Envy (Sequel to Deceit)

Rats and the Bookstore Brawl (Part I)

Khaeos:

Two days had passed since Amelia's return and it was but a week until we were to go back to Hogwarts. Not a minute had passed when Alice had not been at her sister's side; the pair who had been constantly at each others throats now appeared to be the best of friends but people don't change just like that. It's impossible. Relentlessly I searched for the Amelia I knew was hidden beneath all the bravado and facade; finding traces here and there, a frown that graced her brows, a wistful glance sent towards a window, a door. Not even Draco could convince me of what was all too easy to imagine. I would not believe that she had become one of them, I could not.

In those days Draco and I grew close, he understood me in a way the others could not; his position was not dissimilar to my own and although I knew that he was happy with Hailee I could not help but imagine myself at his side instead. He always seemed to look out for me. Though Draco insisted that I was a fool for hoping that Mia would not turn me in, betray me...but my proof came, if rather cryptic in its execution.

The mid afternoon sun sunk into the dull horizon, its rosy hues brimming behind the shadows of the deserted countryside. In the room in which we sat a fire burned in the grate, the flames licking hungrily at the sides. Draco sat by my side, quill in hand, carefully drafting out a letter. Across the room from us stood Alice, Sebastian and Amelia, their heads bent in hushed conversation. Devin and Ebony stood before the fire detached from everyone else; she clung to his side desperately reminding me of how Pansy had acted with Draco, he however seemed preoccupied, paying no attention to her senseless babble.

"Mother is taking us to Diagon Alley today to get our school things" Draco mumbled looking up from his letter momentarily "would you like to come? If those two were my only companions I think it would drive me insane" he muttered glaring towards Amelia and Alice. As if they had heard, they both simultaneously turned, their black eyes staring into mine from across the room. It was eerie how similar they looked, their pale faces, their unreadable expressions and their dark eyes. Eyes so dark they appeared like swirling abysses, deep eyes, eyes that held a thousand secrets.

Alice turned away, whispering something to her sister who stood and made her way over to where Draco and I sat.

"Draco" she breathed, pausing as though uncertain how to continue "Alice and I are going to head to Diagon Alley early... We have some... things to deal with. Will you please tell Narcissa?"

"Yeah, whatever" Draco mumbled, his eyes fixed on the parchment before him. She placed her hand over his in a simple gesture that caused him to look up.

"Thank you" she smiled, trailing her fingers along the oak of the table until she reached the edge, then she turned and left the room closely followed by Alice. However as her hand left the table a tiny piece of parchment fell from it, it was ivory in colour and certainly wasn't from the same roll as any of Draco's darker writing paper. Carefully I picked it up and smoothed it out, on the surface were three words written in Amelia's sloped cursive:

Trust Eris Hades.

~

Amelia

Slowly I withdrew the cork from the small sapphire bottle raising it to my lips. The icy liquid spilled down my throat and I shuddered at the vile taste of it. The potion though an innocent colourless liquid tasted worse than most of Madame Pomfrey's remedies. I stared curiously into the mirror before me as my hair turned a pale blonde and my dark eyes slowly lightened until they sparkled a bright emerald green. It was not yet time for Lily Fox to disappear.

My impatient twin stood behind me, a pot of Floo powder in hand.

"Hurry up" she muttered, offering the pot to me. Rolling my eyes, I took a pinch and stepped into the ornate fireplace, reappearing only a moment later in the dusty fireplace of Borgin and Burkes. My bright green eyes took in the dust ridden shelves and grotesque artefacts before pulling my hood up over my head and stepping out. The cloak I wore was a deep midnight blue and had a big enough hood to cast my face in shadow and somewhat thwart the ghastly curiosity of Mr Borgin, who had been pottering about among the objects when I had arrived. As Alice appeared in the hearth the ragged shopkeeper immediately hurried over to greet her rubbing his hands together eagerly at the prospect of a wealthy customer. His small rat-like eyes peered up at us, flickering between the two of us like an obedient puppy that is waiting to be fed but Mr Borgin was not a puppy, he was a stray mongrel, a leech was perhaps a more accurate description. He was the kind of person that one finds in the most rancid of places, thriving among the death and decay, building his business upon the failings of the weak and pathetic. He repulsed me.