Ana was exhausted.
As the term continued, Ana realized that her friends weren't the only things she was neglecting. With how busy she was outside of classes, Ana's involvement with the world of Quidditch was suffering dismally. Thankfully the matches that were taking place involved the other houses, but with her match against Hufflepuff, Ana knew that she wasn't going to be prepared.
With a mind full of memories that weren't her own, Ana felt like her head would pop; too much was going in and there was no real time for her to let them all out. Her responsibilities as a chaser all but vanished, and Ana wished for the chance to go back to the first half of the year to actually get the chance to enjoy the game. Instead, she feared how badly she would let her team down.
But no matter how hard she tried that game, she couldn't keep up. Her fatigued mind and body left her practically useless on the field. Whenever she passed the Quaffle to Pucey or Flint, it was always intercepted by the Hufflepuff chasers, and Ana feared her head would be busted in by the ferocity of the opposing beaters. She scored around 40 points, but even that could've been an overestimation.
It was a grueling match, despite only lasting forty five minutes. The sun beat down on her so strongly, too strongly for it being only April, yet the bright light burned her eyes, making her miss goals that she otherwise could have made.
Hufflepuff demolished the Slytherin team with a disappointing final of 280-90 and the rest of the school celebrated her defeat with thunderous applause.
The moments after the game were the worst, she remembered how fiercely Flint hollered the time they lost against Gryffindor: a game that she was in tip-top shape for. Two losses meant they were out of the running for the Quidditch Cup. Their season was over and the reigning champs went from first place to dead last. It was embarrassing.
Ana was putting away her Nimbus 2000, wiping a drop of sweat from her eyebrow, when a large fist pounded the cage beside her head. Her heart caught in her throat, turning quickly to see Flint staring at her with flared nostrils and a blazing glare.
"What the hell was that Malfoy?" He hollered, making the rest of the teammates fall silent. She could hear her pulse in her ears with how quiet the usual bustling room was. "Last game you played with a broken wrist, how come you couldn't play at all today?"
His tone was bitter and acidic, if it was a potion it would cut through even the toughest of metal and stone. The older boy's larger stature left her uneasy, the now sixteen year old towered over her, making her search the room for Lucian, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"I just had an off game, Flint, it happens. How many times of you lost a game for your team?" She asked sweetly even though she knew he had a reason to be upset. The hairs on the back of her neck stood tall even as the sun was strong, Ana would rather lose another game than admit she was scared of the seething boy.
"Oh piss off, Malfoy," he chuckled darkly, throwing his hands up at her defiance. He didn't catch it, but Ana flinched slightly at the way he flung his arms. But the way he inched closer to her as his voice grew louder did nothing to calm her nerves.
"What? D'you think you're some big deal just because you're a Malfoy? Well, I'll have you know that no one, absolutely, no one could give a damn about that. You're nothing but a spoiled, rotten, b-"
"Hey!"
Flint's head whipped to the side, his teeth bared like an angry hyena at the sight of Lucian, whose usually gentle face was curled in a snarl. Lucian wasn't as old as Flint, but as the younger of the two sauntered up towards Ana, she could tell that age had nothing to do with intimidation. Lucian's clear blue eyes were practically gray as he stood before the older boy, their chests less than a foot apart. With the brewing storm between the two, Ana wanted to stay clear from the debris as she took much needed steps away. She had never in her life seen Lucian look so angry. His was a whole different person.
"Don't you dare talk to her like that."
Flint huffed at the younger boy, trying to size him up, only to find that Lucian would be a fair fighter given he was the beater of the team. His snarling teeth poked out from his snarl, "You won't get an apology out of me if that's what you're after."
Lucian chuckled lowly at the captain, his brows strained as he straightened his posture and twiddled his beater's bat in his hands. Ana was fixated on he object in his olive toned grip, wondering if he would actually crush Flint's head in retaliation. Surely, not.
Ana's heart beat quickened at the image of Lucian's eyes which were narrowing in anger, judging the boy who felt like berating a thirteen year old girl for poor performance.
"Your apologies don't mean jack, Flint. I'm not looking for one. I'm here to let you know," Lucian leaned in even closer to the older boy, his words dripping like ice as he pushed the end of his bat against the captain's chest, "Just be happy we're done with the season. Cause if we were to go out right now, for one last game, the only thing I'd be aiming for is your head."
