Innocence

Chapter Sixteen

Percival wasted no time in addressing his young audience.

"You may all be wondering why I am here. The answer is simple. Your Headmaster has reason to believe that while most people in this room are doing what they are meant to be doing by going to their lessons and learning magic, there are some who have malicious pastimes. There are some that we believe to not only have ancient views of prejudice against the non-magical community, but are planning to act upon these opinions. They may even have already done so."
He paused while some mutters spread across the room. He cleared his throat and all were silent once more.

"I want to make this very clear. Under no circumstances is this behaviour acceptable. Discrimination will not be tolerated, and any who are caught partaking in such actions will be punished swiftly and severely. Such behaviour proves to be intolerable and disgusting. It echoes the beliefs and actions of a particularly nasty dark wizard. Gellert Grindelwald has been dead for four years. With him, such hatred should've died out as well. If anyone has any difficulty in grasping such a simple concept, then they can be directed to me."

And with that, Percival stormed out of the room. Everyone sat in a stunned silence for a few minutes before slowly, row by row, people got up and left. When Sophia got to the doorway she stepped to the side, allowing others to pass on ahead of her. David tripped over his feet in order to stick with her after the sudden change in direction, looking at her questioningly.

"I'm waiting for Adam. Together, we'll go and find my parents. Do you want to come with us?" Sophia asked.

David bit his lip. "If you don't mind, I think I'll just wait for you back in the common room. No offense but your Father is terrifying."

Sophia felt a pain in her chest at the words but smiled at her friend. "That's okay. I'll see you whenever." And with that David turned and strolled out of the room again.

While Sophia stood waiting for her brother, she realised with a dawning sense of dread that some of the students passing her by were shooting her deadly looks. Gone was the awe that people in her house had for her friendship with David. In its place grew hatred for the daughter of such a frightening man. The pain in her chest grew.

She pointed out this behaviour to Adam when he suddenly appeared at her side a second later. Adam looked around, a scowl written across his face.

"I think you're looking too deeply into this." He said. "People don't care as much as you think they do."

Sophia blinked and looked at the passing faces again and saw to her astonishment that he appeared to be right. People weren't giving her nasty looks anymore.

But that didn't mean they weren't before.

Leaving the hall, Sophia and Adam quickly ran into their parents. Or, at least, their parents ran into them. While turning a corner only a few feet from the Wampus common room, Credence and Percival almost walked straight into their children. Percival only stopped long enough to apologise before continuing to walk away quickly. Credence, however, stuck around to explain frantically.

"I'm sorry you two but we are needed quite urgently in your Headmaster's office. We'll be a while, so I don't think we'll be able to talk today anymore, I'm afraid. But we leave tomorrow morning so if you get up early enough we'll be able to talk before we leave." And with that, Credence turned and jogged to catch up with Percival's quickly receding figure down the hall.

Sophia wilted physically. "Oh that's such a shame." She said, sighing. "Nevermind. At least we got to see them."

Adam was silent for a moment. "Didn't you see what they were holding?" He asked finally.

Sophia frowned. "No?"

"They were both carrying bags full to the brim with... Something."

"Oh. I wonder what it could be."

- - - - -

Sophia lay awake long into the night. She couldn't stop her Father's words from repeating in her head. Something didn't feel right.

Suddenly she sat up as the pieces clicked together in her head. She reached over to where her robes were hung at the end of her bed and put her hand in the pocket, pulling out the crumpled piece of paper.

After weeks of being forgotten about, it was now practically disintegrating, folded up and partially ripped. She delicately opened it up and saw that although the ink had faded somewhat, you could still see what was written on it.

She put it away again, and fell into a restless sleep.

- - - - -

She was woken only a few hours later by someone gently shaking her shoulder. She yawned and stretched before opening her eyes to see Jasper blinking down at her. He smiled before walking away again.She was thankful that she'd thought to ask Jasper the previous evening to wake her up, otherwise she might've overslept and missed her parents.

She dressed quickly and quietly, before making her way out of the dorm and through the common room. When she reached the halls of the castle, she turned quickly and marched purposefully toward the hall. Halfway there, though, she came across someone.

It was John, the seventh year who had beaten Adam to the position of captain on the Horned Serpent quidditch team.

She frowned. Although Adam couldn't voice his dislike of his captain, Sophia could do it instead of him.

"What are you doing here?" She asked bluntly. She had no idea where the Horned Serpent common room was, but even if he was just stood around there, it was very odd for him to be up so early in the morning.

John turned to her, eyebrows drawn and frown an ugly scar ripped across his face. However, his expression dropped as he almost seemed to startle at seeing who it was. "You're looking for your parents, aren't you?" He asked, ignoring her question.

Sophia took a step back, startled. "So what if I am?"

"They came past a couple of minutes ago. They told me that if I see you, I had to tell you that something came up again. They won't be able to talk to you or Adam."

Sophia swallowed and found that there were tears in her eyes threatening to spill. She turned away sharply, and walked until she was out of sight of John. At which point she ran all the way back up to her common room.

Jasper was there to greet her, as always. When he saw that she was crying, though, he didn't say a thing. Merely handed her a tissue and left her to herself.

She was grateful for this.

- - - - - - - - - -

Hey! So here's another chapter.

I am soooo close to finishing this thing. Currently writing Chapter 43 if you can believe that!

Anyway, vote, comment, follow if you want to. I would really appreciate that. :)