

She walked hurriedly back to the Gryffindor's common room; she had never liked the castle at night and even with the torches that lit up the hallways, it was still a bit creepy. She tried to also ignore the moving paintings that were bustling about still, talking amongst themselves. She'd been here roughly three months and it still bothered her that they moved and talked. But that wasn't nearly as bad as the ghosts that roamed through the castle.

“Pig snout,” Averie muttered to the Fat Lady and she stepped inside after the portrait swung open.

She stepped into the room, seeing a few people scattered around including Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. She smiled politely at them as she began to move towards the stairs to go up to the girls' dormitory.

“Wait, Averie,” Harry called out and scrambled up and walked over to her. “How are your lessons going with Professor Snape? Is he acting peculiar?”

Averie frowned and shook her head no at Harry. She didn't understand why Harry didn't like Professor Snape very well; he was very nice to her and even gave her house points when she brewed a potion correctly or answered one of his questions. Everybody that was in Gryffindor found it weird but they didn't press the matter because for once, Professor Snape was actually giving their house some points.

“No, he was acting fine,” she told Harry, her voice low and she tried to keep the irritation out of her voice. “I really wish you would stop bugging me after I get back from my lessons with him, Harry. He's a good teacher. He's actually my favorite.”

And with that, she turned and walked up to her dormitory before she spouted something else off that wouldn't be very polite.

–
It was the day of Harry's first official quidditch game, although Averie wasn't sure she'd like the sport but she was willing to go sit in the crowd to watch. She also wasn't sure if she liked Harry or if she disliked him; he seemed to get into a lot of trouble. But that wasn't what bothered her, she just didn't think he used his head. She didn't get why he wouldn't be more careful about his life when his parents had died for him to be safe. She wished that she knew that her father was in Azkaban prison for defending her or something of the sort.

“Averie, are you coming down to breakfast?” Hermione asked, looking at Averie, watching her twirl her hair up into a loose ponytail.

“Yes, give me a minute, please,” Averie mumbled as she looked into the mirror that she had set on her end table.

Hermione nodded before going downstairs to wait for her and the boys. Even if Averie wasn't sure if she liked Harry, she did however like Hermione and got along well with Ron. Averie grabbed her scarf and heavy jacket before rushing down the stairs to see Hermione chatting with Dean Thomas and Seamus. Averie smiled politely before tucking her hair behind her ears, the pieces that were too short to be in the ponytail but too long to be called bangs.

“Hello, Averie,” Dean politely said as he broke away from the conversation to greet her.

Averie just nodded as she looked around and noted to herself that Ron and Harry were the only ones that they were waiting for. She was trying her best to try to like Harry, she didn't want to have all this animosity towards him for some stupid petty thought that was in her mind. She looked up to see Ron and Harry hustling down the stairs, clearly in a hurry and she noted that Harry's hair was all over the place, like it normally was.

“Sorry,” they both muttered at the same time.

Averie and Hermione just shrugged it off before they all headed towards the Great Hall to eat a breakfast before the big game. They sat around the table, Averie eating mainly fruit and a bagel, watching as Harry just sat there, looking sick to his stomach.

“You've got to eat some breakfast,” Averie told him and shoved a bowl full of eggs towards him.

“I don't want anything,” he replied and pushed the bowl of eggs away, with a look of disgust on his face.

Averie tried not to roll her eyes because she didn't understand how it felt to be so nervous about a game so she decided not to press the matter anymore but that didn't stop Hermione from pressing it further. Averie tuned them out and looked over at the Slytherin table and smiled warmly at Draco Malfoy, somebody she never thought she'd have a friendship with. She turned back around, once she saw him return the smile and she finished her bagel before looking at her other friend, Neville.

“Good morning, Neville. Oversleep?” she asked him, making small talk with him as he looked frazzled and as if he was missing something.

He jumped a bit before relaxing and nodding his head. He wasn't much of a talker in the morning or at least that's what Averie chalked it up to.

“Good luck, Harry,” Averie told him as she stood up and grabbed her things. “I'll see you out there—well, I'll see you playing, I mean.”

Averie just shook her head before disappearing from the Great Hall and heading back to the Gryffindor's common room, having left her wand there. She usually never forgot her wand, but she was too absorbed into clearing and blocking her mind with Occulemency. She spouted off the password before hurrying up to the dormitory and grabbing her wand before she hurried down to the Quidditch stands and found a spot by Hermione and Neville.

–
Averie was sitting in Hagrid's hut with Ron, Hermione, and Harry after the Quidditch game, in which Harry's broom had been cursed. They were insisting that Professor Snape was the one to be the one to have been performing the curse on his broom.

“It was Snape,” Ron was explaining. “Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off of you.”

Ron was telling Harry who he thought was performing the curse against him.

“Rubbish,” Averie spouted off angrily, giving them each a look, not even realizing she had said the word at the exact same time that Hagrid had said them.

“Why would Snape do somethin' like that?” Hagrid asked, looking at Averie. He was fond of the girl, just as if she was like Hermione, Ron, and Harry.