~
Thank god the season was over. Since the blowup, Lucian would send daggers over to the captain anytime he saw them for the rest of the term, and Ana feared that they would both be kicked off the team because of it. But Flint never made any attempt to get near them since their loss, a result that made her incredibly happy. Flint also kept his distance from Draco, which made Ana relieved; it always bugged her how he would prefer to hang around eleven and twelve year olds instead of his own classmates.
With her training with Snape and attempting to stay involved with her friends, her second year came to an abrupt close. Her marks in History of Magic were dreadful, given she had no time to study with Aeron. Thankfully he was hanging out with the others to much to notice her lack of flashcards. She barely slipped by with a passing grade; her anxiety spiked at the outcome, but she soon found peace with it, even if it was absolutely horrible.
Ravenclaw had taken the Quidditch Cup, defeating Gryffindor in the final match; a match that Ana missed. Snape sensed that there was no need for her to attend since Slytherin wasn't playing. She couldn't possibly tell him that she wanted to go to support the twins. So instead, she trained with the man, hearing the roar of the crowd as they made their way to the dusty old hideout. It was torturous, being so close to where she would rather be, but instead she was off learning a skill that she didn't know would actually ever help her with a man who probably hated her.
With all her exams behind her, Ana sat at the Slytherin table with her friends, picking at her last meal of the term and feeling warm, but not from the summer heat that passed through the castle.
"No! I'm taller look!" Aeron yelled loudly, bouncing up from his seat to run around the table just to stand next to a smug looking Alex.
"Doubt it, pip squeak, I'm older than you. So I must be taller."
Ana was giggling at the two who had been fighting about their heights for the better half of the hour.
They stood back to back, making Lucian decide you indeed was the taller of the two. He smiled warmly as he leaned over the table to measure, his tie would've fallen into his soup if Ana hadn't held it up. He snickered down at her as he focused on his sister and newly found friend.
"Sorry, Wright. Sis has you beat," he chuckled as he plopped back down next to Ana, pouring the both of them some more pumpkin juice. Ana's glass wasn't even empty.
Calista was crying from laughing so hard, mainly because Aeron's scarred face dropped dramatically at the reveal, his jaw nearly fell to the floor. Alex smirked at him and settled herself next to Calista with a dignified sense of self, taking a big bite out of her dinner roll.
Instead of running around the table again, Lucian shifted the boy's plate to the other side, which Aeron acknowledged with a soft smile.
"Don't worry about it, Aeron!" Calista exclaimed as she reached into her robes. "This, I think, will make up for it."
Aeron's face lit up at the sight of a little bottle of magenta nail polish in Calista's manicured grasp, completely forgetting about his dinner as he flattened both of his hands on the Slytherin table. The offer made Ana sigh in contentment, it was the last chance he'd get to have his nails painted by the muggleborn; she adored that they were able to bond over something so small.
By this time, Lucian was showing Ana his Ancient Runes results, pointing out anything he got wrong on his test so she would be better prepared once she started learning in the following year. Ana couldn't retain much of what he said, but from his wide grin and puppy dog demeanor, she didn't dare interrupt him, especially since she was going to be without him for a few months after that night.
Everyone else in the Great Hall started muttering to themselves once Harry, Ron and their bushy haired friend sat down at the Gryffindor table. The school was buzzing with the rumor that involved the trio and from the bits and pieces she could connect, apparently he defeated the Dark Lord. Again.
Ana doubted it, considering that The Daily Prophet would have covered the story if it were indeed true, and yet there was no mention of it when the paper arrived that morning. If the rumor was true, than she would be as fearful as the next kid. Until then, there was no reason to speculate. All Ana wanted was to be awarded the House Cup for the second year in a row; Slytherin had worked so hard to earn the points and the effort made Ana proud of her house.
Towards the end of her meal, Ana's belly was full and yet she nearly forced down another chocolate covered strawberry and Alex followed suit, although that wasn't a surprise to anyone.
"Hey, uh, Ana," Aeron whispered to her, making her direct her attention from her dessert to the boy. He was shuffling in his seat, twiddling his boney fingers around a thread of his robes. "Do you think maybe we could hang out over the summer?"
