Scars

Eliza Prewett too often found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. When she was five, her cousins bet her a galleon she couldn’t climb the tallest tree in their garden. Half-way up, it started to rain, but she was determined, so she kept going. The tree was struck by lightning before she could even reach the top. Luckily, she wasn’t hurt too badly, nothing a well-done Brackium Emendo spell couldn’t fix.

Then there was the time at the Quiddich World Cup. It was a double-whammy. She got hit in the head with the bludger and the campsite was attacked by Death Eaters. This required a mixture of Brackium Emendo, Episkey, Tergeo, and a shot of Firewhiskey. The firewhiskey was her Uncle Arthur’s idea.

Then there was today. The first day of her sixth year. Everything was fine until it wasn’t.

Like always, she sat with Susan, Hannah, and Ernie during the back-to-school feast. They were all talking casually about their summers while tiptoeing around the topic of families. Susan’s aunt was killed only a couple months prior. Susan seemed to be handling it as well as anyone possibly could. Eliza wasn’t sure how she remained so strong. This wasn’t the first member of her family to be murdered by Death Eaters. And sadly, the way things were going, there was a chance it wouldn’t be the last.

“Look,” Ernie said, nudging Eliza’s arm. He nodded towards the Great Hall’s entrance. Eliza turned her head and immediately wanted to throw up. Harry Potter was standing there covered in blood. He didn’t make eye-contact with anyone. He looked forward and headed straight for the Gryffindor table. Hermione and Ron were visibly upset. They looked how Eliza’s stomach felt; she had never been good with blood.

“I wonder what happened.” Hannah said, leaning forward in an attempt to make their conversation more private.

Susan’s eyes widened. “You should ask Hermione during Prefect duties.”

Hannah shook her head. “I can’t ask that! I mean we’re friends, but not like that. Liza should ask Ron.”

Suddenly, all three of them were focused on Eliza. Her cheeks flushed. She hated being the center of attention. “I’m not asking him that. That’s weird.”

“He’s your cousin-”

“We’ll know what happened in no time, anyway.” Ernie said, interrupting Susan. “It’s Hogwarts.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Eliza felt a rush of relief. Sure, if she’d asked Ron, he would have told her what happened. But she hated going to him, constantly asking for the latest gossip on Harry Potter. It was awkward and she always ended up saying the wrong thing.

The feast didn’t last much longer. Everyone started to become restless after Harry’s grand entrance. People were on edge anyway. There was a lot of uncertainty and speculation going around now that it was confirmed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was back.

Heather and Ernie started to gather the first years so they could take them to the common room. Susan and Eliza stayed behind, knowing there was no point heading there now, not with a crowd of first years in the way.

The Great Hall cleared out quickly, only handfuls of people still scattered around. Some students were catching up with their friends from different houses while others were finishing off the leftover desserts. Harry was talking to Ginny, Dean, and Seamus. Eliza wondered if they, like her friends, were as interested in what happened to him. She almost suggested that her and Susan walk over, but hesitated when she noticed Malfoy approaching them. Pansy was right beside him, latched onto his arm. His usual body-guards, Crabbe and Goyle were stuffing their faces with chocolate cake.

“What happened to your face, Potter?” Malfoy asked, causing Pansy to erupt in a fit of laughter.

“Bugger off, Malfoy.” Ginny said, stepping in front of Harry.

“Do you always let girls fight your battles, Potter?” Malfoy asked, a smug expression on his face. “And a Weasley at that? Could you be any more pathetic?”

Ginny looked like she was ready to deck Malfoy in the face. Susan quickly turned to Eliza, her face full of emotion.

“Maybe we should intervene? I don’t want Ginny to get in trouble.” Susan said, already standing up. Eliza didn’t have time to object. She hurried after her friend, spotting Filch from the corner of her eye. Of course he would be involved. He had a six-sense for recognizing when students were breaking the rules.

Ginny pulled out her wand, and before Malfoy could do the same, she sent a bat-bogey hex his way. The hex was so powerful it knocked him off his feet, pushing him backwards and causing him to fall into Eliza. She stumbled to the floor, landing on what she assumed was Susan or another student. It wasn’t until Filch loudly squealed in her ear that she realized she’d actually fallen on him.

Malfoy struggled to stand up, the bats flying out of his nose causing a bit of a problem. Filch would not stop screaming. Eliza wanted to scream herself. Once Malfoy got off her, she hurried to her feet, immediately checking to see what was wrong with Filch. The queasiness in her stomach returned instantly. His leg was broken in half.

