Sea and Serpent (PJO/HP)

Chapter 20. Nicholas Flamel?

Amaryllis took a seat across from Harry at the Gryffindor table Sunday morning. Ron and Hermione chorused their hellos, as did a few others she had talked with a few times. She responded curtly with a small smile while she filled her plate with some food.

Her gaze flicked to Harry across from her

“Lissie? What’s wrong?”

Amaryllis didn’t speak for a second, taking a breath before she turned to her brother. “Want to tell me about the three-headed dog?”

Harry’s eyes grew wide and his head snapped to Ron’s. The latter shook his head with the same look.

“Yes,” Amaryllis said, rolling her eyes at the same time. “Hermione told me. You thought to keep something like that from me? A three-headed dog; like Cerberus, inside the castle?”

“Is that all you care about? That we found something from those myths?”

“Is that all?” She mocked, stabbing her food with her fork. Her narrowed eyes turned to Harry, hurt and anxiety at the forefront of the anger that he kept it from her at the surface. “You could have been hurt, or killed. And you didn’t think to even tell me? Or that you didn’t bother to tell me you went to seek out what Hagrid took out of Gringotts?” Her expression softened. “If me being around is too much, just tell me. I’ll leave you to your friends.”

“Liss,” Harry whispered. She wasn’t sure what kind of face he expressed, but his voice shook slightly. “That’s not… I didn’t want you to get hurt anymore.”

Amaryllis met her brother’s gaze. It was torn between sorrow, shame, and… guilt. He felt guilt over something he had no control over. None of them did. “Because of the lightning? It was a freak accident, Harry. Not something any of us could have controlled.”

His gaze dropped to her arm which was covered by her uniform.

She shifted in her seat, grabbing her arm with her other hand. Even with the chatter around them, the silence felt thick and deafening. No words had to fall from Harry’s lips for her to feel the impact of what his gaze meant.

“Oh, for Godric’s sake, Harry,” Hermione mumbled, slamming her book shut.

“I didn’t mean… I’m sorry, Lissie.”

“It’s fine,” she mumbled, giving her brother the best smile she could muster.

It stung that her brother thought she couldn’t handle whatever he had going on because she had been injured. It had never stopped them from telling each other anything before. And she thought it never would have, yet since they had been at Hogwarts, so much had changed.

“Liss–”

Harry was cut off by the sound of screeching owls that flew in from the open windows above the Great Hall.

Amaryllis scowled at the owls and mumbled under her breath. “Just great.”

“I still don’t get what you have against owls,” Ron said, creasing the lines in his forehead as they all watched the owl stare at her in silence while Harry took the letter from its talon.

“You and me both, Ron. Pesty little bug—Hey,” Amaryllis cried out when it opened its beak and screeched at her, stretching its wings out. “See? They’ve never liked me.”