The Flower and the Badger

Chapter 21

November quickly came and went, and December was now upon them. Everyone was talking about Christmas, and about all of the things that they would be doing this upcoming holiday. Harry and Anna, naturally, would be staying at the castle for Christmas; you could offer Anna a million dollars and she still wouldn't go back to the Dursley's. It was bad enough that they would have to spend the entire summer with them. All of the Weasleys were staying at Hogwarts as well, because Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would be visiting their son Charlie in Romania. Anna didn't mind it, though. If she could, she would stay at Hogwarts year round. Hermione, however, had different plans for Anna.
"You should come home with me for Christmas, Anna."
"I don't know..." Anna didn't want to impose on Hermione's parents, who, from what Anna had been told, seemed like darling people. "I already owled them and they said that it was alright. Oh please, Anna."
"Go on." Harry urged her. "Go with her." Anna looked at him. This would be the first time that the twins would be seperated for more than a few hours.
"Harry-"
"I'll be fine." He insisted. "I'll have Ron here to keep me company. You go and have fun with Mione."
Anna sighed. "Fine."
"So you'll come then?" Hermione asked excitedly, and Anna laughed. "Seeing as how I'm outnumbered by both my best friend and my brother, I don't really have any choice, do I?"
Hermione squealed and she hugged Anna before rushing off to write to her parents and tell them the good news. Anna chuckled and she shook her head before making her way to the library to study for an upcoming Astrology test. She found Lucy Quinn in there, which caused her to internally groan. Lucy and Cedric had been fighting recently, because Lucy didn't want him spending time with Anna anymore. Lucy sent Anna a dirty look, which made the Potter girl roll her eyes before she walked down one of the aisles of books. Blaise was there as well, and he chuckled softly. "Quinn really hates you, doesn't she?"
Anna scoffed. "It's not my fault that she lacks self-confidence and is jealous of every girl that even looks at Cedric."
"She's always been like that." Blaise responded. A couple Slytherins stopped when they saw the two talking, but when Anna looked at them, they scurried away. "The whole house has heard about how you and Fred creamed those Slytherins that attacked you two." Blaise said, and Anna smirked softly. "Bet that Flint and his friends will think twice before they mess with us again."
"About that..." I swear that I had no idea they were planning something like that."
"Blaise, it's alright, there's no harm done." Anna stood on tiptoe to grab a book off of one of the higher shelves.  "I'll catch up with you later."
"See you, Potter."

"What were you doing with Zabini in the library?" Ron demanded of Anna later that day, causing her to raise an eyebrow. "Were you spying on me?"
"Of course not." Ron said, his face flushing. "Seamus said that he saw you two."
"What, can't I talk to my friends anymore?"
"Not when your friend is a Slytherin."
"What does that have to do with it?!"
"Everything, especially when people are now saying that you staged that attack on Fred!"
"They're saying I what?!" Anna was flabbergasted. "Ron, you can't honestly believe that!"
"Relax, I don't. But a lot of other people do. You wanna take a guess as to who started that rumour?"
"Malfoy..." Anna growled, and Ron nodded. "Bingo. The whole thing spread like wildfire."
Now that Anna thought about it, it did seem like a lot of people had been avoiding her recently, some going out of their way to not talk to her. She didn't mind it with some people, like Lavender, who had suddenly become boy obsessed, but with others, like Padma, or Angelina, it....well, it hurt. "How can they believe that I would do something like that?" Anna's eyes widened as a horrific though occured to her. "Fred, he doesn't-"
"He doesn't believe a word of it." Ron said quickly, and Anna nodded, sighing in relief.
"Look, try not to worry about it." Ron continued. "They'll likely forget about it soon."
Somehow, Anna didn't think that would turn out to be the case.

