Feathers and Tears

Emily Clark POV

Thursday 31st October 1991

The weather was getting colder as they neared November. The mountains around the castle were becoming an icy grey at their peaks and no one dared to dip their feet in the lake anymore. Emily was having more fun than she'd had in years with her friends, and though the days passed quickly, each of them felt like they contained more adventures than a whole year's worth at one of her old schools.

She still felt embarrassed at the misunderstanding her friends had that was caused by her overreaction during the first week – that she and Charles were dating. Not that she hated the idea but the two of them didn't have that kind of relationship, nor did they want it. By now it had been cleared up, but she still got teased about it from time to time.

'Did Charles like her?' the question seemed extremely silly and so did she when she remembered worrying about it. She knew now why it had all felt so concerning to her then. After the two of them had gotten their letters, it felt like all her previous efforts to become Charles' friend had been rewarded. He had stopped ignoring her and even let her stay in his room when she wanted, something no one else back in the house had been allowed. The month before Hogwarts had been great and she thought Charles finally considered her his friend. It felt like he had let her in, even if it was only a little, and that meant more to Emily than he would probably ever know.

Which was why when a week passed, and the two of them still hadn't talked, it felt like it was all being taken away from her. She was scared their relationship would return back to what it used to be.

It hadn't, Emily was glad to say. While they didn't get to hang out as much as they did before, Charles and her still got to see each other a few times a week in the library. Being the only boy, he didn't seem as comfortable when her friends came, but Emily was grateful he never brought his own friends to even out the numbers.

Charles' best friends, Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini, weren't as bad as the other Slytherins. They didn't actively go out and bully others, like Draco Malfoy's goons, Crabbe and Goyle, but that didn't mean they bothered holding back their laughs when the others did. They all felt the same way about muggle-borns, like her, just the two of them never out of their way to prove it.

Emily wished the stupid hat had put Charles in Gryffindor with her instead, then they could spend more time together. But she had to admit, he didn't look out of place in Slytherin. Rather he seemed to fit in there quite well. She supposed it somewhat made sense; the house was named after his ancestor after all – but that didn't mean she had to like it.

Although they were his 'best friends', Emily didn't think they were very good ones.

Yesterday Charles when he very abruptly left their Flying lesson very abruptly. One moment he was lining up to fly on his dusty and old broomstick, and the next he had thrown the broom to the ground and walked off. Not a single one of his so-called friends followed after him. Emily tried to herself, but Madam Hooch's threat of taking away House points caused her housemates to stop her. 'At least I tried!'

She was worried about why the boy had scurried off so suddenly, but she also knew that he wasn't the type to tell her even if she asked. So, despite her curiosity, she decided to just keep her eyes on him today. He seemed alright at breakfast, acting no differently from usual – albeit maybe a little less talkative – but usual for Charles was hard to read. When lunch came and she saw no difference in his behaviour, Emily assumed he had simply been nervous about flying or needed the toilet too much to do so. Soiling yourself whilst flying on a broom in front the whole class would be much worse than losing a few house points. Emily wouldn't risk it if were her, she would never be able to live it down.

By the time Charms class came around, Emily had long pushed Charles to the back of her mind.

At the beginning of the lesson, Professor Flitwick told them they were ready to start making objects fly, something everyone had been excited to give a go since the little man made Neville's toad fly around the classroom. After demonstrating the spell, he put them all into pairs to practise. Emily was with Parvati, which made her happy. She would have hated being paired with someone like Seamus Finnigan – he was always setting fire to things.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practising!" squeaked Profesor Flitwick, as usual perched atop his set of books so he could see over his podium. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the words properly is very important, too – never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

Ten minutes later, after many repeated attempts and failures, as well as a fire caused by Seamus, Emily let out a disheartened sigh. It was far from as easy as the Professor made it look. Both she and Parvati were too worried about ending up like Baruffio to get the spell right.

"You're much too concerned with the pronunciation, and you're forgetting to pay attention to your wand. The wrist movement is where you need to be precise. Once you have that right, let the words flow out naturally and –" Professor Flitwick stopped speaking, his eyes on a slowly rising feather across the room. It was Hermione Granger's.

