The Outcasts Of Hogwarts

Chapter 20 The New Year

The pain didn't go away. It continued to throb as Amaris stomped up the flights of stairs, it was infuriating. She was also furious that she had let this happen again; furious at Lupin for ignoring her; furious at Steffan for talking about things he didn't understand; and furious at herself for getting angry when she knew deep down that what he was saying was true.

She stopped to take a breath. She was sure this never used to happen, definitely not for this long. It was getting worse and she didn't know why. Leaning on the bannister, she took slow, deep breaths, trying to push all the things that angered her from her mind. Gradually, she felt herself calm down and at the same time, the pain faded.

The anger still simmered at the edge of her mind and when she tried to think about what had just happened, it came forward and with it a jab to her senses. So she figured that she'd have to forget about it all for a while and come back to it when she wasn't so agitated.

She passed Professor McGonagall as she continued up to the dorm. Amaris nodded politely as she passed then spun around then she realised that the teacher was carrying a Firebolt. Confused, she carried on, gave the password to a very drunk Sir Cadigan and climbed through the portrait hole.

She entered the common room to find its three inhabitants all staring daggers at each other. At the sound of arrival, their heads snapped towards her and Amaris was on the verge of fleeing back out into the corridor.

"Hi, Amaris," Harry said stiffly.

Amaris smiled, uncomfortably, "Hello, what's going on?"

Wrong question. The cease-fire ended as abruptly as if Amaris had just fired a cannon. They all shouted their sides of the story at her before quickly turning on each other to correct what the others had said, each trying to speak louder than everyone else.

Amaris managed to piece together what had happened as she edged her way past them and up the stairs to her room. She had grown tired of their constant arguments and had no desire to get in the middle of one. It seemed absurd that three so-called friends would constantly be fighting each other. After all, she had always thought that the first requirement of friendship was that the people got along.

Amaris flumped onto her bed and shook her head, "Humans," she sighed. 

Then she saw the book placed so neatly on her pillow and felt shame creep in. Suddenly she felt like such a fool for getting angry and how could she criticise the other Gryffindors when she had just done the same thing? She vowed that she would go and find Steffan tomorrow, as she opened the book and began to read. 

It took her a few attempts but after a couple of days, she managed to catch him in the library. He was at the same table that they'd been at before, surrounded by books. He didn't look up when she approached or when she sat opposite him but she knew he was aware of her presence. Part of her was afraid that he was angry with her and was just going to ignore her, that's what Hermione, Harry and Ron had been doing since Christmas, after all. But Steffan didn't seem to be the kind of person to react in such a petty way. Amaris sat in silence for a moment, unsure of what to say. 

"I'm sorry," she began, to no response from Steffan, "that I got angry. Celly always said that I had too short a fuse for my own good. But what you said annoyed me because part of me is afraid that it's true."

Stefan finally looked up, a slight smile on his lips. "I'm sorry too. I forgot how little we know each other compared to Kim and Matt and I didn't consider how much Professor Lupin's opinion must matter to you. I will endeavour to be less insensitive in the future."

"And I will try to be less hot-headed," Amaris replied.

Steffan shook his head, "Not possible. It is the defining feature of a Gryffindor."