Ana's blue eyes widened at the question, never once expecting he would ask to spend time together during the break. His voice was quiet, giving Ana the impression that he was unsure of whether or not he should have even asked her. It made sense, they lived relatively close from everything he had mentioned before, whereas the Boles and Calista were further out of the way. He was a Pureblood, and a Pureblood who had some sort of ties to her family, already. Perhaps her father would allow it.
With a wide grin, Ana nodded quickly, which made Aeron's splotchy red face break out in the toothiest smile she had ever seen from the boy. It was a good look on him: better than the pinched look it had at rest.
"Just let me talk to my parents, but I think it should work out!"
Their smiles lasted for the duration of dessert, but from across the hall a certain lion felt more like a bunny rabbit. He saw her smile and so desperately wished it was him who was the cause of it.
Almost as if she could feel his gaze, Ana looked up, her glowing bright eyes meeting Fred's deeper ones. And if it were possible, Ana's smile grew tenfold. Due to her training, she barely had a chance to talk to him and George, but the mere sight of him reminded her of why she got them the t-shirts in the first place.
He held up a chocolate strawberry that he had stolen from Percy's plate and lifted it up in solidarity with her. The young snake peered around her table, and after noticing no one was watching her, she lifted her strawberry like he did, just not as high. From across the hall, they enacted a "cheers" and took bites out of their sweet treat hap[ily.
Their gaze was disrupted by Professor Dumbledore coughing at the podium at the head of the hall, his usual deep indigo robes glimmered even from a distance. He held his wand up to his throat, amplifying the sound of his kind voice as he began recounting the highlights of the year. That included announcing Ravenclaw as the Quidditch Cup, making Ana's stomach turn knowing she let down her own team.
Finally, the man recounted the standings of the House points for Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and at the top, Slytherin. They had a one hundred point lead over Gryffindor who was their closest competition the year prior, a fantastic yet bittersweet understanding.
It was all unravelling perfectly, until Dumbledore kept talking.
He began giving out points to Hermione Granger for answering a potions riddle from Snape which baffled Ana. She chuckled at the idea of earning that much for something so minor, almost wishing she told the Headmaster she could vaguely perform Legilimens in order to gain some points herself. And then Ron was awarded fifty points for playing chess, which nearly made Alex's head explode. She sat on her heels on top of the wooden bench as if she was going to pounce on something, only sitting back down when Calista pulled her back.
Every Slytherin wished for the old man to stop blubbering out points, resigned mumbles and swears releasing once he awarded Harry sixty points for defeating Quirrell. Lucian's brows were furrowed in concentration, working hard to file through his thoughts.
"Merlin, they've tied us. Guys, they've tied us," Lucian exclaimed with worry. "Damn it!"
Dumbledore went on a whole spiel about bravery and enemies, making Ana wonder what that had to do with the House Cup to any degree. The air in the large room seemed to have ran out, any student in green was on high alert after every word that dripped from the old man's mouth.
"Stop, stop, stop..." Aeron muttered beneath his breath, as he and many others at their table were leaning up against it.
"I award 10 points to Neville Longbottom."
And with the clap of his hands, the banners and decorations that once celebrated Slytherin House altered from a stunning silver and emerald to gold and crimson.
The entire room erupted in screams and hollers at the change in scenery, whereas Alex, Aeron and practically every other Slytherin was swearing and yelling in contempt. Draco had thrown his hat down on the table and slapped one of his friends that was clapping by mistake. Ana sat dejectedly at the results, her attention brought to the bunch of Weasleys that were the loudest in the hall.
From across the room, Neville looked up at Ana, his buck teeth on display as his large ears and chubby cheeks flushed a red that almost matched his robes. He looked nervous for a moment, until Ana gave him a congratulatory head nod and began clapping for him. Ana hated how their award had been, in her opinion, wrongly stolen from them, but if Neville was the one to win it for Gryffindor, she could look past it.
The rest of the night was filled with heavy sighs and screaming from most of the older Slytherins. The graduating students ripped their green ties off and threw them along with their old classwork on the ground of the common room. Every surface was soon covered in a layer seventh year seething anger, which only made the younger students either uncomfortable or partake in the outrage.
