27 | E S C A L A T E

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god damn right,
you should be scared of me!


   Gladly Ember took it that the next day was a Sunday, so she could sleep in. After spending half of the night awake, skipping through the cruelest thoughts, it was already time for lunch when she awoke, and she found the common room empty. Wondering if her letter had already reached Remus, she entered the entrance hall, and sunken in thoughts she didn't even notice the looks and whispers the few people in the hall drew as Ember crossed the room. Only few steps away from the portal leading to the Great Hall, suddenly a hand wrapped around her wrist and twirled her around, so she was faced with a pair of bright blue eyes.

   "Oh c'mon, not now, okay?", Ember groaned, and with a jolt she freed her hand out of Draco Malfoy's grip. "See, I know you want your revenge for that punch, okay? But I swear, if you're planning to do it now, all you will receive is another broken nose."

   "Hilarious, Potter", he dryly replied, and there was a sparkle in his eyes she didn't like at all. "But I'm quite satisfied with the revenge I already got." She cocked an eyebrow and his lips curled up into a crooked smile. "I thought you might don't want to enter the Great Hall unprepared."

   "Unprepared for what?", Ember hissed, crossing her arms, and as a reply, Draco pulled a newspaper out of his robe, gruffly shoving it against Ember's chest. Caught off guard, she took it. "What's that about?"

   "You know how to read, yes?"

   Her eyebrow still arched, her hazel eyes left Malfoy's satisfied face and wandered down to the Daily Prophet in her hands — just to find herself staring back at her.

THE GIRL WHO LIVED IN THE SHADOWS

   "Catchy, don't you think?", Malfoy snorted, but she barely heard him, as the lines slowly dropped into her brain.

   We all know the story about The Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter, recently chosen as the fourth Triwizard Champion of the infamous tournament that currently takes place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But little to nothing do we know about the life and affliction of the girl living in his shadows, Ember Lilian Potter.

   It was awful. Rita hadn't made false promises when she threatened Ember. People now definitely knew the second Potter. Additionally they knew more than they needed to, and unfortunately more lies than the truth. So according to this article, Ember was nothing but a jealous little girl, a green-eyed nobody who couldn't deal with her brother's fame. Rita didn't hesitate to tell a ridiculous story about the dreadful relationship the Potter twins had, and of course it was all Ember's fault, as she — if you believe Rita — was a quarrelsome little witch with nothing to do but make Harry's life a living hell.

   "Poor little Potter", Malfoy snarled, reminding Ember that he was still here. "I love the part where you make him responsible for having to scrub the toilets. So you're the muggles' house elf, are you?"

   "Shut up, will you?", Ember hissed, throwing the newspaper back at him, just to turn around and head back into the dungeons.

   "You really need to work on your anger management", the blonde Slytherin scoffed. "But I highly support the hell you give your dimwit of a brother." Ember just tried to ignore him, relentlessly walking on. "Even though your intentions are poor." The door was just few steps ahead. "But you can't expect anything brilliant from the girl who lived in the shadows, huh?"

   "Shut up!" Twirling around, the yell bursted out of her mouth, but it was not the only thing. It felt like an electric shock pulsing through her body, spreading from her core to the corners of her limbs, where it errupted out of her skin. Flustered, she watched Malfoy stumbling back, but her confusion was quickly overwhelmed by the wrath poisoning her mind. 

   "What the hell did you —?"

   " 'xcuse us." To her left and right, hands were shoved under her armpits and she felt her feet being lifted from the ground and dragging her away.

   "Hey, what — let me go!"

   "Ah, we probably would", a familiar voice to her right said, and an equal voice to her left added, "and as much as we would love to see you breaking this prat's nose once more, we don't think that Snape would be too amused."

   "Unfortunately, he was coming your way", the first voice said, and they stepped through the oak portal into the still chilly air of the last days of winter.

   Her feet were placed back on solid ground; the icy wind felt like relief shivering through her body, clearing her brain, and she recognised Fred and George looking down at her with an uncommon tensed expression.

   "Don't look at me like that, I wouldn't have attacked him", she muttered, not even believing in her own words. Right now it felt absolutely ridiculous to even consider it, but not even a two minutes ago she'd felt it again: the urge to hurt, to break him, to burry her fist in his stupid face ...

   "Sure", the Weasley twins said unison, pursing their lips, which made them look like their mother. "So why was he so busy getting away from you that he stumbled over his own two feet?"

   "So you think he was — he was heading backwards?", Ember asked, watching the two redheads' facial expressions grow curious.

   "What else would he have done?", Fred asked, cocking his right eyebrow, and George mirrored this small movement of wonderment, saying, "You haven't heard him, did you?"

   "No, I don't think so", she slowly replied, rubbing her temple, as a numb headache started throbbing through her head. "I — well, I better go and find Harry, I guess I owe him an apologize ..."

   "You sure you're alright?" They still wore this stern expression that didn't really fit them, Fred's forehead wrinkled in worries, George's eyebrows close to knit into one single line.

   Ember looked up at her two friends, her head whirling, not sure if she should cry or scream or just break down, and she didn't even know why she would want to do any of this, because she was alright, wasn't she?

   "Yes", she said. "Yes, I'm fine." Oh, how wrong she'd been ...

  

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