Averie watched the trio look at one another, obviously wondering what to say to both Hagrid and Averie. Averie noticed the look pass through Harry's eyes and sighed to herself, knowing he was about to come up with a convincing argument about Professor Snape.

“I found out something about him,” he told them, but mainly to Averie and Hagrid. “He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding.”

Averie rolled his eyes. It didn't surprise her that Harry knew about a dangerous three-headed dog because he was prone to finding danger and trouble. Averie barely recognized her voice as she started shouting at him.

“You are always putting yourself in danger, aren't you? You don't have a care in the world except for trying to put everything against Professor Snape just because he gives you a hard time in class,” she shouted, barely recognizing her own voice. “Has it ever occurred to you that you've put yourself in danger so many times, it's hard for anyone to like you?! Your parents died for you to be safe, Harry and you go and put yourself in danger. Do you know that I don't even know who my mother is?! And that my father is in a wizard prison because of something he did?! I don't even know what he did but I only hope it was something that makes him a hero or something he did to protect me. And there you are, putting yourself in danger. And one day, it will bite you in the butt.”

Averie huffed before getting up and storming out of Hagrid's hut, not caring that it was dark out and that there could be something lurking in the shadows. She stormed up to the castle, not even looking back at the hut she had just stormed out. She didn't care to know anything else about that three-headed dog or what it was hiding. She wasn't going to go looking for trouble; that wasn't her cup of tea.

“Pig snout,” she said angrily at the Fat Lady's portrait and didn't bother saying a thank you after the portrait swung open to let her in.

“Averie, are you okay?!” George or Fred asked, seeing the young girl walk into the common room.
“What?”

She looked at them and only then realized that she had tears streaming down her face. She touched at them with the pads of her fingers, almost shocked that she was crying. She looked at them before nodding her head.

“You're crying...are you sure?” George asked, Averie being able to tell them apart now that she was paying attention.

She'd struck a close friendship with the twins since the first week of being at Hogwarts and she adored them. And she loved that they took her through secret passages in the school, trusting her to keep it a secret and she trusting them to not get her into trouble.

“I'm fine...I just...I just blew up at...Harry Potter,” she mumbled, now realizing that she had shouted at him out of anger.

George looked shocked before watching as she sat down on the couch and he sat next to her. He wasn't good with crying girls—especially the first years.

“Um...do you want to talk about it?” he stammered a bit, trying to come up with the right words to say to the upset girl.

“He's just...he makes me angry, sometimes,” she sighed as she ran her fingers through her wind blown hair. “And I don't even really know why he makes me angry. Because he doesn't do anything to me to make me angry but he...just does.”

George looked out of place as he sat beside the girl, who was clearly trying to understand her own feelings. He awkwardly put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her into him, softly.

“Look, I know I don't know much about your situa—,” George started to say.

“Do you know my father's in prison?” she blurted out, interrupting him. “I don't talk much about it—actually, this is the second time I've told anybody in school. I don't even know why he's in there or anything. Just that he's accused of doing something.”

George once again wasn't sure what she wanted him to do or say and she was young, only eleven years old and she was already having a mess of feelings. So he just sat there, awkwardly hugging her.

“I'm sorry, George,” she laughed, wiping her pretty face off with the sleeve of her jacket. “You don't want to be talking to a silly little girl that has too many feelings.”

George just smiled at her and messed her hair up, like he'd do to Ginny.

“Hey, it's no problem,” he told her, as if he'd said the right things, the things that she needed to hear. “I got your back, Aves.”

She smiled at him before getting up to go to her dormitory.

“Thank you, George,” she told him, looking down at him. “I appreciate it.'

“What are friends for?”

The last thing she saw before she disappeared up the stairs to her bed, was his smile. And that's when she felt, the stirrings of her first crush.

–

November and December had flown by so fast that Averie was almost overwhelmed with packing to go home for break. Her part of the room she shared was still messy and her trunk was empty and now, she was scrambling around to get her things packed away. But she couldn't focus, she was too excited to go home and visit her Uncle Remus. Even the awkwardness that was still between her and Harry didn't bother her. She refused to apologize for shouting at him, keeping a hold of the anger that fueled her dislike for him. And he didn't bother trying to strike up a conversation with her anymore because she just gave him the silent treatment.

“Have a good holiday, Averie,” Hermione said politely as she pulled her trunk behind her.'

Averie nodded her head before finally just doing a few spells to put everything away and in her trunk. She didn't have time for neatness or anything because it'd take forever if she did.

“You too, Hermione,” she called after the bushy haired girl before she sat on the edge of her bed.

Now that the room was empty, she had time to think and she thought about the scene she'd created in Hagrid's hut almost two months ago. It was bad and she'd said some things she wasn't sure if she really meant or if they were even true but she was still angry with Harry and she didn't really understand why. She ran her fingers through her red locks before standing up and putting on her coat and grabbing her things. She'd fix things after the holidays—she just wanted to see her Uncle Remus and be away from the castle.

