Empty Gold • d.meadowes

-12-

Dorcas was on her way to the library when she was suddenly stopped by a group of three Slytherins from her year.

They appeared from a corner she was just passing, and stood directly in front of her, making a barrier that was impossible for her to pass through, given their large sizes. She knew all three of them. The one on the right side, with sandy blonde hair and practically no chin and no neck, was Crabbe, possibly one of the most vicious of the students that had shown their true colours after the revelation of Lord Voldemort's plans to demolish muggles and muggleborns alike. In the middle was Thorfinn Rowle, the same boy that had questioned her about her skills in wandless and nonverbal magic only a few days prior. Accompanying them was Emma Vanity, a half blood girl, raised by her muggle father, who had had to fight for three years to get a "reputable" place among the Slytherins who only reserved their respects for those with the purest of bloods in their veins.

It wasn't a company Dorcas wished for early on in the weekend.

She decided the best thing to do would be to simply ignore them and walk away. But the plan failed as Crabbe moved to step in front of her, effectively blocking her path. She took a few steps backwards, her heart rate suddenly rising. She swallowed slightly and her hand moved of its own accord to the wand that was tucked away inside the sleeves of her robes. Emma, whose eyes had been following her all along, noticed the movement.

"Now you don't have any need for your wand, do you?" she asked with a smirk. "We heard you're tremendously good at wandless magic, as well as nonverbal. Would you mind doing a demonstration?"

Dorcas tried to keep her eyes steady and focused on the Slytherin girl's sneering face, but she found it hard to do so. "If you want to see such magic being performed," she said with her eyes flitting back and forth between the three Slytherins, "I'm sure Professor Flitwick will be kind enough to demonstrate it in your Charms class. That is, if you aren't too busy with your Dark Lord's duties."

Their faces hardened immediately, and Crabbe took a step forward, wand out already and pointing at her face. But Emma Vanity was faster, and she smacked his hand away, coming up to stand directly in front of Dorcas and lowering her head so that their noses were nearly touching. It took Dorcas an immense amount of energy to not take a step back.

"Don't try to be smart with us," she said in a soft voice that held a sharp menace nonetheless. "You have no idea what we're capable of doing." She stepped back and flashed her a sunny smile as though she hadn't threatened her just a few seconds back. Placing a hand on her shoulder, like close friends would normally do, she said in a sweet voice, "Now go to the library. Your girlfriend is waiting for you. We'll catch up later."

Dorcas's heart leapt out of her ribcage, her mouth opened in shock, but she was unable to say anything as she suddenly found her throat drying up. The three exchanged humorous laughs, as though Emma had said the funniest thing the universe could ever conjure up, but the way she had uttered the word girlfriend made it quite clear that people liking the same gender were equivalent to, or even less than, muggles in their standards. They turned on their heels and walked away, leaving Dorcas standing in the middle of the corridor, trying desperately to catch her breath, as though she had just run a hundred metre sprint.

When she had regained her composure, she stuffed her wand inside her bag and trotted inside the library, where she found Juliet sitting in one corner, her eyes perusing over what looked like the Potions book. She went over and sat down opposite her, greeting her with a hello.

"Sorry I'm late," she muttered quietly, not meeting her eyes. "I got caught up."

"It's okay," Juliet answered with a smile. "I'm not very eager to study Potions anyway."

Dorcas deliberately wasted some time to gather her belongings and stack her books in neat piles on the table, allowing herself to gain control of her thoughts and push those about the three Slytherins out of her mind. Then she forced a smile to her face and said, "First things first. You have to drop that attitude. You got an E in OWLs, didn't you? What happened now?"

Juliet dropped her head on the table with a loud thud, making her flinch, especially because of the peaceful calm of the library. Juliet laughed apologetically as the librarian shot her a glare. "Sorry," she muttered.

"You don't spend much time in the library, do you?" Dorcas asked with an amused smile. She shook her head.

"I prefer the Ravenclaw common room. It's so much quieter."

"Okay, back to business. Why are your grades suddenly decreasing?"

Juliet thought for a moment, eyes creased into a small frown. "I get distracted easily. I don't know why. It's happening a lot recently, and I can't focus at all. My mind keeps drifting off at the slightest distraction, and when I open my book, all I see are meaningless words looking back at me."

Dorcas chewed on her lips. She wasn't an expert on psychology and thus, couldn't provide an explanation on why this was happening to Juliet. But she could help her own her distractions, and she would do the best she possibly could.

"Okay, so how many chapters have you revised?"

"Revised?" Juliet asked with a puzzled look.

"You know, revise? Revise for the NEWTs? Which is coming in a few months?"

The Ravenclaw smiled sheepishly at her, bringing a hand up to twirl her blonde hair.

"Well, um, you see, I haven't started yet."

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same juliet, same

oh and the new cover is made by the wonderfully talented @viiv-xvii. basically, any of the covers of this book (and i'm going to change it a lot) are all made by her