1 : IMPERIO

CHAPTER 16: TO BE SO LONELY

Word Count: 2773

Charlotte knew it had been a stupid move visiting the Dark Lord. Stupid, but necessary. The five names she had presented to him were definitely not pulled out of her arse, but the people she had recurring dreams about. Their deaths to be specific. Namely, Sirius, Moody, Remus, Tonks and Fred. Yes, she had one of the dreams where Moody dies as well. Fell off the broom after getting hit by a curse.

She could have included Snape's name, but from the discussion she had with the man, it seemed he would rather die than witness whatever was coming her way. And it was definitely coming, there was no doubt about that.

The visit in itself was interesting in her opinion. The widely feared Dark Lord Voldemort turned out to be snake man in her dreams, but different. He wasn't as scary when she had dreamed of Snape's death, neither when she had seen Harry's when she was still a kid. He seemed . . . bored. During the meeting she hadn't made any suggestions of her wanting to join the ranks, and yet he had said that she was going to see him again soon enough. The conversation was entertaining to say the least.

But all was good till she wasn't on school grounds. Well, with her mood that is. Looking at the building, and walking down the hallways, it didn't feel right. Like something was missing. She hadn't yet accepted Cedric's death, she didn't want to. In her head he was still alive, and she looked around the halls hoping to see his bright smile, or mischievous eyes, but found herself getting disappointed when she didn't. McGonagall had told her to give herself some time for mourning, and Charlotte had joked saying she'd rather die before she did that, but the deputy headmistress hadn't found it funny whatsoever.

These days she preferred staying alone. People thought she was mourning, and gave her space easily, so her contact with humans was ghost smiles and tired nods. Not even the Slytherin's had approached her to discuss something important, except for Draco of course. He had almost thrown a fit before she was forced to physically shove him and storm away. Still, she saw him looking at her whenever she found herself in the same room as him. Whether it be a shared class of potions where he sat beside her, or across a crowded hallway, where it should have been physically impossible to even give each other courteous nods.

Karkaroff hadn't returned after the third task, and according to Lucius Malfoy, the man was on a run with his son. Expected.

Now it was the last day of the school, and everyone was gathered in the great hall for Dumbledore to give a speech. Everyone except Charlotte. The girl sat at the Astronomy tower watching rain. Her back to the wall, and legs pulled up to her chest. Her eyes closed with a bottle of strong rum on her right, and a glass on her left. Her mind was clouded due to the drunkenness, and all the sorrow she was trying to suppress.

"Go away," she mumbled under her breath, and started hitting her head from the both sides, as if trying to fix a T.V. to get better signal. The images of Cedric's lifeless body wouldn't leave her head, and she was ready to bang her head on the wall. "Just go away," she whined, and dropped her head into her hands.

"Are you sure?" asked a voice, and she looked up with a groan. It was Anamaria Malfoy leaning against the wall with hands folded at the chest and a pitiful smile on her lips.

"What are you doing here?" asked Charlotte squinting, trying to make sure that she was seeing right. Anamaria sighed, and walked towards her, taking a seat on her right. She sat with her back to the wall, but rather than pulling her legs up to her chest, like Charlotte, she simply folded them. Resting her hands on her knees, and looked at Charlotte sideways, and raised an eyebrow.

"Don't look at me like that," said Anamaria rolling her eyes, "Both of our brothers, even my dad seemed extremely worried about you, so thought might try talk to you and put their mind at ease." Charlotte rolled her eyes, and scoffed. Picking up her drink, she took a sip, now staring at the rain that had picked up speed.