"Oh, well done!" he cried happily, clapping his hands, very excited for his student's success. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

Emily didn't particularly like Hermione, mainly due to her 'better than you attitude', but she had to admit, the girl was good.

By the end of the lesson most of them had at least gotten their feathers to float. Emily couldn't get as high as Hermione did without it immediately falling back down, but as long as it was near her, she could move it around quite well.

Ron Weasley hadn't done so well and being partnered with Hermione who had done the best, had given him a bad temper.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he complained almost as soon as they were out of the classroom.

'We can hear you, you idiot," sighed Emily inwardly. Many of her classmates were keeping quiet with their ears faced toward the freckled red-head. However, Ron clear thought only his friends were listening.

"She's a nightmare, honestly. 'You're saying it wrong', I mean, does she really think she's helping?"

Someone knocked their group to get past and ran off. The bushy hair was unmistakable, it was Hermione – and she was crying...

"I think she heard you," said Harry Potter. 'Oh, you don't say!'

Ron had guilty look on his face, obviously feeling a little bad. Not that he would admit it. "So? She must have noticed she's got no friends."

Emily had heard enough. "You're horrible!" she spat at the boy, thinking him no better than the rotten Malfoy. "Save me a seat at the table," she told her friends, "I need the toilet." She was off before they could say anything.

It turned out Hermione wasn't a very fast runner. Emily quite easily began catching up to her and spotted her dash into the First-Floor girls' Toilets. She entered in after her. Emily hadn't been very subtle in her chasing so she wasn't surprised to find Hermione had locked herself away in one of the stools.

She hesitated, unsure if it was better to just walk away. It wasn't as though they were close, and no one would blame her for it. But she heard the girl's sobbing, it almost sounded like hiccups due to Hermione's attempts to hold it in. She quickly came to a decision. 'I'd be no better than Weasley if I went back now.'

Her mind made up, she knocked on the wooden door.

"Hermione... is that you in there?" Emily whispered softly. Of course, she knew she was – having seen the girl slam the door closed not even a minute ago. Hermione gave her no answer, likely wishing for her to go away silently, Emily thought. But Emily wasn't someone who gave up easily – if she had been, then she and Charles would never have become friends at all.

"I saw you run off after the lesson. Are you okay?"

Sniffles sounded out on the other side of the door. After a moment of silence, Hermione finally spoke. "Why would you care?" she said hostilely, enunciating each syllable.

Emily was slow to answer, for she didn't really know why she followed her either. But she felt she needed an excuse. Then she remembered Charles having asked her to look out for Hermione, something she hadn't done too well listening to. 'Thats a good enough reason to give her, I guess...'

"Obviously you don't care at all," cried Hermione having decided she had waited long enough for a response. "Then why are you even here? To make fun of me? It wouldn't be the first time, I'm sure – I've heard what you all say about me behind my back. Can't even wait until I'm out of the room before you start insulting me."

Emily didn't like being accused of things she hadn't done and her temper almost flared at being lumped in with bullies. Not once had she ever said anything beyond saying she was annoying or calling her a know-it-all. Nor had she ever made fun of her hair or her teeth or anything else a lot of people did. Rather, she had scolded others who did more than once or twice. It was unfair of her to group her together with them.

Still, the hurt in Hermione's voice made her feel guilty. For the first time she saw past the image she had of her and looked at the girl for what she truly was – a lonely eleven-year-old trying her hardest to prove herself to everyone. Yet all she got in return was scorn... and hadn't done anything to deserve it, not really. "Am I really much better than a bully if I ignore it...'

Emily knew how it was to feel isolated and alone, it had made her who was today. She had hated feeling that way and had done her best not to feel like that again. It was why she first reached out to Charles – she didn't want him to feel like she did.

'Then why didn't I try and help Hermione...? I could have, there was more than one chance to do it.' Emily felt lost for words. 'Everyday here's just been so much fun that... I didn't even think about it.'

Though she was still crying, Hermione wasn't done talking. "You're horrible," she said, "I would never be able to do what you do!"

She felt the urge to argue back – to criticise Hermione for her bossy tone and often times nasty attitude – but she didn't. She didn't want to fight, not now, at least.

