The Flower and the Badger

Chapter 4

Anna loved being with Cedric and his dad, Amos was one of the kindest people she had met, she could see where Cedric had gotten it from. Amos asked her all sorts of questions. What life had been like with the Dursleys, what her favorite class was, and how she and Cedric had met were just some of the things that she answered.
"What do you think of having Lockhart as our new DADA professor?" Cedric asked, and Anna almost choked on her butter pecan ice cream. "What? Gilderoy Lockhart is our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"
"Yeah, you mean you didn't know?"
Anna shook her head. "I had just assumed that the new professor was one of the many witches with a crush on him. I didn't think that we would actually have to deal with his pompous ass."
Amos chuckled softly. "I'm guessing that you aren't a fan of Mr. Lockhart then?"
"Oh Godric no." Anna shuddered a bit. "I'm as much a fan of his as I am of the Parkinsons."
Cedric smirked a bit. "Speaking of, I heard about your little encounter with Pansy earlier."
"She deserved it." Anna scowled. "The little b-" She caught herself just in the nick of time, and she glanced at Amos, who was looking at her with an amused twinkle in his eyes. Anna blushed lightly before fixing her gaze on her ice cream, which was starting to melt.
"So...you and Cedric seem to be pretty good friends." Amos said, and Anna nodded. "Cedric was one of the first friends that I had made at Hogwarts."
"He told me that there were some pretty nasty rumours spread about you; you seemed to handle yourself rather well."
"I tried." Anna blushed darkly at the compliment. "It didn't really help that the person spreading the rumours was extremely jealous."
"You were very lucky." Amos said seriously. "Not everyone comes back from the Cruciatus Curse as well as you did."
Anna nodded; she realized just how lucky she had been. If Cedric hadn't saved her, she most likely would have died. "If it wasn't for your son, I probably wouldn't have made it."
Cedric rubbed her back. "I'll always be here for you."
Amos chuckled softly. "Are you sure that you two are just friends?"
"Dad!" Cedric objected as Anna blushed darker than she had ever blushed before. Amos laughed heartily before taking out a pocketwatch and checking the time. "Oh dear, it's getting late, we should be getting you home."
Anna nodded and she quickly finished her ice cream, almost getting a brain freeze in the process.
They Floo'ed back to the Burrow, and Cedric gave Anna a quick hug before leaving with his father.
"Did you have fun dear?" Molly asked and Anna nodded. "Yeah, it was great."
Anna went up the stairs, passing Fred and George, who stopped talking as she went by. Anna sighed and she shook her head. Whatever they were talking about they obviously didn't want Anna to know about it.

When they went to King's Cross station about a week later, Anna looked around for Hermione and her parents, grinning when she saw them. "Mum! Dad!" She ran over, hugging them tightly. Even though they weren't actually her parents, they were as close to parents as Anna could remember having. Mr. Granger smiled as he hugged his adoptive daughter. "How was your time with the Weasleys?"
"Oh it was great!" Anna said. "I had a lot of fun."
"I missed you terribly." Hermione said. "Have you had any visits from Adriana?"
"One, I'll tell you about it on the train." Anna hugged Mr. and Mrs. Granger one more time before pulling  Hermione onto the Hogwarts Express. They found an empty compartment, and Anna told her about the dream that she'd had, and the conversation she'd had with Adriana.
"It doesn't make any sense." Hermione  said. "Why would Merlin try and frame Adriana for those murders?"
"Maybe because the real culprit was someone that Merlin cared about." Anna mused. "I wish that I could figure this out, but I have a feeling that the only way that would happen were if I was somehow able to go back in time."
"There are ways," Hermione said, and Anna looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"You could use a time turner, but if you use a time turner to go back more than five hours, the results on you could be dire or even catastrophic."
"So that's out then." Anna said with a disappointed groan. She felt guilty that she was seemingly unable to help Adriana. "Now I'm gonna have her haunting my dreams for the rest of my life."
"I'm sure that you'll find some way to help her." Hermione said soothingly as she rubbed Anna's back, trying to console her. "Don't give up hope."
The girls talked for a few more minutes before Hermione went off in search of Harry and Ron. Almost as soon as she had left, Draco and his goons Crabbe and Goyle came in.
"Hello Potter." Draco said with a sneer.
"Malfoy." Anna greeted him coldly, her hazel eyes staring at him icily. "What the hell do you want?"
"I'm in need of some entertainment and I couldn't find your brother and that blood traitor Weaselbee."
Anna's hands clenched into fists. "Don't talk about Ron like that!"
"Why not? It's true; he hangs out with that Mudblood. Although you live with Granger, so I suppose that you're even more of a blood traitor than he is."
"You shut your mouth!" Anna shouted as she jumped up, but was pushed back into her seat by Crabbe.
"You aren't going anywhere Potter." Draco chuckled darkly, and Anna's eyes widened slightly. She didn't know what he had planned, but she knew that it wouldn't be good.
"Scared now that Diggory isn't here to protect you Potter? Not such a big shot now are you? When you got Flint expelled, you cost us both one of our Chasers and our team Captain. And you're going to pay for that." Draco nodded to Crabbe and Goyle, who cracked their knuckles as Draco closed the drape on the window of the door of the compartment.
Goyle grabbed Anna and shoved her to the ground, and Anna cried out as Crabbe kicked her in the stomach. Draco cast a silencing charm around the compartment so that no one would hear her anguished and pained cries. He smirked as he knelt down next to her. "You're going to lay for everything Potter." He whispered into her ear before walking out, leaving Crabbe and Goyle to deal with her as they saw fit.

The two thugs left Anna bruised and battered. Her stomach was lined with bruises, and she was sure that her nose had been broken as well. She stood, wincing as she clutched at her side. Looking out the window, she could see that they were pulling into Hogsmeade. She limped out into the corridor, and Parvati Patil rushed over to her. "Anna, you look absolutely terrible! What happened?!"
"Draco and his friends." Anna answered as Parvati helped her off of the train. Hagrid lumbered over. "What 'appened 'ere?"
"Draco and his goons." Parvati answered. "They roughed her up rather good I'm afraid."
"We better get yer to Madame Pomfrey."
"I'll do it." Parvati offered and Hagrid nodded. "That would be a bit help Parvati, thank yer."
Now that they were second years, they took carriages instead of the boats. It looked like there was nothing pulling the carriages, so Anna assumed that they must have been pulled by invisible horses or something like that. Parvati helped Anna into the carriage, and Anna slumped against the seat, suddenly feeling very tired. She tried to fight it off, but ultimately failed, and slipped into oblivion as Parvati shouted Anna's name.