Lucian and Derrick made a point to swing their beaters bats around the room, rounding up the oldest boys to their dorms before they started something on fire due to their sour moods. Thankfully it didn't take too long and soon enough, the common room returned to its usually dim and quiet aura.
After dinner, they all went to their respective dorms. Ana, Alex, and Calista were jumping around their room, dancing to whatever music the muggleborn had deemed was important enough to introduce to the wizarding world. Clearly she had missed the memo once Alex grabbed a hair brush and started singing loudly in it, screaming about purple rain. Neither Calista nor Alex missed a word, both of them practically screeching late into the night as they packed for going home for the summer.
Ana cried from laughter once Alex jumped on Calista's bed, absolutely ruining the expertly folded clothes that were laid on top of it.
"For that you are taking down all my posters, Bole! And if there's so much as a rip, a tiny tear in any of them I will hunt you down!"
Calista started chasing Alex around the room, jumping over Ana who was sitting on the floor at the base of her trunk.
A sudden knock on their door, made all three girls halt in fear. It was past midnight, so everyone should have been asleep by this time. Alex shuffled to the door, her copper hair looked more like a bundle of hay than anything, one sock hanging from her toes.
When she opened the door, a smaller black haired girl sneered at them all with disgust. Her inky hair just about reached her chin and if Ana had to compare her, she would say that she was the spitting image of a tiny Snape if he were a girl.
"Would you shut up! Some of us are trying to get some sleep," Pansy Parkinson shouted before sashaying away, her hair flopping on either side of her head like a bloodhound's ears.
Once the girl was out of earshot, the girls croaked bubbles of laughter that were louder than any music they played that night. Alex's eyes grew wide as she shut the door quickly. Her back was against it, and from the other side was a harsh pounding and wailing from the first year.
A few minutes passed and when the coast was clear, Alex was finally able to return to packing all her clothes and taking down Calista's posters carefully. It was late when they finished and all three of them were weighed down from the events of the day.
Most nights ended up like, with Ana watching her two friends sleeping peacefully as she sat up in her bed. Her Dreamless Sleep Potion was always available to her, and yet she refused to drink it until she was on the verge of passing out from her own exhaustion. Ana liked being awake.
With her second year coming to a close, the young blonde girl reflected on what had happened that year. Joining the Quidditch team, being chased by a troll, and learning Legilimency were all standout moments. But she smiled more as she thought about the Weasley twins and Neville. She never assumed she would grow so fond of a few Gryffindors, and yet, Ana's mind and worry extended to the tower that was on the other side of the castle.
She wanted to tell someone about it before she left, but her dorm mates were asleep and she wasn't able to get into the boy's rooms. Remembering her multiple nights out during Christmas break, Ana hopped out of her bed and gathered her wand before slipping on her shoes.
The castle was as still as ever, an image that was suddenly growing less ominous every time she snuck out of the Slytherin dorms. Ana was surprised that she had never got caught and chuckled at the idea of Filch being so incredibly clueless, unable to crack down on her even once.
Her feet brought her to where she needed to be on their own accord, rounding every corner and avoiding every book shelf until she arrived at the back of the library. Ana found that talking to Neville's parents brought her a great deal of comfort. They weren't able to talk to her, but their animated expressions were worth telling her secrets, woes, and successes to.
Ana turned the handle of the familiar room with a happy heart.
As soon as she peered into the large haven, her dazzling blue eyes and round cheeks fell, being replaced with a painful pout. She felt a know form in her throat from sadness.
The mirror was gone.
The room that once held the crumbling ornate mirror was now nothing more than a large, lightless room; one that once brought her such peace was bare. And yet her feet still brought her to the spot where the image of Neville's parents once stood. She could still see the faint line of dust in the floor where the mirror had been for so long.
It brought her closer to Neville and even to Harry in a strange way. But it brought her closer to a set of parents who actually seemed to care about what she had to say.
But now it was nothing. With a miserable sigh, Ana straightened out her robes, trying her hardest to not cry over the missing decoration. She sniffled and shook her head, working off the rush of emotions that filled her entire body. The tears never fell, although for the first time, in a long time, they almost did.
Despondently, Ana ascended the tiered steps until she reached the door she had just entered. She let her eyes linger on the spot for a second more before leaving where she had come.
Therewas no one left.