Star of Gryffindor - Book 1

Chapter 20 - The Truth Revealed

Random shoutout to hannahsue-- for making my day with all her comments on the last chapter.

Especially the fangirling about Jastra 😂

Oh and for being a super awesome detective and asking lots of questions about the attacker to try to figure out who he/she is!

Ok yes at this point I'm just stalling to hold out the suspense for another second so I'll stop now.

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Slowly, the attacker lifted a gloved hand and lowered the hood of the cloak.

Everything stopped.

The only sound in the room was our breathing, and I was having a hard time doing that.

I was frozen. I couldn't move.

How...how could...

"Wren?" whispered James. I could tell from his tone that he wanted the same thing I did. What I desperately wished was for this to be a bad dream. Or that that wasn't really my best friend standing there.

She looked just as upset as us, which wasn't something I would expect from the person who had orchestrated the attacks throughout the year. The attacker was ruthless...remorseless... Wren wasn't like that...

No. She was. I didn't know Wren, obviously. She'd been lying to me all year. She was never my friend. I lifted my wand arm, which had dropped to my side in shock, and pointed the wand at her.

She didn't look terribly surprised at that, though I could see pain in her face. That was probably acting. I glanced over at James, who was apparently having a hard time processing all this.

"Why?" he said, his voice full of emotion.

"I'm sorry..." she said quietly, her voice trembling. It was almost as if she was trying not to cry. "I...I didn't have a choice...I didn't want to..."

"How could you?" I growled, tears stinging my eyes. I didn't care. Let them fall.

"I-I can't explain," she said, her voice hollow. "Not yet...not now..."

"You were behind this the whole time," James said. It wasn't even a question. It was a statement. A statement full of betrayal and pain.

"I...yes..." Wren whispered.

She looked pained, as if this was actually hurting her. I saw a few tears escape her eyes. Why was she crying? She had been lying to us all year. Why was she upset? Why did she do this?

"You were my friend," I whispered, trying not to sob. There were tears falling now, I could tell. My cheeks were wet.

She didn't answer. It looked like she wanted to, but she didn't. She sighed and looked down.

The silence returned. It grew until it was deafening. I wanted someone to say something, but I couldn't say a word. The shock was setting in.

"Well?" James said finally. "Are you going to torture us?" He glared at her.

She slowly, reluctantly, raised her wand. "I don't want to..."