Sinking deeper into Secrets

The Exploding Howler

Hello lovelies//
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Amelia rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, but it did nothing to make her blurry vision better. She was beyond exhausted, and was running on nothing. She had a complete lack of energy as she made her way to the Gryffindor table. When she reached the table, Fred looked her up and down snorting out a laugh. "You look like you're gonna pass out."

"Thanks for stating the obvious." She grunted plopping down on the bench next to him. Harry joined her in his usual spot. Amelia's head lulled on her hand as she watched Neville and Danielle across from her. Hermione was sitting next to Danielle and she didn't even look up at the boys as they joined the table. It was the cold shoulder at its finest. The minute the food popped on the table, Amelia went right for it hoping if she ate she would have a burst of energy.

The food isn't what gave her a burst of energy. A moment later owls swooped into the great hall, causing everyone's attention to stare up and away from their breakfast. Amelia watched in front of her very eyes, a grey thing soared into Hermione's milk jug. Liquid splattered everywhere, causing Danielle to wrinkle her nose and lean away from Hermione. "Errol!" Ron scolded and grabbed the bird by its feet tugging it out of the jug. Amelia couldn't help but crack a smile at the owl. Amelia's eyes widened when Errol plopped onto the table. "Oh no-" Ron let out a gasp. Amelia didn't know what to say, her mouth kept opening and closing as she stared at Errol. Hermione's eyes flitted  from Amelia's reaction to Ron's. "It's alright," she assured prodding at the bird. "He's still alive."

That wasn't what Amelia was all wide eyed about though. She knew the bird was okay, he would pull through, the question was would Ron? Amelia's heart started to beat at a faster rate as Ron maneuvered the red envelope into his hands. Harry shook Amelia by the shoulder, gaining her attention. Her blonde curls bounced wildly over her shoulder, as her head snapped to meet Harry's eyes. "Why are you staring at that envelope, as if it'll explode?" He pried, searching her eyes for why in the heck she looked so worried. Amelia swallowed, preparing an answer for him but Fred beat her to it.

Fred hadn't taken any interest in the conversation, even though he was laughing so hard on the inside. "Because there's a pretty good chance it might actually explode." He said casually, while fiddling with his breakfast.

Harry's face now melted into a look of worry. "She- she sent me a Howler." Ron managed to stutter out. Amelia now felt like there were rocks concaving in her stomach. She felt really bad for whatever was about to be unleashed on Ron. She knew she shouldn't feel bad, it was their stupid mistake, but Ron looked like he was about to faint. "You better open in, Ron." Neville's voice was nothing but a timid whisper. At hearing his voice, Amelia craned her head to look across the table, all eyes followed. Danielle was tense beside Neville, she was nervous too- biting at her nails. Amelia could tell they felt guilty by association.

"It'll be worse if you don't." Neville went on.

"What's a Howler?" Harry perked up. His question did nothing to relieve the tension.

"Open it," Neville urged. He and Danielle were leaning into the middle of the table now trying to get a closer eye on the thing.

"It'll all be over in a few minutes-" Danielle spoke up clearing her throat.

Amelia chewed on her bottom lip; she was tired of all this stalling. They needed to just get it over with; the dramatics was making it worse.

"You brought this upon your selves." She remarked and reached across Harry to rip the envelope open with one hand. There it was done.

"- STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDNT HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DONT SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER, AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE-"

Amelia's mouth dropped so low she wondered how she was ever going to get it in its previous position again. She had never heard Molly yell so loudly in her life, the plates were shaking on the tables and almost every head in the hall turned over to look at their table. Amelia vowed she would never make her Aunt Molly feel such anger towards her. The embarrassment was a hundred times worse for her, because of Harry. He kept his eyes down so not to make contact with anyone as they openly stared. The shame that he felt was surging into her at full speed. Amelia pressed her eyes shut briefly as the bounding voice continued.

"- LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDNT BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS. YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED-"

Amelia was thinking at this moment they probably wish they had. Ron had sunk so low in his chair that you only saw his forehead. Amelia's jaw started to clench from the pounding in her head. The shouting howler was starting to produce quite the headache.

"-ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED- YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."

Amelia let out a huge breath, it was all over now. The silence seemed odd after it had just been so loud a second ago. Amelia turned her head to the only sound she could hear, the twins laughter. They were trying to hold it back, which only made it louder because now it came out in coughs and snorts.
"It's pretty great," they said together their voice cracking with laughter, "watching someone get in trouble, instead of being the ones in trouble."

Amelia let off a massive eye roll, way to help improve the mood. She turned her head around just at the proper moment, because McGonagall was holding out her school schedule to her. She briefly smiled up at her while taking it, arching her eyebrows in apprehension at what the schedule might look like.

Double Herbology with the Hufflepuff's first, excellent. She quite liked Herbology and if she ever needed help she could just ask Neville. After taking a quick look at the schedule her eyes scanned up to see that all of her friends were still in an uncomfortable silence after the events of the Howler.

Hermione cleared her throat and laid down the book she has been reading, folding her hands over top of it. "Well I don't know what you expected Ron, but you-"

"Don't tell me that I deserved it!"