"Listen, Hermione, I... I'm not here to belittle you or upset you," said Emily quietly. "If you want a reason why I followed you then, well I don't have one... I didn't really think about it. I guess, I just - I just wanted to make sure you were ok. That's all. But if you want me to leave, then I will."

A minute passed as Emily rested her shoulder against the cubicle door, waiting for a reply. She sighed. If Hermione didn't want to talk to her then there was nothing she could do. Emily turned around and made her way out of the room.

"Wait!" said Hermione opening the door and hurriedly rubbing her eyes with the end of her sleeve.

"Don't leave – please." She started crying again, afraid her plea would be ignored, but Emily was quickly by her side and wrapping her arms around her. Hermione responded in kind, sobbing into her shoulder.

Emily didn't know what to say so she just kept rubbing Hermione's back with her hand, whispering 'It's alright, it's alright' repeatedly. Perhaps this was the first bit of kindness Hermione had received from a classmate since coming to Hogwarts, and if it was, Emily refused to skimp out in the slightest.

After a few minutes – and a particularly awkward silence when a fourth-year entered – Hermione had sobered up. Emily's mind was running a hundred miles a second trying to come up with the right words to say, when the bell rang, signifying the start of their next lesson.

Hermione stood up and walked over to the basin to splash her cheeks. An expression of nervousness was all over her when she finally made eye contact with Emily again.

"We should skip," said Emily, seeing both horror and relief flashing across Hermione's face.

Hermione shook her head. "We can't."

"We can and we will!" Emily told her. "And I'm not letting you be seen by anyone until we sort those eyes of yours out." Hermione blushed with embarrassment, swiping her head backwards to look at the mirror, only to see her puffy red eyes staring back at her.

"But it's against the rules," Hermione moaned unconvincingly, but Emily just smirked and acted like she hadn't heard her.

"You said your parents were dentists, didn't you?" she asked randomly. Hermione nodded. "Really, both of them? Do they give out stickers and stuff –"

"Only sometimes, and why are you asking?" said Hermione.

"Just curious," said Emily. "We don't really know much about each other... hmm, why don't we take turns asking each other a question. I'll go first, when's your birthday?"

Hermione seemed unsure at first, but soon changed her mind once she thought of her own question. "Nineteenth of September. What's your favourite subject?"

"Eh? So, it's already passed?"

"Well its October now so yes. Now it's your turn to answer," Hermione said, quickly steering the topic of conversation back to her very important question. She couldn't wait to tell Emily hers.

"Wait, then are you twelve already –"

"It's my turn!" Hermione interrupted pointedly. She felt slightly embarrassed when she saw Emily grinning and realised the girl had been winding her up on purpose. Emily enjoyed pushing other people's buttons. She liked to say it was due to Charles' influence, but it wasn't true – her parents had always called her a troublemaker. Or they used to, at least.

"You said we'd take turns," Hermione moaned and Emily decided to let up a little.

"It's Charms, but that almost everyone's favourite so Flying as well," Emily told her. They were the lessons she never felt the slightest bit bored in. In Charms they learned the most 'magical' magic, such as the Levitation Charm they learned today, or the spell Professor Flitwick had promised to teach them at the end of the year that could make pineapples dance on the table, and Flying was nothing but pure fun the whole lesson. 'They also have the least writing to do in class.'

Hermione nodded at her answer. "I like Charms too, partly because Professor Flitwick is such a great teacher. He always helps me when I ask him something outside of class."

Emily would certainly agree with the girl's assessment, the Professor had been very helpful today and – "He's also less scary than the other teachers, because of his height."

"He is short," Hermione said with a smile, despite a little guilty for saying so.

"He has to step on books, to be able to get on top of more books, so that he can finally see over his desk," Emily said, making Hermione laugh. 'Talking to her is more fun than I thought it would be. I guess I thought she would be more uptight, or something.'

Emily sat down, not caring the least that they were still in the girls' toilets or that the floor could be dirty. 'I bet magic keeps it clean, anyway. I mean it probably does, right?'

To her surprise, Hermione joined her without her even asking.

"Ok, it's my turn again," said Emily, her small chin pointed upwards as she thought of a question. "Are you twelve already?"