August, 14 ‘Go and dance, Inka’ My elder sister, Hermione signed to me. I shook my head and pointed to the beautiful yellow dress Luna had sewn for me. There was one problem: sure, Luna could sew gorgeous dresses but wearing those dresses meant that you couldn’t move anything other than walking or moving your arms. ‘Can’t dance,’ I signed, ‘the dress is too frilly’ Hermione nodded as she joined her International-Quidditch-star-ex-boyfriend: Viktor Krum. Sitting on the sidelines, I watched the others dance Harry and Ginny were snogging, again. Ever since I came to the wedding all I saw them do was that. I ignored that quickly as I watched Viktor and Hermione dance, my thoughts drifted to my own ex: Theodore Nott. I was only fourteen at that time- yes, I am still fourteen now, but at that time, I was clueless. Clueless about love, clueless about how dangerous the world was. I remembered how much paper we used to use to communicate, how much BSL I tried to teach him. Then, just one day, our relationship fell apart; just like that. ‘I wish I could’ve made that dress a little less frilly,’ came pale hands into my face. I looked around to see Luna. She was wearing a yellow dress too, but instead of all the fabric and frills, it was light and airy. Just like her expression. ‘And a different color too,’ Luna added, her pale hands moving rapidly, ‘Yellow really defiantly doesn't fit you’ I glanced down at the dress. Luna was right; yellow defiantly doesn't fit me. ‘It’s ok,’ I signed, my own pale hands moving, ‘I could always just use a color changing spell’ ‘You can’t do magic outside of school, yet’ Luna reminded. I bit my lip. ‘Right...’ ‘Next time,’ Luna huffed her cheeks, ‘I’m making you grey again, it really suits you, you know’ I was going to move my hands to reply, but then I felt the vibrations of a large bang. I saw people screaming, fleeing the tent. My heart raced with fear. Hermione’s hand into view. I screamed, closing my eyes. Then, the vibrations stopped. _____________________________________ December, 11 I rushed towards my sisters’ unconscious bodies. Panic shimmering on the top of my stomach. “Linh!” I said, but I felt something, as if no one could hear me. Linh turned her head, her green eyes staring at the bodies. “Yes, Inka?” she asked. But the voice didn’t sound muffled like it was before she died. It sounded clear, almost too clear. “Wh-what are you dong here?” I asked, totally surprised. “It’s- it’s really hard to explain” she stammered, placing a hand on my shoulder. I would’ve expected to go through, like all ghost parts do. But to my horror, it didn’t. It stayed, as if it were solid. “H-how-?” Natasha glided towards me. “Your sisters’ souls taste like pizza!” she remarked, looking delighted. My expression only grew more horrified, “You ate their souls?!” “Only a little,” Natasha admitted, “but it tastes so good! Defiantly putting under Dolohov’” I shook my head, unable to process this. “Natasha,” I said, suddenly changing the topic, “why am I seeing Linh when she’s supposed to be dead?” I felt Natasha’s presence soften. “You know you're the only who could ever speak to our kind, right?” she asked, then added, “Well, one of the few people who can talk to us, but let’s save that conversation for another time” “Anyways,” she continued, “To normal people, like your sisters, we bring them distress. But you. You are special” “But I don't want to special” I muttered “That’s not the point!” Natasha interrupted, “But to people like you, we bring the opposite. Have you ever heard the Mirror of Erieside?” “No” Natasha sighed with her wind-like sound, “This is going to take a whole new level” “Just get to the point!” Linh said, irritated “Fine,” Natasha sighed, trying to touch my bed with a rotting hand again, but like again, I pulled it away. “So, the mirror of Erieside is a mirror Dumbledore used to hide when your eldest sister wad in her first year, but she probably already told you that story” “She didn’t,” I said back, “All she said after she came back from Hogwarts was that it was ‘ok’ and didn't mention any mirror” ____________ Continued in credits