Anna had been right. As the days passed and Christmas drew even nearer, Anna seemed to get dirty looks everywhere she went. It had gotten to the point where, if she didn't have classes and it wasn't mealtime, she would hide out in her dorm. Thankfully Hermione and Parvati believed that she was innocent, otherwise it might have made for some very awkward nights.
"You can't hide out here forever." Hermione said.
"Watch me." Anna was sitting cross-legged on her bed, working on her DADA homework. "It's better than being out there where it feels like everybody wants to kill me."
"Maybe they'll forget about it by the time that Christmas holidays are over."
Anna shrugged. "Maybe." She wouldn't be holding her breath though.
"Speaking of, are you all packed?" Hermione asked. "We leave tomorrow."
"Yeah, I've got everything that I need." Hopefully Hermione was right. Maybe by the time that they returned, everything would be back to normal.

Anna was in the middle of a clearing. The sky was cloudy and grey, and a few raindrops were beginning to fall. Standing in front of Anna was a wizened old woman. Although her hair was grey and her skin wrinkled, she still had a certain liveliness about her. She was dressed in medieval garb, and somehow Anna knew that this was Adriana Petrival. Adriana smiled at Anna. Anna was very puzzled. Adriana seemed so kind... Had she really been so terrible? Somehow Anna just couldn't see her as being a dark witch. "Adriana?"
"Yes, that's me." Adriana's smile was kind and warm. "And you are Annaliese Potter, the new keeper of my wand."
"Yes, but how did you-"
"There are many types of magic in this world." Adriana said. "Some much older than others. Use my wand well, Annaliese, for you shall need it in the days and years to come. Keep your friends close, and cherish the time that you have with them, for the day will eventually come when you lose someone close to you."
"What do you mean?" Anna asked, but Adriana had disappeared.

Anna awoke with a gasp, her eyes darting around the room. What a weird dream...had it been just a dream? Or had it been a vision? A vision of what though? Whatever it was, Anna feared that it bode ill for her future. And who was the person that Adriana had said that Anna would lose? Anna glanced at the clock that was perched on her nightstand. One fifteen in the morning. She needed to calm down before she could even think of going back to sleep. Quietly, so as not to wake the sleeping girls around her, she put on her robe and tiptoed downstairs to the common room, and she sat in front of the roaring fireplace. She sensed someone sit down next to her, and she looked at her brother. "Hey..."
"Hey." Harry responded. "It's pretty late for you to be up."
"Look who's talking."
He chuckled softly before biting his lip. "How are you? With everything that's been going on?"
Anna shrugged. "I'm alright."
Harry gave her a look. "Anna, I'm your twin brother. You do realize that you can't lie to me, right?"
Anna took a deep, shuddering breath. "Everyone hates me."
"Oh come on, that's not true."
"You don't understand, you don't see how they look at me." Anna sniffled as tears pooled in her eyes. Harry sighed as he wrapped her in a tight hug, letting Anna cry into his shoulder. "I'm going to kill Malfoy." He muttered as he rubbed her back. This caused her to laugh a little bit. "I'm sure that Fred and George will help you bury the body."
"Probably." Harry chuckled quietly as he wiped her tears away with his thumb. "It'll be alright."
"You all keep telling me that, but it doesn't feel like it'll be alright."
"Soon enough, everyone will realize that they've been wrong." Harry said. "Besides, the people that matter believe in you. Me, Hermione, the Weasleys, Cedric."
Anna nodded. He was right. Her friends, her true friends, they knew the truth, and really, that was all that should matter to her. "Thank you Harry."
"What are brothers for? Even if they're seven minutes younger."
Anna laughed lightly. "Seven and a half." She teased, making Harry roll his eyes. "Always the minute details with you."
"Maybe I should have been a Ravenclaw."
"I mean, the Hat did almost sort me into Slytherin."
Anna shuddered at the thought. "I couldn't imagine being in the same house as Draco. Not all of the Slytherins are bad, it would be an okay house if it wasn't for Draco and all of his pure blood minded goons." Anna yawned as she snuggled into Harry's chest. "Sleep." He murmured. "I'll stay right here."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Anna nodded and she let her eyes slowly close, and the twins drifted off to sleep together.