Amelia flinched at Ron's hard voice. He was absolutely embarrassed, and staring at Hermione with a fury she knew all too well. This wasn't going to be good if Hermione said anything else. At least she was now speaking to them. Amelia didn't want to be around the tension any longer, she pressed her lips into a thin line and made eyes contact with Danielle. "Class?" She proposed, making it clear she was speaking only to her. This was their getaway. "Class." Danielle agreed without a moment's hesitation. No more words were exchanged as Amelia gathered up her books, took a swig of pumpkin juice and then got up from the table, Danielle mirroring her actions.

"I think I'll join you two!" Neville chimed hurriedly getting up from the table as well. Harry's eyes pleaded for her not to leave him here, with Ron who was clearly embarrassed by his mom and angry about Hermione. Amelia made a face that he should come with them, but he failed to do so in time. The three were already walking towards the Great Hall entrance.

The corridors were practically empty because most everyone was still enjoying breakfast. Amelia ran her fingers through her hair, enjoying the quiet.

"Bloody hell, after that Howler even I wanted to smack them." Danielle commented, breaking the silence. Neville and Amelia both nodded feverishly in agreement.

"I mean I get they were in a sticky situation and they had to get to Hogwarts, I just wish they would have been smarter and explained their problem to Molly and Arthur, they all could have thought of a solution." Amelia explained while moving all of her books into her school bag and making sure she had her wand stowed away in a pocket of her robes.

"Well, what would you have done if you were in that situation?" Neville asked curiously, peaking their attention. They both gave him calculating looks. "I mean that, they panicked, in that moment they thought the only way was to steal the car, they didn't want to waste time staying around to consult them." Neville went on trying to express how they must have been feeling in that moment.

"Ever the logical one." Danielle teased making them all chuckle. In a way, Amelia understood what Neville was trying to say. Amelia would like to think that she would be smart and waited around for her aunt and uncle if it were her in that situation, but panic causes people to do stupid things.

"I imagine Aunt Molly will still be fuming over this by the time Christmas break rolls around." Amelia thought out loud. She shuddered imagining the never ending tension that would be shrouding the Weasley family. She suddenly felt like asking her parents to stay home the full time during the break. But then she realized Ron would kill her if she left him alone the whole time he was home. They both laughed at her comment thinking back to how viciously mad she had been, and how she had months to calm down.  But they didn't know her like Amelia knew her.

Amelia focused her attention forwards and was met with an interesting sight. "Look, two pretty boys coming this way." She said.

"I only see one pretty boy." Danielle sighed, her voice seeping with admiration as her eyes took in his every movement. Neville made a face at her actions, instead of asking Danielle what was the matter he scrunched his eyes up at Amelia as if to say 'Why is she acting this way?'

"You'll see." Amelia said taking a deep breath.

"At your service," Sam Creevey called obviously hearing her comment about the pretty boys earlier.

"Hello sister." Cedric greeted his voice pleasant.

"Sister!" Sam beamed, his face taken up by his cheshire  grin. "I didn't know you were Diggory's sister." He said directly to Danielle.

Danielle just nodded feverishly, her mouth agape. Amelia saw Cedric roll his eyes out when Sam bent down to gently caress Danielle's hand.

"I assume your name isn't just sister, darling." He prompted pressing a cool kiss to her fingertips. If Amelia didn't know any better she would say Danielle was practically shaking. It took everything in Amelia, not to look away out of embarrassment for Danielle. But Amelia looked on, smirking and urging her to say something in return.

"Da-Danielle. That's my name. But, um, you can call me Dani, if you like."

If it were even possible, Sam's grin grew.

"Alright, I highly doubt we are on a nickname basis right Sam?" Amelia said stepping in front of Danielle, cutting off anymore flirting. Sure she has been entranced with him when they met on the train last year but she had heard about Sam since then. Mainly what he was known for, and she hated that Danielle gave him so much attention. She could feel Danielle pressing herself, against her in order to get closer to Sam.

Cedric watched in amusement as Amelia and Sam seemed to be in a staring contest. Cedric decided to end this and clapped a hand on Sam's back. "Come on mate, let's get to breakfast, save the entrancing for later." Sam chuckled under his breath at the comment, breaking his gaze away from Amelia. Cedric still had his hands on his shoulders and only stepped away, when Sam finally swiveled on his foot. Sam was about to start walking away when he threw his head over his shoulder. He didn't engage any of the girls just looked over at Neville.

"Take care of these girls on your walk to class stud." With that remark and a subtle wink at Danielle, Sam was off walking down the hallway with Cedric following close behind.

"He is so cool," Neville breathed. The next thing you heard was the smack as Amelia face palmed.  Not Neville too.

"Oh Amelia!" Cedric exclaimed, just remembering something.

He turned full-fledged to face them and started walking backwards. "I was so excited to hear about the Gryffindor Quidditch team's newest addition. It's going to be great competing against you."

Amelia stopped breathing as she gaped at Cedric, what was he talking about? Was he messing with her?

"See you on the pitch." Those were his parting words. Amelia barely heard them. Her heart was thundering out of her chest. She felt the eyes of Danielle and Neville boring into her. She felt like her skin had been shredded, her insides were water. She was caught completely off guard. Her confusion was overwhelming at what Cedric had meant by his words. Danielle was fuming. "YOU DIDN'T THINK TO TELL ME YOU WOULD BE ON THE QUIDDITCH TEAM THIS YEAR."

Amelia didn't turn around, she could hardly breathe. How was this possible? She needed answers, now.