“Get Headmaster Dumbledore, now!” Filch yelled. Susan nodded and quickly scurried away. Eliza could do nothing but stare. How was this happening?

Dumbledore had Filch transported to the Hospital Wing and ordered everyone to their common rooms. Susan recalled the entire scenario to Hannah and Ernie. She elaborated slightly, but kept mostly to the facts. Everything happened so fast it didn’t seem real. At some parts, Eliza felt like she was hearing the story for the first time. But it did happen, and somehow, she ended up in the middle of it.

Everyone was so engrossed in the story, they didn’t even notice the tiny second year approach. After almost two minutes of quiet, forced coughs in an effort to gain their attention, Hannah finally noticed the girl.

“Do you need something?” she asked, using her programmed, concerned Prefect voice. The girl shook her head and handed a letter to Eliza.

“What’s this?” Eliza asked, not recognizing the imprint in the wax seal. The girl didn’t reply, and instead rushed away towards the dormitories.

“That was strange.” Ernie commented, but Eliza paid him no attention. She was too busy reading her letter. It was from Dumbledore.

“Dumbledore has requested me to his office—immediately.”

As expected, she was given three very intense looks of concern.

“W-why would he do that?” Hannah asked, completely mortified.

“I don’t know!” Eliza all but yelled. She didn’t mean to get upset, but there were endless possibilities as to why Dumbledore wanted to see her, and none of them had very positive outcomes. “I should go…”

“Good luck,” Ernie said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. Eliza wanted to vomit.

She stood outside Dumbledore’s office for quite some time before finally mustering up enough courage to step inside. He was sitting behind his desk, his hands hidden in his lap. He merely lifted his gaze when she opened the door, and she thought she noticed a hint of a smile on his face.

“Sorry, I’m late. I-”

“Please, take a seat Ms. Prewett.” Dumbledore said calmly, turning his attention to the two chairs in front of his desk.

For the first time, Eliza noticed the two of them weren’t alone. There was another student sitting in one of the chairs, a head of white-blonde hair slightly poking over the top. She sat down, and refused to look at the boy next to her. She didn’t need to look to know it was Draco Malfoy. Any situation that involved her, Malfoy and Dumbledore could definitely not be good.

“Do either of you have any idea why I called you here tonight?” Dumbledore asked, his eyes darting between the pair of them. Malfoy didn’t say a word, and Eliza couldn’t think straight enough to form sentences. After a few seconds of silence, Dumbledore spoke again, “Madam Pomfrey is taking very good care of Argus. He should recover just fine. There were some complications though…”

Eliza bit her lip. She felt like crying.

“He has rejected every spell and potion Madam Pomfrey can think of. Sometimes these things happen. Argus will just have to heal the muggle-way.”

“What does this have to do with me?” Malfoy asked, obviously irritated. Dumbledore raised his brows, and Malfoy added a hushed “sir” in hopes that would satisfy him.

“Argus named the two of you responsible for his accident.”

“No,” Eliza said, surprising herself. Quickly, she tried to make amends. “Sorry, sir, it’s just that, I-I-”

“It was that Weasley’s girl fault!” Malfoy interjected.

Dumbledore paused before speaking again. “Argus will have difficulties fulfilling his duties as caretaker while he is injured, so I’ve decided to offer him your services. On Wednesday nights and Sundays I will need the two of you to assist Argus with whatever he may need until his leg heals properly.”

“That could take months!” Malfoy exclaimed, pounding his fist on the desk.

“Yes, Mr. Malfoy, indeed it may.”

“But Professor—Headmaster—sir,” Eliza couldn’t seem to get her words out. There were so many thoughts circulating through her head. This was detention. She was being assigned detention with Filch, and Malfoy. She was going to be forced to spend extended amounts of time with Filch and Malfoy. It was a hard concept to wrap her head around. “I-I’ve never had detention before, ever I-I-”

“There’s always a first time for everything.” Dumbledore said, he appeared rather pleased. What did she do to deserve this type of torture?

It wasn’t much longer before Dumbledore excused them, but not before reminding them their first night of Filch-duty would be the coming Wednesday. The two of them were almost too eager to leave the room, and practically raced each other to the door. Malfoy nearly shoulder-checked Eliza to beat her out the door. He was so impossibly rude, and now she had to experience his rudeness two times a week—indefinitely. All because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, again.