Silent Riot | Regulus Black

TWENTY SIX

Gemma sat in the Room of Requirement, the light from the moon shining upon the orb in her hand. Ted was with her, since he was the only one she'd trusted enough to tell about the fact that Edward may still be alive. Luke would talk her out of using the orb, and Iz would throw it out the window claiming Edward was better dead.

'Are you sure you want to do this?' Ted asked anxiously. 'I mean, we don't really know what could happen.'

'I think I owe it to Edward,' she said. 'And Evan,' she added, remembering how she had betrayed him back at Malfoy manor.

'Right, but you owe it to me to be best man at mine and Iz's wedding,' he reminded her. She rolled her eyes- Iz liked the gift, but still showed no interest in Ted, but she decided not to crush his dreams. 

'Yeah whatever. Just remember, no matter what, no hospital wing. The last thing we need is people finding out about this thing.' Her focus returned to the orb, and she stared at it for a solid three minutes.

'Is something meant to be happening?' Ted whispered.

'I don't know,' she whispered back. 

'You don't know how to use it!'

'Well it didn't exactly come with an instructions manual, did it!' 

'You are going to die,' he moaned, burying his head in his hands.

'Be optimistic,' she encouraged. She rested the orb between her palms; it was freezing, like ice. She thought of Edward; the first time they'd met. It had been at Kings Cross station, on her first day of school. Her dad had had to leave early on an urgent call from work, and her eleven year old self had been waddling around trying to find the strange platform 9 and 3/4.

'Something's happening,' Ted warned, but his voice was distant, like she was submerged in water. 

Her perspective of the memory shifted. Now, she was actually standing at Kings Cross station, while people walked right past her. Instead of night, it was bright, and she caught sight of her eleven year old self going in the wrong direction, pushing her massive trolley with her. She followed.

'Excuse me,' young Gemma said, going up to the station master. 'Do you know where platform nine and three quarters is?'

'Nine and three quarters?' He repeated. 'Never heard of that.'

'But it says so on my ticket,' she persisted, waving it in his face.. 'Look.'

'Clear off,' he snapped.

'I'm not trying to pull a joke!' She indignantly. 'Stop being mean and tell me where-'

'What are you doing?' A voice came from behind. Gemma watched as young Gemma turned towards a tall boy, with blond hair and warm blue eyes, surveying her lightly. His own trolley was next to him, and a white owl sat in a cage, also staring at her piercingly.

'I'm trying to get this man to tell me where to go,' she whined.

'He is a muggle,' the tall boy explained. 'He doesn't know where the platform is.'

'Do you know where it is?' Young Gemma asked him. He nodded.

'I do. Follow me.' She obliged, struggling slightly to keep up with him amidst the large crowd. 

They arrived at the barrier, which was- much to young Gemma's dismay- a brown brick wall.

'That's a brown brick wall,' she said. 'That's not a platform.'

'You have to run into it,' the boy told her. She stared at him, and he smiled. 'Look, we'll run at it together, okay?'

'No,' she snapped. 'You're crazy.'