Star of Gryffindor - Book 1

Chapter 21 - How to Live with It

With a total of 47 comments so far, the last chapter was officially the one I've gotten the most feedback on. In any of my books.

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I was in a dark room, in a corner, watching several people. One, the smallest, was sitting on a chair in the middle, a candle levitating above her head. A man was pacing in front of her, and against the walls were two or three more people, but I couldn't make them out clearly.

I move closer, trying to see who the girl in the chair was. No one could see me, and apparently no one could feel me because I stepped on one man's foot and he didn't so much as blink.

I crossed the room, so I was looking at her face. Thee face surprised me. It was the one face that I now despised. The face I so recently trusted above all others. The face of Wren. And she looked terrified.

The man pacing in front of her stopped abruptly. "So you didn't get it? You failed?"

She gulped, and nodded, hanging her head.

"Not only that, but you had that Cloak in your possession, but didn't take it?" the man growled, striding forward until his face was inches from hers.

She stared at him, trembling, then nodded once. "I didn't know you wanted it!" As she said that, she started crying.

As much as I hated her now, I couldn't help feeling pity for her. She was only eleven, after all. She didn't deserve this...whatever this was...

The man sighed, and stood up straight, frowning at the sobbing girl as if she was some strange puzzle that he was close to understanding, but not quite there.

"And what did you learn of the girl?"

Wren looked up. "W-who?"

"Who do you think?" he sneered.

She stared at him for a moment, then shook her head stubbornly. "Nothing."

"Nothing? Surely not. You were with her all year," he said patronizingly.

"We weren't friends."

"You were in the same House, the same year," the man said, in the same tone of voice.

"We weren't friends! All I know is she doesn't know who she is!"

My mouth dropped open. Was she talking about me? It couldn't have been Rose, or Lacy, or Iris. Why was she lying? She knew everything there was to know about me. What did she have to gain from lying?

The man's eyes narrowed and he took a swift step towards her. He grabbed her hair and jerked her head backwards. Wren cried out, then bit her lip.

"Tell me what you know," the man whispered menacingly.

"I don't know anything..." Wren said softly, staring at the ceiling.

Suddenly, the scene collapsed into black mist, alerting me to the fact that I was dreaming. The mist pulled towards me as if I was standing in some sort of vacuum. It whirled around, faster and faster and faster...