“Classic teenagers” Natasha muttered “EXCUSE ME?!” “Sorry,” she apologized, “Anyway, during your eldest sister’s first year, Dumbledore hid a mirror somewhere in the school, I forgot. It was to protect the Philosopher's stone by showing their greatest happiness, and when people see their greatest happiness for a bit of a long time, they go a bit... mad. Start beleiving things they shouldn’t” I’m going to scold Hermione for not telling this next time I see her, I mentally noted “So, you're saying the mirror of Eriside can transform and it was actually you?” “What? No! What I’m saying is that whenever you see dementors, it’s like the mirror of Eriside, sometimes, when you're near a dementor, you see your greatest happiness. And at this point, it’s seeing Linh alive” “And how do you know this?” “I read, ok?” “I didn't know dementors could read” Then, without waiting for a response, my eyes turned to Linh. “So... your just an illusion?” Linh nodded, “But I’ll still be with you, forever.” I felt a tear slip down my cheek, “D-did you read my letters to you?” “Yes, and I hope you’ll make more. We were meant to be friends; I knew that ever since we met on the train” I stared at her. My eyes were full of tears. “I had abusive parents too,” she admitted, her voice becoming quieter, “They never cared about me at all. They only cared about pureblood supremacy, they didn’t care about my health, they wouldn’t even take me to St. Mungo’s if I was collapsing out of the blue. All they would say was ‘Uncle Barty’s stronger than you, he went to Azkaban for the dark lord, he risked everything to help us move on’ I hated it, it made feel powerless, useless. How could he risk himself for Azkaban just when he got in return an unhealthy niece?” I stared at her, how could I not have known such a huge secret as this? And from my best friend! Tears almost came out of Linh’s eyes as she continued; “I learned to accept it, that I was different, that I wasn’t a burden. My parents were. After all, why didn’t they return themselves to the ministry to prove their loyalty to the Dark Lord? I started going to St. Mungo’s myself, they gave me pills to make me feel better, but... they never worked. When my parents found out what I was doing, they made sure that their magic was undetected and placed crucio on me. It hurt, especially by the fact that I was still sick and that I was only nine,” I imagined a picture of a young Linh lying on the ground, clearly hurt. Her face red from crying and her brown hair covering her face. “And when I went to Hogwarts and was sorted into Ravenclaw, they sent something worse than a howler. Remember that night when you didn't see me in bed but found me in the Great Hall? Well, I wasn't entirely honest with you that day. During the middle of the night, they sent a letter that silenced me, then after the silenced part was completed, there appeared a book. I already knew what was coming, but I couldn’t resist it. I grabbed it, but the thing was, it was cursed. And I was silenced so there was no point in screaming” An image of Linh, in our dormitory, trying to scream but the others fast asleep, oblivious to the curse she was trying to fight. “Madam Pomfrey was able to fix it, and I was able to go to breakfast the next morning,” she continued her voice almost choking with tears, “She said I needed to rest for a while, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t let anyone know my secret, that my parents were abusive, that they used to be death eaters. Only Draco knew this, we were childhood friends you see, both who have parents who are Death Eaters in disguise, he was like an older brother to me, always checking if I were ok when no one else did” A picture of Draco, kneeling beside Linh who was clearly not going through her best state and is crumpled on the ground. “He was the one of the few people who cared about me. He came to the hospital wing when I had the illness when no one was watching, he gave me gifts whenever it was my birthday” I sobbed, tears spilling from my cheeks, all this time, I had been pushing my problems to Linh (even though she was dead) and didn’t even know that she was in a much worse situation than I was in. “I am so sorry” I sobbed, wrapping my arms around Linh, she was still solid, for now. Natasha came closer to me, placing a rotting hand on my shoulder. “Inka,” she said, “I have to go, sorry” And as she left the open window, I felt Linh fade away. ‘This isn’t the end,’ I thought determinedly, ‘I have a feeling we’ll meet again soon’ _______ Sorry for the short chapter (honestly, why are all my chapters so short?)
