February, 11 My life at Hogwarts wasn’t the same after that. Now, instead of my sisters trying to pressure me into talking, they would now talk to me through a notepad Hermione got from Hogsmeade. It was a convenient way of communicating, of course, but after a few weeks we were already piling up with three notebooks full of our conversations and Hermione’s money was slowly going down the drain. That’s when it happened, on a chilly morning in late February, Dumbledore called me to his office. At first, I thought I was going to get in trouble, like I failed so much that I was being kicked out of Hogwarts. But then it hit me; everyone knows that I’m deaf now and Professor Flitwick gave me this book that could translate whatever the professors said into words on the pages (unfortunately, it didn’t work with anyone else) and I began to realize that I was beginning to have better grades. I walked through Dumbledore’s door, my hands trembling with fear. Were they going to expel me? I enter through the griffin door of the headmaster’s office and let the smell of lemon drops fill my nostrils. I’ve never smelled candy in my life, my parents were dentists, so they never even let me get close to them. Dumbledore greeted me a smile through his long white beard, his teeth so shining white that it would make my parents run for their money. He pulled out a piece of white paper and a quill. Then wrote, ‘Hello Miss. Granger, I would like to discuss a few matters with you about your… disability. I scanned the paper and nodded. ‘So, I heard that you’re not struggling in your classes anymore, that’s a relief.’ I nodded again. ‘But you’re still struggling to communicate, I suppose.’ Another nod. At this point I felt completely dizzy. ‘Well, I have organized a BSL tutored session with another student for you and your sisters, if you want to join, that is’ My heart raced. Learning sign language? Of course I needed to join. Communicating by notebooks wasn’t working efficiently and it was a waste of paper and ink. Dumbledore handed me the quill, waiting for my answer. I thought about what to say, then wrote; ‘I will join, thanks. Could you give me the date for the first session?’ Dumbledore nodded and wrote in big flourishing letters: February 22nd, 3:00 PM. I nodded back and took the note, hiding it under my robes. My life is going to be so much easier. __________________ August, 14 ‘Inka!’ Hermione signed urgently to me, ‘What have you done?’ ‘That guy,’ I signed, pointing at the man I had just failed to freeze, ‘I know he’s a death eater, just look at his arm’ Hermione glanced at his arm and sure enough, the dark mark was sprouting out from behind the man’s sleeves. ‘Oh no, this is bad. Really bad’ Just as Hermione signed that, the death eater shot a spell; Petrificus Totalus. I grabbed her sleeve and pulled both of us down before it did any damage to us. ‘Protego’ I thought again, making a shield around myself. I couldn’t see Hermione anywhere and Harry was still invisible. I saw the waitress scream and run to the door, her face full of terror. Another spell came flying out from nowhere and one of the death eaters was hit in the face. One down, another on to go, I mentally said to myself. ‘Expluso!’ The death eater’s lips read and the table besides us exploded. The force made the invisibility cloak fly off Harry, revealing his circular glasses and messy black hair. I looked around to see my wand, but it wasn’t there. Panic began rippling through my vains. What was I going to do now? I saw a flash of blue light coming straight towards me and before I could react, it slapped me on the chest. Then everything went black. _____________________________ December, 14 ‘Hello, Inka,’ my boyfriend, Theodore Nott wrote on the piece of parchment, ‘How was everything with, you know’ ‘I tried to explain to them,’ I wrote back in frustration, ‘But they wouldn’t listen to me. They think your bad just because you’re a…’ I gulped, trying hard to explain it. ‘Slytherin?’ Theo finished then dropped the quill. ______ Continued in credits
‘I-t d-o-s-e-n-t m-a-t-t-e-r w-h-a-t y-o-u-r s-i-s-t-e-r-s t-h-i-n-k o-f m-e,’ he spelled slowly with his hands, ‘M-y p-a-r-e-n-t-s w-o-u-l-d-n-t a-p-r-o-v-e o-f t-h-i-s e-i-t-h-e-r’ I nodded then, spelling slowly so he could understand I signed. ‘D-o t-h-e-y e-v-e-n k-n-o-w a-b-o-u-t u-s?’ ‘No’ he signed quickly. It was the only word he knew how to sign without spelling. ‘Well, you should tell them’ I signed back, then realized that Theo didn’t know what I was saying so, I wrote the same thing on the parchment just to save time. ‘They’ll get mad,’ he wrote bitterly, ‘Just because you’re a…’ ‘Muggle-born?’ I finished, ‘Well, my sisters know so it’s only fair if they know too. Besides, it’s not like they can do anything about it if they know’ ‘They’ll send a howler’ ‘And I’ll be there to face the embarrassment’ I lent in towards Theo to press my lips against his. He pressed back. This is what love would feel like. ___________ Sorry for the short chapter!