“Have a good Christmas,” she told Harry and Ron as she emerged into the common room. She was raised to be polite, and the past month and a half she'd been anything but.

She noticed the look of shock on Harry's face as she spoke and she just looked at him, trying not to scowl or glare.

“You too, Averie,” Ron quipped up, clearly not mad at her for something she felt.

“Yeah, you too,” Harry murmured a minute or so later.

Averie just nodded before hurrying so she didn't miss the train and so that she could sit with Neville and Hermione.

Once she was settled on the train, she relaxed and conversed politely with Hermione and Neville, stripping away all of her fears and worries she'd had in the past month. She had even started hearing the voice in her head again, which made Professor Snape angry with her, claiming she wasn't trying her best anymore. But that only worried her more, making her unable to clear her mind to clearly block it out.

“Are you ever going to talk to Harry again, Averie?” Hermione asked, bringing the awkward situation up. “He feels bad about making you upset that day, he really does. But he doesn't understand why you're so upset with him.”

Averie looked at Hermione, trying not to get agitated with her either.

“I don't even know why it bothers me that he puts himself in danger,” she confessed and began to wring her hands in her lap. “It just does. It just...makes me angry that he'd do something so stupid.”

Averie looked at Hermione who just nodded, trying not to press the matter any further. Averie excused herself to go find the bathrooms on the train as an excuse to go hang out with Draco for a little bit, the friendship always having been a secret.

“Hello, Averie,” Draco drawled out as he lounged on one side of the compartment he had all to himself. “Come to see me, did you?”

Averie just smiled and sat down across from him, keeping her knees pressed together as she
looked at him.

“Why do you hate Harry?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

Draco immediately sat up and looked at her, her red hair framing her face and her green eyes staring back at him. He sucked in a breath as he gathered his thoughts.

“Because, Averie. He's an attention seeking half-blood that gets away with everything and he's too good for my tastes,” Draco informed her before looking at her again. “Why? Do you hate him too? Because that would be a first; a Gryffindor that hates Saint Potter.”

Averie looked down at her lap, tears filling her eyes once again. She didn't understand why she was getting upset.

“I don't know why I hat—dislike him so much,” she sputtered, the tears slipping down her face. “I don't understand why or how I can dislike him when he's done absolutely nothing to me personally. I don't understand why I feel so angry at him all the time.”

Draco stared at her, not sure what he was supposed to do with an emotional girl but eventually he just hugged her, showing the side of him he never let anybody see.

“Averie, please don't cry,” he pleaded with her, patting her back softly. “Please, stop crying. Please.”

“I don't...I don't even know why I'm crying,” she sniffled as she managed to get a hold of her emotions and wiped her tears away. “I just feel so horrible for disliking him for no reason.”

Draco looked at her and felt a pang of sadness for her, the only girl he's allowed himself to get close to and attached to. But he wouldn't admit it to anybody that he was nice to her or let her cry on his shoulder because that would be something to be laughed at for. Plus, he had a reputation to withhold and he couldn't be that sappy boy that allowed a girl to cry in his arms.

“It's okay, Averie,” he told her. “Everybody has feelings that they don't know what to do with.”

–

The train pulled up to King's Cross station at midday and Averie jerked awake with a start and noticed she was still in Draco's compartment, sleeping against him. She looked at him, wide eyed as he sat there just looking out the window.

“I'm sorry,” she mumbled, her cheeks flushing pink as she got up and straightened out her sweater dress she'd chosen to wear home. “I should've...left earlier. Hermione and Neville are probably wondering where I ended up at.”

Draco just smirked as he stood up and he patted her head in a friendly way before giving her a hug, that was just as awkward as it'd always been.

“Don't worry, Black,” he smirked as he saw people starting to file out. “Your secret is safe with me.”

He then flashed her a smile as he disappeared from the compartment, leaving her to herself. She let it clear out a bit before she hurriedly went to go get her things she'd left in the compartment with Hermione and Neville. She thankfully noticed they were gone and she grabbed everything before rushing out and onto the platform, looking for her Uncle Remus.

“Averie!” he called out as he pushed past some of the other parents and walked over to her. “Averie Lily Black, you have grown at least a foot since I last saw you!”

She laughed before hugging him, managing not to cry this time as he hugged her back. She was happy to be going back to the only place she could call home.

“I have not, Uncle Remus,” she quipped back as she looked up at him. “I've missed you so much.”

He smiled at her as they walked out to leave the station and go back home. She looked around, hoping to get one last look at the boy that let her cry on his shoulder. She saw his blonde head and smiled before she noticed the man that she could only assume was his father staring at her, giving her an uneasy feeling. Remus noticed the look of unease on her face and followed her gaze to Lucius Malfoy and he tugged her along to keep her from staring.

“And I have missed you, Averie,” he told her, glancing back at Lucius before turning his full attention to his niece. “You will have to tell me all about school.”